44. My Daughter
44
MY DAUGHTER
KYLE
I cupped my mouth when Cillian showed me the video feed of Felix entering Anna’s house. “We need to save her,” I whispered, my voice quiet in my room.
Cillian was waiting for me with my grandma in my living room when I hugged Anna goodbye. He told me to stay quiet and turn on the light in my room and close it after a few minutes.
He told me it was Felix, Anna’s ex-husband, who had stalked her, Caleb, and me for months. He had plotted the explosion as a warning, paid the nurse to poison Caleb, paid others to kill Timothy, and tried to kill Caleb when he was riding his bike. He also paid the babysitter to plant cameras everywhere, and paid the reporters and journalists for the disgusting articles.
Thankfully, his wife, Emma, was a billionaire and paid all of them double the price Felix had and got their confessions.
“What if he hurts her?” I said, worry gnawing at my stomach. “Alice?”
“We can’t barge in right now,” Cillian said, his body vest making him look more hulking. “We have surrounded the house and won’t let her get hurt or the kid.”
“Where’s Caleb?” I asked, knowing that Cillian must have pulled a few strings to get him released without bail since he was innocent.
“On his way,” he answered in a clipped voice as we watched Anna making a tea for Felix in the kitchen. She didn’t know that he had framed Caleb and took our intimate pictures. She trusted him.
I had removed my suit and tie, rolled ups the sleeves of my shirt and was getting antsy watching them talk. I wanted to barge in and hold him down until she was safe.
“What are we waiting for?” I asked. “Do we need more evidence or what?”
“We’re waiting for—he’s here,” I looked at Cillian as he pressed his finger to the earpiece. “Caleb has arrived. Be in position.”
I frowned and stood up to peek out of the window from my bedroom. I could see a silhouette on a bike, removing the helmet and walking towards Anna’s front door, his steps full of determination.
“What is he going to do?” I asked, adrenaline pumping through my veins.
Cillian’s eyes turned darker as he answered, “Rile him up enough to put him in prison for a lifetime.”
I blinked. That meant… they could get hurt. Caleb or Anna could get hurt.
While I just sat there and did nothing.
Caleb
“Hi asshole,” I said when Felix opened the door, and I held back my fist from smashing his face—repeatedly.
I ignored the shocked look on his face and pushed him aside to see Anna. and sighed in relief. She was safe. I marched towards her and hugged her under the kitchen light as she mumbled something against my chest.
“H-how… are you okay? Have you eaten anything?” She cupped my cheek, making me grin as I held her wrist and kissed the palm before biting it.
“You’re such a mom, pretty,” I whispered, kissing her forehead and pulling her close to me again, feeling the burning daggers on my back. “I love it.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Felix asked, walking into the kitchen and leaving the front door open.
He was dumb.
“I was released,” I said truthfully and averted my eyes from her to Felix. “I was framed, so they’re going to find out who gave them the anonymous tip.”
Oh, how I wished I had a camera to take a picture of all the expressions going through his face. Shock, disbelief, anger.
“But you...” He looked at Anna and I wanted to gauge out his eyes. “Anna, you should stay away from him! He might hurt you!”
“Speak for yourself,” I said and tried to remain relaxed. “You’re the one she should be afraid of.”
“What?” Anna asked, her hand tightening around my arm.
“Who has been in your life from the beginning?” I asked her. “Who else would stalk you and try to harm you but someone who has been obsessed with you since the beginning?”
“Don’t listen to him, Anna! And come stay with me. He’s dangerous!”
“What do you mean?” Anna asked, her brows furrowing. I wished I could explain to her under different circumstances, but we needed the evidence of his full breakout.
“He was your neighbor, your best friend, and yet you chose Timothy and got pregnant. He ,” I said, glaring at Felix, “got angry and framed Timothy for selling drugs and put him behind bars and promised to protect you when you were the most vulnerable.”
I had read his files when I got released, with my dad on the phone, who had done all the digging. Thanks to my go pro on the bike catching the car’s plate number. It was Felix’s old car, and we found out just how deep his obsession ran with Anna.
“W-what…” Anna’s lips parted as she looked at Felix and me.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth. He married you and felt safe that you would never leave him again for another man. Until you started dating me and Kyle, and he couldn’t help himself but hurt us. Hurt you and plan all this to get you back.”
“It’s a lie!” Felix roared, laughing at us as he paced around the kitchen. I instinctively put myself in front of her. “Why would I do all that?!”
“Felix, please,” Anna said, her eyes gleaming with tears. “Is it true? Did you do… all of this?”
He yelled something, and I pushed Anna behind me when he took a vase full of sunflowers and slammed it on the floor, breaking it.
“I did it for you!” He shirked, raking his hands through his hair. He looked wild, and I wanted to take her away from the scene. But the front door was behind him, and the way upstairs was blocked because he was pacing in the hallway, blocking both the exits. I wouldn’t mind attacking him and fighting him, but if he had a weapon, he could hurt Anna.
“I did everything for you, Anna! Ever since we were kids, you promised me you’d marry me, and you slept with that disgusting prick!” He was rambling, talking to himself about how much he loved her and wanted her to stay with him.
“Felix, calm down,” Anna said, trying to tone down the situation, but it wasn’t helping.
“Calm down!” He laughed, the sound devoid of any emotion. “Promise me to marry me again. Come back to me and I’ll fix everything, I swear! I will put Alice in a good school, and you can be my housewife?—”
“Shut the fuck up,” I said, interrupting him. “She’s mine and you’re not going anywhere near Alice.”
“She is my daughter!” He said, his eyes wide and red in the corners. He was insane. “I will do anything I want because Anna is mine.”
“Dad?”
We all froze hearing the small voice coming from the hallway. Fuck. Anna had left Alice upstairs and?—
“Hi honey, why don’t you go back upstairs and sleep?” Anna said, trying to keep her voice calm and inch towards her daughter, who was holding her dino soft toy and looking at all of us with big eyes.
But Felix got to her before we could, holding her hand and smiling at us. It was creepy and evil. “I will take care of my daughter.”
“Ow, dad— it hurts! ” Alice shrieked when his hold tightened on her arm.
I was going to rip his hand.