“He’d hit me so hard the handle of the hammer began to splinter, and it broke completely when he hit me on the back of the head with it. I worked to stay conscious as he began to stab me with the shattered handle. Repeatedly. In the back and neck. He left me for dead as I lay in a pool of my own blood. But I managed to reach my phone just as I passed out. Luckily 911 sends someone out when there’s no response.

“I was in a coma for three weeks and then in the hospital for nearly another month. It’s all more complicated than I want to dwell on but after that they found him and arrested him. Put him on trial.

“At first they thought he’d paralyzed me. The wounds really messed up some of my nerves in my right arm. But with physical therapy, and my good luck at having one of my colleagues work on me, they saved most of my movement and by the time the trial was midway through I could walk through the door on my own power.

“I testified. They convicted him. He was supposed to be remanded immediately, awaiting sentencing. But there was some sort of paperwork error and they let him go. By the time they realized their error he’d skipped town.”

She held up her hand to silence Shane, as Edward handed her another drink. Penny pressed some crackers into her other hand, which she ate to stave off the nausea.

“He called and taunted me. Said he’d be back to finish the job. It wasn’t like I could be a surgeon ever again. I don’t have the fine motor skills in my hand to do it. I had a wonderful victim’s advocate the court hooked me up with. She got me enrolled in a program to change my name and social security number. He’d tracked me to my new apartment with my social security information.

“My brother drove through Petal a few years ago on his way to Atlanta and he liked it here. I chose an apartment I saw online and Carly went away and Cassie moved to Petal.”

“Jesus God.” Maggie looked up at Cassie.

Cassie swallowed and turned to look at Shane, wincing as she saw him. “I’m sorry I lied. I’m a little messed up right now, but I’ll go home and clear out of town as soon as I can. You must all hate me.”

A deep, tortured sound came from Shane as he fell to his knees and pulled her into his arms. “How you survived that and had the courage to come here and start your life over I’ll never know. Cassie, you’re amazing and I love you so much it hurts.”

Cassie blinked several times, trying to figure out if she’d heard him right. “What?”

Shane pulled back and kissed her and kissed her again for good measure. “I. Love. You. Cassie, you’re so damned strong. I don’t hate you. How could you think I’d hate you for not wanting to share that horrible f**king story?”

“I lied about my name.”

“So what? Cassie Gambol is your legal name now isn’t it? Honey, you must think I’m a grade-A prick if you think I’d be angry at you for having to give up everything to move here to protect yourself from a homicidal freak.”

She put her face in her hands. “I don’t know what I thought! You don’t…you’re all…shit. I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

He laughed. “You’re sorry? Honey, let’s get you to my house, okay? Get you tucked into bed for a rest. You just saved Michael’s life and told us one hell of a story. That’s got to take a lot out of a girl.”

“I’ve got lake water all over me.”

“Why don’t I go to your place and get you some clothes? I’ll bring them by Shane’s.” Penny squeezed Cassie’s hand. “Honey, I knew you were good people the minute you walked into my shop and not a damned thing you’ve done has made me doubt that.”

“I lied to you all!”

“Not about anything important. Your actions speak the truth, Cassie. You were in charge and strong out there on that dock today. Even though it exposed you, you did it. You saved Michael’s life without even a thought. You’ve been a good friend to us and you’ve, well, you’ve saved Shane too.” Maggie fought tears.

Cassie couldn’t deal much longer. She needed to be away from them all before she lost it. She also knew she couldn’t be alone in her apartment. “My keys are in my purse. It’s in the front closet.”

Marc jogged inside and brought her purse back out and Penny took her keys and handed the purse to Shane, who took one look at Cassie and picked her up. “We’re going to go to my house. I’ll talk to you all later.”

He started toward the car and Cassie laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

As the car pulled out of the driveway, everyone else stood on the front porch watching Shane take her to his house just three doors down.

“Holy hell.” Matt leaned back against the front porch rail.

“I’m going to go to Cassie’s and get her clothes.” Penny moved to her car.

“I’ll stay here until you get back.” Polly sat in the porch swing and Edward joined her.

Penny waved and left.

“I can’t even imagine. I knew it was bad. When she told us about the abuse I was horrified. I thought there was some big incident but she didn’t say. I just had no idea it would be this.” Maggie leaned back against Kyle.

Polly sighed. “I knew it would be a strong woman who’d finally captured Shane’s heart. But she’s braver than any woman I’ve ever met in my life. Imagine just up and leaving after suffering so much and starting over again halfway across the country.”