One last Chance

her other side

*Charles*

It was an absolute disaster.

Everything was falling apart around me and I didn't know where my head was. Mella had made everything worse. Really bad.

So bad that I had barely made it out of the police station. I didn't know how to get it back on track and even my lawyer was a little stumped.

He had gone with me to my mother's house anyway so we could talk about a defense strategy there. I needed to get these accusations out of the way. I had already had a few calls from Mattia, but hadn't taken them. I had to sort this whole thing out before I talked to my team boss.

I understood that this was about the team's reputation, but it was all lies anyway. So I just had to clear things up somehow and then the rest would fall into place.

At least that's what I hoped.

I had sat my lawyer down at the table in the dining room and excused myself for a moment. It only took me a brief moment to catch my breath because I was feeling more and more like my chest was tightening.

I didn't know where my head was and I wanted, just for a brief moment to catch my breath with Aly and Evi before I got back to fighting on all fronts at once. If I could just have that little moment of peace, I was sure I would have enough strength again to get through all of this. Somehow.

I entered the small room and saw Aly lying in bed. She was sleeping peacefully, as if nothing had happened. Nothing in this world could disturb her. Inwardly, I prayed that it would stay that way.

I really hoped that we would get through all this unscathed and that she would eventually be able to come to terms with all that lay behind her.

This constant back and forth. Being torn apart. I really hoped that we hadn't put her through too much. That she wouldn't suffer any damage at some point.

For a moment I sat down next to my daughter and stroked her hair. She didn't even notice.

She was beautiful. The way she just lay there, completely sound asleep.

God, how I would have loved to lay down next to her right now and just sleep, forgetting everything that was waiting for me right now. I just wanted to sleep.

But I knew I didn't have time for that. I pressed a kiss to the top of Aly's head, then went back to the dining room. Lance and Lorenzo had also joined Max and our lawyer by now.

"Where's Evi?", I asked, a little confused.

I had assumed that she would have been with Lance or Lorenzo if she was already not with Aly.

"I don't know. I thought she was with Aly.", Lance said and looked at Lorenzo, who also shrugged his shoulders.

My pulse immediately shot up. Where was Evi?

I really wasn't in a position to worry about that now. Actually, my entire focus should have been on getting myself out of this situation. To bring forward evidence that I hadn't done anything to Mella, but my head immediately switched to panic mode. Evi wasn't here and she would never just leave Aly alone like that.

I thought again of Greece and what had happened to us there. What if here again...?

I could barely breathe and was about to rush off to find her when the door to the dining room opened.

"Alright Milo. Will you email me the stuff? Great!" she held her hand up briefly as I was already running towards her.

It was a load off my mind.