Dylan could see the shock and fear in Alec's eyes but he quickly covered it up. “I don't understand, Mr. Knight; it's not unheard of for people to retire from the force.” Alec said as he put down his fork and knife and took a sip from his coke. “Yes, I know it's not unheard of. A lot of people retire early, and then they move on to different fields, but not people like you, not people that had a bright future in front of them; I mean, if you stayed on, you would've been chief of police by now, so what happened Alec, why did you leave?” Dylan asked him. Dylan could tell that he was nervous, the way he tapped his pinky finger against the table and he kept on moving his left leg. “I don't know what to tell you, Mr. Knight; the force wasn't it for me; I decided to pursue other job opportunities.” Alec said as he shrugged his shoulders. “You see, Alec, there's one thing I ask from people who work for me and prospective employees, and that's honesty. I told you, I
“Sorry, I didn't get you, you'll have to speak louder.” Dylan said. “I said that I did not check the car for signs of foul play; now, can you please open the door so I can leave.” Alec said. “I'm sorry, but I can't; we're not done here, Alec.” Dylan told him. “It doesn't matter what you ask me next, Mr. Knight, I'm not going to answer; I can't.” Alec said. “You see, there's a difference between can't and won't, Alec. When you say you won't, it means it's a personal decision, but when you say you can't, it means you want to, but something is stopping you. So what's stopping you, Alec? Who are you trying to protect?” Dylan asked. “You need to leave this alone Dylan.” Alec said to him, Dylan could tell that he was scared. “You're scared of them, aren't you? Whoever it is, you're trying to protect. I can help you; you know the type of reach I have; tell me what I need to know, and I'll help you.” Dylan told Alec. “Money isn't going to f
By the time he had destroyed most of the furniture in the room, Dylan had managed to calm down. His gut was right; the Smiths did have something to do with his parent's death; they covered it up, but something wasn't adding up. At the time, the Smiths didn't have enough money to pull off something like that, and then there was the ten million dollars in their accounts that just appeared out of thin air; it meant that there was someone else involved. The person that financed everything and he was going to find out who that person was and get enough evidence to bring all of them down. But to do that, Dylan had to go to the one place he had avoided since his parents died; he had to go back to their house; he doubted he would find anything there, but he had to try. After Mr. Scott adopted Dylan, he bought his parent's house and put it in Dylan's name. Dylan has had the house maintained with specific instructions not to move or touch anything. It's like the house was froze
“I kept everything as it was; nothing has been moved or changed; I always hoped and prayed that one day you'd come back.” Maria said. Dylan just nodded his head; he didn't say anything; he was choked up with emotions. Standing in the house, he felt like he was that eight-year-old boy again, who was waiting in the living room all night for his parents to come home. But they didn't; instead, when he opened the door, he was greeted by two police officers and a social worker; that was the worst day of his life. He took a deep breath and steadied himself then he turned around to face Maria. “It's nice to see you again Maria.” He said to her and she smiled. “You've grown into a fine young man, Mr. Dylan; sit down; I'll put on a pot of tea, and you can tell me all about your life.” Maria said. “No, there's no need for tea, let's just sit.” Dylan said to her, and she nodded her head and sat down on one of the armchairs while Dylan sat on the sofa opposite her.
After that revelation, Dylan said goodbye to Maria but he promised he would come back. Then he got into his car, and by the time he left his parent's house, it was already five in the evening, so he drove back home in a daze. He couldn't believe it or wrap his head around it; could the other person involved in his parent's deaths possibly be Mr Williams, Anna's father? No, he couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it. His parents and Anna's parents were friends they couldn't do that. There had to be another reason why Greg was visiting Mr. Williams; there just had to be. By the time Dylan parked his car in the driveway of his house, it was eight thirty at night. He took his suitcase and got out of the car, he was about to head up the stairs to his room when he remembered Anna's text, she said she would wait up for him, get completely forgot. He dropped his suitcase by the side of the stairs and walked to the kitchen and there she was, with her glasses on
“You expect me to believe that you went to London?” Anna asked Dylan. “No, I didn't go to London, I went to my birth parents' house.” Dylan told Anna. “Oh, but I thought your parents were….” Anna trailed off. “Yes, they're dead; you can say it, Anna.” Dylan said. “Then why did you go to their house?” Anna asked Dylan. “Because I haven't been there since they died and because I'm ready to move on and have a life with you and Emma, and before I can do that, I had to put those ghosts to bed.” Dylan told Anna, and as he said those words, he realised they were true; that might not have been the reason that he went to his parent's house, but he realised that him going there was him finally confronting his demons. “So you weren't with Kate all day?” Anna asked Dylan. “No, baby, no, I wasn't. I think she followed me or something because the moment I stepped out of the restaurant, she was there. She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me.
The next morning, when they both woke up, it was to find Emma, sitting at the foot of the bed with a huge grin on her face. Anna had absolutely nothing to worry about, just like Dylan had said; Emma was just happy to see both her parents together. They all had breakfast and then got ready for work while Nanny Sofia got Emma ready for school. As usual, they dropped off Emma first, then Anna at Kings Hotel and then Dylan went to work at Kings Enterprise. He was holding out on presenting his idea of a takeover of Prestige to his board of directors. He needed to know the full story of what happened to his parents first, but for now, the cash influx from his company and the fact that he was now the CEO of Prestige has settled a lot of people's minds, and the stock prices are slowly coming up. He walked out of the elevator to his floor and Lucas was waiting for him, his planner in hand. “Good morning Mr. Knight.” Lucas greeted. Dylan wasn't angry at him for telli
“No way, your ex-wife?” Finn asked Dylan. “Yeah, I was as shocked as you.” Dylan said and Finn shook his head. “I remember getting up in the middle of the night to answer a call from Mr. Scott, telling me that he needed me to draft up divorce papers and an NDA.” Finn said. “Yeah, you should've added a restraining order to it.” Dylan said. “What exactly is going on that you want to file a restraining order against her?” Finn asked. “She came to the house in London, and Anna saw her; Kate got angry when she found out I was married again. I threw her out, and I thought that was the end of it. We flew back to New York, and she was at our hotel; she made a ruckus and accused a worker of theft, thinking that I would be the one to come down and handle it, but instead, it was Anna, which pissed her off even more. Anna's security told me what was happening, so I went there immediately; she hurled all kinds of insults at Anna. I warned her not to
EPILOGUE. SEVEN MONTHS LATER. A lot had happened in the past seven months since Dylan ran to the airport to stop Anna from leaving. Now, it wasn't smooth sailing between them; they both put in the work by going to therapy and working on their relationship, and they were good now, only choosing to go to therapy twice a month. Dylan stuck to his word, and he was the best husband; the night they came back home, he told her everything about her life, from the moment he was taken away to London, he told her everything, not leaving out any detail. He had also waited on her, hand and foot, since he found out she was pregnant, not letting her do any strenuous activities; he was the perfect husband and father. In those seven months, something else also took place, the cases were tried in court and her father and Mr. Smith were both sentenced for murder and Mr. Smith was first murder and attempted murder. Her father was sentenced to thirty years and Mr. Smith was
Anna and Emma arrived at the airport about forty minutes later, they didn't have much, just two suitcases, one for Anna and one for Emma. Anna paid the driver, and she and Emma got out of the car. She held Emma's hand and used her other hand to wheel in the suitcases. They were about an hour early for their flight. They walked into the airport, and she checked in her bags, and their tickets were scanned. The attendant told her that they would announce when the flight started to board. Anna thanked her, and then she and Emma walked over to some chairs to sit down. Emma had been quiet throughout the journey, and Anna knew it was because she missed her dad; she hated that she was feeling that way; it was all her fault. She was the one that brought Dylan into their lives. “Hey, sweetie, do you want to watch some cartoons on my phone while we wait?” Anna asked Emma. “Sure, I guess.” Emma said as she shrugged. Anna put on Bluey for her and gave Emma t
After Anna was discharged, she spent two days on bed rest by order of Caroline; she didn't complain, though; it gave her enough time to think of her next plan. Just like she thought, Dylan had not come to look for her, and she didn't blame him; in the end, they weren't meant to be together; there were too many secrets and lies between them, but it still didn't change the fact that she loved him. Emma has been asking for him constantly, and Anna has had to lie that he was away on a business trip, but she knew that lie wouldn't last forever. So she had to plan, she knew one thing for sure, and that was she couldn't stay in New York, and if she was settling down in another place, it couldn't be London. So after two days of planning she decided that she and Emma would move to Australia, there was a hotel there that had been trying to poach her for months, so she called them and asked if the job was still available, they said yes and she accepted it. The job came with a
Anna blinked her eyes open and she was hit with a blinding light that she had to close her eyes and groan in pain. “Anna, are you awake?” She heard Caroline ask. She opened her eyes slowly so she could get used to the light, and when they were fully opened, she saw Caroline standing by her side. “Oh, thank God you're awake; you gave me quite a scare, Anna. I'll be right back, let me go and get the nurse.” Caroline said and then she left the hospital room. Anna was confused. How did she get here? The last thing she remembered was watching the press conference with Caroline and Emma was sleeping. Emma? Where is Emma? Anna frantically sat up on her bed as he looked around the room but there was no sign of Emma. Caroline walked back into the room with a nurse. “Welcome back Mrs. Knight.” The nurse said. “Caroline, where's Emma?” Anna asked, her voice was scratchy because her throat was dry. “They have a daycare here; I didn't think that you'd wan
After Dylan saw Anna's car drive off, every atom in his body wanted to go after her but he couldn't. He had to attend the press conference and he wasn't worried because Marcus was with her. Fucking Kate, it was like she planned it or something. He had to come in through the back and go up to his office because everyone thought that he was dead and then a few minutes after he walked into his office, Kate walked in. Her eyes were red and it was clear that she had been crying. When she saw him she hugged him so tight saying that she knew he wasn't dead, Dylan asked her why she was in his office and she said she was there to beg for her life and that Dylan should spare her, she confessed that she was working with James but only to get him away from Anna and they she had nothing to do with the plane crash. Dylan wasn't shocked to hear that she was working with James; I mean, it would explain the pictures they were sent to Anna; someone had to take them. While s
“Let's go to the living room so I'll be able to keep an eye on Emma.” Anna told Caroline. “Why do you need to keep an eye on Emma? Anna, what's going on?” Caroline asked again. “I'll tell you everything, let's just go sit down.” Anna told her and then they both went into the living room and sat on the couch facing the TV and opposite where Emma was sleeping so Anna was able to keep an eye on her. “You better start explaining yourself, Anastasia George, or is it Knight now?” Caroline asked her. Anna released a huge breath and then she proceeded to tell Caroline everything. How she met Dylan at the hotel, how she got into a contract marriage with him and in exchange, he agreed to protect her from James and bring him down. How they went to London, Emma's kidnapping, and her heart condition. She told her how they slowly but surely fell in love and admitted their feelings to each other. How everything was so good and then it all went so bad, from the th
Anna ran as fast as she could, she could hear Dylan call out her name behind her but she didn't stop to look back. It was all too much, he had lied to her about everything. She got into the elevator and frantically tapped on the button for the down floor. She could see Dylan getting closer, but the doors closed just in time. She wasn't free just yet, and she knew it; she wouldn't be until she got as far away from Dylan Knight as possible. The elevator doors opened, and she stepped out; she knew Dylan wasn't far behind, probably opting to use the stairs. She ran out of the lobby. She knew she was drawing attention to herself, but she didn't care. She stepped outside, and thankfully, Marcus listened to her and the car was still parked outside the office. She ran to the car and opened the door. “Drive Marcus now.” Anna told him with urgency. “What's going on Mrs. Knight?” Marcus asked her. “Just drive Marcus.” Anna told him as she looked back at t
Anna slowly brought out the folder that had her name on it. She opened it up and on the first page was her basic information, her name, date of birth, house address, place of work, things like that and then she flipped to the second page and she saw her pictures, pictures from when she was picking Emma up from school, going to work and coming back from work. Did Dylan have her followed? She continued flipping through the pages, and she could see that this folder was like a dossier on her life; everything about her was in that file: her marriage to James and her parents. Anna didn't understand why Dylan had this. It was when she flipped to the next page that her heart dropped to her stomach. They were pictures, and she recognised the place, it was the club, and she was more sure of it because, at the top of that page, it was written in block letters: ANNA SIX YEARS AGO. She looked at the pictures, and the more she flipped through them, the memories from that night
By the time Dylan was done with his call and he went up to their bedroom, Anna was asleep. His talking to her would have to wait till tomorrow, but he had to do it before the arrests were made because once they were made public, she would surely put two and two together. Especially since Lucas informed him that she wanted to find him, something happened when she went to see her parents, that had to be the only reason why she wanted to find him urgently. But what could've happened? Could she have found out the truth? No, that couldn't be it, whatever it was, he would ask her about it tomorrow morning after he told her the truth, that's if she was still talking to him after. He took off his shirt and trousers, left only his briefs on and then he got into bed with Anna and wrapped his arms around her, even in her sleep, Anna turned around, seeking his warmth. ************ The next day, Dylan woke up expecting to have Anna by his side, but when he opened his eyes