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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

D elilah stared at the screen of the cell phone in confusion. At first, she thought there was something wrong with the device, that it was malfunctioning, but the connection was still live. Slowly, the roar of noise faded away, and the hair-raising sound of a human scream pierced the line.

A bomb.

That was a bomb.

She sucked in a gasp.

“Cas. Cas!” The horrifying reality of what had happened had her shouting into the phone, desperate to know if he was alive.

How could he be? The bomb had sounded catastrophic.

Even if he was, he could be terribly injured or maimed…

She heard movement, crashing sounds, and heavy breathing.

“Cas?” She wanted to go to him, to hold him, to help, but she didn’t even know where he was.

She heard him make a noise. A grunt of pain.

“Are you okay? Please answer me. Are you hurt? Where are you?”

What if he was dying?

“I forgive you. It wasn’t your fault. Losing the baby and my medical problems were never your fault. We both know I’d have probably pushed you away after the miscarriage. The same way you pushed me away. We’re a lot alike. Stubborn. Stupid. Please, don’t die on me now. Not now we’ve?—”

“I’m okay.” His voice cut off her words and she slapped her hand over her mouth as joy and horror filled her. Joy that he was alive. Horror that he might still be seriously injured.

“There was a bomb, but I’m okay. Unhurt. I have to hangup because I can’t hear for shit. I need to warn people in the church.”

A lump filled her throat. It was so Cas . Thinking of others. Being the hero. He had always considered himself part villain, but he’d never understood that was the part of him she’d loved the most.

He hung up on her and she lowered herself, shaking, to the floor. Tears came then. Tears she’d been holding onto since she’d found David’s body.

And wasn’t it humiliating that, even after all these years, after everything that had happened, it was the thought of Cas Demarco being hurt that truly had the power to bring her to her knees?