Anna reached the said location and vigilantly looked around for some seconds. There was a four-story building standing tall some distance in front of her which seems to be under construction. The place was isolated with no living being sighted. Then her eyes landed on the posture planted in the wall and quickly scanned through. This whole area was under the lawsuit.

Anna let out a breath and made her way into the entrance of the building. With every careful step, she glanced around her surroundings. When the ground floor was clear of any threat, she went for the first floor but she doubt that the first floor will be of any danger as well. Still, she did thorough reconnaissance for every floor and now she was on the top floor. She became more vigilant than before and carefully looked around.

She hid behind the pillars as she studied the floor.

"Ahh..."

Anna's eyes went wide in shock at the sudden scream of a woman coming from one of the many unfurnished rooms. She knew the owner of that scream and became completely concerned about it. Her vigilant mode was already thrown out of the window and carelessly entered that room only to be met with a gun pointing straight at her.

Anna went wide eyes for a moment and slowly raised her hands in surrender. The captor was a man and covered with black from head to toe-shirt, jacket, pants, and boot, all black. Even his cap, gloves, and mask were all black. His only revealing body was his eyes.

Anna turned her gaze beside the captor and saw Layla being tied to a chair. She was unconscious now. She became annoyed and glared at the man.

"What did you do to her?" She demanded. "Who are you? What do you want?" She continued when the man didn't answer her.

"We want you,"

Anna was a second late to turn and look behind her. There were two of them. She felt a needle punch over the nape of her neck. She winced slightly as she reached her hand at the back of her neck and immediately attacked the man behind her. She kicked the man making him go crashing over the rough wall of bricks. And when she attempted to attack again, her body gave in and her head began to spin. The anesthesia injected into her was taking action on her. She fought the will to stay conscious but she knew it will all be in vain. Her consciousness was spinning and blurring her vision and soon blackness dominates her.

"Damn it, that was a hard kick," the man who was kicked commented under his groan. He was leaning on his stomach, holding tightly over his kicked body. "I don't think I'll be able to pick her up, you do it and let's get out of here," He told his friend.

"What about this one?" His friend said, pointing his gun at Layla.

"We don't need her, she was just bait. We were only told to bring the doctor," The kicked man said and came to his feet. His friend nodded at him and came over. He leaned and picked Anna over his shoulder. His one hand holding the gun and his other hand was wrapped around Anna's knee.

"Let's get out of here,"

The moment they turned around to leave, their eyes went wide and they stood frozen in their position.

Leo stood some steps from them, glaring dangerously at them, and beside him, Carlo stood firm with his guns ready in both hands, pointing at the captors.

"Make a move and I'll paint your body with bullets," Carlos warned when one of the captors attempted to reach his gun over his waistband.

"Let us go, or I'll shoot her," The man carrying Anna threatened, pointing the gun over her stomach.

"Hurt her, and I'll skin you off with my own two hands..." Leo menaced under his calm demeanor. "The perimeter is surrounded. If you don't want to die, surrender now and hand over my wife," He told them.

The captors looked at each other for a moment before deciding to surrender.

*

Anna could feel herself slowly gaining consciousness but still, she feels weak to move or even open her eyes. After a moment, she heavily opened her eyes and took some moments to adjust to her vision. She stared blankly at space for a moment before taking in the familiar surroundings. She was in her room.

She then felt the warmth wrapped beside her and shuffled slightly. A slow smile appeared on her lips when she noticed Leo sleeping beside her. She couldn't help but fall in love over and over again with this flawless being beside her. She kept staring at him.

"Took you long enough to gain conscious..." Leo said, eyes still closed. "And don't worry, Layla's fine..." He added before she could ask him about her well-being. He knew her better. She always prior others' lives more than her own. Anna sighed in relief.

"How long was I out?" Anna asked under her sheepish tone. "How did you know...?"

Leo opened his eyes and stared at her for a moment longer before letting out a deep breath. He ignored her and straightened up in a sitting position. He was upset at her for lying to him and hiding things from him. He was hurt as well.

Anna understood why he was acting that way. She carefully straightened up in a sitting position and wrapped her arms over his stomach, hugging him from the back, and resting her head over his back.

"I'm sorry, honey..." She apologized sincerely. "I wanted to tell you but I couldn't. I was scared that they might really do something bad to Layla if I tell anyone, I'm sorry, please forgive me..."

Leo let out a silent sigh and gently turned to face her. He then pulled her up and shifted her over his lap. Anna gasped silently and came face to face with him, with a few inches of gap between them.

"Carlos and I were talking about your staff and our talk didn't sync. Something seems off so I had a talk with Dr. Monroe..." Leo told her and gave her an upset look while Anna sheepishly was in her position. "I had Elmo track your location immediately and came for you. How were you planning to rescue Layla? Your recklessness nearly got you abducted instead." He chided.

"I'm sorry," She mumbled adorably and gazed down. It didn't even take a second for him to melt over her.

He let out a sigh and reached to caress her hair. "You don't know how worried I was. I was so scared that I..."

Anna interrupted him by placing a soft peck on his lips. "I'm sorry," She whispered quietly.

"What will I do with you, Mio coure, I can't even stay mad at you for a minute long..." He said under his chuckle before pulling her into a kiss. Anna responded immediately and kissed him dearly.

"I know how kind you are..." Leo pulled away and said breathlessly. "But I want you to think about our baby growing inside you, Mio coure. Please don't act on your own without me..." He said in an urging tone and looked into her eyes.

Anna nodded at him. Leo softly stared at her and smiled. "You're so beautiful. I love you so much..." He said, feeling immense love for her as always.

Anna blushed and leaned in for a soft peck over his lips again. "I love you more," She said and smiled brightly at him.

"You never fail to turn me on, Mio coure,"

Anna squealed under her gasp when Leo gently laid her on the bed and came on top of her. He leaned in and kissed her passionately while his one hand began molesting every part of her body. Anna couldn't help but moan under their kiss, at the pleasure he was giving her with his touch.

Leo pulled away and looked down at her with a devilish smile playing on his lips.

"I'm going to punish you for breaking our promise,"

"What if Val comes in?" She asked under her soft laugh.

"Don't worry, he's sleeping over with Drago and Elmo," Leo answered under his victorious smile and leaned in, capturing her lips at once.

*

Leo was seated at the edge of the bed-shirtless and stared at Anna's beautiful sleeping figure. After some moments, he leaned in and pulled up the white sheet to cover her exposed upper body. Anna shuffled gently at this and smiled in her sleep. Leo laughed silently at her before leaning in to place a soft kiss on her forehead. He then straightened up in his position and headed toward the bathroom for a shower.

After some minutes, Leo walked out of the bathroom, all fresh and hair damped. He went to the closet and some moments later, he was back-dressed casually. He wore a black shirt and maroon pants fitting perfectly over his waist with no belt. He glanced at his wristwatch and read the time as 12:05 in the morning. He stared softly at Anna for a moment before walking out of the room.

Leo made his way down to the basement where the captors were held. Carlos addressed him by the door and together, they got inside the basement room.

"Please let us go, we were only doing what we were told to do," One of the captors began begging for their lives as they made it inside and came in front of them.

"Who is the one behind it? I want his name." Leo encountered coldly and calmly and began to fold up his shirt sleeve on his forearm.

"We don't know, we only talked through the phone," the captor answered, trembling in his position, scared of being killed.

"Don, I have collected data on these two. They are just some wanted criminals-robbery, murder, abduction, you name any crimes, they do it for money..." Carlos shared the information he found out about these two men.

"What did you talk through the phone?" Leo asked.

"We were told to abduct the lady doctor and bring her to a certain location," the captor answered honestly.

"Where to...?"

"To the abandoned bakery..."

"Carlos, send some men to investigate that area..." Leo told, glancing at him.

"Yes, Don..." Carlos nodded at him. "And what shall we do with these two?" He asked politely.

Leo stared at them for a moment and smirked. "You know what to do with people like them, Carlos. Some lives may be saved if these disappear from this world..."

"Spare us, Sir. We will never do crimes again. We will turn ourselves to the cops. Please spare our life..." Both the captors beg desperately for their lives.

"Kill them..." Leo ignored their pleading and ordered as he turned and walked away from the basement.

*

Days went by after that incident and the De Luca and the Harondale's were on double high vigilant since then. Anna was under protection wherever she goes. Leo made sure that she was protected 24/7.

Anna sighed tiredly and leaned against her chair. She's been going through her patient's files and working on her computer for the past three hours. The reports were almost done. There were few left and she decided to do it later for she has to go for Ward checking now. She stood up from her seat and made her way toward General Ward.

All the nurses and patients greeted her as she made her way through the hallway. She greeted them back with a bright smile and also has short talks with some of them. She then reached for her phone inside her pants pocket and looked at her display to see who was calling her. A beautiful smile formed on her lips. It was Leo on the call.

"Yes, husband dear..." She said over the phone. "Did you miss me so much?" She teased.

"Obviously, I miss you every second, Mio coure," Leo replied. "When are you getting off from work?" He asked.

"I don't know," She answered, glancing at her wristwatch. "Right now I'm going for Ward duty and after that, I have to attend some conference... I don't know how long will the conference go. But I guess it'll be over by 6 pm at the latest," She told him, staring at her watch and estimating the time inside her mind.

"Alright, I'll come and pick you up around that time..."

"Alright, I'll be waiting,"

"See you later, Mio coure,"

Anna hummed in reply. "I love you..."

"Love you more..."

Anna pulled her phone away from her ear and disconnected it. She then continued her way to the Ward and did her duty as usual.

By the time Anna was over with her conference, it was already 6:15 pm. She quickly packed her things and went downstairs. She frowned looking around the waiting hall and went toward the reception where Layla was also packing her things to get off work.

"Layla, did you see Leo?" She asked. Leo always waits for her in the waiting hall or just comes to her cabin whenever he comes to pick her up.

"Nope, I didn't see him," Layla answered. "Is he coming to pick you up?"

Anna nodded in reply and looked towards the entrance. "Maybe he got into some business, I'll try calling him..." She said and fetched her phone from her bag and dialed Leo's number.

"The number you are calling is currently switched off..."

Anna frowned deeply in concern and worries began to spike in her veins.

"Anna, your brother is here," Layla gently poked her shoulder and gestured her to the entrance. Anna blinked twice in space and looked toward the direction and saw Vernon making his way to her. His expression was filled with sympathy and sadness.

"Tessa..." He said under his sigh and embraced her dearly as soon as she reached her.

"Vernon, what are you doing here?" She asked as she gently pulled away from her brother.

"Let's go home first," He replied and took her hand.

"Leo was supposed to pick me up," She told him. Vernon took a slow and hard gulped and sighed like he was holding something behind his throat.

"He is not coming..." Vernon said in his quiet and sad tone.

"Why? Is he busy? Or doing some business with Joshua?" Anna asked.

"Leo..." Vernon closed his eyes tightly for a moment like he was preparing to say something big matter to her. And when he opened his eyes and looked at her baby sister, he couldn't help but feel terrible for her. But he has to say it and she has the right to know or the other way, she'll eventually come to know about it.

"He got in an accident,"