Chapter 85 I’ll be here
Arthur couldn’t stop pacing in the living room. All attempts to reach Aurora were to no avail. Carter kept calling her phone, but she didn’t answer. At some point, her phone was switched off.
“Her phone is switched off.” Carter muttered in disappointment, placing his phone on the couch.
“Do you have any idea where she could be? Do you know who drove off with her?” Derick further inquired.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see anything. She was in the car and the next second, the car zoomed off.” Carter explained.
“What do I do?! I need to reach her tonight!” Arthur yelled in frustration. His voice was so loud that Theo could hear from inside the kids’ room.
“What’s happening?? Where is mummy? Why is daddy so worried?? Why did the wedding stop all of a sudden?” The boys began to question Theo, and he shook his head.
“I don’t know either, okay? You all should go to bed. You’ll know more tomorrow.” Theo said to them.
Rowan was at the verge of tears as he could sense that something went wrong. After Theo laid them to sleep, he still couldn’t help but think about everything that happened in the chapel.
“I hate Anita.” Ryan muttered. He knew she had something to do with what was going on.
“Me too.” Riley and Rowan muttered in response.
After they stopped conversing, Theo returned to the living room to see everyone still very worried.
“I still don’t get it. Are you saying you didn’t have sex with her?” Derick asked.
“What kind of question is that? Of course he did. Didn’t you see the video?!” Josh answered, almost immediately.
“He isn’t denying the fact that he had sex with her. He’s saying he can’t recall when and how. What do you remember, Arthur?” Carter asked, and they all turned to look at him.
“That day… I remember that Anita and I had an argument over the boys, and I told her she was going to leave my house in three days. Then she came into my room with my favorite biscuits and juice. She said it was her way of saying sorry for what happened earlier.
“After that, I recall waking up and everything seemed normal.” Arthur explained, confusion evident in his voice as he spoke.
“Does that mean she drugged your meal?” Rachel asked, and Carter nodded.
“I think so. How can a woman be so desperate and evil?! Why would she do this to you? For what reason?”
“Because she’s so jealous of Aurora and wants to be like her. And that is never going to happen.” Arthur responded with clenched jaws.
“Oh God… this is bad. The news is everywhere. The wedding chaos is trending on Twitter.” Derick uttered in awe, and Carter snatched his phone from him.
“Not now, baby. He doesn’t need that information now.” He uttered in a whisper.
“What are we going to do now? Aurora’s phone is switched off. I’m scared! What if something bad happened to her? What if she hurt herself?! Oh God.” Rachel grabbed her head, thinking of the worst possible thing that could happen to her.
“I don’t know… I don’t know.” Arthur muttered. His breathing grew intense and his chest raised and fell as he thought about his dilemma.
‘I bet she hates me so much.’ He thought, shaking his head in anger towards Anita.
“You should have just let me kill Anita when I had the chance!” He smacked, causing some of them to flinch.
“You’re not a killer, Arthur. Don’t say that.” Carter answered.
“Don’t you get it? Anita has always ruined my life and I don’t think she’s going to stop anytime soon unless she’s eradicated from the face of the earth.
“She drugged me and sexually assaulted me! She had the audacity to come to my wedding with the media coverage to cause chaos! Tell me one reason why she shouldn’t be read right now!” Arthur yelled.
“Because you are not a murderer, okay?!” Derick answered in a low tone too.
“It isn’t totally Anita’s fault. You gave her the chance to make your life this miserable! Why was she in your house in the first place?” Josh asked.
“Because I wanted to help her!” Arthur roared in fury as he regretted his actions bitterly.
“Who helps his enemy, hun?!”
“What are you trying to say, Josh?! Are you here to help me or make things worse?!” Arthur stormed towards Josh, but Derick and Carter quickly held him back.
“Enough, okay? Enough! Fighting won’t solve anything!” Rachel yelled, commanding silence.
“We all should start looking for Aurora and making sure she’s okay. I don’t care who was wrong or right. I need to know my daughter is safe!” She added.
Everyone looked away, gulping hard and heaving heavy breaths.
After phone calls kept disturbing Aurora’s peace, she switched off her phone. She stared at herself one last time in the mirror before she headed out in a swimming suit.
She saw Alec at the shoreline where he told her he was going to be.
“Alec!” She called, and he turned to look at her.
“Hey!” He responded with a loud smile as he walked up to her. “How are you feeling?” He asked, and she shook her head.
“I don’t know. I’m just here, trying not to think or feel anything. But how is that possible? I’m human.”
“Well, I understand you. I think I can help you feel better.” He replied, and she arched one of her brows.
“How?” She questioned, and he shrugged.
“Well, we can distract ourselves with other things. Like playing games, swimming and the likes. You just tell me what you’d love to do, and we’ll do it.” He said, but Aurora was having any of it.
“I can’t keep distracting myself, Alec. I need to face the truth. And the truth is I was stupid…”
“You are not stupid, Aurora.”
“I should have known that it was impossible for her to stay in his house and nothing would happen between them. He told me nothing happened and I believed it. Who believes such?” She asked with a sarcastic scoff.
“And when I thought ‘Oh, my wedding is here. My wedding is worth it. My dream is finally here!’ It came crashing down in the twinkle of an eye. All because Arthur would never get over his first love.
“She… she even had to create such a scene in front of the boys. They are just kids!” She mumbled as tears started to stream out of her eyes again.
She weakly sat on the Perron of her apartment, and Alec sat next to her.
“You know, all I have ever wanted is for Arthur to truly love me. Not because his kids love me, but because his therapist asks, but because I am me. I never knew I was chasing a dream that would never be mine.
“But now it’s so clear. And I know how it’s all going to go down. She’s carrying his child as we speak. She’ll give birth to his child, and Arthur would be forced to love his child, and then would have no choice but to accept her because she’s the real mother of his new kid, not some surrogate.”
After ranting, Aurora lowered her head and played with her fingers as she teared up even more.
Alec decided not to say a word and just leave her to let her heart out.
“It hurts so much.” She mumbled, raising her teary face to look at him.
“I know.” Alec uttered in a low tone, opening his arms to embrace her.
“I can feel the pain so much, I hate it.” She muttered against his shoulder.
“I won’t say you’ll be fine because that is probably a lie. But one thing that is not a lie is that I’ll be here with you whenever you need me.” He responded, caressing her hair as she wept softly on him.
Just then, his phone vibrated again. Knowing it was from Anita, he pulled out his phone to see what she had sent this time.
“Alec what the hell is wrong with you? Why do you keep viewing my messages and refusing to respond?! I’ve done my part. You better do yours. I want to believe you’re too busy making the video and that’s why you can’t reply.”
After reading this, Alec shook his head and turned off his phone. He pulled his attention back to Aurora once again.
“I’ll always be here.” He muttered, kissing her head.