Healing hearts

Chapter thirty five

Cassie's pov

Days passed, but we didn't get any leads on Brian, Xander, or Ryan and Shawn. Despite all our efforts, we couldn't find them. I started to feel sick, and Mia forced me to see a doctor. I was stubborn, but eventually I gave in. The doctor confirmed that I was pregnant. I cried, knowing that Xander wasn't here with me, and that I couldn't surprise him with the news.

When I got home from the hospital, we received news that Brian had been found. I rushed to the police station. I met with Brian, and he told me that he was sorry. He said that he and Xander had been kidnapped by the people he had borrowed money from. I was so angry at him. He had gotten involved with dangerous people, and he had dragged Xander into it.

I asked him why Xander wasn't with him, and he told us that Xander had tried to escape with him , but he had been unable to. He told us everything that had happened, and he was so sorry. The police had gotten the name of the person who had kidnapped them, and it was someone they had suspected of illegal dealings before, but they hadn't had any proof to detain him. Now they did.

The police promised to find Xander and bring him home safely. In the meantime, Brian was taken to the hospital. He was badly bruised from the kidnapping, and I couldn't help but wonder if they had hurt Xander, too. I hated Brian for what he had done, and I couldn't bring myself to look at him.

Brian tried to apologize to me, but I couldn't bring myself to listen to him. I told him that if anything happened to Xander, I would never forgive him. A few days later, the police told us they had caught Caesar. I was so happy and I ran to the police station. I asked them if they had found Xander, but they said that Caesar wasn't telling them anything.

Apparently, he had been caught trying to leave the country. I asked them, "Where is my husband?" and I started to attack the man, but the police pulled me away and told me to calm down. "I told you they escaped," he said. "I don't know where the man is." I thought to myself, "What if he was telling the truth and Xander escaped, then where is he?"

"Calm down, miss," the police officer said. "It will be easier to find your husband now. Don't worry, he can't stay quiet for too long." They took Caesar away. Caesar was questioned, threatened, and even tortured by the police, but he kept insisting that he didn't know where Xander was and that he had escaped. If he was right, then where the hell was my husband?

Brian's pov

I was so hesitant to leave Xander there. He didn't look too good, and I was worried about him. But Caesar's men were approaching, so I hesitantly left. I ran to the freeway, which was about a few miles ahead . I didn't give up and kept running until I got there. I tried to stop some vehicles, but they all just sped by. I stood courageously in the middle of the road, and finally a man in a truck stopped. I ran to him.

"Are you crazy?" the man in the truck said. "I could have killed you!"

"I'm sorry," I said. "But I need your help." I told him about how I and my brother-in-law had been kidnapped and that I had gotten free. I told him that we couldn't leave until we found my brother-in-law, and he agreed to help me.

As night fell, Joe, the kind truck driver, and I went back to the ranch with flashlights to search for Xander. We saw Caesar's men packing some things and then leaving.

"Young man, I think we should just let the police handle this," Joe whispered to me. "I don't feel safe here."

I knew he was right, but I was afraid that I might be too late to help Xander. I said this to Joe, and he sighed. We looked around the ranch for hours, but we couldn't find him. I was afraid that they might have killed him. I was so worried, and I felt like I was going crazy. "We have to keep looking," I said to Joe. "We can't give up." He nodded, and we kept searching, but we found nothing. I broke down when we got back to his truck. I didn't know what I would do if anything had happened to Xander.

Joe took me to his home and offered me food and a place to stay for the night. I was grateful to him for his kindness. But I couldn't sleep. All I could think about was Xander and where he might be at that moment. I was worried that they might have killed him.

The next day, Joe took me to the police station, and they called my dad to let him know that I had been found. I was interrogated, and I told the police everything that had happened. Soon, my dad and Cassie joined us. I told them that we had both been kidnapped. Cassie looked at me with disappointment in her eyes. I hated myself for putting Xander in danger. I couldn't live with myself if we couldn't find him. The police took me to the hospital to get treated for my wounds, and then I was taken home.

I apologized to my dad, and he was deeply disappointed in me. He couldn't believe that I had gotten involved with such dangerous people. I hated myself for putting Xander in danger. I was so stupid. I saw Cassie crying over her husband, and it broke my heart. I tried to apologize to her, but she wouldn't forgive me. She was so angry and hurt. I felt terrible.

I tried to go back to work, but I couldn't focus. All I felt was regret and pain. A few days later, I was told that the police had caught caesar and him and they had given me some hope that they would tell us where they were keeping Xander. I kept asking for updates, but they said that the kidnappers didn't know where Xander was either. They had escaped with me, and then they had let us  go. I asked to see caesar and to talk to him.

"Hello traitor," caesar said as he saw me.

"Shut up, you fool," I said. "If anyone is a traitor, it's you. You deserve to rot in here."

He looked at me with anger in his eyes. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Where is my brother-in-law?" I demanded. "What did you do to him?"

He looked at me with an expression of irritation. "Are you stupid, or are you just pretending?" he said. "You both ran away together. How should I know where he is?"

"You caught him," I accused him. "What did you do to him?"

"Look, I'm not going to say this again," he said. "I don't know where that guy is. You both ran, and I lost you both. To be honest, I hope he's dead. That's what traitors deserve."

His words made me furious. I grabbed him by the collar and started shouting at him. The police pulled us apart and escorted me out of the room.

I left the cell, reeling from what caesar had said. If he truly didn't know where Xander was, then where was he? When I had last seen him, he had been wounded and in pain. Was it possible that he had died somewhere? The thought was unbearable. I broke down, sobbing, in the police station. The police tried to comfort me, saying that the investigation into Xander's disappearance was still ongoing and that they hoped to find him alive. I went to a chapel to pray for Xander. Guilt is a terrible thing. It eats up your soul.