When Love Finds Its Way Back (Cassienne and Dreston) novel Chapter 369

The doctors moved fast. Cassienne was lifted onto a stretcher and taken toward another room while Jessica followed until a nurse stopped her.

“No, please,” Jessica said, tears falling freely now. “Please, let me go with her.”

The nurse shook her head. “We need space to check her and the baby.”

Jessica froze at the doorway.

The baby.

That word broke whatever strength remained in the waiting room.

Abigail pressed a hand over her mouth and sobbed. Sheila pulled her into her arms. Nora turned away, her eyes wet despite herself. Garry stood slowly, staring at the direction where Cassienne had been taken, looking as though the guilt inside him had found another way to crush him.

Joseph remained standing in the middle of the waiting room.

For a moment, he could not move. His son was fighting for his life. His daughter-in-law had collapsed. And his unborn grandchild might be in danger.

And somewhere outside that hospital, Justice Elena was waiting with news that could change Everything they thought they knew.

Joseph closed his eyes. He felt as if the entire world had placed its weight on his chest.

Then Abigail came to him. She didn’t say anything to him at first. She simply took his hand and held it tightly.

Joseph opened his eyes and looked at his wife. She had been crying, but there was strength in her face now. The kind of strength only a mother could summon when everything was falling apart and someone still needed to stand.

“Abigail,” Joseph said, his voice rough.

She squeezed his hand. “I know.”

He shook his head slowly. “I can’t leave.”

“You can.”

“No.” His voice broke slightly. “Our son is in there.”

“And I am here.”

Joseph stared at her.

Abigail stepped closer. “Dreston needs us. Cassienne needs us. But Elena also needs you. If there is something that can stop these people from hurting this family again, then you need to go.”

Joseph looked toward the operating room, then toward the hallway where Cassienne had been taken.

His face twisted with pain. “How can I walk away from them?”

“You are not walking away.” Abigail’s voice became firmer. “You are fighting for them in the only way you can right now.”

Joseph swallowed. But Abigail placed a hand against his chest. “Listen to me. Our children will be fine.” The words trembled, but she said them with faith. “They will be fine. Dreston will fight. Cassienne will fight. That baby will fight too.”

Joseph’s eyes filled with tears.

Abigail had always been graceful. Soft when needed. Strong when necessary. But tonight, she became something more. She became the anchor he did not know he needed. “Trust God,” she whispered. “And go finish what should have been finished years ago.”

Joseph lowered his head, and for several seconds, he simply held her hand. Then he nodded.

It was not because leaving became easy. It was because Abigail was right. The nightmare would not end by waiting alone.

Dreston had been shot. The bullet had hit his abdomen and side. Surgery was still ongoing. Cassienne collapsed after the doctor said they were trying to keep him alive.

Aurora closed her eyes.

Daisy began crying.

And Corren? He stood very still.

He had known Dreston for years. He respected him, argued with him, teased him, and sometimes found him impossible. But the thought of Dreston lying inside an operating room because he had taken a bullet for his friend made something heavy settle inside his chest.

Then his gaze moved toward Garry.

Garry was sitting alone again.

He looked like a man who had returned from captivity only to find himself in a different kind of prison. A prison made of guilt.

Aurora saw him at the same time. For a moment, everything around her became quiet.

Garry is here? And alive.

The man who had disappeared without warning. The man she had cared about, whose absence had left her confused, hurt, and full of unanswered questions.

She had imagined seeing him again many times. In some versions, she was angry. And in some, she cried.

In none of those versions had she imagined seeing him like this, broken in a hospital waiting room while Dreston Tremont fought for his life because of him.

Garry slowly lifted his head, and their eyes met.