Chapter 51

Ana was restless. And tired. And everything that could relate to the word exhausted. It had been a couple more hours. Or that was what it seemed. To be honest, she had no specific idea.

She was tired, hungry and to make matters worse, the baby was restless. He had not stopped kicking. It was probably the hunger pangs. Her poor baby was probably starving.

Ana sighed and looked at the small door then back at Tasha. She was sitting there, texting someone without a care in the world and laughing. It felt like some kind of mockery. She was enjoying all what Ana couldn't.

She couldn't bear it anymore. She had kept it in for far too long. She had tried to be strong and not show just how terrified she was to Tasha. But the tears just started flowing. And she just kept sobbing.

"You're actually crying?" Tasha asked incredulously. The thought was funny to her. Crying because of someone else's taunts. It wasn't that it had never happened to her. It's just that she had developed a thick hide from all the times people had called her out of her name.

Ana felt like the world was coming to an end. Almost. Here she was, crying in front of the one person who was never supposed to see her tears. She was being weak. And she hated that fact.

"Aw don't cry," Tasha mocked, then burst into a fresh bout of laughter. She didn't know why seeing Ana cry amused her to no end. Maybe it was because this one had always insisted on being that strong person. So seeing her come undone was kind of fun to watch.

Ana's back was ramrod straight. And though the tears were still flowing, the unfortunate sobs had ceased. Her face was still facing downwards. And if someone had given her a weapon to hurt Tasha with, she would actually have considered it.

Ana thought of Jack, that complicated man she loved. She wondered if he was even concerned about her. She even doubted that he cared enough to even notice she had disappeared and look for her.

It was stupid but she was hurt by the direction in which her thoughts were going. It was almost like she was punishing herself. But she didn't know exactly what penance she was trying to atone for. Her weak mind was sickening sometimes.

Then she thought of Landon and how worried he would be. Or would he even be worried? After all the drama she had put him through, the trash he had endured for her sake.

Yes he was her best friend. But that didn't mean he had to go through all of her problems with her. Sure, he could be there for her. But when it escalated to this point, it wasn't normal anymore.

Because of her, Landon had been humiliated and he had gone through more excesses of emotion than she had ever seen him go through. She knew it wasn't necessarily her fault he could control these emotions but the fact that remained was she was usually the one who made him get angry or frustrated or jealous or something.

Ana sighed. At this point, the tears were long gone. She knew it was bad but she just kept on feeling pitiful. For her own fucking self.

She had always had wandering thoughts. But it used to be nothing but harmless imagination. This was different. This was a kind of punishment she was inflicting on herself. And if you had asked her to answer honestly as to why she was trying to do that, she wouldn't have been able to tell you why.

She wished she could fall asleep. At this rate, the dreamless sleep she had succumbed to a couple of hours before would be a blessed relief. But it seemed her body too was trying to punish her. Because sleep was only one of the things she wanted but couldn't get.

***

"You should call the police," Jack said offhandedly, not even bothering to look at Landon. They were still in the car and the lack of a plan bothered Jack. They were going to reach the whorehouse then what? How were they ever going to punish his mother if the authorities had no idea of what was happening.

"I'm the police," was Landon's calm reply. Both men were more alike than they thought. Landon himself was lamenting over their impulsivity. But now, there was really nothing they could do. Turning back when Ana was in danger was the last thing they were going to do.

"Do you think that would hold?" Jack asked, not mockingly like Landon thought at first. It was more concerned than anything.

"I don't know," the detective replied and that was the first time that Jack noticed he was actually stressed. The bags under his eyes could rival Jack's. And Jack had not slept in days.

"Do you really love her that much?" Landon asked curiously, after a prolonged silence. It was like he was trying to come to terms with the fact that someone other than him could love Ana in the way she was supposed to be loved.

"I– I love Ana so much that I am almost tempted to hit you for asking that question," was Jack's flippant reply. It would have seemed callous and insincere to anyone else but Landon. Landon knew there was honesty behind his nonchalant tone.

"Good," Landon replied, surprising both of them. There was silence again. Both men were at a loss for what to say.

What did you tell your rival? The man who you knew loved the woman you loved as well? It was difficult enough that they were stick in a car together. The tension was at a maximum. But both of them had an objective in mind. Rescue Ana.

"I'll call for help now," Landon said after a while.

"Help? You mean you'll call your colleagues?" Jack asked, looking at the man sitting next to him.

Again, he wondered if they could have been friends if they had met under better circumstances.

"Yes," Landon replied shortly. There was no need for elaborate replies and even though most men would have taken Landon's reply as terse, Jack didn't mind. Both of them were under pressure. So he understood the muscled man.

Jack half listened when Landon placed the call. He was busy thinking. He wondered why exactly his mother was doing all this. What exactly did she have to gain in this? It didn't matter if Ana was trying to pin a baby on him or not. No human being deserved to be treated as cruelly as Dorothy had treated Ana.

Besides, it was Jack's decision at the end of the day. If he wanted to accept the baby as his, then he was going to. His mother couldn't stop him. He was twenty seven. He could make his own decisions. He knew how to cut out his own losses. He was a businessman for goodness sake!

"What's the address of the warehouse?" Landon asked, interrupting Jack's thoughts.

Jack replied then went back to his dad and almost pitiful but enlightening thoughts.

He sighed. Jack loved his mother. He did. He still did. One thing, no matter it's magnitude, was not going to change the fact that she was his mother and he loved her.

But that was exactly the problem. She had deep rooted issues. He was sorry to admit it; it hurt him to admit it to be honest. But her behavior was not normal. He understood being wary. But she had never even given Ana a chance.

She had never even met Ana. She knew nothing about her, nothing incriminating to form an opinion about her. The fact that Jack loved Ana should have been incentive enough for Dorothy to try and get along with her.

But she had declared a war he had no intention of letting her win. She was his mother. But Ana was the love of his life and the mother of his child.

Oh God he was going to spend his whole life atoning for the hurt that he had cause Ana, voluntarily or involuntarily. It didn't matter. It hurt enough that he had caused her pain when he had promised the contrary.

Landon stared at the man sitting next to him. He looked lost in thought and a surge of unwelcome pity came. He knew Jack would not like that emotion directed at him so he made no attempt to pretend he felt something like that.

He sighed and looked away. He had enough of his own problems. He wasn't going to start worrying about a man he even barely knew. And that he had just recently started tolerating.

"What did they say?" Jack asked in a bored tone. But Landon recognized the underlying anxiety.

"Help is on its way," Landon said and there was no mistaking the relief on both men's faces.

At least with officials coming, they had the certitude that everyone who was involved in Ana's disappearance was not going to go unpunished.

In a couple more minutes, they had reached the warehouse and both of them were bursting with impatience. It was all it took for them not to leave the car and barge into the warehouse.

But that was the problem. They couldn't afford to be impulsive. They didn't know exactly how many people were right there along with Ana. And who could hurt her if they showed signs of wanting to rescue her.

It killed both men but they sat in the car silently. The atmosphere was tense. Not because of a mutual dislike for each other. But more because of the fear both of them were feeling.

Neither was ready to admit it to the other. But it was a given. They both knew the other was scared. It was obvious in every shaky breath they took, every time they looked at the time impatiently, every time they let out a sigh or every time they looked out of the window for the incoming police officers.

When they both heard the faint sound of sirens, they grew alert and looked at each other. Landon was wondering whether it was wishful thinking that had made him to hear that and Jack was thinking that his imagination was playing tricks on him.

But the more seconds passed, the more the police siren became loud. Jack was the first to react; he opened the door quickly and jumped out of it. Landon was quick to follow suit and both of them ran towards the warehouse, knowing that they had the backing of the officers who were almost there.

There was a guard at the main gate. Landon hit a pressure point and the man fell promptly. While Landon was tying him up, Jack had moved further to where he thought Ana could be.

There was another guard. He came at Jack. But Jack was not exactly what you called unskilled. Quite the contrary. He was quick and agile and he had the instrument of surprise on his side.

He made quick work of the man who did not have any advantage over him. The man had no weapons and his skills were average at best. Jack walked cautiously to a room where he heard movements.

By this time, Landon and the other officers were behind him. The officers jostled their way to the front and on the count of three, burst the door open

"Police! Don't move!" They exclaimed as the got in, pointing their guns at any available target.

The room was considerably empty. With just a girl standing wide eyed in the corner and a distraught Ana on the floor.

The girl put up her hand and started screaming hysterically. "I'm innocent. I swear I'm innocent!! They just wanted me to look after her. I didn't do anything wrong. I swear!!"

The officers paid her no mind. Just took her away.

Landon and Jack rushed towards Ana, both wanting to get a hold of her. Landon beat Jack to it though and he held her up. As soon as she stood, she fainted.