Chapter 32 Not a secret anymore
I got married this morning," she said quietly, the words feeling strange in her mouth. "To Greyson Christianson."
Both men stared at her in stunned silence. Brandon's mouth fell open, while Kevin's eyes widened in shock and something that looked like concern.
"Greyson Christianson," Kevin repeated slowly, his voice carefully neutral. "The architect and former doctor... he did look familiar."
"You know him?" Cassie asked, surprised by the recognition in Kevin's tone.
Kevin and Brendan exchanged a look that made her stomach clench with unease. There was something in that look, something heavy and worried that spoke of shared knowledge she wasn't privy to.
"Cassie," Brendan said carefully, "we need to talk about Greyson. There are things you need to know."
"What kind of things?" she asked, though part of her wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer. The look of genuine concern on both their faces was starting to frighten her.
Kevin leaned forward, his expression serious.
"Do you know about his first wife? About what happened to her and their child?"
Cassie's blood ran cold.
"He was married before?"
"They died in a car accident about ten years ago," Brandon said gently. "Saskia and their daughter, Sarah. She was only three."
The words hit her like a physical blow. Greyson had been married before, had lost a wife and child, and he'd never told her. The revelation explained so much—his guardedness, his fear of commitment, the way he'd looked at her sometimes like she might disappear at any moment.
"But that's not all," Kevin continued, his voice heavy with reluctance. "Cassie, your father saved Greyson's life that night. The night of the warehouse incident."
She knew about the warehouse—her father had mentioned rescuing someone from a dangerous situation, but he'd been vague about the details. She'd never connected it to Greyson.
"What really happened?" she asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
Brendan took a deep breath.
"After Saskia and Sarah died, Greyson... he didn't handle it well. He started going to this abandoned warehouse where they used to take Sarah to see the trains. He'd go there and just... break down. Scream for them to come back."
Kevin picked up the story, his voice clinical but gentle: "Your father found him there one night, in the middle of winter. Greyson had been there for hours, screaming Saskia's name, begging her to come back. He was delusional. If your father hadn't found him..."
"He would have died," Cassie finished, her voice barely above a whisper.
"The thing is," Brendan continued, "it wasn't the first time. Your father had been keeping an eye on him, had pulled him out of there before. But that last night was the worst. Greyson was completely broken, talking about joining them, about how he couldn't live without them."
Cassie felt sick. The man she'd married, the man she'd thought she was beginning to know, had a darkness in him that went deeper than she'd imagined. The rage she'd witnessed at the hospital suddenly made more sense, but it also terrified her more.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" she asked, her voice shaking.
"It's not our story to tell," Kevin said. "And honestly, we thought... we hoped he was getting better. When we saw him with you this morning, he seemed different. Lighter."
"Until tonight," Brendan added quietly.
Cassie wrapped her arms around herself, feeling cold despite the warmth of the restaurant.
"He screamed at me. Really screamed. I've never seen anyone look so... angry. So out of control."
Her friends exchanged another worried look.
"Cassie," Kevin said carefully, "Greyson isn't dangerous, but he's... fragile. In ways that even scare those of us who've known him longer. The grief, the guilt—it's eating him alive. Sometimes, when he feels like he's going to lose someone else he cares about..."
"He pushes them away first," she finished, understanding flooding through her.
"So it's his choice instead of fate taking them from him?"
"Exactly," Brendan said. "The problem is, when he pushes, he pushes hard, sometimes he doesn't know his own strength."
Cassie stared down at her hands, trying to process everything she'd learned. The man she'd married was carrying a grief so profound it had nearly killed him. He'd lost everything once before, and now he was terrified of losing again. The jealousy, the anger, the sudden coldness—it all made sense now, it also made her question everything. Could she love someone with that kind of darkness in them? Could she help him heal, or would his pain destroy them both?
"What do I do?" she asked, her voice small and lost.
"That depends," Kevin said gently. "Do you love him?"
Cassie thought about the morning, about the way Greyson had held her, the tenderness in his touch, the vulnerability he'd shown her. Then she thought about the rage in his eyes at the hospital, the way he'd screamed at her to leave.
"I don't know," she whispered. "I thought I did, but now... how do you love someone who's that broken?"
"Very carefully, only if they're willing to let you."
The question was whether Greyson would let her in, or if his fear would keep pushing her away until there was nothing left between them but the wreckage of what might have been.