Chapter 14 - A Growing Connection
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It was nearly 4:00 AM when the armored sedan pulled back into the driveway of the Cain mansion.
The storm had begun to pass, leaving behind a cold, misty gloom over the hill. Wesley walked inside, his body bruised, his shoulder bleeding slightly from a grazing bullet wound he had ignored during the raid.
He walked up the grand staircase, heading straight for Norah’s wing.
As he pushed the door open quietly, he found Ruth sitting beside the bed, holding a warm compress against his sister’s forehead. Ruth looked up, startled, then immediately stood when she saw the dark stain of blood spreading across Wesley’s left sleeve.
“You’re hurt,” Ruth whispered, her nursing instincts instantly taking over.
“It’s nothing,” Wesley said gruffly, walking over to check Norah’s pulse himself. Satisfied she was sleeping deeply, he turned to leave. “Go back to sleep, Ruth.”
“Sit down, Mr. Cain,” Ruth said, her voice carrying an unexpected firmness that made him stop in his tracks.
Wesley looked at her, surprised.
“You’re bleeding through your shirt,” Ruth said, walking over to the medical cabinet in the corner and pulling out sterile bandages, antiseptic, and scissors. “If you let that sit, it will get infected. Sit on the sofa.”
Wesley hesitated, unaccustomed to taking orders in his own house, but the quiet authority in her eyes moved him. He walked over to the leather sofa in the corner and sat down, peeling off his ruined shirt.
Ruth knelt beside him, her touch remarkably gentle as she cleaned the wound with antiseptic.
Wesley flinched slightly at the sting, but kept his eyes fixed on her face. Up close, he noticed the soft sprinkle of freckles across her nose and the tired, determined dark eyes that had refused to back down from Celeste earlier that night.
“You have good hands,” Wesley murmured, his voice surprisingly soft.
“I was halfway through nursing school before my mother passed,” Ruth explained quietly, wrapping the white gauze tightly around his shoulder. “I learned how to care for people who couldn't care for themselves.”
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“You cared for my sister,” Wesley said, reaching out with his right hand to gently touch her wrist. “I can never repay you for that, Ruth.”
Ruth looked up, her gaze locking with his. For a second, the violence of the night faded away, leaving only an intense, magnetic heat between them.
