Chapter Eighty – Liam
Liam's in his office going over some paperwork for an upcoming meeting when there's a knock on the door. "Come in" he calls and it opens slowly to reveal Carson one of the lawyers for the company, the best one in Liam's opinion. "Sorry to bother you, do you have a minute?" Carson asks and Liam nods, motioning for him to close the door behind him, "what's up?" he asks once Carson is sitting across from him, "I wanted to talk to you about the adoption stuff you talked to me about" Carson starts and Liam sets down the pen in his hand to focus on him completely, "what about it?" he asks slowly, "nothing really, Miss Collins signed away all rights to Arabella in the hospital the night she was born, so it's pretty straightforward I just need you and Mr. Malik to sign the papers and then we get them processed and Arabella is your daughter" Carson explains. Liam nods, "what about when Zayn's sister has the baby, what do we do then?" he asks. Carson smiles "same thing really, except we need to get Ms. Malik to sign as well, giving away her legal rights as the parent" he answers, Liam nods again. "You need to be there when we all sign?" he asks slowly and Carson nods, "yeah to prove it's all legitimate and no one was forced, I can come by your apartment one night if you can't get Mr. Malik into the office" he explains. Liam smiles "please call him Zayn and that may be best, for me to adopt Bella, but I'm sure once Doniya has the baby we can find a way to all come to you" he says. Carson nods grinning, "sure, want to pick a night?" he asks Liam just nods, flipping through the calendar he keeps on his desk to find a date and time that will work for everyone.
The door to his office opens again not even five minutes after Carson left, this time to reveal Niall, "hey, you want to come get some lunch?" he asks. Liam looks up from the contracts he was going over and nods gratefully at his best friend, "sure, just give me like two minutes?" he asks, Niall nods and steps back out of the office leaving Liam alone again. Liam grabs his phone and dials quickly, hoping Zayn will pick up, it rings three times before he does, "hello?" Zayn answers, "hey Babe" Liam coos and hears Zayn relax, "oh hey, what's up Li. I don't have long to talk" Zayn murmurs. Liam chuckles "I'm sorry. I just wanted to let you know that Carson, our lawyer is coming over on Wednesday so we can sign all the papers for me to adopt Bells" he explains. Zayn's quiet for a minute "sounds good Li, I'll see you tonight. I've gotta go one of my students is here looking for help. I love you" he answers finally. Liam laughs "I love you too. See you after work" he murmurs before they both hang up and Liam gets up shoving his phone into his pocket and leaving his office to go get lunch with Niall.
Liam manages to get home before Zayn and Bella, he decided to call it a day early, because it's Monday and he just really didn't want to be at work anymore, he's hoping they can get finished dinner early and he and Zayn can take Bella to the park to play for a little before bed. She's been begging to go for days now but Liam's never been home early enough for it to happen. He drops his keys into the bowl by the door and goes quickly to his and Zayn's room to change. Once he's comfortable he goes into the kitchen, pulling some meat out of the fridge and starting to make tacos, one of the few things he's great at making. He's not even finished browning the meat when he hears the door opening and quick footsteps that indicate Bella's on her way to find him. She slides into the kitchen, coming to a stop directly in front of him and throwing herself at his legs, "Daddy! You're home" she cheers, nuzzling her face against his leg. Liam chuckles stepping back from the stove and scooping Bella into his arms, just as Zayn comes into the kitchen as well "you're home early" Zayn murmurs, leaning over Bella to kiss Liam's lips. Liam nods, nuzzling his nose into Bella's hair, "yeah, I didn't want to start anything else and figured we could eat and then take this one to the P-A-R-K" he murmurs bouncing Bella lightly and spelling the last word. Zayn hums, nodding his head, "yeah I don't have much grading to do, I can get it done after she goes to bed" he mumbles and Liam grins, setting Bella back on her feet, so he can get back to making dinner. "Go get changed Zee. Dinner will be ready in five minutes" Liam says and Zayn rolls his eyes playfully before he disappears from the room.
"Daddy, come on" Bella whines from the backseat, "I'm just trying to find somewhere to park, Princess, relax" Liam answers, not missing the huff from her, and he knows without looking back at her that she's pouting with her arms crossed. "Do you see any open spots Zee?" Liam asks and Zayn points a little ahead of them, "I think there's one, up there" he mumbles "why is the park so busy tonight?" Zayn adds. Liam chuckles pulling into the spot Zayn indicated and stopping the car, "it's a nice night" he shrugs and Zayn rolls his eyes at him, as Bella cheers from the backseat. "Now remember, Bells. You need to stay where Daddy and I can see you okay?" Zayn explains, turning in his seat to eye the toddler, who nods at him. Liam reaches over and pats Zayn's knee gently, he knows his fiancé is still nervous about Sadie's intentions and the fact that they haven't seen any sign of her since the night she followed them 'home' "Zee, it'll be okay" he mumbles, low enough Bella can't hear. Zayn just nods and moves to get out of the car, opening the back door and helping Bella out as well. Liam follows suit and the three are headed towards the play structure only moments later, Bella pulling hard on Zayn's arm in an attempt to get there faster.
Bella's running all over the play structure and Liam and Zayn are standing by a tree just watching her closely, neither one of them is speaking but it's nice, not uncomfortable, they're both content to watch their daughter play. But their contentment only lasts for a few minutes longer before they hear a very recognizable scream "Bella!" Liam shouts before both he and Zayn are in motion running around the play structure, towards where they heard her scream, expecting to see her having fallen, but what they actually find makes bile climb up in Liam's throat. Bella hasn't fallen but she is no longer playing safely on the structure, she's being held tightly, too tightly, Liam can tell, by Sadie, while Bella thrashes wildly against her hold in an attempt to get away. He knows Bella has no clue who the woman is aside from a 'mean lady' and he also knows this is going to terrify the young girl for weeks, maybe even months to come. "Sadie, let her go" Zayn calls out, and Liam hears his voice crack just slightly and knows the man is afraid, afraid for his daughter, and what this all means. "Baba help" Bella sobs, making Sadie squeeze tighter "shut up" she hisses and Bella sobs loudly again trying to reach towards Zayn and Liam, but failing due to the tight grip on her body.
"What the Hell do you want?" Liam hisses and Sadie laughs loudly, "Zaynie over there knows what I want, and I'm assuming you do too. But neither one of you would give it to me so now I'm going to force your hand" she giggles. Liam looks over at Zayn who looks frozen in place, he then looks around behind him to see the other parents at the park watching on in shock, he notices one on her phone and hopes that woman is calling the police. "You don't want to hurt her" Liam says calmly, Sadie cocks her head to the side and Bella squirms, "Daddy" she whines, "shh Princess, I know, it's okay, I'm right here I won't let her hurt you" Liam coos, in an effort to calm Bella down. It seems to work, if only slightly, as Bella stills in Sadie's grip, she doesn't stop crying but Liam's pretty sure she won't for a long while after this is over. "Sadie, don't do this, you don't want to hurt her" Zayn pleads and Sadie laughs this time."You're right, I don't want to, but I will if you don't give me what I want" she laughs. Liam furrows his eyebrows looking around again he spots the woman who was on her phone holding up five fingers towards him, and he nods, five minutes they have to stall for five minutes then hopefully help will be here and Sadie will be out of their lives for good.
"How much do you want?" Liam asks and Sadie smirks at him, "now we're talking handsome" she coos, pulling Bella tighter to her chest, "five million" Sadie smirks. Zayn groans and Liam shakes his head, "I'm not giving you five million pounds" he snorts. "Then I guess me and this little brat are going to spend a lot more time together than any of us want" Sadie says squeezing Bella's arm hard enough that Liam can practically see the bruise forming, Zayn must see it too because he inhales deeply and his whole body tenses. "Is the brat not worth five million Zayn?" Sadie croons blue eyes locked on Zayn and Liam can suddenly see her the night she tricked Zayn, the night that resulted in Arabella, willing to do anything to win that bet. "She's worth so much more" Zayn mumbles and Liam nods, it's got to be getting closer to time for the police to arrive, they just have to keep her talking and calm. "Then five million should be nothing to you two, give me the money and I give you back the brat" Sadie spits, "stop calling her that" Zayn hisses and Sadie laughs as Bella cries out again. "Okay, say I'm willing to give you the money, it's not like I carry that kind of cash on me" Liam insists pulling Sadie's attention back to him, "you can get it" she shrugs and Liam rolls his eyes shaking his head, "you and I both know I'm not going anywhere while you've got my daughter. Let her go and I'll get you your money" he tries. Sadie laughs "you think I'm an idiot, no way. I'll keep the brat and give you three days to get me money before she and I disappear for good" she cackles. "Lii" Zayn whines and Liam nods because this is bad. Sadie's whole pose has shifted and it's obvious she's getting ready to run. Liam can't let that happen, not while she's still holding Arabella, not while half his world is in her hands.
Liam can hear them, the sirens and judging by Sadie's face she can too, her expression twists into a sneer, her eyes dart around to the other people standing around the playground clutching their own children tightly to them. "I don't know which one of you did that, but you shouldn't have" she spits, "goodbye Zayn. You'll never see your brat again" she laughs eyes locked on Zayn, before she spins on her heel and starts to run. "Daddy! Baba!" Bella shrieks and it chills Liam to the bone, she sounds terrified and if he's honest he is too. "Just hang on baby girl" Liam calls after them before with one last glance at Zayn who has crumpled into himself and sank to the ground he takes off at a run after her. Sadie's quick he'll give her that, and she's got a head start, but Liam can't let her get away not with Bella, not at all. Liam only hopes the police were as close as they sounded, and that someone tells them what's going on and someone comes to help him get his baby back and fast.
Liam's still chasing Sadie, can still see her, he's not entirely sure where she's going they've entered some kind of forest and he's not sure what her endgame is. He can hear something behind him, it sounds almost like an ATV and he hopes it is, hopes it's the police and they can help him catch her and get his girl back. He also really hopes someone is with Zayn, comforting him and helping him, he knows this is going to kill his fiancé and he feels bad for leaving him, but he couldn't let Sadie get away from them. His lungs are burning in his chest and his whole body is protesting the physical effort he's expending, but he can't stop, won't stop. Not until Bella is back in his and Zayn's arms, back home, safe. He knows he's going to push for an earlier closing date on their new house, get out of this neighbourhood faster, as he pushes himself harder, getting closer to Sadie with each step. She's got to be getting tired by now, Liam is and he's not running in a full on sprint while carrying thirty extra pounds of thrashing, screaming weight. The sound of the ATV gets closer and Liam knows it's here to help he can just feel it and it's a good thing because he's not sure how much fight he's got left.
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A/N:Look what I did...four chapters just for you because you're all great
I promise I won't leave you hanging as long with this one, but it will probably be Monday at least before I can give you the next part, I'm going away for the weekend.
Anyways Let me know what you think, about everything.
as always Until next time
xoxo