Chapter 23

By the time we arrived at the mansion, the sun was coming out. I was kidnapped and tortured thirty minutes away from my home, how will I ever be able to live an everyday life without feeling like everyone is out to get me?. I got out of the car, and Dan came running outside, looking at me with a confused and worried look on his face. "Where have you been? I thought you left me." He wrapped his arms around me, and I felt the warmth of his body and the gentle pressure of his hug. I smiled, inhaling the familiar scent of his cologne. When he pulled back, I laughed and gazed upon his face searching for signs of teasing on his expression because I couldn't hear the words coming out of his mouth. "Did you really just say that? Why would I leave you anyway?" I asked, smiling, even though I had a hundred reasons why I should be leaving him.

"I don't know, I just thought the worst, honestly. What happened to you?" Dan asked as he backed up and looked at me, his face etched with surprise and worry. "It's been a long night or day, but we have to arrange somewhere safe I can stay." Tyson cleared his throat immediately after I said that. We looked at him, and he awkwardly smiled before speaking. I hope he doesn't say anything stupid, not anything that involves me. "I know a place." He said, rubbing his hands together, seemingly excited, and in that moment, I just wanted to facepalm myself. Why the hell would he say that? Why would he make it so apparent to my husband that he is also concerned for my safety?

"Tyson, this does not concern you. Thank you for finding Emerald, but I was hoping you could focus on telling me how you got to her and how you knew everything, since I was unaware. You can come inside and wait for me." Dan said as he walked closer to me, held my waist, and tried to help me walk, my mind immediately went to my gunshot wound. "Oh no, my wound is already healed," I said, forming my lips into a straight line, feeling vulnerable and like a weirdo. "There's so much going on with you, I just can't keep up. Let's go inside so we can get you cleaned up and we can pack our bags." We walked inside, and Tyson slowly followed behind us without saying a word. "Tyson killed Anna, Dan. I don't know how I feel about him being here with his gun." I whispered to Dan as we walked up the stairs, leaving Tyson in the dining room. "There's a lot I don't understand at the moment, but I will try and get some answers from him. Let me go grab something to eat for you in the kitchen, you can shower for so long." I nodded as Dan turned and went to the kitchen. I rolled my eyes as Tyson immediately made his way upstairs. "Don't be like this, I said I'm sorry about your friend." He begged, scratching his head. I glared at him, unable to even look at him without being fearful. "Don't ever talk to me again," I said as I walked out of my room, ignoring his cries for attention.

"Do you need help?" I snickered at Dan's words. "I don't have any injuries, so no, I don't need help," I said, unable to stop myself from smiling. He has been so good to me lately that I feel like the most important person in his life. "Okay, shout if you need anything." I nodded while getting undressed in the bathroom. I quickly finished getting clean and got into some clean clothes for the road. I walked out of the bathroom, and Dan was sitting at the edge of the bed, staring at the wall. "What's wrong?" I asked, seeing the disturbed look on his face. "Tyson just told me what happened, well, what he thinks happened." My heart started racing as I thought of so many things Tyson could've told him that happened. "Can you be specific?"

"About you being kidnapped, someone told him they saw you being roughly pushed into a car, and the car sped away with you in it." I looked at him for a moment, unable to say anything as I tried to calm myself down. "People came in here and kidnapped me. I ended up in a small cabin with someone who claims to be your mother and a strange man. I managed to escape, Anna found me, but Tyson.."

"Someone who claimed to be my mother?" He shot up from the bed, looking at me with a panicked look on his face. I sat up and brushed his arms with my hands to calm him down. I can't believe I can calm him down. We have honestly progressed so well, and it's making me happy. "What's wrong?" I asked, confused, why it seems like he's angrier than happy. "That woman is bad news, Emerald. I have never looked for her after she left because I know what she's capable of." I was too stunned to speak. His mother is indeed evil. I thought she was just being weird when she talked about a curse, but what if she's telling the truth?

"We are not leaving this house, Emerald. If it's really her and there's something that she wants, she will come and try to take it." He said, looking at me with a determined look on his face. "That's exactly why I wanted to leave, I don't want her to find me!" I felt frustrated and scared for my life, and I felt my legs shaking in fear for my baby's life. "I'm not the kind of man who lives on the run, Em. I've never been, I want her to come so I can kill her for torturing the woman I love." Did this man tell me he loves me? "Oh my god, I love you too."

"I'm so sorry for what my mother has done to you, but I promise you, I will find her." I listened in silence, waiting for him to confess his love for me once more. "I'm so sorry for how shitty I have treated you, but I do love you, I do care about you. Will you forgive me, Mrs Cross?" I nodded as he kneeled in front of me, our foreheads touching, sharing the comfortable silence. When he finally leaned, it wasn't a kiss so much as a confession made in trembling sighs.