Chapter 25 (Seth's POV)You know that feeling in your gut that something is just not right? Yes, the one that is just nagging you and you and not letting you alone, and no matter what you do it does not want to go away. Do not ever ignore it! I learned young to always follow my instincts and what my gut tells me, and this time was no different. I knew something was wrong.The cart I had half full in front of me was forgotten. What I bought would go with me but other things would have to wait. I rushed out of the store and straight to the car. If my gut was alarming me it could mean only one thing, Anabelle was in danger. And since that was the most possible option you can believe me I did not care for any speed limits or anything else. All I cared about was getting to Anabelle as fast as possible but still, it took me more than thirty minutes before I arrived in front of the cottage. The first thing that told me my gut was right once again was when I saw the front door was opened, but
Chapter 26 (Anabelle's POV)A few months have already passed since Devin was taken into custody and only a month later he was officially taken to prison from where he will not be able to escape and for the next at least 30 years he will not be able to get out legally either.He was charged with threats, rape, attempted rape, and blackmailing and as it turns out the reason why he went awol those months ago was that he killed his parents. After the ambush, he prepared at the cottage and I fell unconscious, I actually came to it before the police arrived and luckily I had no side effects from my fall or anything.Now, months later everything was looking perfect. Seth was as amazing as he was the day we met. But as the season was nearing he was getting more and more anxious. That did not mean our relationship changed in any way because it really did not, but as much as he tried hiding his nervousness he could not hide it from me. At this point, we were officially living together not as r
Chapter 27 (Seth's POV)Everything was going back to normal as it should be, except…my Anabelle was not the same.And I had no idea what that was about. Everything was perfect until the day I had my doctor's appointment when I was told my leg was perfectly healed and capable enough for playing hockey.And since then she has changed. Now I have no idea why or what the issue was but I saw little changes. For example, when she thought I was not paying attention to her she got lost in her mind, when we were spending time together with all our friends she kept looking at Anastasia skeptically, but whenever I asked her what was going on she said it was nothing and not to worry about it. But still, I worried. At first, I thought it had something to do with Devin, but whenever he came up in the discussion she did not even flinch anymore so that sure was not the problem. So the only other option was that she had a problem with Anastasia but I could not figure out why. After all, Anastasia was
Chapter 28 (Anabelle's POV)My gut never alarmed me wrongly and I knew this time was no different. I knew I was right and when I read the email Seth received from the court my questions had been answered and my fears were confirmed. She really was alive. She may have changed her name but as it looked like she did not change her appearance. What surprised me though was the fact that Seth did not realize the striking similarities between them. I was not exasperated when I told him how similar they looked when they stood next to each other.Seth suddenly jumped from the couch where he was sitting unmoving for almost ten minutes, "I need to speak to her." and he started grabbing his things the next moment.As far as the planning went we did not have much but I was completely on board with his plan full of holes. We can figure out things as we go.As he realized I was collecting my things as well he looked at me like I was crazy and I just stared back at him until he gave up our staring ma
Chapter 29 (Seth's POV)Epilogue I wish I could tell you it all makes more sense to me right now, but it definitely does not. It makes even less sense if that makes sense and now I am making no sense…. Yes. I lost it. Too late for me. That is what happens when you spend the last almost 20 years of your life, beating yourself for something that you wish you could change… Only to realize all those years later there was nothing to change in the first place.Do not get me wrong. I am overjoyed because my sister is alive, but I'm also shocked, surprised, hurt, angry…. It is a real fucking roller coaster in my head right now.And do not dare judge me right now! Try to put yourself in my shoes. You spent all those years thinking you are all alone, that the only person that still cared about you is dead and then one day out of the blue you find out she is alive but was pretty much on the run her whole life? Even the police could not keep her safe.So I guess now you understand a bit better w
The queen of the frozen past Chapter 1 (Anastasia's POV)ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO I woke up to the sound of beeping. And let me clarify I did not want up because I was well rested but because the beeping was getting on my nerves.As I tried to move a sharp pain went through my whole body but I pushed back the scream that wanted to escape me. I was not allowed to make a sound even if my whole body was hurting. No. In our house, the only person that was allowed to be heard was the monster we called father. But suddenly it hit me. If I was at home, what the hell was that beeping sound?Slowly I opened my eyes and a blinding light made me close them immediately. No. I was most definitely not at home. Panic started crawling up my body and I could feel my breathing getting frantic. On my right suddenly the door could be heard, how it got opened hurriedly and I could hear fast steps approaching me."Sophie. Darling. You need to calm down. Everything will be alright. You are in a hospital and no
Chapter 2 (Benjamin's POV)Living at home once you are a grown-up should be illegal I swear. Do not get me wrong. I am glad to be home so I can see my parents more, especially now that my mother was diagnosed with cancer. Well, technically she was out of the bigger danger now. Doctors said the cancer was gone after all the chemotherapies she went through. But she still had a long way before she would be completely fine and back to her normal self. And now you must be wondering why I was still living with them if my mother was out of danger, right? After the scare, I got when dad called me and told me mom had cancer, I was just not ready to deal with everyday things and take life the way I did before.But as we speak we come to the harder part of me staying at home with my parents. You see my dad was not sure I would be able to drop everything with my hockey career and come home so I could help take care of my mother, so he wrote an online ad which surprised me greatly. My father was n
Chapter 3 (Anastasia's POV)Dumb woman, I was such a dumb woman!Ok. So I decided to stay in London, on the outskirts, yes, but it was still London. The main reason was that I wanted to be at least remotely close to my brother, but I did not expect to be thrown right in the middle of his life! First Benjamin confronted me about it and he did it on the first day we met. And I told him as much of the truth as I could, which was not a lot honestly. Mostly I told him I was Seth's estranged sister and we have not seen each other in nearly two decades and that behind everything was an ugly story he did not have to know. But I did ask him to keep everything to himself until I was ready to tell Seth about it on my own. He deserved at least to hear it from me and not from other people. But a month or two later my time ran out and Seth confronted me on his own. He told me it was actually Anabelle that connected all the dots together. I knew from the start that I liked the woman for a good reaso
Chapter 27 (Loraine’s POV) epilogue Some years later… “Andrew! The girls will be here any minute, could you get Samuel ready for me please?” Before you make any assumptions let us make something clear. Samuel is our son, and he is three years old. As weird and unthinkable as it might sound, all girls gave birth to a child in the same year. Sure, there were differences, Valentina and Nathaniel had three kids. The first one was a little girl named Daisy, who was not so little anymore since she was nine years old already. Second was a boy named Gareth, he was six years old and the last was Penelope who was three years old as well as our Samuel. Then there was Anabelle and Seth. They had two kids, twins to be exact. A boy and a girl, Samantha, and Sam, they were three years old as well. If we move forward, we have Anastasia and Benjamin, they had just one kid the same as me and Andrew, and the little three years old princesses’ name was Lory. The next in line would be Malcolm and Mandy
Chapter 26 (Andrew’s POV)We were on our way to the airport and of course, with Malcolm in the car we were driving over the speed limit and if a police officer pulled us over there would be hell to pay once he realized who the driver was, but mostly no one dared stop Malcolm, even the new guys knew his car and just waved when he passed. But in my opinion, we were still not driving fast enough. I wanted to be at the airport already, deal with the bastard and wrap my Loraine in my arms where I knew I could keep her safe.But as much as I wanted to yell and rant and be a smart ass, I knew I was thinking irrationally so I rather just sat back and kept my mouth shut. That and the fact that Malcolm threatened to throw me out of the car if I dared be loud.Thankfully we arrived at the airport just when my patience was running low. But as we stopped the car, I could not believe my eyes. There was a plane, ready to take off at any moment, but the stairs were still pulled out and firmly on the
Chapter 25 (Loraine’s POV)Either these people were stupid, or they just assumed I knew London so well that I did not need to have my eyes covered while we were driving to the airport. Or maybe it was just the fact that they were so sure I would not be going anywhere except board the plane to Washington.Too bad for them because I had every intention to run away as fast as my legs could carry me, especially now that I knew two of six guys were on my side. Two of those guys that were not on my side are going into the plane’s cabin to make sure everything is set up and two will be completely oblivious to my attempt thanks to my accomplices. I still had no idea what their moto was, but I was not about to ask them since I was just happy to have someone willing to help me get away without a need to kill someone.You see all my self defense classes and so on that I was taking while on the run were in case, I found some place I want to stay and not run anymore, but before London there was no
Chapter 24 (Andrew’s POV)“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE IS FUCKING GONE?! YOU STUPID BUNCH OF IMBECILS! HOW COULD YOU LET HER SLIP OUT OF THE CLUB WITHOUT ANY OF YOU NOTICING!?” As you can see, saying I was pissed would be a huge understatement, because I was livid! Somehow, while we were celebrating our win in the office with Malcolm and the girls, and a few minutes later with their boyfriends as well, Loraine managed to slip out of the club and disappeared into thin air.If you would tell me a week ago, she disappeared I would probably believe she ran away like she did every time in the past eight years when something or someone got too close to her and her heart, but today I was sure she did not run away. She promised me that she would not run away, and she would stay with me for as long as I wanted her and on the other hand, the fact that Rodriguez was just leaving my club when Loraine mysteriously disappeared just did not stop nagging me. So, I had my suspicion that he had something to d
Chapter 23 (Loraine’s POV)Today was the first time in my whole life that I remember standing up to myself for as long as I can remember. Not once when I was married was, I willing to do so. I just swallowed everything that was thrown my way. I never yelled at the man or talked back, I never told him my opinion, never objected to his decisions about my life, nothing.And the feeling was kind of refreshing and new. It felt amazing.Now, you see I stopped smoking years ago, it was bad for my health and all that and honestly it was just an expensive habit. But at this moment I felt like I was on top of the world and decided to treat myself to one cigarette you could say for old times’ sake, so I can finally close the door on every bad decision I made in the past.I was at the back entrance when I heard steps approaching but I thought it was sure one of the girls or maybe Andrew, so I stayed put and did not even turn around to see who it was, a big mistake.Next thing I know someone was h
Chapter 22 (Andrew’s POV)The thought of pinching myself and seeing if I was even awake crossed my mind, but nothing felt as good even in dreams as Loraine felt in my arms. She said it. Those fears I had for the past few weeks since I realized I fell for this woman melted away like ice cream on a hot sunny day.Now the only thing left was for us to deal with Rodriguez once and for all. But that was not mine decision, I stopped kissing her and moved a bit away but still kept our foreheads pressed close together, “Are you ready to deal with the demons of the past?”She gave me a nod which was a bit hesitant, but honestly if I was in her shoes and had to deal with someone like Rodriguez, I would be hesitant as well. I took one of her hands in mine and gave her a squeeze to show her that she was not alone.As we rounded the corner, I could not help it but look around and once again it surprised me how self-assured the man really was. He took only five men with him and all of them were in
Chapter 21 (Loraine’s POV)How could he do that? If I had to guess, from what I saw in the office I would say Andrew knew about my past and he knew it well. So first of all, he was hiding the fact that he knows about everything from me, or maybe I can find an excuse for him and say he just found out, but I doubt that since he has been a bit weird for the past few weeks and especially today. But I am willing to tell myself anything to feel a bit better, and right now I needed to believe Andrew did not betray me like everyone else in my life did.At the moment I was sitting by the river that was right next to the club, and yes, I know I did not go far from everything, but it was far enough that Rodriguez would not think I came here, he probably thought that I ran away already like I always do when he finds me, but this time was different. I had friends, I had a job that I liked, and I hope they cared for me as well. I had a good life, and I was actually looking forward to the future. I
Chapter 20 (Andrew’s POV)The moment Loraine barged into my office I knew something was going to go awfully wrong and as usual I was proven right when the asshole opened his mouth.Thankfully me and Malcolm seem to be on the same page because when Loraine ran out of my office as if she was on fire, we both jumped to our feet, but since I was in my usual seat and Malcolm was right next to Rodriguez, he was the one that landed a solid punch to his face and probably broke his nose in the process judging by the crunching sound that could be heard, “You idiot! You just broke my nose! What in the ever-loving hell is wrong with you? Do you have any idea who you are dealing with? I can have you erased from the surface of the earth in a moment!” technically, if we were not who we are, he would be right, but since we were one of the strongest mafia organizations in the world, well, sadly for him, he was wrong. Sure, we were operating on legal grounds, but that was actually a plus on our side, b
Chapter 19 (Loraine’s POV) Something did not feel right. I could not put my finger on it, but my gut was telling me to go back to the club. Why? I had no idea but the opportunity to do so presented itself when Mandy asked me to put the car keys into my purse, because I was the only one that remembered to take a big enough purse to put in my wallet, phone and all the girly necessities but still had some space to put in the keys as well. Now I just had to come up with a plan to get away from them with a believable excuse, ran to the parking lot and drive back to the club so this awful feeling would go away. Even if I drove for nothing, I would still feel better if I followed my instincts and honestly, I doubted my gut was warning me for nothing. I know to some people it might sound stupid to follow your gut or your instincts, but those two things saved me more than once in the past years while I was being on the run. So, there was no way I would ignore it. As we walked around the sho