CHAPTER 98: Sweetie
Alaia
“Who did they take?” I asked, beside myself, and started to move through the house.
“Noah and Paula,” Grace sobbed, and a sharp pain shot through my chest. I shook my head, no, no, tears streaming down my face, and frantically searched for them throughout the
house.
“My son, my son,” I whispered through my tears, my hopes shattering as I entered the last
room and didn’t find him.
“What happened?” I reached Grace, who was trembling. Dominic was in the chair beside her. I dried my tears as my little girl lifted her face to look at me. I hugged her tighter as I watched everyone else move around.
***
Paula
We watched my daughter leave and return to the house. The children came out of their grandfather’s room.
“Your relationship with your children will improve,” I assured Grace, seeing the sadness on her face. She hadn’t been able to be completely happy because her children hadn’t been able to
move past what happened between them after they thought Dominic was dead.
“I know it’s my fault. I shut myself off in my grief, believing I was the only one suffering.” She laughed sadly. “I didn’t think about the fact that they needed me. Killian became my only support, and I thought we were in good hands. I was a fool.” She sighed.
“We don’t know how much something will affect us until it happens to us. Maybe they didn’t have the real support they needed at the time, but now, heaven has given them a new chance.”
I took her hands.
“And I don’t intend to waste it. I’m going to start with them.” Grace squeezed my hands and
talked to the children, in her first real attempt to get closer to them.
And, filled with love, we watched them play in the living room.
“Ladies,” an unfamiliar voice called from the kitchen, followed by the sound of several
footsteps. Grace’s eyes flew open, and she scooped up Alana. I instinctively did the same with Noah and turned around to see five men in black clothes and balaclavas. I pressed my grandson against my body, and we both stepped back as the men aimed their guns at us. We
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buried the children’s faces in our necks so they couldn’t see what was happening.
“What do you want?” I asked, looking towards the door for Gavin or the other security guard.
“This will be quick and easy, or slow and painful. You choose,” said the one in front of the group. “Paula.” He looked at me and pointed his gun. “We’re taking the boy“-he gestured toward Noah with the weapon-” and you’re coming with us.”
The men approached us, and we saw one of the security guards coming towards the door. We walked backward to get further away from them, but a shot, which made very little noise, hit
our security man, making us jump and freeze in our tracks as we watched him fall to the floor. Suddenly, any thought of fighting or escaping vanished. I couldn’t risk the lives of my grandchildren.
“Move!” The man grabbed my arm to pull me through the backyard, and I looked at Grace.
“Don’t make any sudden moves, ma’am. You and the girl are of no use to us,” one of them threatened Grace, who looked terrified and shielded Alana in her arms.
“Take care of her. Don’t let them hurt her,” was all I could say, and I saw her eyes well up with
tears.
I saw Beast barking and lunging at the men, biting one of them. The man shot him without a second thought.
“Bastards!” I tried to break free, but they grabbed me tighter. He pointed the gun at Noah, and I turned my back to shield him with my body.
“Stay still. We’re not patient people, as you can see,” he pushed me.
We were going down a small slope where there was a car. I heard a detonation followed by
several more and managed to see Gavin shooting at the men who were behind us. That’s when they bundled us into a van, which took off at high speed.
“Mommy,” Noah whispered, his face peeking out from my neck, and I covered him up again.
“We’ll see Mommy soon, honey.” Tears stung my eyes, not knowing what to do, and all I saw
were the men who had me trapped between them.
*****
Alaia
“We’re taking care of it, ma’am,” an officer said and went back to his radio. My hands were shaking, my chest ached, and I clung to my daughter as she pressed her little hands against my back, not wanting to let me go. I muffled my sobs; I didn’t want to scare my little girl.
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“A few seconds after they took them, I called Nick. He was on his way, he told me.” I
remembered Nick speeding off in his car. I lifted my face to the sky and prayed that he had
managed to find them.
“Gavin went after them. Sophia called 911 as soon as I managed to get loose. They had them.
tied up in the kitchen,” Grace managed to explain and continued to cry. “We couldn’t do anything,” she lamented, and Dominic took her hand.
“We’re going to find them,” he promised, looking at me.
I walked towards the backyard in a daze.
“Ma’am,” one of the police officers stopped me, “it’s not safe to leave the house.”
I blinked, realizing what I was doing, and without taking my eyes off the street where they took
my son and my mother, I went back inside.
“Oh my God, warrior princess, Sophia called us, we just got here,” Tino’s distressed voice rang
out as he entered the house. He hugged me tightly, and I saw Ash coming in, followed by her
mother and my father, who all gave me comforting hugs. Behind them came the other men
who made up our security detail.
Tino looked at my little girl and started to cry. “How can there be such horrible people?” He
hugged me. “My little darling, my little prince.” He could barely speak through his sobs.
We were all on edge. Tino sat down next to me and hugged me, resting his head on my
shoulder. My eyes were on the door, waiting for Nick. I needed him to come back with my son.
The others were talking about what happened. The officers moved around, frustrating any attempt by my family to leave the house. My father stayed with them the whole time, while
Ash tried to take Alana, but I held her close, refusing to let her go.
“We’ll have our little darling back before we know it.” She looked at me, sighed, and sat down
next to me, stroking my arm and Alana’s head. Her eyes were red and swollen. I sat up and
looked at the door again.
I didn’t know how much time had passed when I saw Nick arrive with Gavin. Gavin was holding his wounded arm, while Nick had a gash on his forehead. I jumped to my feet and
rushed towards him.
“Tell me you found him,” I said when I was close to him. Nick closed his eyes tightly and shook his head, extinguishing the only flicker of hope that was burning in my heart. My sobs were silent. Nick hugged me and stroked Alana, who noticed her father’s presence and reached out
for him.
“My angel.”
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We held each other for I don’t know how long.
“I will find him, my love,” he said, lifting my chin. “Even if it’s the last thing I do.” He gave me a
quick kiss on the lips and hugged me again.
“We’re following up on leads, sir,” the captain told him, and I looked at Nick, waiting for him to
tell me what happened when he went after those men.
“When my mother called, I headed down the street to follow them.” He ran a hand through his
hair and rubbed his face. “Just as I was getting close to them, a car hit me before I could
reach the highway.” He explained, “I found Gavin in another car that was stopped by the
accident,” and our eyes went to our young bodyguard.
“They created a distraction at the front of the house. I was checking the credentials of some government agents who said they were looking for Mr. Garnett. It must have taken me a
minute, and they had already broken into the house and were leaving out the back.” Gavin
looked down, ashamed, and Ash asked them to look at his wound.
“You faced them alone, Gavin,” I stated and looked at him.
“We’re checking the city cameras, and we have air support. The kidnappers deployed
countless vans identical to the one they took the boy and the lady in, which could make the
search difficult,” the man assured us, and I closed my eyes. Damn it.
“I’m fine.” Nick waved away the paramedic who was treating his wound and made some calls
after kissing our daughter on the forehead and handing her back to me.
“Do you suspect anyone who might pose a threat to your family?” asked the officer in charge.
Nick and I looked at each other. “Killian Garnett,” we said in unison. We did not doubt that it
was him. Only someone with a rotten soul could take a defenseless baby. My heart clenched
and hurt even more to think of my baby, if he was hungry or cold, that he must be missing us.
“We’ll look into him,” he assured us and gave a silent order. Nick’s parents looked at us.
“What kind of man have you become, Dad?” Dominic looked thoughtful and sad. Grace took
his hand.
“I have to go somewhere.” My husband typed something into his phone. “I have a possible
location,” Nick said to the policeman and grabbed a bulletproof vest from one of the
bodyguards and started putting it on. He took a gun and tucked it into the vest.
“Mr. Garnett, you can’t go,” the officer stopped him as we saw Gavin and his men getting ready
to go with Nick. I was surprised to see my father taking a vest and a gun.
“Try and stop me,” Nick growled, clenching his jaw, and the officer let go of him.
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“He can’t do this alone. It’s our job. Besides, a mission like this requires a task force,” the captain explained. “It’ll take me a while to get it approved.” He started talking into his radio.
“I’m not waiting for them to authorize s**t. I’m going after my son right now.” He wrote something down on a piece of paper on the table. “Tell your men to meet us there,” he said,
walking over to where I was.
“I’ll be back with our son.” He kissed our little girl on the head and then found my lips, kissing me with a kiss that should last until he returned with the other little part of us that was taken
from us.
“I love you.” I gripped his vest tightly and looked into his eyes before letting him go.
“I love you both,” he said, looking at us before turning around to signal to his men.
“Dad,” I said when he came to hug me.
“Everything will be alright, my dear,” he whispered and said goodbye.
Ash and Tino hugged me, giving me the support I needed right now.
