Page 21 of Secret Hope (Hope Landing: New Recruits #5)
Head buzzing with the effort it took to maintain her composure so late into the day, Cassidy wrenched open the door to her suite.
The room’s soft lighting felt like a benediction after the tournament's harsh fluorescents.
She closed the door behind her and immediately sagged against it, the professional mask she'd worn for hours finally slipping.
Her shoulders ached from maintaining perfect posture, her cheeks hurt from forcing smiles, and her mind felt scraped raw from constantly calculating which plays would satisfy Vega's expectations.
"How did it go?" Kenji asked immediately. "You look exhausted."
"I eliminated Petrov," Cassidy managed, her voice hoarse from hours of controlled tension. "And I'm working on the third target now—DJ Reagan. Had to bluff him out of two major hands. Made him look like an amateur in front of the cameras."
"You're incredible," Kenji said, genuine admiration in his voice. "The way you're holding it together under this pressure—most people would have collapsed hours ago."
Most people don't have someone looking at them the way you're looking at me , she thought, then immediately pushed the dangerous notion away.
Sophia moved toward her with the intuitive care that had made her indispensable over the past month. "Come sit down. You need food and rest."
"First, you need to hear this," Kenji said, moving to the sitting area where he was setting up his laptop, connecting it to the suite's large-screen TV. "But Sophia's right—you need to eat something too."
The smell of food from the covered trolley made her stomach clench with nausea, but she knew he was right. She couldn't afford to collapse from hunger in the middle of whatever came next.
"Team's connecting now," Kenji announced as faces appeared on the television screen. Knight Tactical's core team filled the display, arranged in what looked like a tactical operations center.
Cassidy's breath caught at their appearance. Gone were the casual clothes and relaxed demeanor from their earlier conference. Now they wore black tactical gear, weapons visible, faces painted with the grim determination of operators preparing for combat.
"Cassidy," Ronan Quinn's voice filled the room, his tone carrying the kind of steady confidence that had probably kept his SEAL teams alive through impossible odds. "Good to see you. How are you holding up?"
"I'm managing," she replied, though her voice sounded shakier than she'd intended.
"You're doing more than managing," Ronan said firmly. "What you've accomplished today—maintaining cover under that kind of pressure—most people would have broken hours ago. You should be proud."
Despite everything, warmth spread through Cassidy's chest. Professional recognition from Kenji and his warrior friends meant something, even in these circumstances.
"Here," Sophia said, approaching the food trolley with Spence in tow. "You need to eat before?—"
She stopped mid-sentence, her face twisting in disgust as she lifted one of the silver covers. Moving quickly, she slipped something from beneath the plate into her pocket, but not quickly enough.
"What?" Cassidy asked, already knowing she wouldn't like the answer.
"Is it a bug? Please tell me it's not a bug," Spencer said, backing away slightly. "Because one time at this resort in Cabo, I found a scorpion in my room service oatmeal and I literally?—"
"Spencer," Sophia cut him off, clearly reluctant to add to Cassidy's burden. "It's nothing. Just?—"
Cassidy eyed her assistant. "Show me."
Reluctantly, Sophia pulled a folded piece of resort stationary from her pocket. The handwriting was elegant, expensive fountain pen on cream paper.
Compliments on a job well done. So far. —X.V.
"Oh," Spencer breathed, his usual chatter dying instantly. "That's... that's way creepier than a scorpion."
The walls closed in around her. Even here, in what should have been their private sanctuary, Vega was watching. Monitoring.
Grading her performance like a twisted professor.
"He's everywhere. Even our food—he knew exactly when it would arrive, where we'd be..."
"Hey." Kenji moved closer, his hand covering hers, stilling the tremor. "This is what he does. Psychological warfare. Making you feel like he's omnipotent." His amber eyes held steady certainty. "But he's not. He's just a man with security cameras and too much money. We've faced worse."
He squeezed her hand gently, gaze locking with hers. “My team and I have faced way worse than this clown. We got this, Cass. Believe that.”
She nodded, trying to smile in gratitude, but her lips barely moved. “Petrov knew I cheated him." She crumpled the note in her fist. "I suppose that’s the point, right?"
"Vega’s going down," Kenji said firmly. "One more day, and this is all just a bad memory."
On screen, Zara Khoury leaned forward, beginning her briefing. "Security chief is Hendrik Van Der Merwe. Former South African Defence Force, special operations. Goes by 'Tank.' Been with Vega for eight years."
A photograph appeared on screen—a man in his fifties with steel-gray hair and the weathered face of someone who'd seen too much violence.
"Van Der Merwe's got a twenty-year-old daughter," Zara continued. "Emma, junior at Vassar College. Art history major, no criminal connections."
Another photo replaced the security chief's—a young woman with her father's strong jaw but gentle eyes, laughing at what looked like a campus coffee shop. She appeared innocent, untouched by the darkness that defined her father's world.
"Vega's been sending Van Der Merwe surveillance photos of his daughter," Zara said grimly. "Pictures of her walking to class, studying in the library, meeting friends. The message is clear."
Cassidy's heart clenched as she stared at the girl's photo. Emma Van Der Merwe had no idea her life hung in the balance of her father's loyalty to a monster.
Another innocent caught in this web , she thought, touching her cross reflexively. Lord, please keep her safe.
"Two-pronged operation," Ronan's voice took over the briefing. "Jack's team deploys to Vassar immediately. Once Emma is secure, Kenji approaches Van Der Merwe with proof and an ultimatum."
"Timeline's tight," Maya Chen added from her position at a communications console. "We're wheels up in fifteen minutes. Sixteen hours to boots on ground."
Sixteen hours.
Cassidy couldn’t stop calculating the variables, the things that could go wrong, the people who could die if any piece of this complex operation failed.
She was the lynchpin. The one person who had to maintain her cover, keep playing Vega's game, hold everything together while professional operators risked their lives across two different locations.
"You're going to be fine," Kenji said quietly, apparently reading her expression. "These people are the best at what they do."
But as Cassidy stared at Emma Van Der Merwe's innocent face on the screen, all she could think about was how many ways this could go wrong.
The weight of it crashed over her suddenly—not just her own life, but Sophia's, Kenji's, Spencer, this girl she'd never met, and two teams of heroes who were about to fly into danger for her sake.
Without warning, she was back in that hotel room doorway, staring at Marcus Holloway's body. The metallic smell of blood. The way his eyes stared at nothing.
That could be Emma. That could be Sophia. That could be any of us.
The room felt too small, the air too thin, the weight of everyone's lives pressing down like a physical force.
"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you," she tried to remind herself, but the verse felt hollow against the crushing weight of responsibility.
"Cassidy?" Kenji's voice seemed to come from very far away.
She tried to respond, but her throat had closed up. The faces on the television screen blurred as her vision tunneled. Too many people depending on her. Too many ways to fail.
I can't do this. I'm not strong enough. I'm going to get everyone killed.
"Hey." Kenji was beside her suddenly, his hand warm and steady on her back. "Look at me."
She managed to turn toward him, though her peripheral vision remained dark and swimming. His amber eyes held the same steady strength that had anchored her in the stairwell after finding the body.
"You need air," he said simply. "Let's get you to the beach."
"I should stay," Sophia started to rise. "Help with planning?—"
"Stay," Kenji said firmly. "Make sure the team has everything they need. We'll be back in twenty minutes."
Cassidy nodded gratefully, already moving toward the door. The suite that had felt like sanctuary now seemed like a tomb, filled with too many voices, too many plans, too many lives hanging in the balance.
As Kenji guided her toward the hallway, his hand steady against her back, she caught one last glimpse of Emma Van Der Merwe's photo on the screen. A girl who had no idea that her life depended on whether a professional poker player could maintain her composure for eighteen more hours.
The beach waited ahead, offering the promise of space and air and maybe—if she was lucky—enough peace to find her center before stepping back into Vega's web of deception and death.
And perhaps, a few more moments with the man who was quickly becoming more than just her protector.