“You don’t really believe that,” Kassidy said skeptically, a hint of anger in her tone. “And if you knew who I was, and what I’d done, you definitely wouldn’t have protected me. You’d hate me.”
“I don’t have to know you, or what you’ve done, to know that you’re worth protecting. It’s in my blood to protect others, the same as it’s in Evan’s, and it’s in the blood of everyone else standing here. That’s what we signed up for as FBI agents. That’s our job,” Ryder said calmly. “But more than that, I know enough about you. I know some of the lengths you’ve gone to in your pursuit to help others. In my eyes, that makes you even more worthy of protection. Evan absolutely made the right choice today. There’s nothing you can do or say to make me blame you for him getting hurt. So don’t even waste your energy arguing with me.”
Kassidy was speechless, a shocked expression on her face.
“Ditto,” Kate added with a bright smile, and the others groaned at the perpetually positive woman. They all went up to Kassidy, speaking quietly to her, and I watched as she relaxed, a small glimmer of hope appearing in her eyes.
After a few minutes, though, everyone except for Nolan started to drift away, re-focusing on the crime scene and the dead body. Meanwhile, Nolan focused his attention back on me, spending a few moments looking closely at the bruises on my chest. Once he was done, he stood up.
“You’re going to need an X-ray, my friend,” Nolan said as he patted my shoulder gently. “You may have cracked a rib or two.”
“That’s what I figured,” I answered. I moved to put my shirt back on, inhaling sharply with the movement, and I heard Kassidy draw in a deep breath, like she was in pain herself. Once I was dressed, I moved closer, putting my arm around her again, and I kept it there. “We’re a matching set now, with our bruises,” I whispered to her.
She smiled, and with a shrug, she pulled her scarf off and shoved it in her pocket, no longer hiding, and I was immensely proud of her.
“Will you do something for me?” I asked her, not wanting to bring it up, but unwilling to leave it alone, either.
“Maybe. What is it?” Kassidy asked.
“Will you promise to stop investigating Paradise Cruises now? And let us handle it?”
She sighed, and I was expecting her to start another argument, but she didn’t. “Okay.”
“Okay? You promise?” I asked. I couldn’t believe she was agreeing so easily.
“Yes, I promise,” Kassidy said. “But only because I’m feeling bad for you right now, since you were shot.”
“Is that all it takes to get you to stop arguing? Because I’d happily do it again during our next argument, if that’s the case.”
Kassidy gasped at me, smacking me lightly on the arm as I smiled mischievously at her.
“You’re impossible!” she said, and I laughed, ignoring the pain in my ribs. After a few moments, she couldn’t hold it back anymore, and she laughed, too, leaning her head against my shoulder as we watched my team evaluate the scene. It was the best feeling, but eventually, it came to an end, as Nolan walked back over to us.
“We’re going to call Mark to help us handle this,” he said, referring to a police officer with DC’s metro police that we trusted. “We need to leave you and Kassidy, and hopefully the entire FBI, out of this for now. Otherwise, we may not be able to continue our investigation into Paradise Cruises.” I nodded, trusting my team leader’s judgment. “And I asked Ally to take you to the hospital to get those x-rays, while we finish up here.”
A few moments later, Ally was walking towards me. “Ready to go?” she asked, then turned to Kassidy. “I can drop you off at your car on the way if that works?”
“That’s fine,” Kassidy said, glancing up at me, and I wondered if she was dreading being separated from me as much as I was from her.
11
KASSIDY
That night, sleep wouldn’t come, no matter what I did. Every time I closed my eyes, the gruesome scene of William’s suicide played on repeat in my head. With my eyes open, I kept thinking about how close Evan had come to dying. And I kept berating myself about all the people I should’ve saved but didn’t, starting with the Gonzales family, and including every other human my father trafficked. Their lives and deaths were branded onto my soul, and I couldn’t erase them, no matter how hard I tried.
Since it was a Friday night, I eventually decided that I could afford to drink some wine, hoping it would dull my brain enough to sleep. After all, I’m half-Finnish, and drinking alcohol is basically a national pastime for Finns.
Unfortunately, the wine didn’t help either, and before the sun started to rise, my sleepless, wine-addled brain had come up with a plan, and I’d bought a cruise ticket. And right before I ate breakfast, when I still hadn’t gotten any sleep, my phone decided to ring.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey, Kassidy, it’s Evan,” the voice on the other end of the phone said. “How are you doing this morning?”
I was shocked that he’d called me, especially this early, and especially on a Saturday.
“Kassidy?” Evan repeated when I didn’t say anything, and I jumped at his voice, wondering if I’d fallen asleep after I’d answered the phone.
“Hey,” I said hurriedly.
“Are you okay? I wanted to check on you after everything that happened yesterday.”
“Umm, yeah, I’m okay,” I answered, but I honestly didn’t know if I was. I’d been up all night, overthinking, and now I was exhausted, sleep-deprived, and the wine still hadn’t completely left my system.
“Are you sure? You sound a little off,” Evan said. “Yesterday was rough.I’m here for you, if you ever need to talk. Anytime.”
“Yes,” I squeaked. He’d taken me so off-guard that I’d forgotten how to speak. I was grateful for his offer, though, and I was honestly thinking about taking him up on it. I did need someone to talk to. Not just about yesterday, but about everything. I wasn’t sure if Evan was really up for all of that, though. I had a lot of baggage.
“Is that a yes, you’re okay, or a yes, you want to talk?” Evan asked with a laugh.
“Both?”
“Fair enough,” Evan said, humor in his voice. “What do you want to talk about first?”
I froze at his question. I wasn’t sure what to say, or how to start, so I clumsily admitted the very last thing I should’ve.
“I’m going on a cruise,” I told him.
“A cruise?” Evan asked, and I could tell that he was confused. Honestly, I was confused, too, so I just decided to keep talking, digging myself a deeper hole.
“Yes. A cruise on a Paradise Cruises ship,” I tell him, unsure if I should feel proud of my ingenuity, or if I should feel like an idiot for making another stupid decision. “I couldn’t sleep last night, thinking about everything, and I realized that William dying kind of ruins any opportunities I had to look into the human trafficking. So, I’m going on one of their cruises, and I’m going to snoop around and find the evidence you need.”