Mercer gazed down at Genevieve’s form. In all of his years as an agent, he’d learned that evil could hide beneath the most deceptive of surfaces.
It was a lesson his daughter had now learned, too.
“She was going to shoot Cassidy. At the end, she was pointing her weapon at your asset.” Logan’s voice hardened as he delivered that barb.
He knows. Mercer glanced up. Saw that Gunner stood just behind Logan. Gunner was bleeding from about a dozen cuts, but he acted as if he wasn’t even aware of the injuries.
“You took her out?” Mercer asked as his gaze stayed on Gunner. Gunner was one of the deadliest snipers that he’d—
“Cale did it.” From Logan. Hard. Cold. “Even with a bullet in his back and another bullet driving through his side, he protected Cassidy. He saved her.”
And Cassidy had been desperate for him. Those tears...
Mercer swallowed.
“You didn’t count on it, did you?” Logan pressed.
Mercer’s breath eased slowly past his lips. “I knew Cale was a good agent. The minute I assigned him to Cassidy’s detail, I realized he’d put his life on the line for her.”
Logan shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant.” A pause. “You didn’t realize that they’d fall for each other, did you?”
No.
But they had because on Cassidy’s face...there had been grief. Fear. Love.
“What happens now?” Logan wanted to know. “Are you going to try to force her onto another plane? Because, let me tell you, I sure as hell don’t think that will happen. She won’t leave him. Not unless—” Logan broke off.
But Mercer knew what he’d been about to say. Not unless Cale dies.
“Secure the scene,” Mercer told him, turning away. He needed to get to that hospital. He needed to get to Cassidy’s side. He’d seen Cale’s injuries. He knew just how bad they were. If the agent died, then Cassidy would shatter. Mercer knew it because...he’d shattered when Marguerite had died. Shattered and never been able to piece himself back together again.
He couldn’t let the same fate fall on Cassidy. She deserved better.
She deserved love. Life.
And he’d give it to her.
He took two steps. Paused. Glanced over his shoulder and made sure that he projected his intent at the two agents. “Whatever you think you know about Cassidy Sherridan, you forget it. Got me? After today, you forget everything about her.”
With narrowed eyes, Logan glared back at him. “Is that what you do when she’s not around? Forget?”
Never.
“Maybe one day you’ll understand,” Mercer murmured. But, no, he didn’t want Logan to understand. Logan had the woman he loved. So did Gunner. He didn’t want either man to ever know the pain he felt.
The pain that his daughter was feeling right then.
Because when you lost the other half of yourself, living was near impossible.
“Maybe one day,” Mercer repeated. “But pray you don’t. Just follow my orders, Agent. Follow them.”
And he rushed away, determined to finally be there for his daughter when she needed him.
If Cale dies...
He would make sure that he was there to piece Cassidy’s life back together. Somehow.
Chapter Twelve
The operating room doors swung closed, the faint whoosh of sound seeming far too loud for Cassidy’s ears.
She stared at those doors, lost. Cale hadn’t opened his eyes. Not once during the ambulance ride. He hadn’t talked to her again, hadn’t squeezed her fingers. He hadn’t done anything.
Her hands lifted. His blood had dried on her. She should go wash it off. Her fingers started to shake.
“Cassidy.”
She jumped at Mercer’s voice, but she didn’t turn to face him. “They...they wouldn’t let me go back.”
Of course not. She knew she couldn’t go in surgery. Not with a wound as severe as his. Logically, she understood that, but logic wasn’t exactly her strong suit then.
A tear leaked down her cheek. They just wouldn’t stop. She swiped her bloody hands over her face. “The doctor said he’d go to ICU after—after he comes out.” Because Cale would come out. He’d pull through the surgery just fine. Cale could survive anything. “But only family can see him then.”
She wasn’t family.
To the doctor, she was no one.
Mercer’s fingers closed around her shoulder. Cassidy trembled. She hated for him to see her weak like this. She always tried to put on her strong face when Mercer was around. When your father was a supersoldier, there wasn’t supposed to be room for weakness in his daughter.
“I’ll get you in that damn ICU room.”
Her eyes widened. Mercer’s cheeks were flushed, and his eyes were bright with emotion.
“I could get you in that operating room, too, but Cassidy, you don’t want to see that. You don’t want to see them cutting into Cale.”
A scream was breaking inside her, but she clamped her lips together and held it back. When she was sure it wouldn’t burst free, Cassidy whispered, “The doctor said...he wanted me to call in Cale’s sister because...” It hurt to say it. “Cale might not wake up. His injuries are so bad.” Her eyes squeezed shut. “I could see him dying, right in front of me. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t do anything.”
Mercer’s arms wrapped around her, and he pulled her against his chest. He...hugged her?
She pressed her face against his shoulder. He’d hugged her at her mother’s funeral, hugged her just like this. So tightly. As if he never wanted to let her go.
Only he’d pushed her away after that day, pushed her away for so long.
“Your ranger’s going to be fine,” he promised, his voice gruff. “That man isn’t about to give up without a fight. EOD agents are tougher than anyone else out there. He’ll pull through.”
I...love you.
“He doesn’t know,” Cassidy told him, her voice a mere breath of sound.
Mercer eased back—just a little—to stare down at her. “Know what?”
“That I love him.” It hurt. He’d told her, he’d made sure that she knew, but she hadn’t been able to say those three words to him.
“You’ll tell him.” Mercer gave a firm nod. “When he comes out of surgery, when he opens his eyes and calls for you, you’ll tell him then.”
She wanted to believe him. Once, she would have believed anything that Mercer said.