Chapter 4 - The Salt Marsh Trap
The drive north toward High Head Cove was silent and tense.
Cassian drove an unmarked black SUV along the winding, rutted logging roads that hugged the rocky coast. The trees were bare, their gray branches scratching against the side of the vehicle like skeletal fingers in the wind.
Nora sat in the passenger seat, watching his hands on the steering wheel.
The broken compass tattoo on his right hand seemed to shift as his grip tightened on the wheel. He still rubbed the pale scar beside his thumb whenever he checked the rearview mirror.
"There's something else you're not telling me," Nora said quietly over the hum of the engine.
Cassian didn't look at her.
"I'm keeping you alive, Nora. That is all that matters right now."
"Don't do that," she snapped. "Don't treat me like porcelain. If I had stayed in that hotel room, I would have told you something that changes everything."
His jaw set into a hard line.
"Tell me later. When we have the book and the Kesslers are in federal custody."
"No," Nora insisted, turning in her seat to face him. "I'm telling you now. I was at the charity gala because I took a test yesterday morning."
Cassian’s foot slipped slightly on the gas pedal.
The SUV drifted toward the gravel shoulder before he corrected the steering with a sharp jerk of his wrists. He pulled the vehicle into a clearing hidden beneath a canopy of dense white pines and killed the ignition.
The engine clicked as it cooled in the bitter air.
Cassian turned his head very slowly. His gray eyes were wide, searching her face with an intensity that terrified her.
"What did you say?" he whispered.
"I'm ten weeks pregnant, Cassian," Nora said, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands. "That's why I walked away last night. Not because of my pride, but because I have to protect something that belongs to me."
Cassian stared at her abdomen, his face losing all color.
The ruthless, untouchable heir of the Rourke empire seemed to crumble in the space of a single heartbeat. A low, ragged groan tore from his throat as he slumped forward, resting his forehead against the leather steering wheel.
"My God," he choked out. "Nora... what have I done?"
"You played with monsters," she answered bluntly. "And you brought them to our door."
He reached out, his hand shaking violently, and gently touched the wool fabric of her coat over her stomach.
His touch was the same touch she had fallen in love with—reverent, protective, and desperately gentle. A tear escaped his eye and tracked down his bruised cheek, disappearing into the dark stubble of his jaw.
"I will tear down every building in this state before I let anyone harm you or our baby," he swore, his voice fierce with a desperate, ancient oath.
"Then stop lying to me," she demanded.
Before he could answer, the rear window of the SUV shattered into a thousand glittering shards.
The sharp crack of a high-powered rifle round echoed through the pines an instant later. Cassian lunged across the center console, throwing his heavy frame over Nora and pinning her flat against the passenger seat.
"Stay down!" he roared.
Another bullet ripped through the metal door panel, inches above his shoulder.
Cassian reached under his seat and pulled out a heavy semi-automatic pistol. He threw the SUV into reverse, stomping on the accelerator as glass showered down on their necks.
The tires spun on the wet pine needles, screaming as they caught traction.
Behind them, through the shattered rear window, two black trucks burst out from the logging trail, their bull bars aimed directly at the SUV's rear bumper.
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"Hold on!" Cassian shouted.
He spun the wheel hard, slamming the SUV through a rotting timber gate that led down the private embankment toward the fog-shrouded waters of High Head Cove.
