"Okay Leilani, I'll speak to you later," Mariana said on the phone as she was leaving her car.

"Okay chérie, let me know of any good leads you receive. I hope you find your babies."

"Thanks Leilani and me too," Mariana said and then ended the call. She sighed and tucked her phone away in her pocket.

Even though she had an interview to conduct and the sun shone high in the sapphire skies, her spirits weren't in the proper mood. She just didn't feel right knowing she was going back to her house and her children won't be there to greet her.

She wiped away her tears, but they kept coming out in small bursts. She just wanted to go home and see little Elisa coming to hug her legs. She wanted to watch Axel play his drums and to embrace them.

She let out a sad chuckle. Those moments were nice to think about, but at the same time, made her feel more depressed about the situation.

But she adjusted her hair and straightened her outfit. Her gloomy face became masked with a cheerful one as she went ahead and sat outside a cafe to who she needed to speak to.

"Hello, sorry for being late," she apologised to the retired doctor and sat down opposite him.

"It's fine, It's great your here now," he replied.

Mariana forced the smile to stay on her lips as she nodded with fake enthusiasm. She got the google docs up on her iPad and steadied it in front of her, because she feared if she looked away, her melancholy state would show through.

"I'm just going to ask you a couple of questions for my research," she said, "So the first question is..."

Her ears then perked up at a mother and her child walking past them. She heard the little girl pestering her to buy her candy and the mother trying to walk without getting dragged into the cafe.

Seeing the girl jump about, tightened her throat as it reminded her too much of her own kids. She couldn't go on walks with her little chick anymore, or stop Axel from tugging at clothes they passed while shopping, made her chest ache like a stab strikethrough. All she wanted right now was to swing her daughter by the arm and hear her joyous giggles float out.

"Hey, is everything alright?" The retired doctor asked.

"Mhm?" Mariana turned her attention back to him and realized her eyes got very watery. She quickly wiped them away.

"Sorry, just dealing with some issues in my personal life." She avoided eye contact because now she was embarrassed.

"It's okay, take your time. I don't have much to do today."

"Thanks." Mariana sniffed and held in her breath. She straightened her back, as if that would make her focus, but now she was out of focus like a camera and would rather be somewhere else.

"Sorry, do you find just filling these out with your answers." She handed him the iPad and sat back while he started typing his answers.

"Are you sure you should be working? Shouldn't you take some time off?" He asked with his eyes fully concentrated at the screen.

"No, I'm fine," she replied quickly which was followed with a rapid head nod. But it ended up sounding more like she was trying to convince herself than him.

"Okay, well, I hope you get through whatever your dealing with." He then handed her back the iPad.

"Thanks so much." Mariana smiled with appreciation and  got up from her seat. She hopped back to her back and then got in. She puffed out a sigh of relief, which made the hairs above her forehead blow out.

She was happy she managed to get this interview done with only minor problems but wasn't happy with seeing that scene earlier. Hopefully things can be like that's again.

When she got home after her shift, she made some apple pie and brought out ice cream as Mason came to talk with her and Micah.

She sat on one end far away, while they sat in a row on the couch. Micah leaned on the arm rest and maintained a space between him and his brother. His eyes gazed between him and the TV.

Mariana ate peacefully while Rio walked between her legs, meowing softly for attention. She stroked his woolly head and bit off the pie to give to him. The crumb skipped into his mouth and he munched it with a lick across the lips.

"Aw, my very good boy." Mariana stroked him again and her hand glided down his whole body as he walked away. Suddenly, there was some knocking at the door so she put down her plate and went to unlock it.

"Hey Makayla," Mariana said as she greeted her outside.

"Hey!" She said and hugged Mariana.

"What are you doing here?" Mariana asked as she let her inside and closed the door.

"Oh, I wanted to see if you really got Mason and Micah sitting together without being at each other throats," she said and then smirked towards them.

"Hi Mason, are you happy to be with your brother again?" Makayla said and sat down opposite them. She sipped on her Mocha drink as she folded her legs.

"Yeah I am," Mason admitted humbly and glanced at Micah, "I don't think he feels the same way, though."

Micah was laid back and was glaring at his brother's back. His eye were sharp as an eagle to make sure he didn't look at Mariana.

"Yeah, he looks like he's more than ready to kick your ass out once your done in here," Makayla spluttered out and started laughing. Mason rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Micah.

"So I got into contact with the Orlando police station and the FBI. They gave me the information that they have had so far on the case and with that, I was able to find where she lived so I conducted an investigation there."

"Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, I found this picture." Mason went to his gallery and then a picture popped onto the screen. "I'm assuming that woman there was the one that kidnapped your kids, but I was wondering if you recognized the person she's with?"

Micah had a look at it but when his eyes gazed down the two faces, he froze and it felt like his heart stopped beating for a sec.

"Uh, Mariana, you may want to see this," Micah said. He quickly motioned for her to come forward, so she did and went behind the couch to look over their foreheads.

Micah presented her the phone screen but when she took a good glance, her mouth hung open, her rose cheeks lost all their color so her face went as a pale as a corpse, and her body started shaking with fear and dead. The disgusting taste of nausea rose up her throat, and sweat coated her trembling palms.

Mona was stood in the picture. Her blossoming face was silky like milk. She had a beaming, toothy grin and her brunette waves tied back into a bun. But what made Mariana shudder with anxiety was Xavier stood next to her. His face held a half, strained smile and there were creases along his harsh temples.

Mariana backed away from the picture but the frosty, blue eyes never left her sight. It was like they watched her back into the wall, with her chest heaving at her elevated heart rate.

"It—It's him," she whimpered and her bum slid slowly down, onto the ground.

"Do you know him?" Mason asked, turning back to face her.

"That's my uncle..." Mariana mumbled.

"Oh..."

Mariana's heart raced like the speed of light. Those electrifying, pupils made her ears fill with distort noises from the past. She vaguely heard his voice whispering like a snake, and a cacophony of other speakers got mixed up with it.

Her head rang like broken sirens as she tried shaking it off. But they echoed throughout like a thunderstorm was happening in her mind. She felt a crawling sensation creeping along her legs, like someone wanted to stroke it.

She wiggled them to keep the invisible forces away, but they kept getting more forceful and it then, it came like a multitude of hands wanted to touch her caressing her delicate skin.

Her hands clutched the loose strands that fell beyond her face. She tried shouting to drown out everythin,. but nothing except a single squeak came out. She rocked back and forth and buried her head inside her knees.

She started breathing to calm herself down. She felt her airways expand as the refreshing air rang down her throat, providing a numb relief to her heated senses.

As she released another breath, her head finally cleared and she lifted it up to find Micah bent down to her level. She got startled for a bit but was glad to see him again.

"Are you okay, Mari?"

"I'm fine...for now," Mariana muffled, "just in shock that they were together." She got up and started sniffing her nose because she was still stuck in disbelief. But now it came dawning down on her, and her mouth fell into a frown of melancholy.

"Now I know why she never spoke of her husband that much..."

"They're married?" Mason muttered and peered deeper into the photo. "But she looks so young compared to him."

"And Xavier is sick in the mind, I won't even be surprised," Mariana said, getting up from the floor. She took Mason's phone to look closer at the picture. She didn't pay attention to Xavier but her eyes stayed right on Mona.

Looking at that smile made it hard to believe they were once friends. But the biggest thing that boggled her mind was why Mona choose to be in a with him.

Suddenly, her phone started ringing, and the whole room fell silent. Everybody stared at her pocket, so she got it out and she slowly put it to her ear while whispering nervously:

"Hello?"

"Hi Mariana, I figured you had seen my photo by now?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"I saw the FBI take it in one of my security cameras."

"Oh yeah, that happened." Mariana mumbled. She now felt incredibly awkward talking to her, knowing her relationship.

"Mona, we're you really married to my uncle?" Mariana asked even though she already knew the answer.

"Xavier was your uncle? Oh I never knew that. But anyway, yeah I was."

"Is that why your doing all this?" Mariana's voice got more sulky as she couldn't believe her reality.

"Pretty much. Do you remember when he had you tied to a chair all those years ago?"

Mariana tuned her mind like a radio, trying to remember. It was mostly foggy at first but eventually, she got it, and with that horrible realization, her eyes widened and the phone almost fell out of her hands.

"That woman was you?" Mariana exclaimed with a horrified face.

"Yes Mariana, that was me."

Mariana heard the sarcastic tone, but was too stunned to speak as it all came coming back. She didn't think she would ever meet the person that Xavier referred to as 'honey' even as to befriend them.

"I bet your really shocked aren't you?"

"I mean... yes, because it's really you. You were that mysterious voice I was hearing."

"I know it's a bit surprising, because things like this, we don't expect to catch up with us."

Mariana could feel her smirk which made her irritated because this whole thing was just a game to her. Whereas, she was stuck here suffering because she had no idea where her kids were.

She was about to reply, but Mona cut her off.

"And here's another crazy thing you might not know about Mariana. Remember that incident on the news that happened five years ago?"

Since Mariana now knew who Mona truly was, it wasn't that hard to remember that. Especially since it also caught her by surprise when she saw it.

"That time... when Xavier fell off a cliff isn't it?"

"Yes that's right... I was there when it happened."

Mariana felt her heart drop like a pin inside her chest, as she couldn't believe what she heard. Her hand slowly concealed her lips like how the phone concealed her shock.

"I tried stopping him while holding my newborns but he wasn't listening. So down he went... I wish I could've turned back but it was too late before I saw what was left of him, splatter out in front of me."

"I'm sorry you had to see that Mona, but it's not my fault that had happened, so please don't punish my kids for this." Mariana pleaded into the phone. She couldn't keep the phone still as her voice became more desperate.

"What do you want from me?"

She felt like she was getting nowhere on figuring out Mona's true intentions. It started to become frustrating since her kids were with this person who was connected to her wicked uncle.

"Come to me and then you'll find out. But for now, a special package is all your getting."

Her voice frightened her to the core and before she could reply, the call ended. Mariana pressed the phone to her face, but it slipped down like rain falling down a window. That last line was not doing her any good, and instead, made her feel even more unnerving about what Mona is planning to do.

A/N: Hey I hope you enjoyed the chapter! What do you think? 😋😋😋.