This is an early update, because I won't have internet connection on Sunday. So, enjoy.

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A night of incredible love making with her fiancee managed to distract Alix from the news she received yesterday morning. The next morning she had ducked out of their shared apartment very early, claiming a very legitimate meeting with Susan.

They made a really big mistake letting Annie go. She realized by now. She and Susan should have said something in defense of Annie, since they knew before the rest of the family, but they'd let Jovon take his anger out on her.

Alix showered quickly, snatched the key to her sedan and made her way to the mall where Susan was already waiting for her in her car.

"Hi." Susan said after Alix pulled in next to her in the mall parking lot and climbed out of her car. "I have been here for the past thirty minutes."

Alix smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Had a busy night."

Susan winked knowingly. "I do know. So, what are we shopping for?"

"Nothing too yucky. Nothing too frilly, and nothing you have to look good in. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not tall at all. I want to make a good impression on David's family. Again."

Susan pretended surprise. "Since when?"

"Very funny. You know what I mean. So many clothes look so fabulous if you're as tall as a giraffe but the rest of us mortals end up looking dumpy. I refuse to look dumpy at my soon-to-be-in-laws presence."

Susan grinned. "No dumpy dress, I promise."

"You'd better. I don't want to be outvoted by his sisters. I swear that those girls have a secret fashion line or something."

"Trust is an important part of our relationship."

Alix narrowed her eyes. "I don't trust anyone with legs as long as yours." They walked into the dress shop together. "Your wedding pictures were fabulous."

"The last time we came here with Annie, she wore a dress that caught my eye." Alix said. "It's strapless, or I could go for the one with the spaghetti straps. Knee length, maybe."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Why did you ask me to help you pick a dress when you already have your eyes on one? And considering that you're red haired, I hope you're not going for green?"

"Nope. Green reminds me too much of stacks of pot plants. I'm not wearing it."

"See. That's how it should be." Susan told her. "Sisters solidarity."

Chelsea walked toward them. "Morning ladies. You must be Alix. I'm Chelsea."

They shook hands.

"Ready to try on dinner dresses?" Chelsea asked. "We just got new designs delivered this morning. Just in case you change your mind about the first one."

Susan looked at Alix who groaned.

"Good designs or unique designs?" Alix asked, her voice small.

Chelsea smiled. "Unique ones. I think you'll be pleased. Oh, Alix, did you want me to bring out the wedding dress Annie picked for you?"

"If you don't mind, that would be great."

"I'm happy to." Chelsea grinned at Alix. "Maybe you can try it on, so we can know the adjustments it would need."

"I'm available."

"Excellent. Now if you two will come with me, I would show you the new designs plus the one Annie picked out."

They followed her to a room on the side that was filled with new dresses in different designs. Two dresses were displayed on the wall. One was strapless, fitted to the waist, then flared gently to the straight hem. There was an over layer of some sheer fabric that was scalloped at the hem. The second dress was a slip style, with a little bit of lace at the bodice and tulip hem.

Susan fingered the material on the second dress and smiled. "I think both of these work. What do you think?"

Alix nodded. "Neither are too flashy, and too classy. I love them."

"Good." Chelsea pointed to a set of dressing room on the far wall. "There's one for each of you inside. Why don't you try them on. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"How did you get our sizes?" Susan murmured when they slipped into the dressing room. "I'm not even buying a dress. Not now that I look like a beach whale." She patted her rotund belly with a sigh.

"Just try it on." Alix pulled off her T-shirt and unfastened her jeans. "They have shoes here that I can also try on, just to see how the dresses look in heels."

The door to the dressing room opened. Susan slipped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Okay." She said flatly. "What's wrong? I know you did not call me here to help you pick a dress, since you've already got everything figured out, and the dinner with David's parents is still a month away."

Alix stared at her, not sure about how to tell her. Susan had refused to speak of Annie ever since that night, and she also pretended like she didn't exist in the first place.

"Nothing. Why? I'm fine."

"You're not fine. You're. . ." She frowned. "I don't know. I can't put my fingers on it, but fine isn't applying. Are you upset? Did something bad happen? Do you need Freddie to kill someone?"

Freddie Wembley was her husband of four years. He was a solider and was rarely home unless he had a break or there was a general holiday. Freddie treated their family as if they were his own, and he hated hearing about anything bad happening to them.

"While I appreciate the offer, and i'm sure he does too. I'm good. Really?"

Susan folded her arms over her chest. "I'm not leaving until you confess everything."

"There's nothing to. . ." Alix sighed. "I'd been so determined to act normal, too."

"You didn't quite make the goal." Susan's mouth twisted. "What happened? Is it David? Did he hurt you?"

"No. Of course not. He didn't do anything wrong. It's just. . ."

Susan moved closer and touched her arm. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Alix managed a smile. "It's about Jovon and. . ." She swallowed. "I saw a news on Twitter."

Susan continued to stare at her. "And?"

"Annie was kidnapped. Jovon is not happy. Jovon knows about it now and he isn't even trying to look for her because he believes that she cheated on him with Lukas."

"Well, she did." Susan raised an eyebrow. "That woman stopped being our business the day she cheated on our brother, don't you forget that."

Alix sank onto the bench in the dressing room and covered her face with her hands. "Don't you see? Annie is being wrongly accused of infidelity. You didn't see the fondness on her face whenever she talked about Jovon. She even refused to marry him when I brought the suggestion. She wasn't after his money."

Susan sank down next to her. "What makes you so sure that she just didn't say that so you won't suspect her?"

"What woman would help a man deal with his demons if she doesn't love him?"

Susan rolled her eyes. "People would do anything for money. She lead Jovon on and fooled the rest of the family. You were there when it all unfolded. She was sleeping on the bed with Lukas for gods sake!"

"What if we misread the whole situation? And even if she did cheat on our brother, she's still pregnant with Lukas' child, so that technically makes her family."

"You're right. But she hurt my brother, and that I cannot forgive."

Alix threw her hands up in exasperation. "There's no way she would be pregnant with Lukas' baby if they met only once. Jovon was sleeping with her, so there's the possibility that the baby is his."

"But the fact that she cheated is still glaring."

Alix wished she knew of another way to convince her sister otherwise. She had a gut feeling that Annie was somehow innocent, but she didn't know just how innocent she was in the case. And there was also the case of her kidnapping, which was somehow fishy.

"Have you always been this pessimistic?" She asked.

"I think so," Susan told her. "I'm the middle child. It's my job to see both sides of things. Although in this case, I'm only seeing Jovon's. Perhaps i need a little faith. But you might also be right. We did give her that pregnancy test. . . wait a minute, we didn't really get around to looking it and I don't think Annie did either."

Alix snapped her finger. "That's right. Oh, God. This is the proof we need to see if Annie is truly innocent. We're going to check the bathroom after we leave here."

"That's if the cleaners haven't gotten rid of it."

Alix looked at her sister. "I hope not. I just have that gut feeling that she's innocent. That would mean that we were in the wrong, and have to apologize to her."

"You sound a lot like dad." Susan teased. "Always trying to see the optimistic side of things."

"One of us has to."

"Aside from what you just stated, you're okay?" Susan asked.

Alix nodded. "We have dresses to try on." She took a look at her sister's belly and shook her head. "Or in this case, I have dresses to try on."

Susan flipped her off. A few minutes later they met by the large three-way mirror.

"This is not flattering." Alix grumbled as she tugged on the spaghetti straps of her dress. "The tulip hem thingy makes me look short."

"You are short." Susan teased. "But the dress Isn't the right one. You looked better in the strapless one. David's family would be blown away when they see you. Again."

Alix grinned. "You mean they'll fawn all over me and talk of how perfect their future daughter in-law is. Hmm. I hadn't thought about that for a while." She smoothed the front of her dress. "After David and I get married, we're going to try out for children right away. I'm really excited. I feel like I had my first taste of pregnancy the first couple of weeks I was on the pill."

"Bloated?" Susan asked sympathetically. "That's how I felt before I had Ericka. It's yucky."

"Me too. But the yucky part passed. Good things, too, because of the whole condom problem."

Susan stared at her. "What condom problem?"

"You know. They're not a hundred percent. If used perfectly, in controlled studies, they're like ninety- seven percent effective. But in real world use it's lower than that."

Susan kept on talking about babies and pregnancy but Alix wasn't listening. She began to think of her own words and the intimate way she was with David last night.

Less effective? As in more chance of getting pregnant?

All she and David had used were condoms. She wasn't on anything else and he'd never asked. Not that there was a whole lot more he could have done, but still.

She touched her stomach and tried to relax. So they weren't a hundred percent. She and David had only made love a few times, yesterday included. Nothing could have happened. Not really.

Could it?

*                          *                             *

Skylar pushed the car door open as Lukas put the car into park and switch off the engine. The two of them had met and came to the decision that they should allow Annie to get a breath of fresh air for a bit before moving her away from this house to the new pent house she just purchased.

It would be unlikely for the police to find her there. According to Lukas, the detectives were onto him and could follow him up here at anytime which would really suck, because their plan would fail just when it's almost at it's climax.

"She hasn't been responding to any talk ever since the day Jim hit her." Skylar said as she reached for the plastic bag, which held cables ties and duct tapes, in the backseat of the car. "Bridget thinks she might be loosing her mind."

Lukas shrugged as he, too, opened the door. "Staying in a place for five months would do that to a person. I also don't like the fact that she's not eating. It's not healthy for her or the baby."

"There's nothing I can do."

Lukas climbed out of the car and locked it after Skylar closed her door. They met in front of the car.

"Seeing my face might change her mind." He suggested. "I can go in there after I have Bridget hit me hard enough to draw blood. Make her believe that I was captured."

Skylar narrowed her eyes at him. "If I didn't know better, I would say you harbour romantic feelings for her."

"I don't." He didn't miss a beat. "She's merely my ticket to getting my rightful inheritance and I can't get it if she's harmed."

Skylar's expression showed that she didn't believe him, but she didn't press the matter. "That better be the truth, or I will kill her myself."

Lukas glared at her, but didn't say anything. Instead, he strode towards the front door and knocked. While he waited for Bridget to unlock the door, he saw Skylar come to stand beside him, while eyeing whim warily as if trying to figure out what was going on in his head. He kept his gaze stoic.

He knocked on the door again. "Bridget?"

He exchange looks with Skylar when they didn't hear any movement from within. He knocked again, and when he didn't get a reply he tried the knob.

The door opened with a loud creak.

"Do you think she forgot to lock the door or she ran away with Annie?" Skylar asked as they entered the quiet house. The parlour looked in place, but Bridget was still nowhere in sight.

"It better not be." Lukas withdrew his Glock from the waistband of his jeans and switched the safety off. He kept his thumb on the trigger and inched forward into the dining area.

The kitchen was in shambles, alright. Several wrappers of cookies and chocolate bars lay on the dining table. A bowl filled with bloody water sat beside the wrappers and a bloody rag sat beside it. Empty containers were strewn across the floor. Shards of plates also lay on the tiled floor.

The kitchen sink was overflowing with water and the tap was still running. Even the fridge was opened and there was no mistaking the bloody handprint in it's handle.

"What the hell?" Skylar voiced as she came up behind him. "I will fucking kill Bridget!"

Lukas rushed to the basement door and found it open. He knew instantly that something wasn't right. "Come here, Sky."

Skylar glided up to him with a scowl on her face. "Something isn't right."

"What if. . ." He trailed off, but the look on Skylar's face told him that she knew what he was talking about. "Let's check it out."

They walked cautiously down the blood stained stairs. The scene downstairs was worse than the one upstairs. Broken glass was scattered everywhere and blood was everywhere too.

Admits the shambles lay Bridget's unmoving body. Her peach coloured blouse was dyed crimson and she laid in a pool of it.

There was no mistaking where all that blood came from. But what made his fingers twitch was the fact that Annie was nowhere in sight. Her hospital gown lay few feet from Bridget's body.

Skylar growled low in her throat as her face turned a very ugly shape of red. "I will kill that bitch."

"You won't. Not until we find her anyway. She couldn't have gone very far."

"I will kill her." Skylar repeated. Her voice held no warmth. If the murderous look in her eyes was anything to go by.

Lukas clasped a firm hand around her wrist, then yanked her into his embrace. "No, you won't."

"Wh-what?" She blinked in confusion.

"I will deal with her myself."