A Hostage to Delusion by M J Marlow (the reading list book txt) 📖

on…”
“Not yet,” Cassie looked up at him and he saw her struggling not to cry. “Please don’t push, Dekker. I’m not ready.” She got up on her feet. “I need some air. I’ll be over at the fountain.”
Dekker frowned and watched as she left the tent. David appeared as if out of nowhere and he relaxed. That man would go to hell and back to keep Cassie safe. He didn’t need to worry about his little sister. But he did. She had gone through hell her entire life and she was still trapped in the memories of what had happened. She needed to find a man who would love her.
Cassie and David went to the fountain and he knew she was worried. There weren’t many expressions and moods of hers he missed now. He had made a study of Cassie Yates Garrison when he became her friend. He knew there was no hope of his ever being more until she got past what she had suffered, but he was a patient man. He could wait.
“I’m not being fair to you, David,” Cassie sighed as she looked up at him. “You should be spending time with someone who can give you what you want.”
“You’re my friend,” David smiled and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m always there for my friends.” His eyes went cold. “Tremont is here,” he said to her. “You want me to stay?”
“Close,” Cassie nodded. “I promised you a dance.”
“Two,” David said gently as he stroked his cheek. He kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t let him bully you.”
Cassie smiled nervously and turned to go talk to Tremont. He was standing over by the hedge that hid the park from the street lighting a cigarette. He smiled at her and motioned to the bench.
“I’m not staying that long,” Cassie said tightly. “What do you want, Mr. Tremont that is so important that you would intrude on a family event?”
“A Garrison needs to be at the ceremony, Cassandra,” Tremont said firmly. “You are the only one left.”
“That’s not true,” Cassie told him. “Eric and Oliver…”
“A disowned son and a bastard?” Tremont broke in. “The town is no more accepting of them than Jonathan was. It has to be you.” He looked past her to where David was watching. “You can bring your guard dog, if it will assure you we mean no harm, Cassandra, but the bastard is not welcome.”
“Oliver is my son,” Cassie snapped at him. “The next time you call him a bastard, Mr. Tremont, I am going to hurt you.” She turned to go and he held her back. “I’ll be there.”
“You have to come with me,” Tremont said as he tightened his hold on her arm. He raised his other hand and two men joined him. “Handle the dog,” he ordered as he yanked Cassie along with him. “No fuss now, Cassandra. We don’t want to hurt you.”
“But I want to hurt you!” Cassie snapped and struck him. The heel of her hand went up to his nose and he screamed in pain. She ran then and saw a car pulling up to the curb. The man who’d been watching her pushed open the passenger door.
“Get in, Mrs. Garrison,” he said as he looked past her. “Hurry!”
Cassie hesitaTed and he nodded behind her. Tremont was coming after her. She didn’t know this man, but she knew Tremont. She got into the car without an argument and the man drove away before Tremont could get to the car. She watched as the car turned the corner and went past the church. Only then did he panic.
“Let me out,” she demanded as she tried to open the door. “You can’t take me away from my family!”
“That’s what Tremont wanTed,” the man said to her. “If I let you rejoin your family now, he’ll just come after you again.”
Cassie couldn’t argue with his logic. She knew Tremont and she had seen how desperate he was getting. Then she thought of David and she tried again.
“David…”
“Your friend is all right,” her rescuer told her. “My men stepped in to help him when we saw what was happening. He will be brought to you and we will turn you over to him.” A flash of pain crossed his face. Cassie felt that flash of memory and connection and wished she knew what was going on. “You’ll be back with your family by morning.”
“Morning?” Cassie squeaked. “I can’t be gone that long. Oliver needs me…”
“Your son has people to care for him in your absence,” he broke in firmly. “My way insures you get back to him.” He could see that she was not buying his explanation and he shook his head. His Cassie! Always so damned intractable when she wanTed her own way. “If we go there now, you will be taken and these men will not hesitate to hurt your boy to do so.”
“Why are you helping me?” Cassie asked him after a few moments of silence. “I don’t know you.”
“I knew your husband,” he replied; it was only a partial lie after all. “We were friends in college.” He saw her disappointment. She was too perceptive; she had felt their connection as he had. “We drifTed apart when I went into the FBI.” He was silent. His phone rang. “Bannister.”
Cassie turned to look out the window and frowned as she saw a car following them too closely. It began to pick up speed and her rescuer noTed it and told his people where they were. He tossed her the phone.
“Keep calling out directions,” he asked her. “I need to concentrate on losing them.”
Cassie nodded and did as he asked. She called out their turns and hung up as the man took the turns quickly and expertly. There was no way this was Adam. He was not this good a driver. Cassie was disappoinTed, but she found that she was also growing quite intrigued by this strange man. They left town and two cars pulled in behind them, making their pursuer peel off.
“They’re gone,” Cassie sighed and turned to the man beside her as they continued out of town. “You can take me home now.” He didn’t say anything to her but kept driving away from town. Cassie did not understand what was going on. He had told her he would let her go home and he was getting further away. “Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere we can keep you safe,” Adam told her calmly. He haTed lying to her like this, but her safety was more important. “If I had told you that you were being taken into protective custody, you wouldn’t have gotten into the car, Mrs. Garrison.”
“What?” Cassie gasped. She shook her head and tried to get out of the car again. “You can’t do this! I need to get back to my son!”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Garrison,” Adam said honestly. “We need to keep you safe. Were you aware that the whole town of Garrisonville has been tasked with bringing you back there?”
“Yes,” Cassie nodded. “They need me to sign some documents…”
“They are going to murder you, girl,” Adam told her bluntly. He saw her pale. “The town blames you for what happened to their benefactor and his son.” He continued on. “They are going to make you sign documents turning the Garrison fortune over to James Tremont.”
“He can have it!” Cassie snapped. “I don’t want to have anything to do with Garrisonville. I just want to go back to my family.”
“We’ll get you home, Mrs. Garrison,” Adam said to her fervently. “It’s just going to take a while.” She glared at him and he wanTed to kiss her. “Trust me.”
“Why?” Cassie spat at him. “You’re just as bad as they are! You didn’t give me any more of a choice than they ever did about what I wanTed to do!”
Adam kept quiet. He knew she was right but he was only concerned with keeping her safe. Tremont was going to kill her if he could not keep her out of his hands. He would die before he’d let that happen. He was glad he had a few loyal friends left in Garrisonville. They had let him know what had been happening there since his ‘death’ and the arrest of his father. Tremont hadn’t wasTed any time taking over.
“Tremont could always keep you like a pet, Mrs. Garrison,” he said into the silence. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of that before. It would cement the man’s position in town far more if he forced Cassie to marry him. She was the Garrison heir and any man married to her would automatically have control of the fortune. “It would mean you would never see your boy again.”
“Why can’t these people just leave me alone?” Cassie cried. “Why hasn’t anybody ever done anything to stop them?”
“That’s what we’re trying to do now, Mrs. Garrison,” Adam told her. “We should be at the safe house in eight hours. Why don’t you try to get some rest?”
Cassie glared at him but put the seat back and closed her eyes. Adam reached back for the blanket and covered her with it. She frowned but did not open her eyes to look at him. He smiled and shook his head. Cassie might be older now but she was still the same stubborn female he loved with all his heart. He glanced over at her repeaTedly as they drove, drinking in her delicate features and noticing the changes three years had wrought. At 15 she had been pretty, but now she was exquisite.
“Oh Cassie,” he sighed. “If only I could tell you the truth.”

James Tremont sat in the chair behind the desk in the Garrisonville City Hall and listened to his men tell him how they had lost Cassie. He was growing increasingly incensed by their failure and he wanTed to hurt someone.
“I don’t need to tell you how crucial it is that she be brought here, do I?” he asked them in a voice filled with menace. “So I don’t care how you do it. Find her and bring her here before Friday.” He leaned up and glared at them. “Because if Cassandra is not here on Friday in time for the ceremony, then you had better find a hole to crawl into because your lives will be forfeit.”
The men hurried out of his office and he slammed his fist into the top of his desk. How the hell had she managed to give them the slip? And just who was helping her? She had not shown up at her family’s home after the attempt at the church, and the cars following her had lost her just outside of town. It was a good thing he wasn’t counting entirely on his men to find the girl.
“Tremont,” he said as he picked up the phone when it rang. “Tell me.” He smiled as he heard the report. “Do what you have to. I want her here in Garrisonville by Friday.” He slammed the receiver down and his smile widened. “I’ve found you, darling.”
He pressed the intercom button. “Marsha, spread the word. The festival is on for Friday as scheduled. Cassandra will be coming home.” He picked up the photograph of Cassie and smiled as he traced her lips with the tip of his finger. “I hope you’re enjoying your little trip because soon you will be back here where you belong and you will never leave Garrisonville again.”

Cassie sat in the rocking chair on the porch of the cabin she’d been brought to. She shivered as the night air hit her bare arms and pulled a blanket around her body. It had been two days since