Chapter 23 - Part I

Apparently, he didn't hear a word of what I had said.

"How the fuck could you do this, Alyssa?!" His voice rang out in the phone, I could hear the seething anger in his voice, "I told you so many time to trust me. I was going to get you back, wasn't I!? Then why did you have to take the matters in your own hands!?"

*So Raine and Ryan really aren't there with him, and he thinks I've taken them.

What in the fucking world was he thinking?

"What are—"

"Look, Alyssa, you should've at least told me that you were going to take such a big step. Do you realise the kind of situation you have put me in? I love you, but hell, you can be so stupid sometimes? Why did you have to take Raine and Ryan from Larissa? She was not joking, Alyssa! She will sue you. Dad will sue you no matter what excuses you give now!"

He knew. *He knew but he didn't pick up my calls.

Once again, I didn't know what to think or say. But all I could hear were the screeches of the babies that had always been more important to me than my own life.

"Why aren't you saying anything, Alyssa? Don't you know that you've ruined everything? I was trying my best! I even hunted down the doctor who could prove the truth to dad, but you had to —"

I had stopped hearing him, because at the same moment, I heard footsteps echoing around me. And I knew that was my cue to hang up, because I knew I'd rather die than let the unknown person go out of my sight.

"Fuck you, Terrence. I hate you."

I didn't know why I said that. For a moment - just when I dropped my phone and kicked it aside so that it would remain undetected - I regretted it. I probably should've had told him how much I loved him and how much I wanted him to trust me at this moment, because I had a feeling that the next I would hold a conversation with Terrence would be a long, long time later.

"Who's there?" A deep, gruff voice spoke out, and an unprecedented shiver ran down my spine. A silhouette of a large man appeared in the semi darkness and I tried my best to not look at his face because I knew I would be scared. Another set of footsteps approached and my body stayed frozen on its spot, my heartbeat increasing it's tempo.

"Look who we've got 'ere!" Another voice laughed, and another large man appeared in front of me, "Now we don't 'ave to go scouring the entire city lookin' for this bitch!"

"Who are you?" My voice was croaked and I knew that my face had paled at the sight of this two men. I was no match for them. I still had my self defence lessons, but I wasn't sure they were going to help me in going anywhere near the twins, unharmed.

Heck, I didn't even know that the babies wailing on the other side were mine or not, but I knew I could recognise those cries anywhere.

"What do you want?" I asked again, my fear forcing me to take a small step back.

"Well," the first one drawled, "we were just going to start searching for you, but our luck that we found you here. We're not going to take pity on those brats this time. We are going to kill them, just we'll have you watch us doing it."

I screamed.

Or, I was about to scream, but a strong hand clamped down on my mouth.

"Shut up, bitch! Don't ya dare scream! You want those screaming brats to stay alive, don't you?" He screamed in my face.

I nodded, tears forming in my eyes. Raine and Ryan had been with them all this time and I had no idea if my babies were alright. I should have let Larissa actually sue me for kidnapping her children. That would have been much easier than all of this.

The man who had me in his hold started dragging me somewhere, and I let him, because this was the only way I could save my kids. I just hoped my phone didn't break or switched itself off because I needed Terrence to track me down as soon as possible, even of he wanted to think of me as the one who took away the children.

The other seemed to be on phone with someone, and I could bet that he was talking to Larissa that they finally had me and the twins in their hold. Which meant Larissa would be here soon.

Which meant that I could get this drama over soon.

We stopped in front of a dilapidated, old warehouse - one I never noticed - which seemed to be the source of the screeching cries that made my heart ache.

"Move." The other man ordered, and I was dragged inside like a rag doll. His grip on my arms was painful, and my vision was blurry with tears, but my focus kept on reaching the twins.

We stopped near the door and he yanked my hair painfully, "Now, the first thing you're gonna do is stop all that screamin'. They'll wake up the entire neighbourhood." He paused and leaned in closer, burying his face in my chest and inhaling. The act itself made me feel so violated that I could throw up, "Mama, you're hot! Maybe she will let us have fun with her before she kills her?"

"She will." The other stated with a disgusting smirk on his face, and raked his gaze over me, "Now let's stop those screaming brats."

He opened the door and I was shoved inside with such a force that I collides against the wall with a crack. I saw stars, and my ears made a ringing noise, but apart from that I could see that my babies hadn't seem me yet with the way they were still screaming.

Pay attention to the word: screaming.

No, they were not the screams of agony, pain, sadness, hurt or lack of attention. They were the screams of I-am-a-brat-and-I-will-keep-screaming-just-to-annoy-you-because-you-said-not-to. I didn't know if I should've laughed or cried - my kids clearly felt safer with these two large men than with Larissa.

They still hadn't noticed that their Momo had been tossed inside the room and was sitting a fee feet behind them.

"God, shut them up, this is too much noise, Jeff. God knows what this woman feeds them with. And how the fuck did they get out of their cribs?" One of them asked.

"This one," he pointed to Raine, "is definitely a pain in the ass, Will. She shows her doe eyes, makes us melt and then screams like a banshee. Had she been a decade or two older, I would already have had wrung her neck...Oh Jesus! Shut up!" He yelled at them.

Pin drop silence fell for a moment and I could see the widened eyes of my kids through the haze I was in since my head collided with the wall. I'll be honest, just like those two men, I was quite thankful for the sudden silence. But I had been with them for ten months. As comfortable they seemed to be with the two - something which had my heart filled with hope that they'll help us out after a little bribing - I knew they would start screaming as kicking again.

They did that a lot ever since Raine and Ryan had started fighting with each other.

Slowly, Ryan's face contorted into an angry one, even though he looked super cute. If I was going to die, I was going to die a happy woman knowing that my kids were brave fighters.

Okay, not so happy. Things really didn't end on a good note with the love of my life.

Ryan yelled, "No!"

Raine followed, "No!"

And then the small room was filled with numerous chants of "No!" And the ringing in my ears worsened. I tried not to surrender to unconsciousness and sat up slowly with a throbbing head.

"Ryan," I croaked, "Raine," I heaved in a breath and closed my eyes, "Please stop." I whined.

The screams stopped, but suddenly two bodies collided with mine and I winced when I felt all the sore places when my body had been flattened against the wall. Yet, mustering all I had in my, I gathered my crying kids and kissed their hair. I inhaled their baby scent and felt some strength seeping into me.

I was ready to bargain.

I knew they weren't going to let me out, but they were kind with the kids - at least so much more than Larissa. They would probably let them go...

"No, no, no. Don't give us that look woman!" Will said, "We're not gonna fall for that 'pity me and let me leave' look. We're already in trouble because we did not kill them the last time and left them in a dumpster when we found you coming down the road. We're not gonna help you."

"Please..." I croaked, but just then the door slammed open.

"Begging is not going to get you anywhere, cousin." Larissa smug voice came from the door but I was too reluctant to look at her. I was focused more on how my babies stilled in my arms and were now shivering in my hold.

"Pick those two bastards and put them in the crib you've got for them." She gestured to Jeff, "For what I've planned for this bitch, I don't want them to come in between. They'll get hurt and that is not in my plans at the moment."

Jeff looked somewhat disgusted with her but took the kids from me. I was not surprised to see that the kids clung to him when he tried to set them down and they buried their faces in his neck. I knew his heart melted then - I could see it in how his eyes softened.

It was ironical that the only person in the room who wanted to hurt Ryan and Raine was their own biological mother.

*Maybe there is hope - maybe a few more minutes with Jeff and Will and I'll be able to get the babies back to Terrence?

Raine and Ryan were once again silent, now that Larissa's voice was booming out instructions to put the babies to sleep. If not for the situation I would have found it hilarious watching two big men putting tiny kids to sleep.

"Now let the real mom and fake mom have a chat, right?" Larissa snickered, and grabbed my chin, making me wince as she swiftly tipped my head back.

"She looks so pretty when bruised. What say? Let's make her more pretty."

*Smack!

A harsh, stinging slap met my right cheek and I toppled over from my sitting position. Just then followed a swift kick in my stomach and a stinging pressure on my calf.

She was digging her heel in my leg.

Just then she flung a few papers at me, and threw a pen that hit an injured spot of mine that made it sting even more.

I sat up slowly and gathered the papers, squinting to see what was written.

"They are papers for transferring grandpa's inheritance to my account. Don't waste my time and sign it quickly." She ordered, digging her heel more.

"I'm going to die today, am I not. Can I not just have a look at what all I'm giving to you before signing it?"

She rolled her eyes but let me read it. I didn't care for the inheritance, that cursed money had already caused too many deaths in my family and it was going to cause mine, too. I had no use of it - never had and never will. I was just making sure that she didn't include any clauses that gave her any undue rights over the kids or something I would regret even after my impending death.

Yes, I had given up on believing that I was going to get out of this alive, but it didn't mean I was going to let my kids suffer the same fate.

I signed the papers.

The smug look on Larissa's face grew as I signed them, but what she didn't realise that I was happy that I was finally getting rid of that useless money.

"Now that I'm done with you, I'll leave. I will come back for you, bitch, I'm just keeping the element of surprise. You look so prepared to die that I want you to keep anticipating when I'll pounce on you and kill you all."

Her words, although spoken nonchalantly chilled me to the bone. I looked towards the kids and found them already sleeping - the stress and drama had tired them out.

"Can I ask you a question, Larissa?" I asked in a whisper when she was about to walk away.

She rolled her eyes and smirked, "Last dying question? Go ahead."

"If you didn't want the babies," I started, looking at her in the eye, "Why didn't you abort them when you had the time? Why go through so much trouble?"

"You think I didn't try?" She snorted, "It was already too late when I learned about the pregnancy, because when I had finally managed to escape Vincent and schedule an abortion, Vincent learned of the fact that I was pregnant. Like a lunatic, he came to every doctor's visit and was becoming more and more suffocating. I tried again many time, thinking that I will pass it off as miscarriage, and then there came a time when harming these stubborn brats would mean killing myself. So I formed that entire plan but just as always someone had to come along and fuck it up! This time, it was you! Vincent, the man who always trusted me blindly, was asking me questions because of you and because of these two fucking idiots who were cowards and couldn't kill them." Larissa glared at Jeff and Will.

"Don't you feel even the least bit of guilty for what you've done to them? Don't you love them even a little - they've been a part of you for more than eight months." I asked, and it sounded more like a plea.

Her features hardened at my questions, and she muttered, "That's too many questions for one question."

And then she walked away.

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