LOVE BUG

CHAPTER 77: STRONGER TOGETHER

Surprise! Another chapter, and also another dedication!! 😁 This chapter is dedicated to @nugget_xo for her sweet and funny comments that always crack me up, make me smile, and sometimes even make me learn new words 😉 You've not reached this chapter yet, so don't cheat either, and wait to read it 😘  Great things come to those who wait! I love you, little nugget 😘💕

The handle lowers down. Her breath stops, and she runs as fast as she can in the small space as if she was gathering momentum to leap to wherever Nathaniel is.

Her gaze is fixed on the slit of the door, growing like her hope to escape, and she arrives there right when it is fully opened, the timing more perfect than she could have ever calculated. Except that the person appearing there is a factor she could have never imagined.

Her heart freezes instantly at the sight, but by the time the information processes to her other sore muscles, she can only drift slightly to the left, crashing fully into the door with a loud crack – of wood, as she finally glimpses a piece of the chair on the floor, though she isn't sure she hasn't broken a few bones too because her whole body is aching, from her wrists to her knees that are still constricted by the ropes.

When she hears the familiar voice, it doesn't matter, however, "Mon ange! Are you okay?"

"Oui, ça va, Mom," she assures as her mom rushes to kneel beside her, her piercing gaze running all over her slumped body.

Of course, she doesn't believe her words, probably catching the excruciating pain shooting through every part of Anastasia's body, and she particularly lingers on her eyes, although she doesn't say anything.

It doesn't need words as the ties fall to the floor like a flimsy thread of sheer fabric, and Anastasia doesn't even try to comprehend how her mom has got rid of the ropes so easily, vaguely glimpsing a tool that resembles shears beside her before she throws her arms around her neck, clutching to her like to the ray of hope she is.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here..."

"How?" Anastasia pulls away, still not believing her blurry eyes, still not breathing fully, too afraid to choke if it is just a hallucination of her hopeless mind.

"I'm your mom." She smiles softly at her daughter like it is an obvious answer, and as she brushes her cheeks, Anastasia realizes the tears are spilling freely from her eyes.

She is free now.

"You disappeared with a text saying 'there's nothing I can do'. I immediately knew it couldn't be you. Anastasia Fisher never gives up!"

Even through her tears, she can see the faith shining in her mom's eyes, and her chest constricts at the thought that has crossed her mind minutes ago. If her mom knew she has been about to give up everything...

"So I called Andy, and he was already looking for you with your other rebel friends. Apparently, it was too long to hack your phone because someone has put a security on it."

"Fergus."

He really has thought of every detail, and she wishes she could have been that meticulous herself. So many things could have been avoided.

"That's what we thought, so Andy sent him a fake text, and we followed him from the farm until back here. But I would have never imagined he could have done something like that. I'm so sorry..." her mom rambles quickly, a sign of how worried she must have been, and the concern is dripping from her eyes like the incessant tears from Anastasia's when she grabs her daughter's bloody wrists. "Oh my god! You need bandages."