Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Charlotte
Ican’t figure out where I am. I have no idea who took me or why.
I don’t understand what is going on. I know Charles and Sue have got to be worried sick, and if I know my brother like I do, he called the one person that he knew would find me, Cliff Shepherd.
The thing was that I still loved Cliff and always had.
Yes, I had married Ryan, and I loved him, but not like I loved Cliff, and I have always felt guilty about that.
I would dream about us and remember how I felt about him.
I would remember that night we spent in the bathroom after graduation.
It was the night I thought would be our beginning, instead Charles blew my dreams up in a matter of seconds, and the love of my life went out of my life forever.
It took a long time for me to move on and to forgive my brother.
It took even longer for Charles to realize what he had done and what it had cost him, Cliff, and me.
I think Sue had a lot to do with helping bring that revelation to him.
The room door opens, and someone with a hoodie on comes into the room with a soda and food.
“Stay by the bed and I won’t hurt you,” the person under the hood said.
“Can you tell me why I am here? What is going on?” I asked.
They didn’t even respond to my questions. They just set the food down on the table by the door, walked out, and locked the door.
Great. No answers and from the looks of this food, it is not going to give me any hints to where I am. Somebody has to eventually tell me why I am here, right?
I was scared to eat the food, but I did open the soda bottle and drank it.
I mean, it could be poisoned, but I have no idea why anyone would want me killed.
But then again, I don’t know why anyone would kidnap me, unless it is money.
But wouldn’t they have already made some demands if it were about money?
I lay back down on the bed and just look at the ceiling.
I have a lot of time to think about who could be behind this.
After not coming up with any ideas, I start to think about Cliff.
I mourned Ryan, and my grief subsided. I was ready to move on with my life, and I wanted that life to be with Cliff.
I just wasn’t sure if he felt the same way about me today as he did all those years ago.
And was it time to tell him who Thomas’s father really is?
He never seemed to put it all together. Thomas was twenty years old.
I guess he just assumed, after that night, that I started seeing Ryan.
But I was four months pregnant when I met Ryan.
I made Charles promise to never tell Cliff after they started talking again.
Ryan knew Thomas was not his son, but he never asked about Thomas’s real father.
He loved me, signed the birth certificate, and raised Thomas as his own.
When Ryan was on his deathbed, he told me that I needed to tell Thomas the truth that it was time and that whoever his father was, it was time for me to tell them how much I loved them.
That he had always known that he wasn’t the love of my life, like I was his.
He said that I had stayed with him and took care of him through his sickness and had done a great job, but he wanted me to be happy.
This is why I feel so much guilt. This is why I have tried to stay away from Cliff and just be busy with the company.
I have no idea how Cliff will react, but if I live through this, I will tell them both.