Unedited, I know, but I'll give my final finishing touch when I've completed the story. I'm really sorry, because I know how annoying it gets when you read unedited chapters with lots of mistakes.
Please point out the plot holes and grammatical errors if you can.
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Apparently, he didn't hear a word of what I had said.
"How the fuck could you do this, Alyssa?!" His voice rang out in the phone, I could hear the seething anger in his voice, "I told you so many time to trust me. I was going to get you back, wasn't I!? Then why did you have to take the matters in your own hands!?"
So Raine and Ryan really aren't there with him, and he thinks I've taken them.
What in the fucking world was he thinking?
"What are—"
"Look, Alyssa, you should've at least told me that you were going to take such a big step. Do you realise the kind of situation you have put me in? I love you, but hell, you can be so stupid sometimes? Why did you have to take Raine and Ryan from Larissa? She was not joking, Alyssa! She will sue you. Dad will sue you no matter what excuses you give now!"
He knew. He knew but he didn't pick up my calls.
Once again, I didn't know what to think or say. But all I could hear were the screeches of the babies that had always been more important to me than my own life.
"Why aren't you saying anything, Alyssa? Don't you know that you've ruined everything? I was trying my best! I even hunted down the doctor who could prove the truth to dad, but you had to —"
I had stopped hearing him, because at the same moment, I heard footsteps echoing around me. And I knew that was my cue to hang up, because I knew I'd rather die than let the unknown person go out of my sight.
"Fuck you, Terrence. I hate you."
I didn't know why I said that. For a moment - just when I dropped my phone and kicked it aside so that it would remain undetected - I regretted it. I probably should've had told him how much I loved him and how much I wanted him to trust me at this moment, because I had a feeling that the next I would hold a conversation with Terrence would be a long, long time later.
"Who's there?" A deep, gruff voice spoke out, and an unprecedented shiver ran down my spine. A silhouette of a large man appeared in the semi darkness and I tried my best to not look at his face because I knew I would be scared. Another set of footsteps approached and my body stayed frozen on its spot, my heartbeat increasing it's tempo.
"Look who we've got 'ere!" Another voice laughed, and another large man appeared in front of me, "Now we don't 'ave to go scouring the entire city lookin' for this bitch!"
"Who are you?" My voice was croaked and I knew that my face had paled at the sight of this two men. I was no match for them. I still had my self defence lessons, but I wasn't sure they were going to help me in going anywhere near the twins, unharmed.
Heck, I didn't even know that the babies wailing on the other side were mine or not, but I knew I could recognise those cries anywhere.
"What do you want?" I asked again, my fear forcing me to take a small step back.
"Well," the first one drawled, "we were just going to start searching for you, but our luck that we found you here. We're not going to take pity on those brats this time. We are going to kill them, just we'll have you watch us doing it."
I screamed.
Or, I was about to scream, but a strong hand clamped down on my mouth.
"Shut up, bitch! Don't ya dare scream! You want those screaming brats to stay alive, don't you?" He screamed in my face.
I nodded, tears forming in my eyes. Raine and Ryan had been with them all this time and I had no idea if my babies were alright. I should have let Larissa actually sue me for kidnapping her children. That would have been much easier than all of this.
The man who had me in his hold started dragging me somewhere, and I let him, because this was the only way I could save my kids. I just hoped my phone didn't break or switched itself off because I needed Terrence to track me down as soon as possible, even of he wanted to think of me as the one who took away the children.
The other seemed to be on phone with someone, and I could bet that he was talking to Larissa that they finally had me and the twins in their hold. Which meant Larissa would be here soon.
Which meant that I could get this drama over soon.
We stopped in front of a dilapidated, old warehouse - one I never noticed - which seemed to be the source of the screeching cries that made my heart ache.
"Move." The other man ordered, and I was dragged inside like a rag doll. His grip on my arms was painful, and my vision was blurry with tears, but my focus kept on reaching the twins.
We stopped near the door and he yanked my hair painfully, "Now, the first thing you're gonna do is stop all that screamin'. They'll wake up the entire neighbourhood." He paused and leaned in closer, burying his face in my chest and inhaling. The act itself made me feel so violated that I could throw up, "Mama, you're hot! Maybe she will let us have fun with her before she kills her?"
"She will." The other stated with a disgusting smirk on his face, and raked his gaze over me, "Now let's stop those screaming brats."
He opened the door and I was shoved inside with such a force that I collides against the wall with a crack. I saw stars, and my ears made a ringing noise, but apart from that I could see that my babies hadn't seem me yet with the way they were still screaming.
Pay attention to the word: screaming.
No, they were not the screams of agony, pain, sadness, hurt or lack of attention. They were the screams of I-am-a-brat-and-I-will-keep-screaming-just-to-annoy-you-because-you-said-not-to. I didn't know if I should've laughed or cried - my kids clearly felt safer with these two large men than with Larissa.
They still hadn't noticed that their Momo had been tossed inside the room and was sitting a fee feet behind them.
"God, shut them up, this is too much noise, Jeff. God knows what this woman feeds them with. And how the fuck did they get out of their cribs?" One of them asked.
"This one," he pointed to Raine, "is definitely a pain in the ass, Will. She shows her doe eyes, makes us melt and then screams like a banshee. Had she been a decade or two older, I would already have had wrung her neck...Oh Jesus! Shut up!" He yelled at them.
Pin drop silence fell for a moment and I could see the widened eyes of my kids through the haze I was in since my head collided with the wall. I'll be honest, just like those two men, I was quite thankful for the sudden silence. But I had been with them for ten months. As comfortable they seemed to be with the two - something which had my heart filled with hope that they'll help us out after a little bribing - I knew they would start screaming as kicking again.
They did that a lot ever since Raine and Ryan had started fighting with each other.
Slowly, Ryan's face contorted into an angry one, even though he looked super cute. If I was going to die, I was going to die a happy woman knowing that my kids were brave fighters.
Okay, not so happy. Things really didn't end on a good note with the love of my life.
Ryan yelled, "No!"
Raine followed, "No!"
And then the small room was filled with numerous chants of "No!" And the ringing in my ears worsened. I tried not to surrender to unconsciousness and sat up slowly with a throbbing head.
"Ryan," I croaked, "Raine," I heaved in a breath and closed my eyes, "Please stop." I whined.
The screams stopped, but suddenly two bodies collided with mine and I winced when I felt all the sore places when my body had been flattened against the wall. Yet, mustering all I had in my, I gathered my crying kids and kissed their hair. I inhaled their baby scent and felt some strength seeping into me.
I was ready to bargain.
I knew they weren't going to let me out, but they were kind with the kids - at least so much more than Larissa. They would probably let them go...
"No, no, no. Don't give us that look woman!" Will said, "We're not gonna fall for that 'pity me and let me leave' look. We're already in trouble because we did not kill them the last time and left them in a dumpster when we found you coming down the road. We're not gonna help you."
"Please..." I croaked, but just then the door slammed open.
"Begging is not going to get you anywhere, cousin." Larissa smug voice came from the door but I was too reluctant to look at her. I was focused more on how my babies stilled in my arms and were now shivering in my hold.
"Pick those two bastards and put them in the crib you've got for them." She gestured to Jeff, "For what I've planned for this bitch, I don't want them to come in between. They'll get hurt and that is not in my plans at the moment."
Jeff looked somewhat disgusted with her but took the kids from me. I was not surprised to see that the kids clung to him when he tried to set them down and they buried their faces in his neck. I knew his heart melted then - I could see it in how his eyes softened.
It was ironical that the only person in the room who wanted to hurt Ryan and Raine was their own biological mother.
Maybe there is hope - maybe a few more minutes with Jeff and Will and I'll be able to get the babies back to Terrence?
Raine and Ryan were once again silent, now that Larissa's voice was booming out instructions to put the babies to sleep. If not for the situation I would have found it hilarious watching two big men putting tiny kids to sleep.
"Now let the real mom and fake mom have a chat, right?" Larissa snickered, and grabbed my chin, making me wince as she swiftly tipped my head back.
"She looks so pretty when bruised. What say? Let's make her more pretty."
Smack!
A harsh, stinging slap met my right cheek and I toppled over from my sitting position. Just then followed a swift kick in my stomach and a stinging pressure on my calf.
She was digging her heel in my leg.
Just then she flung a few papers at me, and threw a pen that hit an injured spot of mine that made it sting even more.
I sat up slowly and gathered the papers, squinting to see what was written.
"They are papers for transferring grandpa's inheritance to my account. Don't waste my time and sign it quickly." She ordered, digging her heel more.
"I'm going to die today, am I not. Can I not just have a look at what all I'm giving to you before signing it?"
She rolled her eyes but let me read it. I didn't care for the inheritance, that cursed money had already caused too many deaths in my family and it was going to cause mine, too. I had no use of it - never had and never will. I was just making sure that she didn't include any clauses that gave her any undue rights over the kids or something I would regret even after my impending death.
Yes, I had given up on believing that I was going to get out of this alive, but it didn't mean I was going to let my kids suffer the same fate.
I signed the papers.
The smug look on Larissa's face grew as I signed them, but what she didn't realise that I was happy that I was finally getting rid of that useless money.
"Now that I'm done with you, I'll leave. I will come back for you, bitch, I'm just keeping the element of surprise. You look so prepared to die that I want you to keep anticipating when I'll pounce on you and kill you all."
Her words, although spoken nonchalantly chilled me to the bone. I looked towards the kids and found them already sleeping - the stress and drama had tired them out.
"Can I ask you a question, Larissa?" I asked in a whisper when she was about to walk away.
She rolled her eyes and smirked, "Last dying question? Go ahead."
"If you didn't want the babies," I started, looking at her in the eye, "Why didn't you abort them when you had the time? Why go through so much trouble?"
"You think I didn't try?" She snorted, "It was already too late when I learned about the pregnancy, because when I had finally managed to escape Vincent and schedule an abortion, Vincent learned of the fact that I was pregnant. Like a lunatic, he came to every doctor's visit and was becoming more and more suffocating. I tried again many time, thinking that I will pass it off as miscarriage, and then there came a time when harming these stubborn brats would mean killing myself. So I formed that entire plan but just as always someone had to come along and fuck it up! This time, it was you! Vincent, the man who always trusted me blindly, was asking me questions because of you and because of these two fucking idiots who were cowards and couldn't kill them." Larissa glared at Jeff and Will.
"Don't you feel even the least bit of guilty for what you've done to them? Don't you love them even a little - they've been a part of you for more than eight months." I asked, and it sounded more like a plea.
Her features hardened at my questions, and she muttered, "That's too many questions for one question."
And then she walked away.
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Being an editor myself, I never thought that I myself would be a part of a cliche plotline where at the end I will be kidnapped and end up tied and gagged only to die later. The only difference, I thought, was that I would actually die at the end, and not wake up after a miraculous recovery so that all love lost will be back and everything will be alright.
My hands were bound behind me with the finest and smoothest of silk because if anyone found bruises on the wrists of my dead body, they would immediately know that I was bound. Same was with my legs, and my mouth. The babies were not sleeping anymore, and were blabbering among themselves as they sat right in front of me.
Watching them climb down the crib had brought my heart down to my stomach.
While I let them get some time for themselves, I looked around for possible means of escape. There was a door and a window that led into an alleyway. The door was useless, unless those goons actually agreed to help us. Considering that I didn't climb any stairs while coming here, it wasn't a long jump from the window, but I believed it wasn't easy either.
I had to carry two heavy kids along with me and I didn't know how I was going to balance the fall.
"Momo." Raine and Ryan both came to me and clambered over my lap, accidentally hitting all the places where I was injured. But it definitely calmed me deep down, being surrounded by the two kids I loved the most during the last moments of my life.
I would die for them a thousand times again.
I could see the tiny goosebumps and immediately knew that they were cold. And the way they cuddled closer to my breasts, they were hungry too.
After struggling for a few moments, I managed to slip the gag out with my tongue. For some reason, the goons didn't gag me properly and I was thankful to them for it.
"Ryan, Raine," I said as sweetly as possible, "Where are my hands?"
They both grinned at me and climbed out of my lap, going behind me and squealed as they both found where my hands were.
"Baby, can you please open that knot for me?" I asked and immediately found Ryan's nimble little fingers working on the tie. I found out that Raine was working on untying my feet, although it took more efforts from her as compared to Ryan.
Finally, the obsession Ryan had with tying and untying the knots came of some use.
I didn't know how much time I had, but as far as I knew Larissa, she would have her beauty sleep at night and would come after us only when the sun rose. It would take hours for that.
The fact that bothered me was that Terrence wasn't here yet. Did my phone crack or get switched off when I kicked it aside?
Ryan clapped his hands and giggled and my hands were freed. I ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek, silently crying inside, wondering if I would ever hear him giggle again. I looked and helped Raine, finally untying my feet when he too, clapped and giggle.
I unzipped my jacket and gathered my twins, bringing them in the warmth of my extra large jacket. I adjusted my bra and helped them so that they could snuggled into me and then get fed.
I was surprised I had any milk left, considering the fact the breast fed them lesser and lesser now.
What mattered was, that I could feel this connection to the twins one last time before I finally let them out. I didn't know if Larissa was here. And also, I knew that Jeff and Will would catch up soon and I wouldn't be able to run far.
But I knew that no matter what they did to me, they had a soft spot for Raine and Ryan and a little bargaining would push them to help me.
I was thankful for the jacket because I could zip it up even when the babies were wrapped inside it with me. After I had adjusted my clothes, I took in a deep breath because it was time to go.
I stood up, very slowly, trying not to wince because once again, Ryan and Raine had fallen asleep.
I was so fucking proud of them and proud of myself.
With a last wistful smile, I took slow steps towards the window, taking care of the floorboards because I didn't want them to creak. Even if they did, it wasn't going to do much harm because whoever was posted out of the door know that Ryan and Raine had a knack for bouncing and jumping around.
When I reached the window, I took in a deep breath and slid it open swiftly. For an old house, it really didn't make much noise. I looked back at the barren walls and empty floors, realising that Raine had kept all the silk scarves for herself. I looked at the door wondering if anyone had an idea that I was escaping.
I peeked out of the window and looked left and right, checking if there was anyone in the alleyway. Finding it empty, I slowly climbed up, the combined weight of Raine and Ryan, and my injuries not helping with the process.
Climbing out was easy, and I didn't twist my ankle more than it already had. But I didn't know where to go. I chose left and walked slowly, taking care not to make much noise.
Once I turned onto a wider road, I started running, that is, if my weird hobbling could be called running.
"She's running away, Jeff! Get her!" A loud shout broke into the silence of midnight and I cursed at how empty the road looked. I could only wish now that Larissa wasn't around to hear him shouting.
As fast as I tried to run, both of them managed to catch me soon and I was yanked back by my hair. My scalp burned along with other parts o my body that now felt on the verge of giving up.
"What were you thinking? Running like that?" Jeff asked, holding me by my hair, "Wanna get yourself killed?"
"I don't care!" I screamed with all I had and unzipped my jacket, holding out the twins to them, "I want to save them!"
They looked at each other and Jeff's hold loosened just a bit.
"Please! I beg you! She will kill them! Let them go!" Tears ran down my face, "Please," I sobbed, "They don't deserve this. I'll come back with you, but please get them somewhere away from her."
"Look," Will said, "We already made that mistake once and we are not going to do that again."
I burst into more and more tears.
"Oh God, please! I beg of you! It's a dying mother's last wish. I just want my kids to be safe!"
"They are not your kids!"
I slapped Will hard.
"I was the one who took them in, fed them, loved them like they were my own, spent sleepless night and was there for them every fucking second! The fuck you get to say if I am their mother or not!"
"What are the two of you doing!" Larissa's voice boomed in the silent air and a chill ran down my spine. I had never thought she'll ever be able to invoke such terror in me. "Get her and those brats back! Now!"
"Please!" I begged and again, the two looked uncomfortable, "I promise she will never be able to ruin you! You know what?" I took the twins and trustingly handed them to Will and Jeff, who'd finally let go of my hair. "Take them to Terrence Powers and tell him that Alyssa Reynolds promised you thrice of what Larissa is offering."
At their widened eyes, I continued, "Trust me that guy is loaded. Now go!"
A gunshot fired behind me and I pushed them, "Go!"
Just then, another shot rang in the air, and I found myself screaming for air, my shoulder burning with a pain I never wanted to feel again.
"You bitch!" I could hear her scream, "You turned my own men against me?! Fucking Traitors!"
And another shot.
This was it.
I was going to die.
And I didn't even tell Terrence that I loved him.
And I didn't even tell Allie to take care of herself and stop being so cynical and difficult about everything.
And I didn't even tell Aaron to take care of my best friend.
And Oh God! I didn't tell Terrence that he couldn't give the babies away to Larissa, no matter what his dad said to him.
I had so much left to do, and here I was, lying uselessly, in my own pool of blood.
My ears were ringing again, and it felt like I was hearing sirens around me, rushed footsteps, another few gunshots, and finally, someone slightly shaking me.
"Oh God!" I groaned, "Get Raine and Ryan to Terrence, now! And let me die in peace!"
"Baby, it's me! The babies are safe! Keep your fucking eyes open, Alyssa! You can't leave us like this!"
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Damn, it was so difficult to write.