I'm waiting. Patiently waiting for Nadia's return with Louisa. My eyes are locked on the space I know she will pull up in and the feeling I have inside is agonising. I don't know how Louisa is going to be with being taken away by a stranger. I'm hoping Luca has taught her to never speak to strangers and if a stranger tried to do anything, she'd run and scream for help. I hope he's taught her something like that because it'd draw attention to Nadia and she'd be caught for trying to snatch a minor.
"You can get the thought out of your head that you'll see her."
I feel a hot breath on my cheek and I know Terence is now next to me. His whole presence next to me is threatening and it's mainly because he knows the end is in sight for them. Getting Louisa is more or less the final piece of their plan. The last piece is escaping the country unnoticed which is going to go in their favour because they have money.
"She won't even know where she is when she gets here," he goes on. "All she'll see is a big house when she pulls up here and that's it. She won't be brought in here. She won't see any of this and that means she won't know you're here. No one knows you're here."
Tears fill my eyes at his words and I draw my lips in and bite down on them to stop them from trembling. No one knows I'm here. No one knows any of us are here and when everyone leaves, the chances of someone finding us is slimmer than it may have been if we had any hope left in us that we'd be found.
"She wouldn't want to see you like this if she even believed that you were here." He stops speaking and inhales deeply. "Not in your condition, anyway."
Condition? Other than being tied up to a post, cuts, bruises, numerous blows to the head, and a leg that's more than likely broken – I'm in better nick than I'd be expected to be in.
I dare myself to turn and look at him. The first thing I notice is the evil grin that's coming and going on his lips. The second is the darkness in his eyes. He's got something planned for me and it's about to happen.
He grabs me by my hair and pulls on it until I get to my feet. It's a struggle but I get there, somehow. I use the post to rest on and take a deep breath. Terence is in my face before I have a chance to breathe out, gripping my chin with his other hand.
"I never did get my own back on you after we left Greg's birthday dinner," he says, his grip on me getting tighter. "I think it's time we remedy that."
I watch him as he licks his lips then flashes me the evilest of smiles I've ever seen. He lets me go and delivers the first blow of a punch to the face. A second punch comes before a kick to the stomach has me doubling over and landing in a heap on the ground. I cry out and try to curl myself up into a ball as a way of trying to protect my baby but it doesn't stop him from delivering blow after blow to other parts of my body.
"Terence, leave her alone!" Allison screams but it's distant. "You sick twisted bastard! Leave her alone!!!"
Terence's wicked laugh mixed with the sound of car doors closing is the last thing I hear before giving in to the pain and darkness I so desperately need to put me out of my misery.
I wake with a start at feeling a small hand pushing my hair away from my face. Even moving the smallest of fractions to see who it is has me groaning in pain. I have the taste of blood in my mouth but I don't know how bad my injuries are and I don't think I want to know. I knew Terence would be capable of some things but not to this extent, anyway.
"Kaylee," a soft voice calls out to me, "are you okay?"
I manage to open my eyes ever so slightly to see a small child kneeling down next to me with a plush white teddy bear tucked under her arm. "Louisa." I try to focus on her but close my eyes back over. "You shouldn't be here. How-"
"Do you need someone to help you?" She asks.
I manage to shake my head and I hope she understands that I don't want help. I do need help but not from anyone here when it's them who have gotten most of us into this predicament. No one should see me like this when I don't know what I look like after the beating.
Louisa, especially, shouldn't have to see any of this. The fact she has come out to here and has seen so many people tied up and beaten is making me feel awful. The fact she has to see me in the state I'm in is making me feel like I should have done better. I don't know what I could have done but I feel like I've let her down in some way. It's hard to explain but it's just the way that I feel. I know it's not my fault that I'm looking the way I am but she still shouldn't have to see me like this.
"Louisa, go." It's not a command but a plead. I'm pleading with her but it's ignored. I open my eyes again to find her tilting her head to the side and holding her teddy tighter. "Louisa, get out of here. You shouldn't have to see any of this."
"Are you okay?" She asks quietly again.
I take a deep breath and wince in pain at how sore it is to breathe so deeply. "No, but there's nothing I can do about that."
"I can get daddy to help you."
"You can't." I shake my head and tears fill my eyes. "Your dad can't help any of us."
"He can," she says boldly. "He'll come for us. He'll know where we are."
I shake my head again despite how much it hurts. "Louisa . . . I-I don't think he will."
"But he saved you before. He'll do it again. He always knows where we are before we do."
"That may be but I . . . I don't think that that will be the case this time around."
"He will. He told me he'd always find us." She looks down at her teddy and plays with the ribbon and charm that's around its neck. "He said that as long as I have this teddy, he'll know where I am."
"I know you want to believe that, sweetie, but-"
"He said that this bear is special. He said it holds something special inside of it that will tell him where I am if I ever get lost. He said that as long as I have this with me, he'll come for me. Everyone will come for me."
"You're a good girl, Louisa. So smart and so much like your daddy," I comment.
"Don't insult her like that!" Nadia quickly interjects, storming over to us. She grabs Louisa by the arm and hauls her away from me. "I told you to stay in the house. You don't ever leave that house without me, do you understand?"
"But she needs help!" Louisa shouts. "My daddy will come and help her."
"Your dad will not be coming to help anyone!" Nadia snaps. Her grip on Louisa's arm is tight to a point that Louisa drops her teddy bear and cries out in pain. "He won't even come to help you because I'm here now. I'm the only one who can help you like it should have always been."
"Please, let me go." Louisa whines. "You're hurting me. Please."
I carefully manoeuvre myself enough to look more directly at Nadia and Louisa. Louisa is trying her hardest to remove Nadia's hand from her arm but Nadia's grip only seems to grow tighter.
"Nadia," I start before coughing, "she's only a kid."
"She should know better than to treat her mother like that," Nadia scolds with a sharp tug on Louisa's arm. "She'll do well to remember who brought her into this world."
I laugh. An actual laugh that catches Nadia off-guard. I wasn't expecting to laugh but I have and it's the funniest thing ever that I've heard in a long time.
"That doesn't make you a mother," I comment through my laughter. I cough and continue to laugh, my pain forgotten because of the stupidest comments I've heard are just too funny to let go. "A mother would have stuck around after their child was born. A mother would have loved their child unconditionally. A mother is someone who is loving, kind, and would do anything for their children."
"And what do you think I've been doing here? Why do you think you're tied up and beaten?" She fires back in defence.
"A mother does anything and everything in their power to protect their children. Being a mother isn't something you can switch on and off whenever you like. You're not a mother, Nadia. You're a monster."
"More like the devil's spawn," Allison comments, her voice strong in agreement at my statement.
Nadia chuckles, a chuckle that lasts for a long time before she falls quiet, her demeanour going all serious. "Seems like I'm in a good league, then."
Everything's been quiet since Nadia forcefully pulled Louisa away from me and back into the house. Quiet until the sound of numerous cars stopping abruptly breaks the silence. There are no voices to be heard other than the car doors closing that's soon followed by finely calculated footsteps that seem to be coming in this direction. I keep my eyes firmly closed and pray that whoever it is that's turned up are here to help us.
"This way," a male instructs. His voice is discreet but I can place it as being American. "It says it's here."
From behind my closed eyelids, everything goes brighter as lights come on one by one. It's followed closely by numerous gasps then the one voice I didn't think I'd hear again. The voice belonging to the one person Louisa told me would come.
"Kaylee," Luca breathes heavily.
I relax at hearing his voice and lean into his touch as soon as his hands trace over my face.
"Kaylee," he repeats, "it's me. I'm here."
"L-Luca?" I slowly open my eyes.
"I'm here, Kaylee. I'm here." He places a chaste kiss on my forehead. "It's me."
"Y-You need-" I try to speak but he shakes his head.
"I need to get you to the hospital." He takes in my appearance and I can faintly make out the tears in his eyes as he looks at me. He bites down on his lip and covers his mouth with a hand. "Oh, Kaylee, what have they done to you? I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I should have come sooner."
"Louisa said you'd find her," I mumble.
"I'll always find her." He helps to move me so I'm sitting back against the post then moves to untie me. "And I'll always find you."
I let my head fall back against the post, my eyes closing over again. "How did you find her?"
"Same way I found you."
"How's that?"
I open my eyes as he moves to kneel in front of me and traces a finger over my necklace but says nothing about it. He doesn't need to say anything because I know what he means. He has a tracker built into my necklace which led him to here. That means that he also has a tracker in Louisa's bear which would explain the fancy charm hanging on the bright pink ribbon I can see Carlo holding in the distance.
"Sneaky git," I smile.
"Not sneaky. Just protective."
He returns his attention to the rope binding my wrists together, trying his hardest to be as gentle as he can to get it undone. "Who fucking tied this together?"
"I don't know who it was," I answer softly, "but you need to go and get Louisa."
He stops trying to undo the rope. "Where is she?"
"Nadia dragged her . . . back into the house."
"Nadia took . . ." He's in shock. I know it shouldn't come as a shock considering we spoke about what Nadia may do but now it's happened . . . it's a nightmare come to life. "Carlo, take Jones and go and get my daughter." He instructs with determination to get his daughter back. "I'll get Kaylee to the car."
I shake my head. "It's a plan."
"What is?"
"Everything."
"In what way?"
"In the way that has me getting my way," Nadia answers, coming out of the shadows with Terence and Greg standing behind her. Luca gets to his feet. Nadia smirks. "Hello, Luca."