Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
ISABELLA
Blood filled my mouth as I slowly opened my eyes and tried to move.
I spit out the copper taste, grateful I didn’t appear to be bleeding more.
At least from that wound. Everything ached.
The last thing I remembered was a car coming at us, headlights nearly blinding me, and Weston pushing me to the ground.
I had screamed for him, trying to get up from the now muddy side of the road, but then somebody had been standing over me.
It wasn’t Weston. It couldn’t be. Because whoever it was had moved their arm quickly, something slamming into the side of my head.
And now here I was, shaking, trying to figure out what just happened.
“I told you I would find you.”
That voice. I knew that voice.
“William,” I said through chattering teeth. I blinked, trying to realize where I was, and a sick icy chill slid through me.
When William had knocked me out, he had dragged me deeper into the forest surrounding Cage Lake away from the Cage homes.
And now I was tied to a thick tree, rain still sliding down through the canopy, and I couldn’t break free.
My wet clothes stuck to my body, and I was shaking even though I didn’t know if it was from fear, adrenaline, or being so cold.
But I had to get out of this. I needed to get to make sure Weston was okay. Was he alive?
Oh God. Had William killed him?
Everything came into my brain in a split second, one thought after another, as the man in front of me moved from the shadows and smiled.
It was still daylight, the slight light shifting through the leaves, but the cloud cover was enough that it felt like midnight. Or maybe that was just my mind playing tricks on me. I wasn’t seeing double, but I had been knocked out. Meaning I probably had a concussion.
I didn’t think anything else was broken, but my hands were bound in front of me, the rest of me tied to a damn tree.
And I didn’t know how I was going to get out of this. Nobody knew where we were. It wasn’t as if they could hear us.
And I didn’t know what I was going to do.
“I’m so glad that you remember me.” William smiled at me then, and I tried to figure out who this man was in truth.
I hadn’t wanted to date him. I had been polite in rejecting him. But he hadn’t agreed with that. Instead, he ignored my pulling away and decided I was for him.
He had slammed my head into a wall, threw me down to the ground, kicked at my side, and nearly broke my jaw. I ended up bruised, cut, and had almost lost my spleen.
Kyler and my sisters had been so worried about me, that they had stayed overnight in the hospital despite being told that they weren’t all allowed to stay there.
My mother had cried at my bedside, and I had pulled away from all of them, telling them that I was fine.
That it was only a few cuts and scrapes and I would be okay.
But I hadn’t been.
Nor had the woman that William attacked later before he had been finally caught.
He had done so much worse to that woman. So much worse.
And now he was out of jail. Far away from his parole officer.
And he wasn’t going to get out of this. Not this time.
William then stood in front of me and tilted his head. His blond hair was slicked back, wet from the rain. He had on a gray button-down tucked into dark pants. He looked like any parent going to graduation. But he wasn’t. He was a monster.
“I’ll forgive you for running from me that one time. I know I scared you.” He bent down in front of me, and my pulse raced. When he reached out and slid his finger along my jaw I shied away, cringing.
“Don’t. Don’t look away from me.” He gripped my jaw in a fierce hold and forced my gaze to him.
“Don’t do this William. Please.”
“Oh. You’ll beg. But later. For now I just want to know if you read all my letters? Or just the ones that your family let you see?”
“Please. You don’t have to do this.” The rain finally began to subside, but I couldn’t hear anything other than the droplets falling from the tall trees hitting leaf by leaf before they hit the ground beside us.
I wanted to scream, to ask for help, but I had no idea what William would do.
“It took me a while to find you. It shouldn’t have really.
But your family is a little annoying. You own so many things.
And you hid them from me before. I thought you were just a little accountant.
A sad woman with a broken heart who needed a firm hand.
But it turns out you’re some rich bitch who thought you were better than me.
But don’t worry, I’m going to make sure you know exactly who I am.
” He tilted his head, studying my face as I tried to work the ropes at my wrist. I would not be a victim.
I would not let him hurt me. I needed to get out of this and check on Weston.
While the ropes on my shoulders and chest were tight, my wrists weren’t that well done. If I kept his attention on my face maybe I could get my arms outstretched and try to do something. I just didn’t know what.
“Now, once I’m done with you, I’m going to find that bitch I left behind in Wyoming and finish what I should have done. But don’t worry, she’s only scared because she heard what happened to you. You on the other hand I sent a special gift. Did you like my friend?”
I froze, bile filling my throat.
He smiled softly, his eyes darkening. “Oh yes. All I had to do was convince a friend of a friend back in prison to have a little chat with you. He was dumb about it though. He should have waited until the others weren’t around.
But we weren’t aware you had so many brothers.
Maybe once I’m done with you and I make sure that bastard on the ground back there is truly dead, I’ll work on those too.
You have sisters, don’t you?” he asked, grinning.
“Fuck you. Don’t you dare hurt them.”
“Tut-tut. I would be careful about how you speak to me.”
I twisted my wrists, loosening the rope around them, and smashed my fist into his face.
“Screw you.”
I thrashed against the ropes binding me to the tree, and somehow they loosened. The man didn’t know how to tie knots thankfully, and I wiggled from beneath them, crawling across the ground as I tried to get up.
“You bitch!” he spat as he reached for me. He pulled at my hair, shoving me to the ground. I kicked out, punching.
“You’re going to pay for that.”
“You are,” a low voice growled from the side, and then Weston was there, shoving himself at William.
Relief slammed into me even as horror filled me. Because William had a knife, the one he’d just slid out of his pocket as he tried to shove it into Weston’s shoulder.
“She’s mine!” William screamed.
“Weston!” I called as I leapt toward the two of them, shoving the man that I loved out of the way.
Fiery pain slid across my arm as the knife glanced over my skin, and I let out a shocked gasp before Weston was there again, his leg broken even as he crawled and slammed his fist into William’s face. Again. And again.
I kicked the knife away as Weston continued to hit William in the face, in the side, anything to keep him down.
“Don’t kill him,” I said through choked sobs. “Just don’t kill him.”
Before I could do anything, to try to stop the bleeding on my arm or blink away the black dots in front of my vision, two other people ran toward us.
I flinched as someone touched my uninjured arm, and realized it was Dorian.
“Isabella,” my brother whispered, and then I burst into tears as Dorian tried to stanch the blood on my arm and held me close.
I looked over to see Hudson pinning William to the ground and tying him up with such ease that I had to wonder where he had learned that. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was Weston was still breathing.
“Weston,” I whispered as I reached out for him.
He sat there, chest heaving, blood covering his side, his face, his hands, and I was so grateful that he was alive, that the man that I loved was safe, but I couldn’t hear his voice in full as I finally succumbed to the darkness threatening my vision and passed out in Dorian’s arms.
“You should still be in the hospital,” Hudson warned.
I shook my head, immediately regretted the action, and reached out to hold Weston’s hand.
“I am in the hospital. But I’m not leaving Weston’s side.
” I was still in my hospital gown, though no longer attached to an IV.
I was still technically admitted, but Hudson had helped me break out of my room to sit by Weston’s bed.
He was still sleeping after dealing with the doctors and nurses and I had no plans to leave his side.
My brother let out a deep breath. “Fine. But sit down and don’t wear yourself out. The family will be in the waiting room soon. You know they’d have been here sooner if there wasn’t that logging accident on I70, blocking the highway for a few hours. Not to mention the subsequent brush fires.”
I nodded along, knowing Hudson was trying to explain why it was only the two of us when I knew the rest of the Cages would be here en masse.
He patted my shoulder before leaving to talk to someone, I wasn’t sure who as I was only barely listening.
“Weston. I…I love you so much. You saved me. You saved us . And I hate that you were hurt. I’m not leaving, Weston.
You’re mine. I’m sorry about that. Meaning you’re going to have to deal with all the Cages.
And if you think I’m overbearing when it comes to making sure you rest and heal, just wait until you get to know the rest.”
“I am pretty sure I can handle them,” he whispered, his voice low.
I looked up into those light eyes and finally let the tears fall. “You’re awake.”
“You should be in bed, Bella.”
I snorted even as I moved closer to him. If I wouldn’t hurt his broken leg, I’d have gotten into bed next to him, just to feel his warmth. To remind us both that we were alive after everything that had happened.
“Everyone keeps telling me that, but I’m sitting down. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine, and you’re going to get your ass kicked.”
I jumped at the sound of Dorian’s voice, wincing at the sharp movement to my ribs. Apparently, I wasn’t that rested. “I’m fine.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re not. Neither of you are. But thankfully it’s a small town and we Cages happen to know how to pull strings.” He moved to the side and my angry nurse walked into the room.
“Ms. Cage Dixon. You will get into the second bed in this room and rest. We’ll move all of your information and items here. And if you don’t rest, I have been told I can stick the others on you to make that happen.”
Weston let out a rough chuckle and I just blinked as the twins poured into the room, Lance and the sheriff on their tail. “Seems like we have a full house.”
“Yes, we do and now you’re going to have to deal while we take care of you,” Sam said with a tight nod, her eyes filled with tears.
I opened my arms and both twins moved toward me, hugging me softly as to not hurt me. “We’re okay, girls.”
“I see where I stand,” Weston grumbled next to me, but I saw Lance and the sheriff go to his side.
Before the girls could respond, the nurses and their teams moved me to the empty bed in the room since there was only so much space in the small hospital that serviced multiple small towns—including Cage Lake.
“We’ll take care of what we can here,” Sheriff Brothers said after we were all settled. “I’ll be talking to you both soon, but for now, just rest.”
“That’s exactly what they’ll be doing,” Aston ordered as he came into the small room, Blakely pushing past him to run toward me.
“Isabella!”
Tears fell in earnest as she took me in her arms, the twins holding us both.
And somehow the room continued to fill with Cages and friends.
I knew the hospital staff wasn’t happy, but right then, I didn’t care.
I held out my arm, grateful they’d pushed the beds together enough so I could reach for the man I loved.
Weston held my hand, and I met his gaze.
“I love you,” he mouthed, and I swallowed hard.
“I love you too,” I whispered back.
The others spoke around us, discussing the next family dinner, after graduation plans, and upcoming Cage family builds and businesses.
And when my mother arrived, my heart nearly burst. But I didn’t say anything I would regret.
Instead I let my mother hold me. Then watched as she spoke kindly with the twins and my siblings.
The Caldwells had lost their caring and loving parents and there was no coming back from those broken bonds.
While my father was gone and I knew I would never truly find the peace he never let us have, I could move on from what he’d done and try to find forgiveness for the woman who had raised me under a life I never understood.
Perhaps it would never be my place, but in the end, I’d nearly lost everything I loved, and I wasn’t sure I could stand to hold on to the pain to lose it again.
“Did someone say baked goods?” Harper asked, pulling me out of my thoughts as she and her brother walked into the very cramped room.
“Oh thank the sugar gods,” Dorian exclaimed as he helped gather bags of food and pastries from the siblings.
“We also brought burgers, fries, and nothing healthy,” Joshua explained. “We also bribed the staff to let us come back, but apparently Dorian here had already used his Cage charm to make that happen.”
Weston squeezed my hand and I sat back, watching my family blend with Weston’s and the town of Cage Lake.
I didn’t know what would happen next or how we’d get through the next few weeks, but I knew we wouldn’t do it alone. They were my family—unexpected, large, rambunctious, and full of trouble.
And I knew I’d found my place.
As a Cage. And as Weston’s.
Just like he was mine.