CHAPTER ELEVEN

With unsteady steps Lauren bound up the stairs of her home, her face downcast and troubled, she had a feeling something was wrong but she didn’t know what it was.

Nathan wasn’t home when she came in. She looked around the house with pure disgust. She didn’t know how she was going to keep living here with Nathan and pretend that she was still the happy wife that he had married.

She wanted to tear down the entire house and set it ablaze but she couldn’t do something that rash, Nathan was too dangerous. She didn’t know what she would do if he tried to harm Damien in any way.

Damien had promised to bring Harry back and he was holding him to his words. Maybe if she finally held Harry in her arms, she might be happy again. But deep down, she knew she would never truly feel complete without Damien by her side.

She brought a bottle of whisky and poured herself a glass, she needed to cool her head so she would be able to handle Nathan when he got back. She was halfway through with the bottle when she heard the door open and Nathan walk in a few moments later.

He looked at her with concern when he saw the almost empty bottle in front of her. he rushed to her side “Are you okay?” he asked, taking her by the arm and helping her stand up.

“Why did you drink so much?” he asked, hooking his hand under her arm and carrying her inside their room.

“He took Harry away,” she slurred.

“What? Who took harry?”

She fell on the bed with a thud and pulled at her clothes “He took my baby away…” She broke into tears all over again “What if I’m never able to see him again? He’s all I have left…”

“You’re drunk when you’re in a better state of mind…”

She interrupted him with scorn on her face “I bet you’re happy with it, now that he’s gone,” she said, hitting his chest as he was bent over her.

“Why would you even think that?” he chastised, he touched her cheek. “Harry might not have been my biological son but he was my son nonetheless,” he said. He stroked her cheek lightly making her eyes flutter “Don’t worry, I’ll bring Harry back to you, I promise.”

“That was the same thing he said,” Lauren scoffed. “What don’t I believe your words, it’s almost like you’ve been waiting for this to happen, I know…” She caught herself on time, almost spilling what she knew to Nathan. She adjusted herself on the bed and looked back at him.

Nathan didn’t look like he knew what she was about to say like he was oblivious to the fact that Lauren already knew that he was the real person that took Harry.

“It’s okay, baby, just go to bed. We’ll talk in the morning, okay?” he said, caressing her hair as her eyes fluttered with sleep, the alcohol finally pulling her into its arms.

“I love you,” she said, as the gentle touch on her hair made her think that it was Damien whom she with before finally closing her eyes completely.

Nathan froze at the words. He never imagined that she would ever see it to him and it left him feeling some type of way. He looked at him one more time before leaving the room. He walked to their garage and opened the door.

He looked around to make sure no one was watching him before he went in and closed the door. He walked to the far end of the garage and stopped in front of a huge box that was resting on the wall.

He removed the box, the weight making him groan as he slid it out of place to reveal a small iron door that was built into the ground. He pressed the corner of the door and the lights came on, he punched in a few numbers on the panel and the door slid open.

Nathan glanced around the garage before lowering himself into the ground as the door closed on its own. he navigated his way through the dark tunnel that he had lowered himself into.

He crawled in the dark before finally reaching another door that opened once he put in the password. The door opened to reveal his laboratory that was buzzing with life as always.

“Sir,” a man that was walking by wearing a lab coat greeted him before he continued on his way. Nathan went to his office where a blonde lady held a crying kid in her arms.

“The fucker won’t stop crying Nathan,” the lady complained. Nathan smiled and sat down, pulling up the file he had been studying before Lauren came back.

“Now, now, Jane, you don’t want to cuss around a kid, do you?” he asked, not even sparing her a glance “Feed him or something, I need to work. Your fiancée is planning to attack me and take his baby back, I need all the concentration that I can get now.

“Stop calling me that!” Jane fumed, making the baby cry louder.

“Baby Harry, stop crying or I’m going to hurt you,” he mused like wasn’t threatening a kid.

“Have Damien carry him, that should work,” Nathan suggested, snapping his fingers. “I’m a genius, how didn’t I think of this earlier?”

Jane chuckled “You’re more like a psychopath than a genius Nathan, maybe a bit of both,” she added when Nathan glared at her. she stood up carrying Harry, and went in search of Damien, or rather his clone.

She found him sitting at a table and staring into a blank space like he always did. Jane found it strange, knowing that the real Damien would never sit so still or look at nothing all day long.

Physical there was no difference between the two but when you’ve spent a long time with the real Damien would spot the difference almost immediately.

She tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention but he didn’t respond. She thrust Harry into his arms and he held him but that was all. There was no feeling in his eyes and his arms lacked the war touch of a father.

She took Harry back to Nathan, more annoyed than she had initially been. “You have to take this child back to his mother. I’m honestly tired and sick of this!” she yelled when she entered his office.

When Nathan looked at her, she felt a chill go through her bones, his eyes were deadly and held no feeling in them. “Talk to me in that tone and you’ll die for real,” he warned. “If you can’t handle him then have them lock him up in front of the empty rooms, don’t disturb me ever again when I’m busy,” he finished and went back to his computer.

Jane didn’t need to be told twice to leave his office. She did not know what type of sick game she had been dragged into but she was beginning to have a bad feeling about it and wanted out.

She looked down at a still crying Harry, she doubted the kid had had anything to eat since he was separated from his mother. the kid might not be hers but his cries were beginning to shake her core and leave her conflicted.

The kitchen was filled with different types of food and the storage was equally stocked so they wouldn’t run out of food while been down here. She took milk from the fridge and cereal. They were the only things she could feed the kid as she didn’t know how to cook.

Harry stopped crying when she started feeding him. He ate the food diligently as if he had already realized that he was in danger of starvation. In a few minutes, the entire bowl was empty and he wasn’t crying anymore.

Jane saw then what Nathan saw when he looked at harry that made him so angry. The eyes were unmistakably Damien’s. They were so green and bright, exactly like his, and his curly black hair didn’t help either.

She imagined it was Damien that she was actually holding and began to stroke his hair, so gently that Harry fell completely quiet. She ran her fingers through the loose curl and watched the strands bounce back into each other.

She imagined that she and Damien had actually gotten married and this was their kid, she didn’t mind that their baby would have all of Damien’s features. It was a blessing to her really.

It would mean that she had a piece of Damien that would represent the love that they shared. Jane snapped out of it when the image of Lauren came flashing through her head. God knew how much she hated the lady no matter how much she tried not to.

Jane didn’t understand why Lauren left Damien and got married to the son of a bitch that was Nathan. Even at that, she still had a kid with him—as if Damien loving her wasn’t enough to hurt Jane already. When she’d first had Harry, she’d tried to hate him and what he signified. But Harry was innocent and the anger she felt dissolved as his green eyes filled with tears peered into hers.

She laid him on the empty bed. She knew he was exhausted from crying and sang him a melody that she remembered from when she was still little. She missed her family. She wasn’t sure how long she has been down here, but it was beginning to feel far too long.

Before she could think it through, she laid down beside Harry, pulling his small body closer to hers. She wasn’t sure what Nathan needed them both down here for but as he made a baby noise and leaned further into her, she knew that she would have to do anything that she could to keep him safe.

It was a few hours before Nathan finally emerged from his office. He cracked his neck, trying to loosen the cramp that had taken home there as a result of him sitting in one position for a couple hours. He glanced at his watch; it was already a couple minutes past midnight.

“Jane!” he called out when he didn’t see her sitting at her usual spot. She searched the rooms until he found her lying down with Harry. What was with everyone he knew developing a certain like for Damien’s kid? He scoffed but left them alone. This was not the time to fight.

He walked to the room at the farthest end that held his greatest secret. Not even the other scientists that he was walking with knew about this.

He glanced around to make sure that no one was following him before putting in the code. It was the only room that did not have transparent walls, so no one could see what was inside. The slid opening enabling him to enter the room before it closed shut.

The figure was suspended on the wall, with different tubes attached to his body and wires connecting him to a machine to keep him from dying. He was pinned to the wall in a standing position with his eyes closed.

“I see you’re taking a little nap,” Nathan mused, making the figure’s eyes flutter open before closing again, totally ignoring Nathan.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk today,” Nathan started, pacing around the room in the process “I’m just here to let you know that Damien would be here soon to take what is rightfully ours. And I need you to help me end this once and for all.” He stopped in front of the figure whose eyes were closed.

Nathan touched his face before speaking again “That was what you always wanted and I’ll help you achieve that.”

He chuckled as he let his hand fall to his side as he walked away from the figure that looked exactly like him and closed the door shut.