Jason had never been one to need physical comfort. No matter what he had been through, to be held, to be comforted, this was something he had never needed to feel. "Jason?" he looked up, his blank gaze meeting Maya's teary eyes. He had called them, Cassidy loved her friends, she would be glad they were here. "I'm so sorry, Jason" Maya stood in front of him and put her arms around his shoulders and Jason let her hug him.

"How is she?" Jason just shook his head against her belly and Maya sighed, stroking his back soothingly. "Jason,look at me" she crouched in front of him and he looked at her. "Cassidy is strong, she'll be fine" he nodded silently. "He's back, isn't he?" they both simultaneously looked at the gasping Peter, his jaw playing with anger. "Tell me he's not back" Peter pushed Maya away and grabbed Jason by the shoulders lifting him from his seat and started shaking him. "Tell me the bastard didn't come back just to beat her up again!" he yelled at Jason, who blinked in confusion, looking at Maya questioningly.

"Peter..." Maya tried to stop him, but Peter was too angry to listen. "Tell me you didn't let him get close to her?" Jason was slowly coming out of his trance. "Peter, for God's sake!" Maya managed to free Jason from her boyfriend and stood between the two. "There's his wife, do you think he would have let this happen if he knew?" she yelled at him, confusing Jason even more. "If I knew what?" he grabbed Maya by the shoulder and spun her around, squeezing her tightly, he looked at her with a quick burning anger and a desire for revenge.

"Maya, I'm going to ask you just once and I want an exact answer, because I'm on the edge and I don't know how much longer I can control myself" he lowered himself to be on the same level with her eyes. "I want to know who did this to my wife so I can make sure it never happens again?" he gritted out and Maya shuddered at the murderous glint in his eyes. "Nicholas" Kristina answered instead of Maya and Jason slowly turned to look at her.

"Her brother?" Jason let go of Maya and stood up, cracking his neck. "At first he was just taking her money" Christina came over and hugged Maya and Peter hugged them both as Jason waited for answers. "But when her parents died, he became quite an alcoholic and went into debt to creditors." she snorted and tears welled up in her eyes. "Cassidy tried to escape, many times, got a restraining order, even put him in jail for over two years" her voice broke and she sobbed.

"I beat him a few times, but he always came back, always managed to find her," Peter continued. "I really thought now that she's married he'd stop..." Peter cursed and punched the wall. "He will stop" the three looked at Jason. "No one touches my wife with impunity" he growled and pulled out his phone walking away.

Jason had to grab onto something. For whatever it is, so that it doesn't collapse. Mentally and physically. Cassidy was indeed his drug, he didn't know exactly at what point he became addicted and dependent on the next dose, but without her, all he felt was pain, excruciating and indescribable. Pain that spread from the top of his hair and flowed through his veins, eating away at everything in her path like acid and leaving nothing to remind him that before her he would never have felt this way, for anyone.

Cassidy was the center that made his world spin again and that same world, once cold and inhospitable, had become a vibrant and welcoming place, with beautifully colored sunrises where he woke up holding her small, tender and warm body, which reminded him that even a miserable and cold life like his had a price for someone. She was the warmth that made his day bloom and flow calmly, to allow life to create and carry everything and everyone on its shoulders, so that the sunset would come, when she would again allow him to absorb the energy and recharge for the next day.

The hours ran like blades through his painfully trembling body. Jason was trying to remember if in his entire life, ever, somewhere, in any corner of his dead soul, there had been another human being who had been able to heal him. It was ironic and somewhat comical how in his 31 years, he had never allowed anyone so close to him, so deep into his otherwise pathetically beating heart.

In which episode of this "necessary" marriage for him, Cassidy had become the screenwriter of his happiness? That was the truth, she hadn't tried, she hadn't made an effort, she had been herself and had captivated him with the virginal innocence of her heart. After all the losses and tribulations, Cassidy had remained so pure and good that even a black frosty hell creature like Jason couldn't deny and resist the light pouring from her and he had fallen into the web of an addicted obsessive need to have her by his side,to own her and hide her from the world.

Cassidy had done the same with these three. He looked around at the two crying women and the man holding them in his arms. She had allowed them to become a part of her life and now they were addicted to her and would do anything to keep her happy. He ended his conversation and approached the three of them. "I'm sorry" he said simply and did what he thought Cassidy would have done in his place. He hugged her friends and promised them that Nicholas would pay.

"I'm sorry for making you wait" the four broke away from each other and turned to the doctor who was standing slightly to their side. "I take it you are Cassidy Mallory's husband?" Jason nodded, but didn't dare ask how she was, he didn't want to hear that maybe she could possibly leave him. "Would you follow me?" Jason nodded and followed the doctor who went into his office a little further down the floor and closed the door behind Jason.

"I think for what I'm about to tell you, you need to sit down." Jason shivered, this was the moment he wanted to avoid, that's why he didn't ask how Cassidy was. Still, he sat up and turned to the doctor, who turned his back on him and turned on the light panel on the wall, opening the folder he had brought with him when the two entered his office. "Mr. Mallory, my practice has taught me to tell when someone cares about someone, and I've been watching you for a few hours, but I had to be sure before I showed you this" he took some x-rays and hung them up on the light board .

Jason looked confusedly at the photos, they were all of bone injuries, mostly children's bones, but there were also adults. "What are you showing me, doctor, what does this have to do with my wife?" he asked impatiently and the doctor sighed as he showed the first picture. "Here, your wife was 14 years old, respectively 15, 16, 17, 18, a break of almost three years, the last one is from tonight." the doctor looked him straight in the eyes. "Whoever did this to your wife, they did it systematically and ruthlessly" Jason gritted his teeth, looking back at the x-rays.

"It's not just the bone trauma, a ruptured spleen, a punctured lung from a broken rib when she was 18 that barely saved her right kidney. Internal bleeding, evidence of choke marks and systemic blows with what was probably a whip or something like that." the doctor sat down behind his desk. "Her medical record is full of a whole range of external and internal trauma" Jason stared at him in amazement, trying to make sense of what he heard.

"Your wife is fine, you stopped the abuser before he did any real damage. She has two cracked ribs, but nothing broken. She was able to protect her stomach, she was probably in a fetal position instinctively. The wound on her back, we stitched it up, the piece of wood went through the side, if it had gone straight in she would have been left without a kidney and probably would never have been able to carry a child" Jason's heart stopped at the mention of a child.

"Are you saying we can't have children?" Jason asked cautiously, leaning forward slightly. "That's not what I said." the doctor shook his head. "Had she lost her kidney or had her function impaired, a pregnancy could have been fatal. Fortunately, Ms. Mallory was lucky this time. Aside from her ribs, which will be sore for at least two weeks, and the many external injuries,uour wife is perfectly healthy and capable of getting pregnant whenever you choose" the doctor assured him.

"You call my wife's condition 'Luck'?" Jason looked up slightly menacingly and the doctor frowned. "Medically, after a beating like that, yes" he replied nonetheless. "Look, Mr. Mallory" the doctor took a deep breath and leaned forward, getting as close as he could to Jason across the desk. "As a man sworn to protect human life, I honestly admit, if I were you, I would kill this man if I got my hands on him" Jason chuckled inwardly, that was exactly what he was planning and after what he had just seen, he would to do it slowly and painfully.

"Can I see my wife, doctor?" he asked, instead of admitting that he agreed with Cassidy's doctor. "Sure, room 154. Let her rest, not lift anything heavy for at least ten days. I've prescribed her painkillers and we'll discharge her tomorrow. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether to go to the police" Jason nodded, stood up and shook the doctor's hand, before leaving to look for Cassidy's room.