Unconditionally

Madison Anne

Description

Cassandra's life is finally returning back to normal; living with her birth mother, caring for her little sister, finally dating her best friend, Cassandra's free to live her life in Johnson City, Tennessee. There's just one catch: coming back from college, one of her high school friends is shot, and mayhem breaks throughout the town as they look for the killer. Soon, Cassandra is wrapped into the investigation, and her life, along with her family's, is threatened.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Detective
• Mystery
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 27 février 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456630539
• Langue: English

Extrait

Unconditionally
Madison Anne
 
Also by Madison Anne
 
Young Adult:
Perfectly Safe Series:
Perfectly Safe
Unconditionally
Not Our Goodbye
The Day He Left Me
 
Other Novels:
What You Didn’t Know
 
Children’s Series
The Ogobeast Series
The Roar of the Ogobeast
Copyright © 2018 Madison Anne
All rights reserved.
 
Published 2018 in the US
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-3053-9
 
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Now - Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
1999 - Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Now - Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
1999 - Chapter 35
Now - Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Now - Chapter 42
Chapter 43
1999 - Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Now - Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
1999 - Chapter 54
Now - Chapter 55
Chapter 56
1999 - Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Now - Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
1999 - Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Now - Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
1999 - Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Now - Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
1999 - Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Now - Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
2000 - Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Now - Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
2001 - Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Now - Chapter 96
Chapter 97
2001 - Chapter 98
Now - Chapter 99
Chapter 100
2001 - Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Now - Chapter 103
2007 - Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Now - Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
2007 - Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Now - Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
 
Introduction
1 Month After
Cassandra
I have fierce protective instincts for him. I always have. I guess that’s what happens when you lose half your family by the time you’re seventeen. Evelyn, my older sister, died in a car accident that put my littlest brother into a coma. My parents basically abandoned me because 1) I was dating someone they didn't like and 2) they dropped the giant bombshell that not only was I adopted, but I was the daughter of an unwedded mom. Completely taboo in our small town.
Most people know about it, but I didn’t until I was seventeen. I don’t know how I didn’t see it. Maybe they lied to me enough that I believed another version of the truth. Maybe I honestly thought despite all our differences, I actually was their daughter. Both my parents were blond and brown eyed. My hair is dark, dark brown and I have sharp green eyes. No one else in my family has green eyes, not my grandparents or any of my siblings.
But my aunt does. My aunt, who is also my mom. What kind of screwed world is it where a sister adopts her niece just to mess with her sister’s head? She knew the only way she could get back at Rebecca, my birth mom, was screwing with me, so that’s exactly what my adopted mom did. And she did it pretty well, well enough that half the time my sister spent with me was spent trying to protect me. It was nothing like what my boyfriend went through on a daily basis, though. Nothing close to that.
His dad beat him, doing it in front of me once. I had no idea until I was eighteen. He was the pastor of our small town, and like another dad to me. I grew up over at their house and called my boyfriend’s mom my mom. I adored them. All of them. His little sister was like a mini-me. Once Melanie died of cancer, though, everything changed. Pastor Asriel no longer smiled; he just barked out orders and openly disapproved of my attachment to Danny.
I saw the bruises. I should’ve known. We never lied to each other, though. Ever. He knew the minute I was scared or when my mom decked me. I knew what he was thinking once Melanie was diagnosed and how close he was to breaking. I trusted him, though, when he told me he was falling or getting into fights with his brother. He’s always been gentler than me; I’m stupid for believing he would actually get into fights with Lewis. Nonetheless, I believed him, and for three years, I was totally oblivious to the abuse.
And then I saw. I went over there and confronted his mom. And God, I wish I hadn’t. His dad threatened him in front of me, beat him in front of me. If I had a gun or a knife, I would’ve killed his dad there right on the spot.
Instead, I shot him the day before my little brother’s birthday.
I don’t regret it one bit.
Chapter 1
Danny
“Tell me the story of my name again”.
Cass smiles at her little sister as she tucks the blanket around her chin. “You know that story, baby”.
“I want to hear it again!”
“Okay. Your name is…”
“Hebrew!” Ava grins up triumphantly at Cass.
“And it means…”
“Living and breathing!”
“Mom named you Ava Hope, so…”
“So it’s living and breathing hope!”
“See, you know the story,” Cass leans down to kiss her little sister on the forehead. “Now go to sleep. I love you”.
“Goodnight, Sissy”.
As Ava speaks, Cass pauses in the doorway, looking down at Ava. Right now, both of them are a mirror image of Evelyn, Cass’ older sister, especially Ava.
“You’re a good sister,” I take her hand and start leading her out, past the memories of Evelyn.
“Evelyn would’ve been better”.
“Evelyn wouldn’t have loved Ava like you love her”.
“Yes she would’ve,” her voice turns soft. “She would’ve loved her like she loved me”.
“Loves,” I correct.
“Loved,” she rolls her eyes at me.
“She still loves you”.
“She’s dead,” Cass says dryly. “She died protecting me”.
“She died loving you more than anyone else in the world”.
“Ava looks like her,” she says softly, curling up next to me on the couch. “Sometimes, when I look at her….it’s like seeing Evelyn all over again. And then sometimes, when I’m playing with her or putting her in bed, it’s like Evelyn’s the little sister and I’m her, tucking myself in, telling her stories….”
“Like you did with Mel”.
“Like with Mel. You know….in a week, she’d be fifteen”.
I tighten my hold on Cass but don’t reply to her.
My sister died when I was fifteen. For three months, Cass and I watched her die of cancer, watched her lose every sense of herself and fade away from the vibrant, happy little ten year old she once was. Cass was over at our house every day, trying to cheer Mel up, make her laugh, do anything to make her smile. Sometimes she succeeded, and sometimes she didn’t. The week before my sister died, Cass didn’t leave our house, singing to Mel, watching over her while she slept. She was there the night before Mel passed.
Then, three years later, Cass lost her own sister in a car accident, and it broke her every bit as much as losing Melanie, if not more. Cass and Evelyn were inseparable, completing each other’s sentences and always teasing each other.
“Hey,” Cass scoots away from me, sitting so she’s directly in front of me. “She’s safe, now, with Evelyn. Both of them are”. Tears fill her eyes as she looks at me. “And as much as I miss them….as much as I want them here with us….Mel’s not in pain, and Eve’s…Eve’s not…” her words get caught in her throat as he tears fall.
“Eve’s safe,” I finish for her, pulling her back to me.
Chapter 2
Cassandra
A prison is the last place I want to be on a beautiful Saturday morning, but as usual, Rebecca convinces me to get my ass out of bed and paste a smile on my face. In five years, the woman who was my teacher evolved into my mother; never in a million years would I’ve known she actually was my mother. Then, low and behold, my world exploded, and the people who were my parents weren’t. The people I’d trusted and loved had lied to me my whole life.
“You sure you want to do this?” My boyfriend looks at me, eyebrows raised, protective of me, as always. “You don’t have to”.
“I need to”.
“I want to see her,” Uriah announces from the back seat.
“Of course you do,” I mutter under my breath. “You just want cheezits and a soda”.
“Hey!” My fifteen year old brother pegs his pencil at me. Like me, he always has a sketchbook and pencil in hand. “You taught me well!”
“Okay,” I square my shoulders and open the car door. “Let’s go”.
Since it’s the middle of Tennessee, we don’t have to wait long to be processed inside and our paperwork looked over. I’ve been here twice before, so some of the guards know me, make comments to me. The entire time, I feel Danny’s eyes on me, watching me, trying to read me for any trace of emotion. He despises Kate almost as much as I do, but he’s here, solely for me. If this were his father, I really don’t know if he’d be here, even if I asked him to.
His dad was a monster. At first, I had no idea; I was blind and stupid. His parents were like my own. I grew up at his house. When Mel was diagnosed, though, I saw the change in his father, heard the harshness of his voice. Eventually, I saw the bruises. And I did everything in my power to get him the hell away from my boyfriend. Including shooting his own father.
“Here, baby,” I hand my little brother a couple bucks. “Go get a snack”.
When he’s gone, I lean my head back against my boyfriend, closing my eyes. His voice is gentle when he speaks. “Cass, are you sur