“What are you doing? What right do you have to arrest me?” Rylee shrieked. Her cries fell on deaf ears as she was handcuffed and thrown into the car.
Hannah pointed back to the alley in the direction from whence we came. “Officers, there’s still a whole crowd waiting inside! Get them quickly!” she cried.
Seeing that her shouts of abuse had no effect on the implacable policemen, Rylee turned the full brunt of her rage towards me. “Sienna, I won’t forget this! Watch out! I won’t let you get away with this!”
Hannah and I merely turned onto another path and went on our way. Rylee’s yells of abuse faded gradually into the distance. I shook my head in amazement, then turned to Hannah and asked, “Did you already have the police on standby since the beginning?”
Hannah nodded with a look of satisfaction. “Prevention is always better than cure when dealing with nasty matters like these. It was dangerous enough to drag you along with me. If I hadn’t headed in with my guard up and anything had happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
I marveled at the intricacies of Hannah’s planning. I was about to continue, but Chandler’s car pulled up beside us. I didn’t think it would be right to retain Hannah with me when the lovebirds had clearly reunited, so I merely waved goodbye to her and headed back to the villa.
Summer was just shakily getting back on her feet after the illness. Cameron fussed over Summer like a mother hen, so she was insistent on having her. She had intended to become Summer’s sole caretaker. Anthony, meanwhile, was still in Moranta. I wanted to pop by the villa to grab a couple of things before making my way over to the Moore Residence. When I’d gotten out of the car, I stopped short at the sight of Anthony driving out of the garage.
After more than ten days of being apart, I took a double-take when I saw Anthony. He got out of the car and flashed a disarming smile at me. “Did you go shopping?” he asked casually, glancing at the snacks I held in my hand.
I froze for a second, then ran into his waiting arms. I pressed my cheeks, raw from the cold, onto his warm chest, saying hoarsely, “Why did you come back all of a sudden? When did you arrive in K City? Why didn’t you tell me? I would have come to fetch you!”
Anthony patted me tenderly. In a low voice, he murmured, “It’s too cold outside. I didn’t want you to freeze to death.” He disentangled himself, then pulled me towards the car. “Let’s make a trip to the police department!”
Anthony lightly planted a kiss on my forehead, then bundled me into the car. In the warmth that filled the car, I opened my bag of snacks and offered one to Anthony, asking, “Have you eaten anything?”
Before I’d finished, I’d borne the snack towards his mouth. Anthony glanced at the snack hovering threateningly near his lips, then at my eager expression. Chuckling, he opened his mouth and ate the snack dutifully. As he ate, he replied, “Hannah’s wedding is in a few days. I was afraid that you’ll be lonely going by yourself.”
“Did you come back to be my plus one, then?” I asked, feeding myself. I didn’t usually have much of an appetite when I was around, but was strangely invigorated by Anthony’s presence.
Anthony smiled. “Yep!” he said. Then he continued concernedly, “Didn’t you eat dinner?”
I laughed genially. “I did! I just wasn’t hungry at the time, so I bought some snacks to eat on the way home. I only bought these snacks because they’re so delicious.”
Anthony looked helplessly at me. “Snacks aren’t good for your health. You should… Oh!” As he was speaking, I stuffed another snack into his mouth to forbid him from continuing. “I know snacks aren’t healthy! I don’t eat them usually. It’s my first time in a long while, so don’t worry, Mr. Featherstone!”
Anthony sighed dramatically. “I’ve only been gone a few days, and you’ve stopped taking care of yourself! You’ve lost weight.”
I tilted my head and stared him down. “Right, when are you planning on going to Moranta? How’s it going over there? Are we going to leave that matter with Armond just like that?”
Anthony gaze was focused intently on the road ahead. His brow wrinkled ever so slightly as he replied, “I’ll head back after Hannah’s wedding is over. You stay in K City and take care of yourself.”
I chewed on my lip. Anthony seemed to have cultivated a borderline obsession with my health. Every interaction we had was sure to consist of an order to take care of my health like how Anthony had just emphasized.
The car sped towards the police department. Looking out of the window, I felt tremendously unsettled. The baby lay like a solid, invisible presence between Anthony and me. He’d wanted a child with all his heart, desperately. But all the desire in the world could not and would not bring our baby back.
We screeched to a halt at the entrance of the police department. Anthony looked at me, then ordered, “Stay in the car where it’s warm. I’m going in to deal with a couple of things and will be out in a while. Stay right here, OK?”
Before I could ask Anthony what pressing affairs he was attending to, he’d already gotten out of the car and shut the door behind him. I reclined in my seat, feeling the warmth of the radiator suffuse the car.
Memories of the baby and what had happened then crowded my mind, and Anthony’s business at the police department was set aside. After a while, I picked up my phone and dialed Cameron’s number.
She picked up almost immediately. “Sienna, didn’t you say you were coming back soon? Why aren’t you back yet? Where are you? I’ll get your Dad to go over and pick you up,” she answered anxiously.
“There’s no need! I’m with Anthony. I don’t think I’ll be heading back tonight,” I replied.
Cameron grunted in acknowledgment, then asked, “Why did he suddenly come back? How are things going in Moranta? Zachary said that Boris was getting news about the Murphys and how difficult they were to handle. Why did Anthony come back at this crucial point in time?”
I sucked in a breath of warm air and felt it settle in my lungs before exhaling gently. I then said uneasily, “Hannah’s getting married. Anthony was worried that I wouldn’t be comfortable going alone and came along to accompany me. He was needlessly worried.”
“That’s good! I was thinking anyway that if you could come over a little later, I’d whip up a light supper for you. I can’t rest easy not knowing if you’ve been taking good care of yourself nowadays,” Cameron fretted.
There was no malice in Cameron’s tone, merely an infinite supply of concern and tenderness.
I knew what she was thinking and replied slowly, “Mom, did the doctor say whether I would still be able to conceive?”
Cameron was flabbergasted. She hesitated for a long while before saying, “My dear, Summer is doing fine now. She’ll recover with enough care. Mr. Featherstone treats you well. When he’s back from Moranta, the three of you can be reunited as a family again and take care of each other…”
“Mom, did the doctor say I won’t be able to conceive ever again?” I repeated doggedly. I already knew what the answer was but had to hear it spoken out loud. My hope for a miracle had gradually faded along with each day that passed.
The other end of the line was dead silent for a long time. At last, Cameron said kindly, “Don’t worry too much about being able to have babies. Your womb was the only thing that was affected. With technology being so advanced these days, you can still opt for in vitro fertilization. Don’t let not being able to conceive get you down! Everything will be all right.”
In vitro fertilization?
A thought sprang to mind. I quickly said into the phone, “Mom, there’s something I have to do. I’ll be hanging up first!”
I ended the call, breathing rapidly. My mind raced feverishly. Gazing at the police department entrance where Anthony had vanished into and I wondered. Would Anthony be willing to try?
I cracked open the car door slightly. The frosty wind immediately gnawed at my exposed face. Shivering slightly, I kept my arms tucked tightly against my chest as I hurried into the police department.
Police officers were milling about the main lobby inside. I looked around cautiously but saw no sign of Anthony. I’d approached the front desk and was about to ask for him when I heard a loud roar from behind the metal screen. “I don’t want to stay here, Anth! I didn’t do it! Please don’t leave me here! I didn’t do it!”
The high voice sounded oddly familiar. Rylee?
I walked closer to where the shouts were emitting from. The guard sitting in front of the door jumped up hastily, barricading my way. “Miss, you are not authorized to enter.”
I smiled at him politely, then informed him, “My husband’s in there. He came in without me just now.”
Anthony must somehow have heard my voice from amidst the surrounding ruckus, and opened the door. He looked thunderous. When he caught sight of me, his tense features instantly softened. “What’s wrong? Isn’t it cold outside?” he asked worriedly.
Rylee was sitting on a chair in the room just behind Anthony, looking utterly disgraced. I didn’t think it was possible for her to be more humiliated than she had been, but I was clearly wrong. “What’s she doing here?” I inquired, gesturing towards Rylee.
It felt a little cruel of me to ask when I knew perfectly well what had happened to Rylee.
Rylee indeed gave me a look of tremendous indignation. She practically spat, “Sienna, stop being so hypocritical! You know more clearly than anyone else what I’m doing here. You landed me here! I didn’t do anything at all. You’re evil!”
“You’d better shut your mouth,” Anthony growled. Frightened by the harshness with which he’d issued the threat, Rylee’s face turned ashen, and she fell silent.
I, too, was not exempt from the solemn effect that warning had, even though it had not been directed to me. My heart pounded in my chest.
A sudden hush descended upon the room. Anthony glowered at Rylee, saying distinctly, “Nobody forced you to make those choices you made. I’ve given you what you were due, so don’t come to me using your brother’s name anymore. I am not obliged to you. Since you’ve committed a crime, then do your time. When you’re released, don’t come and bother me any further. I don’t have the time to spend on people like you who I have absolutely no business with.”
Anthony spoke these utterly brutal words with a leer that revealed the extent to which he despised Rylee.
Rylee’s eyes had gone red. Stammering, she said, “Am I a nobody to you then? Someone who’s merely a waste of your time and who you have no business with?”
Anthony frowned with disgust. “I appreciate people who have self-respect and who know right from wrong. You’re none of these. I didn’t come here today to help or visit you, but to tell you not to ever call me again.
I had never seen Anthony behave so brutally to anyone. Rylee looked equally thunderstruck. She gazed at Anthony in dismay and disbelief.
Rylee remained that way for a long time. Unfortunately, Anthony was unmoved, he just grabbed hold of me and stormed out of the room.
The officer in charge of the investigation followed us hurriedly. With a nervous smile on his face, he stuttered, “Mr. Featherstone, about Ms. Lorraine…”
“Do what you have to do. Don’t contact me about anything regarding her ever again. I’ll pay for her this once, but I’m not interested in hearing about her, whether she is alive or dead,” Anthony replied coldly. I shuddered. It seemed like Rylee was already dead to him at that moment.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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