Never the Same

Chapter 29

"You made a terrible mistake in coming here, Luca." Nadia glances over at Jones and Carlo and scoffs. "All of you made the mistake in coming here."

"Nadia," Luca starts, his voice soft, clearly being careful with the words he uses, "you need to let everyone in here go. They all need medical help. You-"

"I don't need any help!" Nadia seethes. "The only help I needed was to get my daughter back and now I have her, I don't see the need in this conversation going any further."

"Nadia, you don't need to do this. This isn't you."

"No, it's not." She agrees. "It's what you made me into. I was fine before I met you and got involved in your pathetic life."

I shake my head. Lies.

"I was never like this. I never thought of myself as a vengeful person and yet, here I am. I'm finally getting back everything I should have had from the start but couldn't because of you and your fucking family. Add in your undying love for Kaylee down there and I was nothing but a cheap replacement."

Luca shakes his head and cautiously steps towards Nadia. "Nadia, you were never a replacement. I loved you when we were together."

"You're clearly trying to kid yourself with that statement. I knew all too well that you never truly loved me. It was always Kaylee. The code to get into your safe was to do with her. That's what made getting into it easy. Everything in your life is easy to access when you bring both Kaylee and Louisa into the mix."

Luca stops walking, coming to a halt a few feet from Nadia. "Meaning?"

Her head tilts to the side to look past him and down at me. She smirks before looking back at Luca. "How's your car?"

"My car? What about my car?"

Nadia looks at both Terence and Greg before shrugging. "Surely it must be written off now, is it not?"

"Written off." Luca falls silent before the point Nadia is making finally hits home. "You fucking psycho!" He makes a move closer to Nadia before being grabbed by Terence and Greg. He struggles in their hold and Nadia laughs. "You could have killed them. You could have killed my fiancée!"

"But here's the thing, Luca." Nadia walks as close to him as she can get. "I only organised it. Terence and Greg here are the two that carried it out for me."

My mouth falls open slightly. That evil bitch! How did none of us see that she was behind the car accident? How did we not come up with her name in the first place? If she's capable of doing this just to get Louisa back, it's clear that she would be evil enough to get her stupid cousin and his best friend to try and kill both Allison and me. God, why did we not see it before now? The bloody signs were there but no one paid any attention to them!

Luca stops struggling when Nadia walks off to the door she came from. She returns moments later with Louisa by her side, her grip on her arm tight.

"No running, princess," Nadia instructs. "Regardless of-"

"Louisa," Luca breathes. He tries to move to get to Nadia but Greg and Terence's grip on him keeps him at bay. "Louisa, darling, run. That's a bad woman standing next to you. You need to run away and hide."

Louisa nods and tries hard to get out of Nadia's hold and do what her dad is telling her to do, but Nadia only tightens her grasp. She yanks her arm tightly and crouches down in front of her. "I wouldn't do that if you want to live."

"Nadia, don't you dare hurt my daughter!" Luca warns. "You hurt her, I'll hurt you. I won't be held responsible for my actions if you lay a single finger on her."

"Luca, you seem to be forgetting that she is also my daughter." Nadia stands back up and pulls Louisa round to stand in front of her so they're looking more directly at Luca. "The court may have given you all the rights to her but I'm still her mother. You will never be able to take that away from me."

"You have never been her mother, Nadia. You left her. You didn't want her. You didn't care about how she was going to be raised. You've not been there. I have. I raised her on my own. I raised her to be kind. I took on the role as a parent as soon as I found out I was going to be one and I never looked back. She doesn't know who you are and she doesn't care because Kaylee is more of a mother to her than you ever will be."

Anyone would think that Luca's comment about me being more of a mother to Louisa would make something snap inside of Nadia but it doesn't. She doesn't even flinch at the comment like she would normally do. She's too interested in repeatedly running a hand through Louisa's hair to take in the comment.

"This was never going to be how I imagined it to be," Nadia whispers. "None of this is how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to come back on the scene and slip easily into your life like I never left. I had it all planned out."

"Nadia, what are you talking about?" Luca asks in confusion.

Her demeanour has changed and it's more creepy now than it once was. Her hands don't stop moving through Louisa's hair. If anything, they only get quicker as her words get more forceful.

"No one was meant to be in my place. My place was always meant to be free. I was supposed to damage you so no one would go near you. That was my plan until she came back unannounced. She was never meant to be back. She ruined everything!"

Nadia grips Louisa's hair tightly which has her screaming out in pain, prompting Carlo and Jones to grab her from behind. Nadia screams in frustration and lets Louisa go easily. She runs off to the side and cowers down by the wall, hugging her legs close to her chest and her head tucking down to shield her eyes from the scene that's unfolding before her.

"Everything is all wrong!" Nadia shouts. She wrestles about in Carlo and Jones's hold before settling down and laughing. She looks up at the two of them and laughs more. "You know, Luca, it's very foolish of you to only bring two people with you for protection. I would've thought that you would have had a good number of bodyguards here or the police, at least."

Luca shakes his head before tilting it to the side and his lips slowly form into a smirk. I know that look; he's got an ace up his sleeve and he's about to win the game Nadia started. "Who says I haven't?"

I bite down on my lips as a way of stopping myself from laughing, my head falling back to lean against the post. Raised voices calling out demands overpowers everyone within earshot and I know then that this ordeal is truly over. Luca did it. He played Nadia at her own game and won.

"Everyone keeps your hands where we can see them!" A male's voice shouts. "Drop any weapons if you have any on you and keeps your hands where we can see them."

Luca moves to my side as soon as Terence and Greg let him go and raise their hands up as the police officers move in to arrest them. His hands cradle my face and he rests his forehead against mine. "It's over," he whispers. "You're going to be safe now."

I nod at his words.

"I've got you." He kisses my forehead. "I've always got you and our family."

"Nadia Bailey," a police officer starts, "you are under arrest for many accounts of both kidnap and attempted murder. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."

I look at Nadia who is struggling in the hold of two police officers as they pull her in the direction of a police car. Greg and Terence aren't far behind her with their wrist bound in handcuffs as they're hauled away out of sight. I can faintly make out Jones putting his suit jacket around Louisa before lifting her into his arms, shielding her face with his free hand so she can't see what's happening.

"Mr. Madden, the ambulances are on the way." Carlo informs, moving to stand behind Luca. "You'll be taken to safety soon enough, Miss. Fletcher."

I nod and relax for the first time in a long time. I'm going to be okay. I hope our baby is going to be okay. Luca's here now and I'm going to be fine. Everyone is going to be fine.