Fractured pieces, slowly mending
942 Words
Cassidy’s Point of View
The scent of antiseptic clung to the sterile hospital room, but the faintest rays of morning sun streamed in through the window, softening the white walls. I sat propped up in bed, one hand resting protectively on my swollen belly. The child inside me moved again—restless, unaware that its very existence came from the worst days of my life.
I closed my eyes, exhaling slowly through the dull ache in my chest. I was tired—bone-deep tired—but something in me refused to rest. I was waiting for something. For someone.
The door creaked open. Footsteps followed, slow and sure. I opened my eyes to find Zander, Zayden, and Zavier stepping inside.
They were like living reflections of one another—tall, broad-shouldered, with storm-dark eyes and raven-black hair. But their differences were in the details. Zander was the quiet storm, steady and commanding. Zayden moved with cautious calculation. Zavier wore his heart closest to the surface, his kindness a visible warmth.
They paused just inside the door, watching me the way they always did now. With concern. With… something else I couldn’t name.
“She’s on her way,” Zavier said gently.
“She?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Zayden gave a small nod. “Amber just picked her up. Your daughter. Ellie.”
My breath caught. My heart leapt—and dropped all at once.
Ellie.
The one thing I had left in the world. The one piece of me untouched by blood and pain and captivity.
“She’s okay?” I whispered.
“She’s safe,” Zander said. “Healthy. She’s been with Amber since… since the raid.”
I couldn’t speak. Emotion flooded my throat, thick and choking. My arms trembled where they lay over the swell of my stomach.
And then, through the quiet, I heard it.
“Mama!”
A high, breathy squeal.
A tiny body barreled through the doorway before Amber could even catch up. Brunette locks, flushed cheeks, and wide blue eyes.
Ellie. My mini me.
“Ellie,” I sobbed, reaching out.
She stumbled toward me with a delighted squeak, arms raised, and I gathered her against me so tightly I feared I might break her.
She was real. She was warm. She smelled like sunshine and baby lotion and home.
I cradled her to my chest, pressing my cheek to her head as sobs tore silently from my throat. My baby. My girl.
“Hi, Mama!” she said through a giggle, her little hand patting my face.
“I’m here,” I whispered brokenly. “Mama’s here. I missed you so much.”
The hospital walls fell away. The ache in my body faded beneath the feel of her tiny arms around my neck.
She didn’t know. She couldn’t possibly know what had happened. She didn’t know the darkness I’d come from, or the fact that the baby in my belly wasn’t born of love but of pain—conceived in a prison by a monster.
But she knew me.
She remembered me.
My hands shook as I held her. Her soft hair tickled my chin. I caught a glimpse of Amber near the door, her eyes misty.
“She never stopped asking for you,” she said softly. “Even when she didn’t have all the words yet, she knew your picture. She kissed it every night before bed.”
I choked on another sob and kissed the top of Ellie’s head.
She wriggled a bit, pointing to my belly with wide, curious eyes. “Baby?”
The word stung like a knife.
“Yes,” I said, because I didn’t know what else to say. “There’s a baby.”
Zander stepped closer then, slow and careful. “She’s perfect, Cassidy. Just like her mother.”
I looked up at him, startled. He wasn’t talking about the baby I carried. He was talking about Ellie.
I nodded once, swallowing hard.
Zayden offered a small stuffed bunny. “She’s been carrying this around for days.”
Ellie squealed, grabbing it, and nuzzled her face into its tattered fur.
“I never thought I’d see her again,” I admitted, my voice trembling. “For so long… I thought I’d never get out. I thought she’d forget me.”
“She didn’t,” Zavier said quietly. “And now she doesn’t have to.”
I looked down at Ellie’s small hand resting against my belly.
The baby inside me shifted again.
My gaze softened, though it was still lined with fear. I didn’t love this child—not yet. Not when it reminded me of cold concrete, chains, and cruel alpha eyes. But it was mine now, in the way all things growing inside you eventually become yours. I didn’t ask for it, but I would protect it. For Ellie. For myself.
I lifted my eyes back to the brothers.
“Thank you,” I said, voice raw. “For saving me. For bringing her back to me.”
Zander’s jaw flexed. Zayden gave a quiet nod. Zavier’s eyes met mine, filled with something I didn’t understand.
“You saved yourself,” Zayden said finally. “We just gave you the way out.”
Ellie yawned, her head heavy on my chest. She snuggled closer, her bunny clutched tight.
I pulled the blanket around us and leaned back into the pillows. My heart ached, but it beat stronger than it had yesterday. Maybe that was enough.
The brothers lingered in the room, not speaking, but staying.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, I didn’t feel alone.
- Writer
