Lahat ng Kabanata ng After Forgetting Me, My CEO Ex-husband Regrets: Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

(Lydia)Margaret took in my shocked expression. “Oh,” she said, “You didn’t know.”“How could I have known?” I responded.“I mean you’re mother’s here,” Margaret said, “She ought to have known.”“Don’t drag Mama into this!” I snarled.I didn’t even know why I got angry. Perhaps, it was because I had been on edge all day since my meeting with Sarah.Margaret’s voice was calm and collected. But her eyes were a set of stones. “Thomas doesn’t know anything about this either,” she said, “And I have no intention of letting him find out. Lydia, I’ve let your father know that he will have to reach out to you for money. He can squeeze the last drop out of you for all I care.”She straightened her back and looked condescendingly at me, “But I will not respond to threats made against my family. Get a grip on your father, is that clear?”“First of all, Margaret,” my nostrils flared, “I don’t need to tell your son about any of this. Second of all, I think you should know that I have already paid o

(Lydia)Margaret was yelling at the chief of the Colorado police department. “HOW DARE YOU NOT HAVE FOUND THEM YET?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE NO TRAFFIC CAMERAS NEAR MY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW’S HOUSE?! WHAT KIND OF A FLAWED, STUPID INSTITUTION ARE YOU RUNNING?!”The officer, Murray, was listening in obedient silence. I could tell that he was a little afraid of Margaret. And he should have been; she had never looked scarier in her life. Her eyes were wide, her lips were a tight line, and her voice was roaring.I, on the other hand, could not say a single word. Even the details of the report were given to the chief’s second in command, James Becker, by my mother. He was sitting in front of me, hastily taking notes and quivering at the wrath of my ex-mother-in-law.But nothing was making sense to me. I sat there, white with horror, my lips pursed and my mind numb. How could such a thing have happened? How could I have allowed it to happen?“He pulled out a knife,” Mama said, “and held it to m

(Lydia)I knew that it was crazy to ask him to stay. But I knew that there was no way that I was ever going to be able to manage to pull through the night without him. I half expected him to say no, to return to his fiancée, and to leave me alone to deal with all of this.If he would have done that, I would have been fine. I had taught myself to pull through things. But right now, in this particular moment, I felt incredibly vulnerable.The whole world felt unfamiliar and scary and I did not want to go through this without him. I did not want to go through the pain of being apart from my children, of not knowing where they were or how they were doing while they were in a situation as dangerous as this, without the man who had, with me, brought them into this world.He had not been there when they had been born. He had not been there for their first three birthdays. But this – and especially because of the way that our relationship had changed and evolved over the last few weeks – I c

(Lydia)My stomach was twisting itself into knots. I didn’t know whether it was guilt about allowing this to happen, worry about what could happen to my children, or both of these at once.All I knew was that I should have absolutely not trusted my father. I began pacing up and down the hallway.Upstairs, Mama had locked herself up into her bedroom. I knew that she was chain-smoking in there.“We’ve gotten in touch with intelligence,” Thomas said to me.I paused. I ran up to him. “Do they have the location?” my voice was frantic.Thomas slowly shook his head, his eyes large and his mouth small with worry.“THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF BRINGING IT UP?!” I snapped.I was too out of my wits to be able to deal with my emotions right now. And I honestly could not understand why Thomas would not understand that.He stared at me, a little shaken.Margaret walked slowly up to us.“It’s going to be fine, Lydia,” she said, but her voice was quiet and her skin was ashen.“It is not going to be fin

(Ruby)I hadn’t been able to sleep all night. Mabel and Miles were like my very own babies. I had nursed them, fed them, and raised them. I could not imagine anything happening to them.Ever since I had found out, I had been trembling.Jack had been awake with me all night and throughout the morning. I had been pacing the backyard and he had been standing by me, steady as a pillar. I broke down multiple times during the night. Jack held me together every single time. He had put a shawl over my shoulders and murmured comforting words over and over again.“We’ve got both the police as well as the intelligence after them, Ruby,” he had said, “I’m certain the children will be unharmed.”I was so grateful that he was here through all of this.I could not understand how my father could do such a thing. All my life, he had insisted on playing the villain in our lives: he had hurt Mama when Lydia and I were younger and he hadn’t allowed her to attend Lydia’s wedding either.I simply could not