Chapter 26

**Esmeralda (Daisy)'s POV**

"Daisy, Daisy, wake up" I hear a tiny voice say and I open my eyes to see Lily looking at me with worry.

After a few seconds, I notice that her hands and legs are tied up. I hurriedly try to help her and then realize that mine are tied too.

I struggle to sit up and only then do I notice that we are in a car and Levi is the driver while Miss. Violet sat in the passenger seat.

"Daisy, I'm scared, Why is your nanny doing this to us? And who is that crazy man?" Lily asks crying.

"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you" Levi yells while increasing the speed of the car.

"Listen Levi, you want me not her. She has nothing to do with this, she's not even family, let her go, please" I plead while I scoot closer to Lily who was shaking in terror.

"Miss. Violet, having her with us will only increase your risk of being caught. Please tell him to let her go, you don't need her. I'll do anything you want, please" I direct my words towards Miss. Violet this time when Levi does not respond.

She turns to look at me for a fleeting moment before going back to what she was doing; admiring something on her hand. On a closer look, I notice that the thing she was admiring is my engagement ring which she has placed on her pinky.

"She's right Levi, we don't need the little girl" Miss. Violet says like she had better things to do but I felt grateful nonetheless for her words. Although I still found it hard to believe that she betrayed Dad and I.

Or maybe she was never even loyal to us. Maybe she was only with us to spy for Levi.

"Oh, for fuck sake I'm not letting anyone go!" Levi exclaims glaring at me through the rearview mirror.

"Like i said before, It would give me so much pleasure to watch the life slowly drain out of you, you little brat. And if you don't shut up now, I might just do it now" he adds and a terrifying shiver travels down my spine.

With the way he was talking, I doubted I would make it out of this situation alive but if that was the case, I refuse to drag Lily into this mess.

Waves of regret suddenly crash on me. Is this how I'm going to die?

I wish I had hung out with my Father more so we could have both healed over my mother's death together instead of apart.

I wish I had said and done a lot of things differently with my friends.

I wish I had the opportunity to tell Hunter goodbye and kiss him one last time to let him know just how much I had come to love him,

I wish I could even see King's cute little face one more time.

Levi soon pulls over at a gas station and upon seeing the familiar buildings, I realize that we've not gone so far away from my house. Hunter did say that our houses weren't far apart. So that means, if I can help Lily escape, she could still make it home safely.

I start to pull harder on my rope hoping it would give way. I let out an unbelievable sigh and a silent prayer of thanks when the rope loosens.

Levi stares at me suspiciously before getting out to fill the car with gasoline while Miss. Violet enters the little station store probably to get some things to sustain them while they drove to wherever they were taking us.

I take that golden opportunity to hurriedly free my hands and untie Lily. I gently try to open the door so as not to alert Levi who was pressing some buttons on the machine. The windows were tinted so he could not see what was going on inside the car.

Shit, the door's locked!

My eyes widen when I see Miss. Violet coming out of the store almost as soon as she walked inside.

Maybe she forgot something in the car.

"Lily, look at me! Climb to the front and go out through the driver's door. I'll follow after you" I say as I start to untie my legs.

"But..." She starts to cry.

"There is no time Lily, I promise, I'll be right behind you. Hurry!" I say and she nods tearily while doing as I said.

Since Levi was on the other side of the car filling the tank, he doesn't notice when Lily gently opens the door.

A few seconds after she slides out, I finally succeeded in untying my legs but by then, Levi has already turned to walk back to the driver's side.

Shit, shit, shit.

I quickly climb over and slip out but it's already too late.

"Run" I whisper to Lily who was crouched beside the car waiting for me at the same time that Levi turned to see us.

"No, i'm not leaving you" she says backing away with me as Levi approaches while discretely reaching for his gun.

"Get back in the car girls"

"Run!" I whisper yell  at Lily and she finally turns around and takes off.

Levi sets out to run after her but my words stop him.

"If you go after her, I will scream and people will know what's really going on." I state and he looks around to see the people in the car behind his car, the store's security guards and the homeless people staring at us ready to take action if they noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Miss. Violet finally reaches the car and eyes me in annoyance as she watches Lily go.

"I'll go with you gently, leave her alone" I say just as Lily turns the corner and I breathe out in relief.

"We're running out of time Levi, she doesn't matter, let's move" she says before going back to the passenger's side and getting in.

"You'll pay for this, you bitch. I could have gotten a hefty ransom for her" he says into my ears as he backs me against the car.

"Now smile and wave at those people so they'll know everything is fine" he adds and I wrinkle my nose at his breath.

I smile at the people who looked worried as Levi unlocked my door for me and I bite back anger and disappointment at the fact that everyone returned to their day-to-day business.

For God's sake, did you not see a little girl running off like her life depended on it? It actually did but does any of that look normal?!

Guess everyone here takes minding their businesses seriously.

Levi pushes me into the car and I shiver when he fixes his cold glare on me after entering too.

He drives out of the filling station and heads in the opposite direction of where Lily ran. Thank God.

After driving for a while, I notice that we are on the road that leads away from the city into another town.

Suddenly, I hear sirens in the distance and hope surges in me as they get closer and closer.

They're coming for me!

In reaction, Levi speeds up insanely fast and I start to scream.

"No, no! What are you doing? You're crazy!" I yell..

"I refuse to go down alone! Now stop trying to open the door, it's locked" Levi yells back.

"Levi, slow down! This is too fast!" Miss. Violet starts to scream too but Levi only speeds up more.

"Levi, stop this! Think about your daughter, our daughter" she pleads but he ignores her.

She's Eve's mother? How is that even possible? Background checks were made on every single staff in our house, how did they miss that very important detail? Or does Levi have another daughter I don't know about?

"Our daughter? You left her when she was a baby! She doesn't even know you!" He grits out.

The sirens start to fade away in the distance but Levi doesn't slow down.

"Help! Somebody help! OH MY GOD, WATCH OUT!!" I yell just as the car swerves off the road to hit a fallen tree. It becomes suspended in air before coming back down and tumbling a few times.

I scream as loud as I can in pain when I see blood pooling on the floor beside me. My blood.

With all the energy I can muster, I crawl out of the car making shards of glass tear at my skin.

When I hear Levi groan as he starts to regain consciousness, I start to run not even knowing where I was going. I run through the bush and finally come across the main road.

The last thing I see before passing out is a man and a woman running towards me.

***********

When I open my eyes, I see myself in the room Levi kept my Mother and I when he kidnapped us. I watch from the corner as a younger version of me tries to attack Levi making him pull out his gun.

The moment he fires, I scream with all the little strength I have left in my body.

"Wake up Daisy, it's just a nightmare. You're safe now"