Alphonso’s POVIt had been a few months since I had last seen Lily, and I was pushing the PI I had hired into finding her.By pushing I meant asking for updates every day, even when he clearly didn’t even have anything to tell me.There he was in my office, still with nothing to report.“What do you mean you can’t find her?” I snapped as I slammed my fist on my desk.I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself.“She obviously didn’t just disappear into thin air, especially considering that she was hurt.”“I have looked everywhere. All hospitals close to this building and even extended the search to hospitals all over the city, but none of them have a record of her being admitted in there.” The PI stated, “Maybe we should consider that she might not have survived.”“Get out of my office.” I cut the man off, and said in a very calm tone, and he gathered his things and walked out without another word.He clearly was starting to think that I was unhinged. Maybe I was.I hired him to fin
Lily’s POVAfter what happened with Alphonso, I wasn’t sure that I was ready to become close with someone else, especially not when I was pregnant with someone else’s child.“I hope you don’t think this is something more than friendship,” I blurted out seemingly out of nowhere at Julian.He frowned and then chuckled, but when I didn’t laugh along with him, his smile dropped and he became serious. “I hope that I haven’t really given you the wrong impression of me,” he stated. “My daughter just never stops talking about you, and I thought it would make her happy if you and I got to know each other, but if that’s not okay with you, I could take a step back.”I mentally face-palmed myself, so much for setting boundaries and making a perfectly good situation awkward.“No, you aren’t,” I chimed in quickly in an effort to make the situation less embarrassing on my end. “I just didn’t want to seem like I was giving off the wrong impression or coming off in a way that made you think that I…”
(Lily’s POV)I hadn’t told Chris about the note. I was spiralling, and I didn’t think it was the right thing to do; at least both of us didn’t need to be on edge.I felt obligated to take on this baggage, and I wasn’t exactly complaining.I did tell him to take over the deliveries and that I wasn’t exactly feeling well, but he was more than willing to do it.I, on the other hand, was having a breakdown, and I desperately wanted to talk to someone about this. Every cell in me wanted to call Alphonso.I kept picking up the phone and putting it back down.I had started to dial the numbers when there was a knock on the door.It was in the middle of the day; I never usually have visitors at this time of day. I picked up a gun, and as I peeked through the window to see who it was.Julian.I was back to feeling on edge, and I didn’t know what exactly to think about him, but all I could hear was Chris’ paranoid voice at the back of my head.I put the gun away and opened the door—just a crack.
(Lola’s POV)A few weeks had passed, and to say things were going great with Diana would be an understatement.If we weren’t meeting for some milkshakes, ice cream, coffee, or even shopping, we were on the phone all the time.“If you aren’t going to act like a mother to Frank, why exactly am I still letting you live with me?” Alphonso asked as he walked past me in the dining room, where I was enjoying my breakfast.I smirked, “Because I am still his mother.” I took a bite of a slice of fruit, as I glared at him. He was going to ruin my breakfast, wasn’t he? I thought.“I could pick anyone off the street, and they would be more of a mother to him than you are.”“Yet here I am.” I took another bite.“My…” He started when my phone started to ring.I held a finger up as I answered the call.“Hey, how are you doin
(Gemma’s POV)I had two days before the deadline that Alphonso had given me was to come to an end, and I wasn’t even close to finding out where Lily was.I even tried to track Chris, and still I got a lot of women who claimed that he was dead, which he wasn’t if more than two women claimed the same thing. I guess he had to continue the scam in some way with Lily gone.My phone rang, and I answered without even looking at the caller ID, “What?” I asked in annoyance.I barely had time to sleep in the last few days.I needed this to work out so I could spend more time with Oscar and Abby. We had formed some kind of family, with Oscar being a lawyer, and I had opened up about that. I did, and he did suggest that I join forces with Don.“I am just trying to help you.” Oscar’s voice came on the other end.I sighed. “Sorry about that; I just have a lot to deal with.&rdquo
(Chris’ POV)Three Weeks AgoI wasn’t a fan of small towns, as there wasn’t much to do and everyone was into your business. I especially didn’t like the kind of relationship Lily and I had chosen when we got to Deadwood.Why did the sob story have to be that her husband died and we were looking for a fresh start? Why couldn’t I be the husband but had to be the brother?Being her brother definitely limited the kind of relationship we could have, and as much as I thought I had gotten over her, I hadn’t.“What kind of job can you do?” The grumpy old man in front of me asked.Fake an entire identity, I was tempted to say, but I smiled and replied, “Much of anything really, I am not picky. I just want some money that my sister,” felt weird saying that about Lily, “and I could sustain ourselves with.”“Have you ever worked in cons
(Lola’s POV)“What the hell did you do?!” The yelling of a familiar voice woke me up, Daniel, or was it Noah?“I played it safe.” Diana’s voice replied.“We agreed to let her pregnancy move further along before we did this!”At least Diana wasn’t lying about Daniel’s involvement in this. So much for trying to convince him to let me go. I would have to think of something else.“You might have just put the child in danger.”I felt a hand on my forehead; my eyes opened just slightly, and even that was a struggle to do.“H…” I tried to speak but couldn’t.“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything…”I zoned out, and I didn’t hear the rest of what he said.“Jeez, Noah, one might think you are in love with her.” Diana mentioned it sarcastically, offhandedly.&l
(Alphonso’s POV)I was too excited to go and meet Lily for me to stop and think that I had to plan for a lot of things before I could just get up and leave.I had stormed into Gemma’s house, and the moment she gave me the name of the town, I was already calling the airport for the first flight I could get out of the country and see her.Thankfully, the flight was late in the evening, so I could plan a few things about who would take care of Frank while I was gone, who was going to be running my company, and inform Don that I wasn’t going to be around for a while.I didn’t know what I was going to find when I got there, but I needed to be realistic and know that it was definitely not going to be a single-day affair.The first stop was to see Catherine, the nanny. I trusted her way more than I trusted Lola, whom, come to think of it, I hadn’t seen for days now.I shrugged it off.I got to t