Her Assassin's Heart - Book 2

Chapter 46

Cassandra didn't hear the door burst open. She didn't see Lavinia push her way into the room. All she could see was the blood on her father's clothes, and she was frozen in place as his legs buckled and he crumpled to the floor.

Lavinia cried out, a wail of anguish and disbelief, and whatever spell had held Cassandra in position broke. Closing the distance between her father's prone body and herself, she fell to her knees, ignoring the pain it caused her.
Lavinia was beside her in an instant, moving faster than normally possible for a pregnant woman. A cry escaped her own lips, a wordless scream for help.

"Father!" Lavinia held his face in her hands. "Stay with me! Just—just hold on!"

Nickolas was there, pressing in beside them. His expert hands pulled apart the blood covered clothes to inspect the wounds.

"You have to do something! Save him!" Cassandra cried, gripping Nickolas's arm without taking her eyes off her father.

He was so pale. His face was gray, and there was death lurking in his eyes. No, no! This couldn't be happening.

"Do something!" Her voice didn't sound the least bit familiar in her ears.

Blood frothed at their father's lips, and Lavinia was weeping. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Nickolas was supposed to save him. He was supposed to save them all. How could this be happening?

Time was moving so slow. Each ragged breath her father fought to take seemed to last a lifetime, but at the same time, they too quick. Too soon.

"Hey," he wheezed, and somehow, his hands found Lavinia's and hers. "Sh—sh."

It was an obvious struggle for him to blink, and even his gentle murmuring seemed to cost him greatly. Lavinia pressed his hand to her cheek and kissed it.

"Don't go." She breathed, leaning closer to him. "Please, I need you still."

Ezra let out a choked laugh. "No, my sweet. No." A smile toyed at his lips. "You have—" a gasp interrupted him, and more blood spilled down the side of his face. "Do not let—my—going—ruin it all."

Cassandra leaned closer to catch his words. She forgot that Nickolas was still in the room, and for this moment, it was just Lavinia, their father, and her. Family, again. Reunited—if only for a fleeting moment.

Ezra's eyes flitted to her. "My Cassie—you are—so strong. Don't—give up." His grip tightened slightly on her hand, and even that slight use of his strength seemed to cost him. "Livy," a cough interrupted him. "Don't—let—them—bring you down. Fight—together." A grunt of pain escaped his lips. "Whatever—else—happens, I am—so glad—I could—see the—wonderful—women—you've become. I—wouldn't change—anything. Not—a—single—moment." He looked at Cassandra steadily. Pointedly. "I—regret—nothing—and I—am—so—proud—to call—you—mine."

A sob shook through Cassandra's body. That look, so filled with love—he wouldn't change it. For her, he was happy that everything had happened the way it had. All those years ago, his love for another, his marriage to her mother, his misery, he didn't want to change it. Changing it would mean she was never born, and he wouldn't have given her up even for a chance at his own happiness.

It was always giving with him. Selflessly, he had given his time and resources to earn money to keep her mother and her happy with frivolities, and despite the woman she had become, he had loved her. To him, it didn't matter who had fathered her, he was her father, and nothing had been able to change it.

"Don't go." She sobbed, leaning closer to him.

"I—love—you." He looked tired. So tired. "So—much." His gaze flitted between her and Lavinia.