Ada In the morning, I wake up with a horrible feeling in my gut. I won't even begin trying to figure out why that is because there's a reason for it, and I know that. Today is the day. It has arrived. I'm going to tell Max the truth and there's nothing that can stop me. Only myself. And I won't do that because I'm tired of living like this. I'm tired. I get ready and make it to the kitchen to have at least a cup of coffee before I go about my day. I don't want to do this on an empty stomach. When I get to the living room, the horrible feeling stirring in me worsens because I see an envelope on the floor near the door. Another one? I walk toward it slowly, almost like I'm afraid that it'll jump up and hurt me in some way. I pick up the envelope and carry it to the kitchen. I open it and sure enough, there's a note inside. It's similar to the one I got the other night and I just scrunch it up in hand and toss the damned thing in the bin. What the hell is this?Wes has crossed th
Ada“I know it’s hard to believe,” I tell him, “but it’s the truth. I came in this house with a fake identity because I wanted to find evidence against him. To prove what he did to my family.”Max is quiet for the longest time. I guess it’s safe to say that he’s speechless. I try to think of something else to add to this, but so far, he doesn’t look convinced. In fact, he looks angrier than he did a few seconds ago.“This…” he begins before trailing off. He averts his gaze and pinches the bridge of his nose. Then, he goes completely silent. “Say something,” I plead after a minute has passed. I know because I’m counting the seconds before he says something. “Please.”His eyes are hard as they land on me once more. “What could I possibly say to this?”“Tell me you believe me,” I claim. A humorless chuckle leaves his lips and he places his hands on his face. “Believe you? This is your way of trying to reason with me? Making up lies about my terminally ill father to cover up the fact
Ada The feel of my mother’s soothing fingers on my scalp is heavenly. “Shh,” she says, moving them in circular motions. “It’s going to be okay, my love. It’ll be fine.”I sniffle. I’ve lost track of time. I don’t know how long I’ve been crying. My eyes feel heavy and hot. They’re sore from all the crying and my eyelids are swollen. My nose is raw from all the rubbing, but the pain I feel is inconsequential compared to the one breaking me apart from the inside. I’m devastated. “I didn’t know things got to this point, darling,” she says to me. I hear chiding in her tone. “You didn’t tell us a single thing.”I don’t answer her because I’m upset already and if I say something, I’ll just get angrier. I don’t want to argue with the one person who’s offering me comfort right now. It’s not right. It’s not fair. But if she keeps on saying these things, I’ll explode. Because, for starters, what does she mean by ‘us’? Why do I have to tell Harry and Damson every single damn aspect about my
Maximilian I haven't left my office since Naomi—no, that's not her name. That's not her fucking name. I don't know why I keep calling her that in my mind when she lied about her identity. She lied about every single fucking thing and now I don't know what to do with myself. Ada. That's her damn name. Ada. Anyway, I haven't left my office since Ada left it. I don't have the courage or the face to make it downstairs, not when I know that everyone downstairs probably knows about this farce. Shit, this was a woman I introduced to my father. She was someone I planned on making mine. How did things go so gloriously wrong?Life has ups and downs, but this is a down I never thought I'd experience before. What the fuck. I loved that woman and she was just a liar. I never thought that I'd be able to be fooled. I always considered myself an expert at catching gold diggers or reading the intentions behind someone’s actions. I didn’t see this coming. That’s all I can say. Accusing my fa
Ada Against my better judgment, I open the door of my apartment and come face to face with the scoundrel that is Wes Zorn. He leans against the doorframe to watch me and I point a finger at him and say in a shaky voice, “You son of a bitch. Aren’t you ashamed? You ruined my fucking life and now you’re here, asking for money!?”“I didn’t ruin your life,” he claims before making his way inside my apartment. I leave the door wide open. “I’m only looking out for my future family.”I scoff. “You really think that you’ll ever be a part of the Loxleys? You’re delusional!”“If you almost had a chance, why couldn’t I?” he asks, glaring at me though there’s a smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. “He was going to marry you, you know? He told his sister so, and she told me. I couldn’t let him get married to a fucking liar. I don’t know what you wanted from them, but it couldn’t be anything good, Ada.”Tears fill my eyes. Marriage. I close my eyes, imagining how beautiful and wonderful thin
Ada “You killed him,” I whisper in disbelief. My lips feel bloodless as I utter these words. I turn my head to look at Damson. “You killed him.”He looks over at Wes’s body. I cover my mouth with my hand so I don’t scream. I stare at Wes’s body and the pool of blood already forming around him. I’ve never seen so much blood in my life. I’m horrified by how pale he’s becoming. I look at Damson again, and he appears as shocked as me. “Fuck,” he curses. I look around, suddenly alert. The door is wide open. I stand up on shaky legs and hurry to close it. It slams shut because I throw my whole weight on it. Then, I take in the mess. The piece of glass Damson used to stab Wes came from the vase I kept near the couch. They were probably in a scuffle of some kind before I became conscious and I missed it entirely. It feels like I was out for like two seconds. How could this mess have happened in such a short amount of time?I didn’t even see Damson come in. “What are we doing to do?” I as
Maximilian Two Weeks Later As I push the front door open, I’m relieved to be home after a long day at work. I came early today compared to all the other days. I usually work until late because I hate being back in this house. It’s been my house—the house I grew up in—for years, yet it’s now tainted by her presence. And I have to admit that I haven’t gotten over her as quickly as I would’ve liked. Not a day goes by when I don’t dream about her. She’s haunting me, that woman, and it’s sickening to me because it shows me my weakness clearly. I wish I could leave this place but we made a decision to stay here and support our father, and that’s what I’m going to do. I can’t let a failed relationship pull me away from my dad. I’ll just have to find a way to get over this. Eventually. “Mr. Loxley,” Mrs. Danes says as she approaches me. She’s wearing a small smile on her face. For these last few weeks, she’s been trying to appear optimistic like nothing happened, and although I appreci
Ada These two weeks feel like two years. I’m being as serious as I can be. I haven’t left my mother’s house. Yes, we’ve had to reconcile. The matter was too grave for us to stay mad at each other. Damson killed a man—a man who was blackmailing me. And honestly, deep down, there’s some relief that Wes is gone. I know that makes me sound like a horrible person but I can’t lie about how I feel. I can’t do that. But my worry of being caught—of possibly going to jail along with Damson—clouds what small relief I feel. What happened was serious and it’ll be engraved in the forefront of my mind forever. I don’t know how people can kill others in cold blood; I really can’t. I’m haunted by what happened and Wes was a horrible fucking person. I let go of the apartment. Last week, someone else went to live in it. I know this because the landlady asked me to grab the last of my stuff so that the new renter would occupy the apartment by the end of the week. That was last week. I don’t th
AdaWe’ve been working closely with the court to make sure that Abby gets everything she needs. It seems that he had a fake birth certificate of hers, one he forged just to get her registered in certain places, like in school. Even hospital visits. Her name is Abigail Patricia Port, and it infuriates me that she’ll have to carry that woman’s name her whole life. We do have the chance to change everything about her name, so we changed her middle name to Marie instead, and of course, her surname is Loxley now. It’s just the right thing to do. We didn’t explain these changes of her but in due time, she’ll become aware of them, and I’m really hoping that the psychologist is going to help us get through to her. It’s been a few days now and she’s still locked in that room. She refuses to come downstairs and of course, we don’t push her. The psychologist claimed that we shouldn’t force ourselves on her. Everything should be done naturally and we’re meant to wait on her guidance. “The t
Maximilian “Sure. Let’s talk.”“First of all,” he begins coarsely, “I want you to know that I’m someone who holds grudges, and I didn’t like how you abandoned my sister for seven fucking years when she needed you most, alright?”The words hit me right where it hurts. I nod, swallowing. “I understand that.”“I had to talk her through the whole thing,” he adds angrily, taking another step toward me. “I was there and you weren’t. Why is that? Why did you abandon her?”“It’s complicated. I wanted to…I wanted to prove to her that I wasn’t a total fuck-up and that I’d find our daughter. I kept waiting. Day after day. I never stopped looking for that son-of-a-bitch. And time just kept flying. Before I knew it, too much time had passed and I didn’t know how to approach her anymore. I know that might not sound like the truth but it is.”Silence falls upon us. He looks to the side, breathes deeply, then looks back at me. “And now you’re back in her life. Is this something permanent, or will yo
MaximilianFor the past few days, nothing remarkable happened. Damson didn't show up from out of nowhere to torment us. However, Ada's mother was caught and imprisoned. So at least one good thing happened. She was allegedly buying a plane ticket to leave the country and that's when they captured her. I was beyond pleased with the news and wished it had been Damson instead. I'm not complaining, though. The fucker is still hiding and though I'm not actively looking for him, I'll have more help starting today. Theo, Ada's brother, is arriving from Argentina today. The extra help will be much appreciated. I only hope that the coward didn't leave the county yet. If so, then we're fucked, at least for now because he'll definitely be back when we least expect it. We can't live like this. With the fear of his return hanging over our heads. With luck, Patricia will reveal exactly where he is. I'm not sure what the procedure is but she assisted in a kidnapping and so had to be imprison
Ada “Hi, Theo.”“That text you sent me,” he begins, “is it true? You found her?”“Yes,” I reply, biting my lip. “She’s here with us. But Damson is still on the loose. Max can’t even meet us where we are because he’s afraid Damson will follow him and come torment us here. It’s a never ending nightmare with him. I just wish he’d die.”“Jesus,” he exhales. “She’s been found? I can’t believe this. How was it? Your reunion?”I rest my forehead against the window in the living room. Rebecca is upstairs so I’m all alone down here. The sight of the dark forest all around us is reassuring to me, because the one thing I can think about is how Damson will never be able to reach us here, not on his own. This is the one place where I know we’re safe. “She doesn’t know us,” I say to Theo. “She won’t even look at me and I’ve tried to tell her I’m her mother. I guess this is expected.”“What did she think Damson was? Her father?”“Yes. And there’s more.”“Fuck. What?”“Patricia,” I say, refusing
MaximilianSome hours later, I leave the station. But that doesn’t mean our problems have magically come to an end. Apparently, we could face some charges, and Rebecca could be charged with kidnapping, as ironic as that sounds. But the lawyer assured me that the jury could show sympathy to our case since it’s been cold for years. And I mean years. Seven, to be precise. We saw our chance. We took it. Why involve law enforcement when they’ve sat on their asses for years?I’m supposed to be heading to where they are. I’m so anxious to see everyone and actually hold Ada now that we’ve found our daughter, but we have a serious matter in our hands. Damson. He’s still on the loose and I’m pretty sure he could be watching me. So, why the hell would I drive there when there’s a chance he’ll follow? No, I refuse to do that. I won’t risk Victoria’s life again. Not ever again. And I’m not going to them until Damson is found. Enough of living in this hell. I know he’ll come for me eventua
Ada “I don’t understand it, Rebecca,” I say, sniffling. We’re downstairs now, seated at the marble counter on high stools. I have a glass of water in front of me and we’re both crying. Our hands are clasped. “I just don’t get it.”I spent about twenty minutes in that room, trying to get Victoria—no, Abby—to talk to me. But she kept covering her face and crying. She seemed scared. When I returned to my senses, I realized that she had every right to be terrified. She doesn’t know us. We’re all strangers to her. “We had a plan,” she admits. “Me and Max.”“You’re talking now?” Did he mention it? If so, I can’t remember for some reason. Then again, my head is so full, and so much has happened in the last twenty-four hours. “Yes,” she reveals. “It all happened very recently. I approached him because someone recommended this private investigator to me, and vowed that he was good. So, I assigned him to this case. He used to work with the military before. Some ultra shady shit. Moving on,
Ada I’m numb. The whole car ride, I’m numb. When Rebecca’s driver came to me and told me I had to leave with him, I thought it was some kind of trick. I was so suspicious. Then, she called me and explained to me as carefully as she could that it was all over and that I didn’t have to worry about a thing. That the driver was going to take me to her and the place where Victoria was. Victoria. I couldn’t believe it and still can’t. I have this feeling like maybe I’m dreaming this whole thing up or it’s all a figment of my shattered imagination, something my mind is coming up with to cope with all the loss. Because when Damson hung up after telling me that I’d never see my daughter again, I believed him. That broke me entirely and I think there are still fragments of me on the sidewalk, where I knelt for the longest time before the porter came and helped me inside. He wanted to call the police or an ambulance but I told him I was fine and just received bad news. Like ten minutes l
Maximilian But something happens. A miracle. Rebecca arrives, and I see her parking right across the street from where I’m on my knees on the ground, head spinning so fast that I have the urge to vomit. Right before I pass out, I see her race after Ada’s mother and Victoria, and I only allow the darkness to take over when I see Rebecca grab a hold of her and carry her to the car. Yes.Fucking yes. I pass out right on the road, and when I wake up, I’m being nudged. Someone’s tapping at my arm repeatedly too, and when I open my eyes, blinking rapidly until my vision clears, I see that someone’s tapping me with their foot. Slowly, I look up, and see that it’s an officer who’s tapping me with his foot. His face is a blur but slowly starts to clear up. However, my attention is pulled away from him when I remember Rebecca and Victoria. Ada’s mother. Panic seizes me. How long have I been out?Rebecca’s car isn’t parked across the street like it was before I fainted. Could it mean she
MaximilianMy heart is thumping in my chest endlessly. Sweat’s trickling down my forehead in rivulets and it’s getting harder and harder for me to breathe since I parked my car right across the house where Damson lives. Yes, I’ve arrived. At first I thought that maybe it was idiotic to assume that Victoria would be here because what if she was in school? And that’s when I remembered that today is Saturday. No school. Staring at the house sends chills all over me, not because it looks terrifying in any sense, but because of how ordinary it looks. There’s a garden right in the front and people are milling around, getting their weekend exercise in. Whatever. It’s all so fucking ordinary that I ask myself if I’m even in the right place. I look up and down the street. I don’t think Rebecca has arrived yet. Then again, I was closer to her than she was. Whenever I imagined the place where Damson was keeping her, I thought about a dark place somewhere in an abandoned factory or buildi