•DARLA• "Am I interrupting something?" Ethan asked as he walked inside the cabin restaurant, and I froze in my steps for a moment. I was so shocked that I didn't know what to say. I wondered for a second how he even found me and came at the moment when I couldn't even make up a lie for what he saw. "Ethan, hey." Elijah greeted him and extended his hand for a handshake. But he just looked at it and walked toward me. He looked pissed and I had no idea what he would do when he looked like that. "You said Amelia called and asked for you to come over to her place because her man was giving her some trouble. So, where is she?" He asked as he looked down at me. "Ethan, this is not what you think. I can explain. You don't have to be irrational," I answered as I tried to grab his hand, but he wouldn't take it. "Irrational?!" He snapped. "Bitch, I'm not the one lying so that I can go and see my ex behind your back! You left the kids with me just so that you can come here and dine wit
•ELIJAH•'Fuck,' I muttered under my breath as I inspected my swelled eye in the bathroom.That motherfucker punched me right in the eye and it was just starting to hurt. I quickly looked for first aid in the bathroom cabinet so that I could treat it myself. I took antihistamine eye drops to reduce the discomfort and then went back to my bed to lie down just a bit. I hoped that the swelling would be a bit reduced in the morning since I had to go to my office.I was about to fall asleep when my cell rang next to me, and I quickly picked it up when I saw that it was Billy. "Yes?" I answered the call as I sat up on the bed."The hand is not real. It doesn't belong to Miss Harper or anyone. Just a mannequin hand with realistic makeup. I don't even think that Abigail knew that." I stood up to my feet and was flabbergasted. Harper was alive, and that meant that someone else took her. Either to save her since Abigail had left her to die or was going to ask for ransom before they could b
•HARPER• I took labored breaths as I tried to get off the rope from my wrists. Every twist and turn felt like thorns in my hands, but I couldn't stop when I heard the sounds of hyenas nearby. I was dripping with blood, so I was sure that the scent of it would draw them closer, and they'd get tempted to eat me. My voice was already dry and hoarse from screaming all day for help. Even on the verge of death, I hoped that my soul wouldn't give up the fight in the middle of nowhere. "Help..." I muttered under my breath when I heard a car outside the building. I wasn't sure if it was Abigail or not, but if it wasn't her, I had to take my chances and find help. If I was meant to die, then I was better off dying where my mother would find me rather than going on for years and not knowing what even happened to me. "Help!" I screamed when the car stopped, and footsteps were getting closer to where I was. But after exhausting my last strength, someone walked in with a torch and bli
•DARLA•"Hello?" I yawned. "Darla, it's Anna." She sobbed on the phone, causing me to sit up on the bed. "I'm in the hospital with Charlotte. She was admitted from a headache, and the doctor said they found a tumor in her brain, and now they have to operate on her." "What? Did they tell you when they're going to operate on her?" I asked as I got up from the bed. "They're doing that right now. I called you because -" She paused and cried. "- because I don't have the money to pay for the hospital bill. I don't know what to do or who to ask for help. Please, is there anything you can do for her?" "Of course, Anna. Please send me your location and I'll be there as soon as I can." "Thank you, Darla. I don't know what I could've done without you. I'll see you soon." I hung up the call and quickly went to the bathroom to take a shower. When I was done, I went to the kids' room and found them with Ethan, dressing them up after their baths. "I have to go and see my aunt in the hospital.
•ABIGAIL•"So what's the plan now? Are we going to stop looking for Harper and keep her from getting us in trouble? I don't want her to ambush us at the last minute and put all our work in vain." I looked at Diego and sighed. He just knew how to stress me when all I wanted was to ignore my problems and pretend that they didn't even exist. "What do you want us to do? I can't waste my time looking for her. We are going back to Atlanta, and I'm going to get back what she took from me. That's the plan.""She's alive, Abigail. Doesn't that scare you? If she shows up and tells everyone what we did to her, you won't even get a chance to get whatever she stole from you. Do you realize that, or you just don't care?" "She won't tell anyone anything, Diego. You have to relax your mind and trust me. I've known her for years, and after what I did to her, she knows better than to mess with me again." "She might just get us in trouble, and I don't want to go to jail. Not because of you." I glan
•ABIGAIL•Scolding, I walked out of the bathroom, slammed the door behind me, put on my clothes, and left his bedroom.When I got downstairs in the living room, Poppy was waiting for me. She had a smirk on her face while her hands were folded on her chest. "Did we get lucky?" She wiggled her eyebrows, clearly implying something else. "No, Poppy. Your brother is no longer in love with me. After everything that I've given him, the years we've been together, he's in love with Darla. He wants Darla, and not me." My voice broke as she leaned closer and wrapped her arms around me. "Oh, Abi. I'm so sorry," she comforted me. "You just have to give him time. He will turn around and realize that he will be making a mistake by leaving you." "I can't wait for him to see that, Poppy. Not when he has told me that he loves her, and not me. I can't force him to fall in love with me again. I can't." "But you can wait for him. You can give him time, I mean. He can't leave you, he won't." I leaned
•ELIJAH•"I think we should get Mom the Italian food that she loves. It would really mean a lot to her. Especially now." I said on the phone to Poppy. "Okay. Send me your location. I'll just request an Uber to get me there, and we will drive back home together." "You're not home?" I asked as I hopped out of my car, locked it, and headed to the hotel's restaurant. The whole idea of going there was to get my Mom something. Even though we had a lot of hiccups together, she was still my mother, and being there for her was important to me more than anything."I went out. I just needed some air. And Elijah," she paused and sighed. "Yes?" "I'm sorry about our fight. I didn't mean to upset you that day. I was just trying to help you and Abigail to be happy again. I really loved her for you, but if that upset you, I'm very sorry." I was surprised by her apology because everyone at home knew that she didn't apologize for anything. She had always been the nonchalant one, which is why I n
•DARLA•"Are you okay? You don't look too well," Amelia commented during our lunch date. My mind was all over the place. I was thinking about how things were happening between Ethan and I and Elijah. Especially after seeing Elijah at the hotel last night. "Yeah, of course. How are you and the baby?" I looked at her and smiled, trying so hard to give her my undivided attention instead of making all our conversations about me."The baby and I are fine. Are you good? You haven't said much since we got here, and you know that I can tell when something is bothering you." I breathed. "It's Ethan and Elijah. They're driving me crazy and I honestly don't know what to do anymore. What's worse, Ethan has turned out to be this paranoid person that I can't have control over. He's literally going out of his way to prove that he might need help for what he's going through." "What did he do?" "Do you remember when I told you about us trying to have a baby? Well, he recently did a pregnancy test
•DARLA•"Well, thank you for keeping me informed, Anna. Please tell Charlotte that I'll come over and see her very soon, okay? I've just gotten the twins back and can't travel with them yet." "It's okay, I'll tell her, and thank you so much for everything that you did for us. Now that she's out of the hospital, you don't need to send us money anymore. We'll make do with what we have." "It's okay, Anna. I want to help, and until Charlotte has fully recovered, I'll keep sending you money to make sure that the kids are taken care of and that the bills are paid. You're my family, and I have to make sure that you're good." Anna sobbed on the phone as I went inside the house with Elijah behind me. "Thank you so much, Darla. I wish my sister was still alive to see how her daughter has been taking care of us. I hope she's looking down from heaven and is so happy and proud to have you as her daughter." "Yeah, I hope so too. Anyway, have a good night, and kiss the kids good night for me. I
•ELIJAH•"Elijah, can we talk?"I groaned when I heard my mother's voice behind me. I was on my way to work in the morning when she stopped me right in my footsteps in the hallway. "I just want to make sure that you and I are good. I can't bear the thought of being in a bad place with one of my kids after laying one of them to rest forever. I can't take it anymore, Elijah, please. I am very sorry for everything that happened. But you are my son, and what happened between me and your father was never meant to reach your ears." I scoffed as I turned around and looked at her. "I'm not mad at you because you had an affair when you were with my father and had Harper. What pisses me off more than anything is your affair with a man young enough to be your son. Actually, I don't think I would've had a problem if that man wasn't my children's uncle." "I know, baby. I know that I messed up," she leaned closer. "But what happened between Anthony and I was nothing, but something that was meant
•DARLA•Elijah kept snickering next to me in the car while I was trying to act all serious and avoid him. We were on our way to the airport, and I already didn't want to see him. I just wanted to be home with my kids and pretend for a moment that everything that happened didn't happen. "Are you really not going to say anything to me?" He broke the silence, and I rolled my eyes, folded my arms on my chest, and looked away from him. "Come on, I won't tell the kids until you're ready to tell them yourself. You know that I want what's best for them," he added.When we got to the airport, we boarded our plane and I was relieved when we didn't get seats next to each other. After a few hours on the plane, we finally arrived in Atlanta, and Elijah hurried to help me and the twins out. I then told the twins to go inside our car and wait for me while I had a word with Elijah. He just smirked when I pulled him to the side. "Listen, I don't like this tension between us, especially about my
•DARLA•"You can't take my kids from me, Elijah. I don't care that you feel as if I kept them from you for years, but you're the one who abandoned me when I was carrying them. Those kids are mine," I seethed as we got inside a taxi in Montana."It's because you kept them from me that I think I should stay with them for a while. They deserve to know their father and be close to him." I shook my head as I looked out of the window. "We are getting my kids, and until I'm sure that they're safe, I'm not letting them off my sight.""They're mine as well." God, I regretted ever telling him the truth. He was going to use that line against me every time he wanted to have his way and take my kids from me. I didn't say anything to him until we arrived at the station. I hopped out of the car and rushed inside the building, eager to see my kids and make sure that they weren't harmed. When an officer came to assist me, I told him about the twins, and he didn't hesitate as he took me straight t
•ABIGAIL•"Fuck," I cursed under my breath as I took a hoodie and covered my face. I stood in front of a tall building and released an exhausted sigh. I was in Chicago, and I was sure as hell that I would be caught soon. I hesitated to walk inside the building and find the person that Kathrine said would be able to help me until all the chaos had settled. I took a deep breath as I walked up the stairs and asked for Caleb from the receptionist. She gave me a stern look before she directed me to his office."Hold on for a minute," he suggested as he was on a phone call.I impatiently sat down on the chair in front of his desk and tapped my foot on the floor. I knew that Elijah wouldn't give up searching for me until he had found me. Now that it turned out that Harper survived, I had nowhere else to hide anymore. "Kathrine's sister?" Caleb asked after getting off his call. I took off the hoodie that covered my face and nodded. "Yes. She said you'll be able to help me with getting a
•ELIJAH•"I'm going to the house right now, Harper called and told me that she had arrived. I just wanted to pass by the restaurant and get something to eat and avoid my mother for a while." "You still mad at her about Harper's biological father?" Jason asked as I was heading back home. "And that she was sleeping with Darla's brother. I couldn't believe it when Abigail revealed it before she disappeared. My mother even had the guts to admit it to me without showing any remorse or shame." "Fuck. That's pretty messed up, bro. What is she going to do when she finds out that the twins are yours?" "She knows that. I told her. I wanted to see her reaction when I told her. What baffles me is that she was the one who kept pressuring me to get DNA tests after she met the twins. I don't know if she didn't think that her relationship with Anthony was going to be jeopardized." "It's okay, bro. I hope you and your Mom manage to find a common ground and fix things. The twins deserve a family r
•ETHAN•"Ethan, please tell me that the kids aren't with you. You're going to be in serious trouble if you're caught by the police with them on the road." Chris said on the phone when he called me again the following morning. I hung up his call yesterday because I was afraid that he was going to tell the police that I was the one who took the twins, especially since he was the one that I talked to. "Yes, Chris, the twins are with me. But you should know that they're perfectly safe with me. I've been their father since day one, and nothing has changed. I have the right to be with them now.""You just don't get it, do you?" He released a low growl on the phone. "The twins are everywhere on the news. The moment they see them with you, you'll be in trouble." "You and I know that you're the one who thought this would be a good idea to get Darla back to her senses. You don't think that's a good idea anymore?" "I never said you should kidnap the damn kids! Elijah's looking for them, and
•DARLA•"Elijah knows about the kids being his?" Daphne asked as I laid my head down on her lap as we were sitting in her living room. "I just found myself blurting it out because I was upset. I don't know, but my mind was all over the place, and maybe I felt guilty that the kids went missing, and he still didn't know they were his children." "How did he react?" I sighed. "I just left him there and went to my car. I couldn't even go home and decided to spend a night here. I didn't want him to come knocking outside my door." "So, you're avoiding him?" She asked as she looked down at me with a smirk. "That's not what I'm saying!" I defended myself as I straightened up from the couch and looked at her. "I just don't want us to talk about my pregnancy. Not while my kids are still out there and not found yet." "Are you sure that's why you're avoiding him? You told me that something happened between you two when you were suspecting that Ethan was cheating on you, remember?" I sighed
•SONIA• "Now that the boy is mourning his sister, I want you to be there for him. Be his shoulder to lean on and create a safe space for his vulnerability. It's time you show this family gratitude for everything that we've done for you." "Yes, Daddy." I bowed my head a little and nodded as a tear slipped down from my eye. "Are you crying?" "No!" I exclaimed as I quickly wiped the tear from my eye and looked up at him. "I'm sorry, Dad." My father sighed as he got up from the couch across from me and looked at me. "We'll talk when you come back home." He then walked out of the living room and went to his study. I closed my mouth and released the tears that I was holding behind my eyes. I was so scared of failing my father and our family. More than anything, I was scared of losing Philip, the only man who loved me for me. My father never approved of him because he didn't come from a good family background. His family was poor, and he earned an average salary. "Miss -"