"Get me the girls!" I said, pushing away a pair of hands coming my way.
"Ma'am, we need to stop the blood-" one of the men that rushed into the parking lot right after the light were turned on spoke in a hurry.
"Where's Ethan?" I asked him. "Call him right now! Tell him that the girls-"
"What girls, ma'am?" The man asked. "We haven't seen any-"
I stroke my hand right across his face. His face was filled with bewilderment as he clutched the side of his cheek.
"I'm not fucking hallucinating! Go check your security cameras and you will find two girls with me. Hoe the fuck does this mall work? Do you honestly not notice when a kidnapper comes in and takes away kids? What-"
I cut myself off when I found someone coming my way. In an instant, Stella was before me.
"Where are my girls?" Stella asked, looking around. "Where are they? Are they in the car?"
"Stella, you need to listen to me. The girls.. The girls aren't here." I said in a low voice.
"What do you mean they're not here?" She asked, matching the frown with Ethan and Ben behind her. "They came with you-"
"They're gone." I said in a choked voice. "He.. He took them."
"Who?" Ben asked. "Skylar, what the hell are you talking about?"
"The.. There was an intruder at our place last night." I said. "He tried to.. hurt me. And I think it's him now too. He took the girls."
Stella fell back into Ben's arms as soon as the words left my mouth. Tears flowed past her cheeks as she looked at me agonisingly.
"Why the hell didn't you tell us about this?" Stella demanded. "Why would you risk going out in a situation like this?"
"Baby, you need to ca-" Ben tried to comfort her but she pushed his hands away.
"No, I can't!" She yelled. "He took my girls! They're.. Mila and Evie.. they're so young. How are they.. what if he hurts them? What if they-"
"Stella, we'll find him before anything happens." Ethan assured her. "I won't let anything happen to them."
"There's nothing left to happen." Stella said. "It's all over. My girls are kidnapped and all thanks to your wife!"
"Stella, there is absolutely no point is blaming anyone! What we should be doing is start looking for them." Ben suggested.
Ethan looked at me helplessly. He couldn't meet my eyes. The conversation we had today morning played before me.
I suggested it's better if I had security with me because we never know what happens. But Ethan dismissed it in an instant saying how that would draw unnecessary attention to us.
All this could've been prevented if he believed that I was imagining things all the while.
Stella didn't deserve this. Not even Ben or the girls. They had no part in this. This was my issue, my problem to deal with. They are not supposed to get involved in this!
"Ma'am, I'm sorry to interrupt but I never saw any girls with Miss Skylar." The same person I slapped earlier spoke.
I widened my eyes at him. "Do you want me to fucking slap you again?!"
"Skylar, relax." Ethan said. "We'll find a way out of this. There's always a way. If the intruder came for money, he wouldn't have followed us this long. There's some ulterior motive all together. If that is so, he will try to contact us. Let us wait. But before that, we need to get you to the hospital."
"He's right." Ben said. "Let's go to the hospital. We can-"
"We're heading to the cops right now." Stella said. "We're not going to waste our time for the kidnapper to call. What if he doesn't call at all?"
"Stella, we'd be putting the girls in danger if the word gets around." Ethan said. "I know a friend who'd help us with his. Trust me on this. He's on his way to us."
"Let's wait for him." Ben said to her. "Let's not make any decisions that will learn to regret."
Stella didn't utter a word. Instead she shot me one last look and got up to leave.
***
"You need to heal!" Ethan yelled at me in anger after I pushed away the last ball of cotton we had at our house. "What the hell do you think will come out of this?"
"I am not the one you should be worried about!" I said to him. "Go find the girls and then come to take care of me."
"Owen and his team are on it." He said. "He will make sure the girls are safe. But you need to heal before that. You've already lost so much blood and you refused to go the hospital. Let me treat you wound atleast."
"Blood?" I asked, showing fake surprise. "Where's the blood Ethan? I'm completely fine. You're probably hallucinating it. Just like I was when a bunch of intruders came to our house."
Ethan closed his eyes in regret. "I know what you're implying." He opened his eyes to look at me. "I know I was wrong. And I regret not trusting you enough. But please, don't direct your anger to yourself. And stop blaming yourself. Blame me. The girls are lost because of me. Not you."
"It is my fault." I said, tears now running down. "Stella was right. I should have seen this coming. I knew that the intruder wouldn't stop.. but I never thought he'd go after the girls. Why would he take them instead of me?"
Ethan shook his head. "He has nothing to do with the girls. He would have taken away anyone who was with you at that time."
"Ethan." I called for him. I gave him him a doubtful look and asked. "Don't you think it's Jake?"
He didn't say anything for a good few seconds.
"Of course, it him." He replied. "Who else would go behind you?"
"I don't know, what about Luke?" I suggested.
"Him too." Ethan said. "Or both together. None of the possibilities would be surprising."
"But Luke.. why would he.. I don't know, Ethan, can't you just.. kill him? For good?"
"You have no clue how tempted I am to do that." Ethan said, shaking his head in anger. He came forward and ran his palm along my cheek, making sure it was not hurting me in anyway. "He's obsessed with you. That's why he is trying so hard to pursue you. He waited for all these years so he could take you away from me again. I'm not going to spare him this time."
He looked at me watching him. His eyes softened for a bit. "I'm sorry." He said, in his deep, choked voice.
More tears ran out at the sight of him. How could I stay mad at him after this? He is just as guilty as I am. I can only how much it's killing him inside.
"I'm sorry that I didn't believe you. I shouldn't have let Owen talk me out of it." He said, holding my hands in his. "Baby, I'm so sorry."
"I'm.. Ethan you don't have to.. I.. uh.. just stop this freaking blood!" I said, uncertain about the words that were lingering at the tip of my tongue. i couldn't comprehend my thoughts. A part of me was feeling terrible to see him like this.
He obviously feels more responsible for what happened. But this was bound to happen anyways. I would've been attacked at any cost. Jake and Luke are not the kind of people that would let me go without trying for it a million times. Our only regret is to have Mila and Evie pay for it.
"Yes.. just a second." He ducked down and grabbed something from one of the drawers. He poured some liquid into it and put it too my neck in a hurry.
I winced in pain and pushed his hand away.
"I.. I'm sorry, did it hurt?" He asked, panic evident in his eyes.
Of course, it did!
"No, it's okay." I mumbled. He carefully went for my neck and swiped the blood away from it. I don't really remember what happened and how I acquired this injury. I remember a pain shooting up on the side but I never really paid any attention to it. But now that he's treating it, the pain is just magnifying.
"I hate doing this.." He muttered to himself.
"I'm sorry, but I really didn't want to go to the hospital. It made me sick just thinking of it."
His eyes widened. "No, Skylar! I didn't mean that. I love taking care of you. But, I just don't like treating your wounds. It just reminds of all the ways I could prevent you from getting hurt. But the truth is, none of these would've happened if I weren't in your life."
I glared at him. "You don't get to act stupid at times like this. You're not allowed to break up with me."
"I can't even stop thinking about you for a second. Let alone leaving you." He muttered.
"Then stop blaming yourself." I said. "I probably would've been dead if you weren't in my life."
"Don't talk about dying again." He warned me, his hands briefly stopping whilst his eyes locked with mine.
"Well, that's the truth." I said. Jake would've pursued me anyway. You being with me just helped me beat him at that point."
"Jake would have not even known you if I weren't there."
I slapped him on the face slightly, to which he just widened his eyes at me. "I'll slap you again if you talk nonsense. Seriously, how do you even do business like this when you keep regretting about something good that happened a decade ago? You are an idiot, do you know that?"
"Of course I do. I fell in love with you, didn't I?"
"Hey!" I protested.
The side of his lips curled a little, just as his face lost the serious look for a brief second. He cupped my cheek on the side and brought his lips closer to mine.
"Ugh.." I groaned when he grabbed me by my waist.
"What's wrong?" He asked in worry.
"I can't stand on my toes, my back hurts." I winced again. "You'll have to bend down."
"Where does it hurt? Here?" He asked, placing his cold fingers along my waist.
"I don't know.." I said in an irritated town.
"Did you get-"
I pulled his face down with my hand and cut him off by placing my lips on his. We kissed for not more than a few seconds when he pulled himself free.
"Skylar, you'll start bleeding if you twist your neck like that." He complained.
"What was I supposed to do? You weren't moving!" I said. "I had to get at least a quick kiss before you lose your emotional balance and disappear out of my life."
"I will not do anything like that, even if it kills me." He said. "By the way, you should go and rest now. You've cried too much already. Just go sleep while we go find the girls."
"You can't go there and have me locked up here. I'll go too!"I said.
"Trust me, it will be easier for us if we know you're safe in here."
"How will I be safe when you're not here? Aren't I the safest with you?"
He gave me a blank look. "But being with me is not the safest for you now."
"That doesn't make any sense! What if... what if the intruders comes again? Mind you, I'm not letting any of your men guard me in here."
"My staff won't be of help right now." He said. "Our friends are going to be here and make sure you're safe."
"Ethan, you can't drag our friends into this. Stella's going to think you're prioritising me over her girls!" I said.
"You are my biggest priority right now, everything else comes later." He said. "And I'm leaving you with them because I'm going to go find her girls. I don't think she'll have any problem with that."
Before I could say anything, he sealed his lips with mine.
"Tell me you love me." He said.
"You love me." I replied, in annoyance.
He gave me another blank look. "Skylar.."
"Fine, I love you too." I said, looking at him. "But I also happen to hate you right now."
He gave me a faint smile. "Wait for me, will you?"
"Yes." I said. "And be safe."
He nodded and kissed me one last time before he left.