Page 91 of One Quick Obsession

I couldn’t breathe, could barely think.

But my girls were safe, and not crying while they sat in a stranger’s arms.

And I wasn’t sure what else there was to say.

“I’m going to kill him,” Aston snapped. “Kill him.”

“Aston, be quiet.”

“Funny you’re saying that, Isabella, when you’re the one that shouted earlier and nearly got us all kicked out,” Aston growled.

They were speaking so quickly, and it was hard to catch up, but this wasn’t the first time that I had been awake since coming to the hospital.

“I’m okay,” I said after a moment, and everyone stopped speaking and shouting at each other to stare at me.

“Sophia,” Isabella whispered, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“The girls?” I asked.

“Blakely has them.”

“Okay. Okay.” Tears threatened again.

“Cale’s in custody. We’ll make sure he stays there,” Flynn warned, his gaze intense. Flynn was always the smiling brother, the laughing one. I’d never seen him so serious. But then again sometimes it felt like I was just getting to know my brothers.

And I didn’t want them to know me like this.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“It’s okay, don’t be sorry. Everything’s going to be okay.” Isabella reached out as if to cup my cheek, and I flinched.

I wanted to crawl in a hole and die at the pitying look on her face. But I wouldn’t. I had already failed Violet and Hazel before, and I wouldn’t do it again.

Unconsciousness swept over me again. By the time I woke up again, there was only one man in the room, and for an instant I thought it was Cale. But I recognized those green eyes.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

The stranger moved forward, grabbed the pitcher of water, and poured a glass. When he gestured for me to take it from his hands, I forced myself to sit up slightly, and nodded in thanks, ignoring the pain in my head.

“I heard you say you were sorry earlier. You don’t get to say that again. You understand me?”

I frowned, ignoring the tug of the stitches on my forehead.

“I know you don’t know me from Adam, and that’s fine. But your family’s going to be back in here hovering, because that’s what they do. So you’re going to let them because I have a feeling that’s what you do. And maybe that’s what you need. But don’t apologize. I’m the one that needs to apologize.”

“I don’t even know you.”

His lips quirked into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “No, you wouldn’t. That’s fine.”

“Then why are you apologizing?”

“Because I didn’t kill the bastard when I had a chance. Get well, Sophia Cage. Those little girls are too cute for words. And they’re going to need their mom.”

And with that, he walked out, leaving me just as confused as ever.

But he was right.

My little girls did need their mom.

And that meant I needed to figure out exactly who Sophia Cage was. Broken, lost, and shattered as she was.