In the early morning hours, Nero appeared at Happy's and Cassie's house, his face full of concern as he banged on the door, hoping the young woman would open it for him. Maybe she just forgot to call Gemma like she had promised. Or maybe she fell asleep, which would be no wonder after such news. Her body needed a break.

After hearing from Gemma what had happened, he was trembling in anger. The Rivals should've been dealt with much sooner and he would talk to Jax later and also offer his help. He himself was someone who mostly stayed away from drama, but this time it was different. Something was taken from Cassie that cannot be replaced. He himself had lost Lucius' mother back then and the two weren't even together anymore at the time. And yet it had broken his heart. He didn't even want to imagine how Cassie was feeling right now.

“Cassie, it's me. Open the door.” He knocked again, this time with more force. Again nothing.

He was starting to get a strange feeling. Nero knocked so many times that he'd probably even woken up the neighbors. The uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach increased and he decided to give himself access to the house. Gemma had given him a spare key, which Cassie had given her after they moved into their new house, in case of an emergency. He didn't really like intruding on people's privacy, but he felt like it was better that way.

He quietly closed the door behind him and shortly thereafter entered the living room with the open kitchen. When he saw Cassie lying on the floor, the almost empty bottle of alcohol on the table and the empty pack of pills, he realized what she had tried.

“Shit!” Swallowing, he rubbed his face before he quickly got on his knees to check on Cassie's pulse, praying he would find one. He couldn't feel a pulse, which crushed him inside. She was way too young to die and she had a son who needed a mother. But he understood her desperation, he really did.

Maybe the pulse was just too weak or he was too nervous to concentrate on finding one. Desperately, he pulled her between his legs after sitting down on the floor. Her limp, cold body sagged in his arm, which was wrapped tightly around her stomach. Without further hesitation, he slipped two of his fingers between her lips and down her throat, using his arm to put pressure on her stomach. She had to throw up, that was the only way he had a chance to save her.

“Come on, you can do it, sweetheart”,  he said encouragingly, probably also to convince himself that she could actually do it. But nothing happened.

It wasn't until he slid his fingers even further down her throat and pushed his clenched hand into her stomach that Cassie started gagging. And the next moment she threw up, trying to gasp for air and frantically clutching her hands at Nero's legs after he had pulled his fingers out of her mouth. He didn't care about the mess, he was just glad that Cassie was breathing.

“Just like that. Let it out.” With a sigh of relief, he rested his forehead against the back of her head and rubbed her back up and down while the brunette threw up again.

Had she actually been dead, he wouldn't have known how he would have reacted. Cassie was like family to him and it would have been a great loss if she hadn't woken up. From now on he would definitely keep an eye on her and stop by as often as possible to support her wherever he could. Cassie was definitely one of the good people thT he couldn't just let die like that⸺ even if she wanted to.

Cassie didn't have the head to think about the mess she had just made. Instead all feelings came back to the surface hitting her like a truck. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before curling up in Nero's arms and letting out a painful sob. She was in no physical pain, it was the loss that hurt her more than anything.

“Why couldn't you just let me die?!”, the brunette almost yelled at the man she was holding onto, more desperation than anger in her tone.

“Because there are lots of people that care about you”, he told her, his tone soothing yet laced with pain. Nero kept running his hand over her back while holding her close to him with his other arm. “You think Happy would've wanted that, Cassie?”

“No, he'd probably kick my ass for that”, she chocked out between her sobs and clung to Nero even more. “But I⸺ I just can't do this without him.”

“Even if you think you can't, I know you can, cariño.” Gently, he pushed her off him to get a better look at her.

Maybe pity was the wrong word, but he felt for her. As an empath, he could feel her pain, which at times was both a blessing and a curse. The absolute sadness and helplessness in her eyes contributed to the fact that he no longer knew whether he had done the right thing. Should he have just let her go? The fact that he asked himself such a question disgusted him, but it wasn't necessarily better to let a person suffer mentally.

“No, I can't”, she hardly whispered, her heart so broken that she just didn't see a future for herself. And she didn't want to have a future. Why couldn't others just accept that?

Nero had a feeling that maybe her words weren't so wrong after all. A person could only be strong and recover from something if they really wanted to. With Cassie, however, he strongly suspected that she didn't want that at all and just wanted to find her peace. But he couldn't fulfill her wish, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he'd walk away now and let her do what she wanted to do.

“Come on, let's get you cleaned up.” He gently pulled her to her legs with him, brushing her hair out of her face as he saw the embarrassed look written all over it after she had looked down on herself and the mess on the floor. “It's okay, there's nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“I'm sorry you were dragged into this, Nero”, she murmured dismissively and reluctantly let Nero lead her to the bathroom. The chill of the cold tiles beneath her feet coursed through her body, which was still shaking and weak from the overdose of the sleeping pills.

“Nothin' to be sorry about, cariño”, he told her with a small smile and made her sit down on the bathtub before he quickly washed his hands, got his phone out and dialed Gemma's number. He figured Cassie might feel more comfortable getting help from a woman instead of him.

Cassie just stared at the floor, her hands apathetically playing with the edge of Happy's shirt, which she was still wearing and would definitely have to wash later. Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought of having to wash the last shirt that still smelled like him.

⸺

Happy accepted the punch in the face once again and just like hours before he didn't make a sound. Instead he just grinned and shook his head.

“What's so funny, huh?”, a Rivals asked, who was maybe half Happy's age and even younger than his Ol' Lady. As soon as he was free again, he was going to smash that bastard's head in for beating the shit out of him since yesterday.

“You guys were so stupid and told Jax and the others that I was dead. Do you really think you still have a chance against the Sons now? You 'killed' a member, that means retaliation”, he said almost amused, the metallic taste of his own blood spreading in his mouth, causing him to spat on the ground next to him. “The day will come when we're going to kill you one by one.”

He was sure that the Rivals would die when the handover would take place. They had only faked his death to put pressure on his brothers, to show that they wouldn't hesitate to kill Tig too if Lin wouldn't be dead by today.

The SAA fought back when they told him to lay down on the ground and pretend he was dead. Why should he do the Rivals a favor? In order to get the photo they wanted as proof of his alleged death, three men had to beat him for half an hour until he was finally unconscious. It was the only way they had a chance to snap the photo quickly before tying him back to one of the chairs.

Since then he sat in this god damn uncomfortable chair, his thoughts on only one person. He wondered if the others had told Cassie what had happened. For now, he hoped they hadn't. From Cassie's past he knew that in such situations she either rebelled or destroyed herself. Thousands of horror thoughts rushed through his head. Would she do something to herself? Was someone with her permanently? Was she even able to take care of Callum? Were the others helping her out enough?

He was so worried about his fiancee that he would lose his mind if he didn't get out of here soon. But one thing was certain, he would make every single Rival suffer for the pain they had inflicted on his Old Lady. However, the only way he could do that was if Jax made Lin disappear in time. Because if not, this was his and Tig's, who was in a different room, last day.

He wasn't afraid of dying, he never was, and he would never beg for his life. But unlike before, he now had something worth staying alive for. He wanted to go back to Cassie, to his son who wasn't even two weeks old. And then he had to convince Jax that something had to change quickly in order for other clubs and gangs to take the Sons serious again and show some fucking respect. If nothing would change, Happy would pack up his family and move back to Tacoma. With Lee as Pres, he knew something like this would've never happened. He loved Jax, but Tara got him all soft and her not answering any of his calls messed with his head. Much to the chagrin of others.

“We aren't afraid of your club, asshole”, the young man huffed, his shoulders broad and his chest puffed out as if he were some poser. Happy could only laugh at the behavior and how the younger one was desperately trying to appear tough.

Happy would be done with that guy in less than two minutes, as well as the rest. The Rivals had maybe three members you could take seriously. The rest were just underexposed idiots who thought they were the strongest.

“You should be”, the amused tone faded until his voice sounded just menacing, his dark, hate-filled eyes fixed on the younger one, who suddenly didn't seem so confident anymore, which made Happy grin at him.

Without another word the guy stomped out of the room and slammed the heavy steel door behind him, leaving Happy alone in the cold, damp room with his thoughts again.