Chapter4
The drive back to the hospital was suffocating.
Cassian’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel of his Porsche, driving with reckless, aggressive speed.
I sat silently in the passenger seat, clutching my faded duffel bag tight in my lap.
My throat throbbed with a burning agony, a sharp reminder that this man had nearly ended my life just moments ago.
The tires squealed as we swerved into the hospital's VIP underground parking bay.
"I'll go up to the pediatric wing first," Cassian instructed, his tone smooth, dangerously calm. "Sera is highly emotional right now. I need to prepare her. I’ll make sure the police are kept out of this."
He reached out, his thumb casually grazing the fresh, dark bruises forming on my neck.
"Wait in the lobby," he commanded. "When I text you, come up and apologize to Mia."
He paused, his eyes gleaming with a sick, twisted affection. "Do this right, Lark, and I will forgive you for everything tonight. We can put this all behind us."
"I understand," I rasped.
Cassian smiled in satisfaction. He stepped out of the car and strode toward the VIP elevators. He didn't even look back.
The moment the heavy steel doors slid shut, the obedient facade shattered. I grabbed my bag and moved.
I didn't walk toward the main lobby. As a top trauma surgeon at this hospital, I knew its layout better than anyone.
I utilized the surgical staff's private transit corridors, moving quickly through the shadows.
I knew the exact rotation of the security cameras and timed my pace to hit the forty-second blind spot during the midnight shift change.
Bypassing the alarmed fire exits, I slipped through the B-level biohazard stairwell and pulled a burner phone from my scrubs—a safety measure I’d hidden in my locker months ago.
I sent a single, encrypted text consisting of one word: Now.
Within minutes, an armored SUV idled in the shadows of the loading dock.
Before I could even reach for the handle, the back door flew open.
A strong hand swiftly pulled me inside, and the door slammed shut.
Milo Saavedra sat beside me. He was one of my three childhood fiancés, working as a specialist right here in this very hospital.
His jaw was locked in silent fury. He opened a tactical medical kit by his feet and quickly treated the ugly bruising across my windpipe.
He didn't ask questions; the violent marks told him exactly what Cassian had done.
In the driver's seat, Cade gripped the steering wheel, his broad shoulders tense as he shifted the heavy vehicle into gear.
"Nima sent me," Cade said, a dangerous edge in his voice. "She said it's time to bring you home."
I leaned my head against the cool glass and closed my eyes, letting out a long, shuddering breath. Nima Dawa. My mother. She was the one who loved me the most in the whole world, so I sent this text for her.
The eight-year nightmare was over. I was finally returning to my own life.
Meanwhile, the pediatric ward was suffocatingly quiet.
Cassian stood near the nurses' station, his arms crossed confidently over his chest.
He checked his watch; ten minutes had passed since he sent the text. He thought he had her perfectly cornered.
He was entirely convinced that, broken and terrified, she would emerge from the elevator at any second to surrender.
He was already enjoying the surge of power he felt.
The elevator chimed. The doors opened.
Cassian smirked and took a step forward. But it wasn't Lark.
His two private security contractors stepped out, their faces pale. "Sir, she's not in the lobby. She left," the lead guard stammered nervously.
Cassian’s smirk vanished instantly, replaced by a dark scowl. A surge of incredulous anger flared in his chest. "What do you mean she's gone?" he barked. "Lock down the hospital! Call the gate guards!"
He stormed directly into the hospital's security monitoring room, slamming his heavy hands onto the console. "Find her!" he roared at the terrified guard.
The guard frantically switched through the feeds. "Mr. Vale... there's nothing. The cameras near the basement loading docks were remotely looped. There is absolutely no trace of her."
Infuriated, Cassian yanked his phone from his pocket.
He opened his banking app, intending to freeze her joint credit card to cut off her lifeline.
Account Terminated.
His chest heaved with indignant rage.
She actually dared to defy him? He sprinted back to his Porsche and drove like a madman, tearing through the streets back to their high-rise
He squealed into the penthouse underground garage .
Her sedan was still sitting perfectly in its designated spot, completely untouched. She hadn't driven away. She had a planned extraction.
He vaulted out of his car and rushed up to the penthouse. The heavy oak doors opened to a dead, suffocating silence. He tore through the pristine living room and kicked open the master bedroom closet.
He froze. All the designer gowns, diamonds, and luxury watches he had bought her remained perfectly in place. Everything his money could buy was left behind as garbage.
But the duffel bag she had brought out of his car, her medical textbooks, and her worn blue scrubs—all the authentic pieces of herself she truly cared about—were gone.
She hadn't taken a dime of his wealth. She only took herself.
Cassian’s jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached. A violent surge of fury overtook him.
How dare she walk away from me?
Refusing to accept defeat, he wildly dialed his private investigator. "Lock down the airports! Check the bus stations, the borders! I don't care what it costs, drag her back here now!"
Two agonizing hours passed in the silent penthouse. Then, his phone finally rang.
"Sir," the investigator replied, his tone chillingly grim.
"We searched the entire city. There is no trace. No flights, no tickets. Her digital footprint has been systematically erased. She's completely off the grid."
The phone slipped from his hand, clattering against the marble floor.
He had the money and power to buy half the city. He thought he possessed complete control.
But as the fact crashed over his arrogant rage, a horrifying realization set in.
He didn't know her family and even know her real name.
He had built a gilded cage to trap her, but tonight she had flawlessly broken the lock and discarded him completely.
And now, for the first time in his life, Cassian Vale was the one trapped in the dark.
