Really sorry for abandoning you all for so long, a lot of things have been going on lately. It's actually just an excuse because I know how I want this story to end but just can't figure out how I am going to take it.
So finally I have decided to take it one step at a time and see how it goes.. hopefully you'll like it and as usual highly unedited.
I would like to dedicate this week's chapter to our new reader PreciousEze842
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Cath's POV:
"He has her."
"Who?" Daniel frowned.
"Him. He has her." My heart raced as I walked to and fro. My trembling fingers shook against the phone. "What a-am I-I g-going t-to d-do? W-What a-am I g-going to d-do?!"
"Hey!" Daniel held onto my shoulder and gave me a firm shake. "Take a deep breath."
I stared at him. He gave me a stern look and repeated his words. I sighed before I did as he told me to. "Good. Now stay calm and stay focused. We don't know if he has her yet. It's not too late and for all we know your mother could just be delayed by something else. Her phone could have just ran out of battery. Do not just jump to the worst, okay?"
"But what if the worst really had happened? What could we do to save her?"
"We will find her." His voice held so much conviction that one might actually belief that he was the one who had her safe with him.
I showed the message to him, and he frowned. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Remember he told me to make the engagement public soon, or he would have ways to make me do it? This is his way. He has my mother and he won't let her go until I do as he says." I hit the palm of my hand against my head. "I didn't want her to know, and now she is caught up in the middle of it. There's no more hiding."
A tear slipped out of my eyes and Daniel swiped his finger over it. "If what you believe to have happened has really happened, then we need to act fast. We need to think of a way to bring her back safely. There's no time to waste on wallowing."
"You're right." I sniffed and stood up straighter. "What should we do now?"
He stood in thought for a few minutes. "Do you think we should go to the police?"
"NO!"
He seemed taken aback by my abrupt shout. "Why? Back in London, you didn't want to go to the police since you didn't want Brian to know. That was fair, but what's stopping you now? Do you not trust them or something?"
"It's.." I sighed and rubbed my face. "It's not like that. We just can't go to them. Please."
He looked at me in confusion. "Your mother is missing. Let's say what you assumed about her being kidnapped be true. Would you still not want to go to the police? For all we know he could be a psychopath and we don't know what he could do to her. She is not safe."
"He is not that dangerous."
He stared at me for a couple of seconds before he laughed in disbelief. "So that's what this is all about? You're trying to protect him!"
"Why would I try to protect him?"
He pushed himself off the pillar and stomped towards me. "You think he is just a misunderstood lunatic. You want to save him too when you can't save yourself. Or your mother."
Tears stung my eyes. "You're being mean right now."
He sighed and ran a hand through his head. "Just listen to me once. Let's go to the police."
He started walking away. "Brian won't like it."
He stopped, and looked at me in disbelief. "Not even when your mother is kidnapped by a potential psychopath?"
"He doesn't trust the police."
He shook his head. "This is not the time to play the trust game."
He continued walking and I chased after him. "You don't understand. You're gonna trigger his bad memories and he is going to get a panic attack. Everything will be even more out of control."
He frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
I sighed and tried to suppress the pain in my chest. "My father died in an accident. The car burst right in front of his eyes and he almost died in it. He was interrogated a lot by the police since he was very close to it. Ever since then he gets triggered whenever the police are involved."
His face lit up like he had finally realised something. "That's why the police were not involved even during the first time?"
I nodded. "My mother suggested getting the police involved when I was in the hospital. She wanted to get the man who ruined me, but the mere mention of bringing police men had triggered a severe panic attack in him. So please.." My throat choked up. "No police."
He sighed again. "Okay. What do you suggest that we do then? We have to at least inform Brian what is happening now."
"Do we?"
He glared at me. "It's better we tell him now than have him come home later to find out on his own. I don't want to held accountable for hiding one more thing."
I pulled out my phone and dialled his number hoping that he wouldn't answer it. The phone rang a few times before I heard a voice. My heart clomped my wind pipe.
'The number you're calling right now is unavailable to take your call. Please try again later."
I sighed in relief.
"What happened?" Daniel asked.
"He did not answer the call." He narrowed his eyes at me. "Why do you seem so relieved about that?"
I composed myself. "I am not. I am just worried about where he is right now that he is unable to attend the call."
He raised his eyebrows at me. "Shouldn't you be worried about where your mother is right now?"
I glared at him. "I am. I just don't know what to do now."
"What about searching for her in places she might often go to?"
"Mary already searched for there. She wouldn't be there."
"She searched for her, but she didn't investigate if she had been there; or if someone had seen her with someone."
"You mean.."
He nodded. "We're going to investigate the kidnapping case of Mrs. Annie Marie. Now let's get going."
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Michael's POV:
My blood boiled at the sight of him. "What the hell is he doing here?"
Sam seemed to be lost in her world of thought as she stared at him. "I hope he hadn't seen Cath yet." She then frowned. "Wait! How do you know him? He took me even a couple of seconds to recognise him."
"I have a good memory." I mumbled and followed behind him.
"Don't you dare lie." She glared and walked behind me. "He wasn't anywhere this beefy, masculine or have this much facial hair in the pictures that I have sent you before. How did you know that it's him?"
"Maybe it's just intuition." I followed him out of the club. Just then Sam grabbed my arm and whisked me around to face her.
"Why the hell are you lying? What the hell are you hiding from me?" She glared.
"Michael! Sam!" My body froze at the sound of his voice, but it seemed like he had the same effect on Sam too for her face paled like she had seen a ghost.
Her eyes slowly fell on his face and they hardened. Unexpected to the turn of events she turned her glare towards me. I lifted my hands up in surrender unsure of what to do at the moment. "What?"
"HOW DOES HE KNOW YOUR NAME?" She gritted her teeth.
"Why are you asking me that?"
"Because he said YOUR NAME!"
"But he was the one who said that! So why don't you ask him that?!" Annoyed, I shouted back. Meanwhile Nathan looked amused as he looked between the two of us, and I wanted to smack that smile off his face.
"If you kids are done arguing, can I talk now?"
"NO!!" The two of shouted in unison.
Nathan rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. "I guess you wouldn't want Cath to come out of this situation. So I'll get going then." He got up from his seat to leave.
"WAIT!!" Again, the two of us shouted together.
"What do you know about it?" I glared at him.
Sam glared beside me. "What situ-" She then frowned and turned towards me. "It? What are you two talking about?"
Nathan looked genuinely surprised. "She doesn't know?"
Sam looked between the two of us. "What don't I know?"
Nathan sighed and shook his head. "I expected more from Daniel. How could he hide such a thing from his girlfriend?"
Sam's eyes widened. "DANIEL?! How the hell does he know Daniel?! And what the hell do you three know about Cath that I do not know of?!"
I smiled sheepishly and her stare intensified if that was even possible. I lifted my hands up in surrender. "Fine! Fine! I'll tell you everything. Just calm down."
Now where do I begin?
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Daniel's POV:
"She is not here either." I stated the obvious. Cath tried to look strong as she exited the Church by her house, but I could see that she was barely holding herself up.
"W-What d-do I-I d-do?" Her voice trembled with an eerie calmness.
"What do we do! We are in this together remember that, okay?" I grabbed both of her shoulders and looked her in the eyes so she could see that I was being serious. "We are going to find your mother and bring her back safe one way or another. Do you hear me?"
She nodded, but I could see that she was already calculating the probability of all the things that could go wrong.
"Good. Now I want you to take your phone, and call Brian."
Her eyes widened with sudden energy. "I told you I can't do that! I can't make him involved. He can't kn-"
"CATH!" I gave her shoulder a firm shake and she stopped rambling. "Whether you like it or not, Brian is going to come home in sometime and find that his mother is not home. He is going to find out that she is missing if we don't manage to find her before he comes."
The reality of the situation finally sunk into her mind and her body began to shiver. "W-What d-do w-we d-do now?"
"I want you to call Brian and try finding out if your mom is with him or had contacted him without being obviously. For your sake, I hope she is with him or that we find her before he comes home, but if we don't..."
"Brian has to know." She sighed and I nodded.
"Yes, now dial his number."
She looked unsure and I knew it that she couldn't bring herself to do it. So I grabbed the cell phone from her hand. She was startled and tried to grab the phone back from me.
"It's either going to be you, or me. And we both know that it's not going to be you."
She sighed and withdrew her hand. I called his number and waited for him to answer it. The phone kept ringing but he didn't answer. I tried calling him for the second time only to end up with the same automated voice.
'The number you are dialling is not answering your call. Please try again later.'
I sighed and pulled the phone away from my ears. "He is not answering. If he asks later, we could say we tried calling."
She let out a sigh in relief, but then tensed up. "What if he had kidnapped Brian too?"
I gave it a thought. "I don't think so."
"How can we be sure?" Her eyes widened with panic. "He did kidnap my mother! He wouldn't hesitate to take away my brother too! He can.. He can.."
He held onto her shoulder. "Hey, relax! I just met Brian a few hours ago. I am sure he is somewhere safe."
"Where did you see him?"
"Uh.. around the neighbourhood.. with Sam."
"We should call her!" Cath immediately grabbed my phone and dialled her number. After a few seconds, she looked even more panicked. "Why isn't she picking up the phone? Do you think he has her too?"
"Or maybe Sam is just being petty and not answering your phone."
She looked confused. I pulled out my phone and called her number. "You might have forgotten that you both are not exactly in speaking terms with each other, but I am sure that she wouldn't have forgotten that."
Just as expected, she answered her phone. "Why are you calling me?"
Okay, I wasn't expecting that from her. "Uh, is everything okay?"
She laughed. "Everything is dainty. Why wouldn't it? Or do you have anything to tell me?"
Something was definitely up. "Why are you angry?"
"I am not." She definitely was. "Why? Is there any reason for me to be angry?"
"Do you need one?"
"Who are you talking to?" I could hear another voice in the background.
"SHUT UP!!" Sam screamed and I had to take the phone away from my ear to stop it from hurting. "YOU MISTER!"
"Yeah?"
"I AM FREAKING PISSED OFF, AND YOU BETTER BE READY TO FACE ME!!" And then she hung up.
It took my brain a minute to process what just happened. "Okay."
"What's wrong?" Cath asked. "Is Brian not with her?"
"I didn't exactly get the chance to ask her that. She is angry with something, and you know how she is when she gets angry."
"What do we do then? How can we know that he isn't missing?"
"WHAT?! ANOTHER PERSON IS MISSING?!!" The two of us turned towards the entrance to find Blake and Zoran walking into the house.
Zoran rolled his eyes and hit the back of his head. "Can you stop being overdramatic?"
"I AM NOT OVERDRAMATIC!" Blake screamed over-dramatically. "I just heard that another person was missing. How else am I supposed to react?"
Cath immediately pushed past me and rushed towards them. "Someone else is missing too? Who is it?" Her eyes then widened as she looked between the two of them. "Where is Harry? Are you sure he is missing? Did you both look for him ever-"
"I don't think those two idiots are capable of finding me if I ever go missing." Harry walked in.
Cath sighed in relief. "Then who is it that's missing?"
Blake pushed a book forward to my face. "The girl in this book. She is pregnant and about to deliver, but then she suddenly goes missing. I can't bear the sorrow in this book." He sniffled and I rolled my eyes.
"I knew you were just stupid."
Blake scoffed. "I am not stupid. You read this book, and tell me that you're not affected by it and then we'll see who is the one that is stupid!"
He pushed it towards me. I walked to ignore him, but then the book caught my attention. I immediately grabbed it from him. "Isn't it the book that he sent you?"
Cath looked at it, and nodded. "But how do you have it? I had it locked in my room."
Blake shrugged. "I don't know. I just found it lying around in your room I think."
"No. I perfectly remember locking it in my cupboard."
"That's strange." I mumbled. "But anyways that is not what's important now."
"Wait!" Cath frowned as she scanned the cover of the book. "Something is not right."
"What?" I looked over her shoulder at the book, and couldn't see what she was trying to point out. "It's just a book."
"No." She shook her head and pointed at the bottom of the cover where the name of the book was written in bold red letters.
"Implausible love." I read it aloud, and Cath mumbled something under her breath.
"It should be Impossible Love." Suddenly she sprinted up the stairs, leaving us all confused. We then ran after her one after one. A noise seemed to come from her room, and so we jogged our way into her room.
Cath had her cupboard open, her body half hidden behind its door. "What are you doing?"
She continued to work her way inside ignoring us all. A slight screech sounded and she opened a small locker inside the cupboard. Her body froze and she looked stunned for a minute.
"What happened?" She didn't answer. So I looked over her shoulder to find another similar book sitting inside her cupboard, but just as she had said earlier, instead of Implausible Love being written in the front cover, the words "Impossible Love" were written on it.
"What the.."
Cath's body slumped backward. Harry and I caught her in time just before her head could hit the floor and made her sit on the ground. "Are you okay?" I cupped her cheeks.
She nodded slightly but her eyes were still fixed up on the place where the book lay. "But how.."
"Shh!" I placed a finger on her lips. "Don't think too much about it. I am sure there is s reason for it, but we will find out about it later. Now can you please sit on the bed. I'll go bring you some water."
She nodded slowly. Harry and I helped her steady her legs and made her sit on the bed. Once I was convinced that she was okay, I rushed downstairs to the kitchen. I tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge.
So I walked out of the house to the backyard where Mary's quarters was present. Maybe she could open the door for me. She didn't look too well a little while before. So I might take this chance to check up on her as well.
I was about to knock on her door when I heard a voice. "I think I messed up with the books."
My hand froze mid air and my ears perked up. It remained so silent that I wondered if I had imagined hearing the words. "I am so sorry." I heard whimpering sound after that. "The two of them looked similar and I got confused. I wanted to get it back from where I left it but it went missing before I could get it. I-I a-am s-sorry I-I m-messed up."
My heart began beating loudly as I took a step back. What the hell was I hearing? I don't think it was true. I didn't want it to be true. With a heavy heart, I slowly walked towards the side of the house where a window gave a clear view of the insides of the house. And there inside stood Mary with a phone in her hands and tears on her face.
I guess some faces are just so easy to trust.
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Okay, hi you all I hope you remember where we left off!
So here's our question time!
How many of you want to slap some sense into Cath?
How do you think Sam is going to react now that she knows something?
Where do you think is Brian?
And finally, did you expect that from Mary?
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Until next time,
- Love, S!