17th of July, 2008
Michael is 49, Angela is 44
Michael: "Dada... Dada..." I heard vaguely.
My eyes fluttered open and I saw AJ bouncing her little body up and down in her crib.
I looked down, noticing the baby boy in my arms. Unlike his sister, he was still sleeping.
I rubbed my eyes and carefully got up to put Leo in his crib.
"Good morning." Angela appeared at the nursery door with a smile on her face.
"Did I fall asleep again?"
"You did. Here, I'll take AJ. You should freshen up."
I thanked her, kissing her cheek before walking down the stairs that led to our bedroom.
Ever since I took her out on our first date we've been on really good terms.
Honestly, our life together was finally starting to fall into place for me. I couldn't remember anything yet, but still, we were enjoying each other's company more.
I kept my promise and took her on another date which was very successful.
As I was brushing my teeth I noticed the little note Angela left for me on the mirror.
She's been putting these kind of notes everywhere; to remind me of stuff I wouldn't know or wouldn't be used to.
You promised the kids to take them to see the animals today. And most importantly, it's AJ's first birthday tomorrow. Angela xo.
I blushed at the little 'xo' next to her name. I put the note in my pocket and left the room to find the kids had finished with breakfast.
"Okay, who's ready to go to the zoo?" I asked.
They all jumped up from their chairs to put their shoes on.
"You're not eating?" Angela's voice came from behind me. AJ was in her arms, playing with her mother's shirt.
I shrugged, "I'm good. You should eat, though."
She smiled and thanked me then disappeared with our baby girl to the kitchen.
"Daddy, we're ready!" Blanket said.
I joined all 7 of my kids and we made our way outside.
~
Angela: After both AJ and I finished breakfast, I took her upstairs to play for a while since Leo woke up to eat as well.
He was cradled against my chest as he sucked his bottle hungrily.
"You're the cutest." I whispered to him.
My son was done soon enough so I put him against my shoulder and patted his little back.
Suddenly, my phone went off. It was an unknown number. Who could that be?
I pressed the green button, putting the phone to my ear.
"This is a call from the Los Angeles county state prison, to accept the charges press 1-"
My mind went blank. The only person I knew who was in jail was Danny.
I didn't even notice the phone dropped on the floor from my trembling hand.
Hasn't he done enough? What could he possibly want from me?
All I could see the image of him smirking while his hands touched me everywhere, as he pounded into my body with so much force.
Leo was squirming against me and AJ just kept playing on the floor, but I was too deep in my head to notice anything.
~
Michael: The kids had fun with the animals and wanted to stay a while longer.
I told them we should probably rest for a while after the last couple hours, promising them we'll go tomorrow as well.
As we drove through the ranch I thought about how I never felt like I left this amazing place. I knew we did, Angela told me that, and showed me family pictures in a different house. But Neverland was my home, my children's home.
I didn't want to believe I left it once.
We got to the house and I sent the kids to clean up with Grace, then decided too see what Angela and the babies were up to.
"Mama... Mama..." AJ's cries were heard from the nursery. They were followed by Leo's wails.
I raced upstairs to find Angela sitting on the rocking chair, Leo in her arms, her eyes filled with tears as her entire body trembled. Our daughter was standing next to her, begging for attention along with her baby brother.
"Angela? What's wrong?" I quickly came over to her. Then I noticed her phone that lay on the floor.
She only blinked but didn't budge. What happened to her?
I decided to first tend to our crying children, calling Grace in the process to take care of them as I figured out what was wrong with Angela. She didn't even notice that I took Leo from her.
I crouched down in front of my wife, "Angela... Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
Nothing.
I tried holding her hands and asking again but she would move. Then I tried squeezing her shoulders. She only blinked.
Wiping her tears away with my thumbs, I decided to try something. Both my hands cupped her cheeks and I leaned down to kiss her.
Our lips barely touched but it was enough to trigger something and before I knew it, Angela's hand flew across my face.
"No!" she cried. "Don't touch me, Danny, please! Please..."
Danny? Who the hell is Danny?
I grabbed both her wrists before she could slap me again, pulling her close to me. "Angela, it's me Michael... You're okay, shhh..."
Angela sobbed into my chest, "Michael..."
"Yeah, it's me, don't worry." I told her, still soothing her although I was completely dumbfounded.
Her breathing evened and she pulled away. "W- what happened?"
"I was asking myself the same thing... The babies were crying so I ran up here and found you completely... In shock. Like you were somewhere else. You asked someone named Danny to stop... And why is your phone on the floor?"
My wife's eyes widened. "I- I think I got a call from LA county prison..."
"What?" I raised my brows. "Why?"
Angela sighed, wiping her tears. "It's a long story, something I didn't tell you about yet."
She looked way to upset so I decided not to ask her now.
"Let's get you to bed, alright? You look like you could use some rest."
"No, I'll just think about it more. You know, when this thing happened, talking helped me a lot." my wife sat back down on the rocking chair, picking up her phone in the process.
Another sigh left her lips, "Why would he call?"
"Who is he?" I finally asked.
"His name's Danny Raymon... He went to high school with me. So aside from the thing concerning him, I actually didn't tell you something else," Angela looked at me apologetically. "When I was pregnant with AJ, you cheated on me, with Debbie. I didn't tell you because we got through it, you know? And as much as I hate the fact that you don't remember anything about our relationship, this is a fresh start, so I didn't mention it..."
God, I put her through so much shit. She must really love me if she stayed this long.
"Anyways, when I found out about what you did, I didn't talk to you for weeks. And my relationship with Danny got stronger those days... I was around seven months into my pregnancy when you took both Eric and Prince with you to Germany for a few days. So I invited Danny over, and he-"
Angela choked up as tears flooded her eyes again, "He uh... He did some... Unspeakable things."
"Oh, God," I covered my mouth. "I'm so sorry, Angela."
"I don't remember most of it, actually. Or the days that followed... But, remember I told you AJ had to have kidney surgery when she was born? It was all my fault, because I invited him over, this horrible thing happened to our baby girl because I stupidly trusted him."
I crouched down in front of her and grabbed her hands in mine, "Don't say that. You couldn't have known he would do this awful thing to you. AJ is as healthy as it gets, right? No need to dwell in the past. Now I really think you should rest for a while."
"Do you mind coming to bed with me? I don't want to be alone right now..." my wife looked me in the eyes.
Before I could answer her phone rang loudly, making Angela jump. She shakily looked at it and a sigh left her lips.
"It's Luciano." she said. I watched her as she stood up and talked to him.
"Yeah, sure, there's nothing special going on... Of course you can. I'll get a room ready for you," the smile was clear on her face when she talked to her brother. "Ti amo."
"Well, Luci and Britney will be here soon. He said he wants to spend some extra time with AJ before her birthday tomorrow so he asked if they could sleep over."
"Are you feeling strong enough, Angela? You could've told him this was a bad time..." I moved closer to her.
She smiled at me, "I'll rest until he gets here, okay? If it'll ease your mind. And him being here could distract me from this."
I carefully put out my hand for her to take, and she did. We went down to the bedroom where Angela quickly got into bed.
"I still don't want to be alone..." she whispered.
Smiling sympathetically, I kicked off my shoes then joined her.
~
Angela: Michael had his arm under his head as he stared at the ceiling. I was laying on my side, just watching him.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked.
"Just wondering how I let that monster do those kind of things to you." he let out a sigh and turned to face me.
"Mike, I told you, you weren't here. You couldn't have prevented it."
His glossy eyes looked into mine. "Still. I wasn't here when I should've been."
My husband scooted closer to me, but that's all he did.
"This bed is really lonely without you," I said. "Maybe you could sleep here tonight? Just until I feel safer."
We were definitely closer than we were a month ago but he still said he wasn't comfortable enough to sleep next to me.
Michael nodded, "Sure, I'll give it another try tonight. For your sake."
"Thank you."
A knock on the door was heard and we were told by one of the housemaids that had Luciano arrived.
~
Michael: Angela pulled her brother into a bone-crushing hug. "I missed you so much, Luci."
Luciano hugged her back just as tight and said he missed her more.
Britney smiled at them. I then noticed something gleaming on her left hand, making me raise my eyebrows.
"Britney, is that what I think it is?"
Angela let go of her brother, "What is?"
With a smirk, Britney lifted her left hand to reveal the beautiful diamond ring. My wife squealed happily and hugged her brother once more.
"Oh, my God!"
"I wanted you to know as soon as possible. That's why we came today." Luciano told her.
"I can't believe you're getting married!" Angela said while pulling her soon-to-be sister in-law into a hug as well. "This is so amazing, guys."
"Congrats." I told them both.
The kids came running in and attacking their uncle in a group hug, making all of us laugh.
Angela looked like she was feeling better already and I could not hope for anything else.
~
That night, after the kids went to bed, we said our 'goodnight' to Luciano and Britney before going to our bedroom.
"Thank you for doing this. I know how hard this must be for you..." Angela said while hugging me tightly.
"We should go to sleep, there's a party tomorrow." I told her.
"Yeah."
We both changed quickly before getting in bed. There was an awkward silence for a while until Angela grabbed my hand.
"Michael," she whispered. "Can you- can you sing for me?"
"Sing for you? But you don't really like it when I sing. At least, you didn't." I said.
"I've changed, you know I did... Please. I missed hearing your voice."
"Well, what would you like me to sing?"
My wife intertwined our fingers. "Anything, whatever comes to your mind."
I thought for a bit. I know just the perfect song.
"Angie, Angie
When will those dark clouds all disappear?
Angie, Angie
Where will it lead us from here?
With no lovin' in our souls
And no money in our coats
You can't say we're satisfied
Angie, Angie
You can't say we never tried..."
Angela let out a shaky sigh and hugged me.
"Sorry I'm like this, that call, it shook me up a bit." she sniffled into my chest.
"Hey, don't worry about it..." I wrapped my arms around her to make her feel safe. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."
She cried herself to sleep, and all I could do was hug her, promising nothing would happen to her.
That's when I decided I was going to get to the bottom of this.
I took out my phone, texting Javon that we would be going to the Los Angeles county prison in a couple of days.
This Danny guy called for a reason, and I was going to find out what it was.