Catherine POV: The drive back home was filled with silence. I felt so restless but there was nothing I could do about it. Michael looked really calm for someone who was panicking and I was starting to have useless doubts which I didn't even want to talk about. We finally got back to the palace and when the guards stepped forward to grab me by the arm, one look from Michael had them stepping backward. He assigned one of the maids to me. I remembered her. Though she hadn't been my personal maid at the time I arrived here, she'd been kind to me. Her name was Lisa. She led me to my room and upon walking in, I was engulfed with nostalgic feelings. Not good ones. Bad ones. The memories I had here were painful memories. Memories that only spoke of loneliness and pain and so much longing that was never satisfied. "I'll be right back with a few dresses for you." I nodded and watched Lisa leave before walking deep into the room. It hadn't changed. The drapes we
Alpha Michael's POV; The next morning, I woke up at the shrill ring of my phone, immediately sitting up and picking it to see it was a call from one of the men I'd hired to investigate the children's kidnapping. I picked up immediately, bringing the phone to my ear and sitting up on my bed. "I got an update." "And what is it this time? I hope it's about my kids?" "We found intel where they might be," He replied. "Last night, one of my men caught sight of a suspicious activity going on so we tracked the location to a warehouse." "Has it been checked out?" "It is in progress. We are waiting for confirmation. You just need to stay put for a while." "Where the fuck is the warehouse?" I growled, anger rippling through me. "Send the location to me right now. Do not waste my time." "Alright. I am sending it to you right now." Just as soon as the call ended, my phone beeped with a message. I tapped it open, checked the text to see that it was located in o
Alpha Michael's POV; I rushed into the warehouse, breaking through doors and pushing past pipes that leaned against the wall before I got to a door. I looked around, searching for any wrench to pull the metal latch from the door but I found nothing. In frustration, I began to walk around, searching for anything available to use. I caught a metal bat resting on the wall at the side and quickly picked it up, hoping it was going to help. It did. I was able to unlatch the door. The room was pitch black but I could hear the cries of the little children in the room. I took out my phone and turned on the torchlight to see them both huddled in the corner. "Oh, thank God!" I cried and rushed over to them. They had ropes tied around their hands and legs and their mouths were clamped shut with tapes. I fell to my knees right before them, untying it until they were free before I pulled them both into my arms. "You're safe. You both are safe. Don't worry about anything
Catherine POV: I could barely sleep. It was already evening and Michael was yet to return. I'd spent most of my day running around and asking for his whereabouts. I was so disoriented. So disorganized even. I didn't know if he'd gone to get the kids or if he had gone somewhere else. His men kept pacing around in frenzied movements and I could tell from the looks of things that something had gone wrong. "Hello," I stopped one of the men who had a phone to his ear. He pulled it off and gave me a look of displeasure. Yes, I had distracted him from his call but I didn't care at this point. All I wanted was to know how my kids were doing. "Where is he? He's not been home all morning." The man sighed and looked at his phone before asking the other person on the other end to cut the call. "I don't know where he is." "So what's going on? Why is everyone looking panicked?" "I don't think it's something I can tell you, ma'am. You can wait until he returns. Maybe as
Alpha Michael's POV: After she took them in, I felt slightly terrible that she didn't even acknowledge me or show any form of appreciation. Of course, I had messed up terribly in the past by throwing her and the kids and maybe this was just me paying for my sins. But I'd expected some form of acknowledgement and she hadn't given me that. To be honest, it had really hurt terribly and instead of going back to my chambers, I'd grabbed a bottle of cognac and a glass mug, walked back out of the Palace to the courtyard before taking a seat by the fountain and pouring myself a glass. I leaned back into the large statue and continued to drink while looking up into the skies. The divorce papers. We were yet to find it. Telling anyone I'd lost the file containing my divorce papers would think me stupid. A search was still ongoing but it didn't seem like something that was going to be fruitful. I'd given my second Investigator a call and they had been unable to find anythin
Alpha Michael's POV: "Gotten any updates?" "Not yet, Alpha Michael. Things haven't really been looking up. We've just been stuck here trying to find some sort of lead." It took a lot for me not to toss my phone over to the other side of the room. I would have loved to watch it crash against the wall for the satisfaction of it but gods knew I couldn't do that. I tried to maintain a cool demeanor while he rambled off for the next one minute. "So all of this means there might not be a lead? What the fuck is your final verdict?!" I snapped into the phone, seething with rage as I waited for his reply. "I don't know yet for real, Alpha Michael. Whoever got their hands on this must have done it to get to you because this is the first time we aren't getting a lead on anything." I ended the call before he could say anything and dropped my phone into the couch closest to me. I raised my fingers through my hair, resisting the urge not to do something nasty. She h
Catherine's POV: "Julia!" I called at the top of my voice before pushing out of the lounge chair I was seated on. She'd been playing with Jason who was still concentrating on the Lego house he was building before the flutters of a bird's wings pulled her attention. And now, she was on her feet, going in the direction of the open gates of the pool and not even watching her steps as her only focus was on the bird. I let the book fall to the chair before I hurried over to where she stood and pulled her out of the way before she could dive right into the water. "Julia!" I cried, breathing heavily. "You nearly fell into the water." She clutched her puppet to her chest, her eyes still trained on the bird that seemed to be more concerned about pecking the tree trunk than a little girl who was intrigued by it. "That's a woodpecker. I've only ever seen it in cartoons. I want to hold it." She turned to look at me, her lips forming a pout. Sighing, I place my hand on
Alpha Michael's POV: I'd been so thankful that I had stayed back to watch her play with the kids. I wouldn't have caught sight of her going over to the pool or even slipping and falling. Immediately, I lost every form of control, running out of my office and nearly flying through the walls to get to her. From the way she had taken the fall, I knew that there was no way she could regain some sort of control over the water. And now, she lay in her bed, her face pale and her eyes red from staying in chlorinated water for that long. "I'll take care of that," I said to Catherine who somehow found it difficult to lift her hand. She looked up at me for a brief moment, smiling at me before letting the spoon drop into the plate. I took over, perching right beside her and taking the tray from her hand before I began to scoop the soup and push it into her mouth. Jason was right on the bed beside her and she threw an arm over him like she was protecting him from