41. Caden
Caden
“Mum, are you still in here?” I called, pushing her bedroom door open a crack. “I practiced. Can I show you?”
When she didn’t answer, I opened it wider. The room was dark and empty, but the en-suite light was on, and I could hear water running.
“Mum?”
My gaze swept across the bedroom automatically, searching for the signs I’d learned to recognise. Empty pill packets. An untouched plate of food. An open bottle of wine on the bedside table.
“You said you’d come watch me play,” I continued, trying to sound cheerful even as something felt wrong. “I promise to play your favourite.”
I crossed the room, my footsteps muffled by the thick carpet. A thin strip of light glowed beneath the bathroom door, so I knocked once. Twice.
“Go away!” Mum’s voice cracked through the wood, wet and broken, like she’d been crying for hours. “Baby … just … leave me alone.”
My stomach dropped. A sharp, metallic smell hit me as I slowly pushed the door open. Mum was hunched over the sink, shoulders shaking, holding her wrist under the running tap.
“Mum?”
For a moment, I didn’t understand what I was seeing.
But then she glanced over her shoulder, eyes widening in panic when she realised I was standing there. “Baby, I told you to—”
“What have you done?” I cried, rushing forward. The sink was splashed with bright red, a kitchen knife lying on the side beside her, blood still coating the blade.
I immediately turned off the tap and grabbed a towel.
“You promised!” I said, my voice wobbling as I fought back tears. I had to be brave. I had to take care of her until Dad got home. “You promised you wouldn’t do this again.”
“I didn’t mean to,” she mumbled, voice thick. “I just … everything got too loud and I needed it to stop.”
I pressed the clean towel hard against the cut on her wrist, trying to stop the bleeding like I’d seen Dad do before. My hands were shaking, but I kept pressing.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, even though my throat felt tight. “It’s going to be okay. Dad will be home soon.”
Mum kept crying, soft and broken, her head resting against the mirror. She looked so small like this. This wasn’t my mum who made me dance with her in the kitchen, or who taught me how to play the piano. This was the one who’d disappear, leaving me alone.
But I wouldn’t do that.
I wouldn’t leave her alone when she needed me.
So I sat on the cold bathroom floor with her, holding the towel against her wrist and humming the song she always said was her favourite, until the bleeding slowed and Dad finally came home.
“I’m sorry, my baby,” Mum whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry …”
It was Langdon who I saw first, his height towering over the nurses as they rushed around him in the busy Accident & Emergency. He waved when I caught his eye, his hands immediately coming up to sign.
“She’s okay.”
This strange tightness inside my chest didn’t ease. “What the fuck happened?” I asked as he walked me through a set of double doors.
“She was attacked by a man with a knife,” he signed, then shrugged like it was an everyday occurrence. “Her friend took the brunt of it.”
My stomach dropped at the word friend. A dark, ugly feeling I refused to name twisting inside me. “Why the fuck were you even there?”
“I was following her.”
“Why were you following her?” I asked through clenched teeth.
He shot me a dirty look, as if the question was stupid.
“Where was Raj?” He was supposed to be shadowing her this morning.
Langdon side-eyed me. “I gave him the day off.”
Walking through the hospital corridor, we stopped at a curtain that I immediately pulled back. Aeris sat on one of the hospital beds, her legs dangling over the edge while a doctor examined her shoulder.
The sight hit me like ice water, but then her eyes collided with mine. For the first time since I’d known her, the look she gave me wasn’t of anger, defiance, or even desire.
It was relief.
“Caden,” she whispered, sliding off the bed and moving towards me before the doctor could protest.
“You okay?” I asked, crossing the space.
“She’s fine,” the doctor answered, snapping off his gloves. “She won’t need stitches, and her hand isn’t broken.”
I glanced down at her hand, the knuckles a little swollen and already bruised.
Aeris turned back to the doctor, worry etched deep into her features. “And what about Fletcher?” she asked.
“As I’ve already said, Mr Bells’s in surgery. He was lucky. The knife missed all his major organs. As long as there are no complications, he should make a full recovery.”
“Is Aeris done here?” I asked.
The doctor nodded once. “She’s ready to be discharged.”
“Good.” I waited until the doctor left, then dropped my voice to a low whisper. “What happened?”
“A man came at us with a knife.” Aeris glanced away, her shoulder tight.
My jaw clenched, and it took a lot for me to remain calm. “You recognise him?” She didn’t answer immediately, so I caught her chin, forcing her eyes back to mine. “Was the knife meant for you or your friend?”
Her expression shuttered, the mask sliding back into place with practised ease. “Vivienne sent him.”
A sharp whistle cut through the air, and Langdon stepped between us, shoving a brown folder into my chest.
“He was aiming for her,” he signed directly in my face. “Fletcher threw himself in front of her.”
Great. Now I couldn’t kill her friend.
Pushing him away, I opened the folder to study the documents, the quality of them impressive considering I knew they were fake. Every single one was of her sisters and nephews, each with a different name.
“That’s not for you,” she snapped, but didn’t try to take the letter away from me.
To my darling sisters,
If you’re reading this, then everything went wrong.
I’m so sorry. Sorry I never told you the truth. Sorry I couldn’t protect you better. If you’ve been given this folder, it means I’ve failed and I need you to run.
There are some bad people in this world, people I’ve tried to shield you from but couldn’t stop from taking me—the people that took Mira.
I will not let them take you too.
As soon as you receive this, you need to take everything and leave immediately. Don’t pack or tell anyone where you’re going. Not your friends or Dad. Pick up the kids and go. Everything you’ll need is in here: passports, paperwork, new names, and enough money for you all to disappear safely.
Everything you need to start a new life, one where my mistakes can’t chase you.
If you value your life, please don’t look for me, and don’t ever look back.
I love you all more than anything.
A x
I carefully placed the piece of paper back into the folder, then grabbed Aeris’s hand with deliberate calm.
“Caden,” she began as I started walking. “I can’t leave, not with Fletch—”
“I’ll have guards watch over him. He’ll be safe.” She didn’t pull out of my grip, Langdon coming up from behind.
“Then where are we going?”
“I’m taking you home.”