The park bench let out a small creak as the man sat down on it and slowly leaned forward to grab the infant out of his stroller. Zach wore his little scowl, a look of complete discontent. The previous night he was crying his lungs out because he wasn’t with his mother, but now he resorted to just frowning at everyone and everything. Occasionally he’d smile or coo at the mention of her name but other than that, he was silent and grumpy.

“Aw come on now, buddy. No squeals no nothing?” Anton asked as he adjusted the baby in his arms and fixed his hat over his curls and adjusted his little sweater. Zacharias cut his eyes at his dad and then looked ahead again doing a small stretch and sucked on his pacifier like Anton didn’t say anything.

Anton looked at the small baby with a look of amused disbelief and shook his head. “You may have my face but you definitely have your mother’s sass.” He chuckled as he stroked the baby’s cheek with his finger. Zach huffed and turned his face away from his dad.

Anton let out a sigh. “I know, buddy. I miss her too.” He said and kissed his cheek and then set him back in the stroller. “We’re gonna search for her now. If we don’t find her, that’s a good sign yea?” He smiled at the baby who only glanced at him then did a small stretch and closed his eyes with a huff.

Anton started to push the stroller to where the crowd was beginning to form, but he stopped to look over his shoulder. He had the eerie feeling that he was being watched. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and he felt really uneasy. The same feeling he gets when he’s around Iliana when she has one of her episodes. It was like the source of the issue was there.

He turned around fully to see no one there at all. Just a lone leaf falling from the tree and onto the ground below. He took a deep breath and then let out a shaky breath and turned ahead. “Anton, you okay?” A female asked. He jumped a bit at her sudden appearance.

“What kind of question is that?” He asked rather shortly as he looked at her. Naomi was a female of short stature, barely two inches above five feet. She had fiery red curly hair that seemed to have a life of its own as it whipped in the wind. She had soft doe like brown eyes. Her face and nose was riddled with freckles.

She puffed out her cheeks. “Sorry, I mean you were just zoned out for a bit. I was just checking on you.” She mumbled as she zipped up her jacket. Anton clenched his jaw. “Just thought I saw something.” He said as he let down the shade on Zach’s stroller to block the wind from nipping at him which resulted in a disgruntled screech and Naomi lifted it to find the baby glaring up at her.

“Hey, sweet boy. Why you so angery?” She asked as she rubbed his cheek and he turned his face away from her but had a look that dared her to let down the shade again. “Holy shi-taki mushrooms. He has Lia’s glare perfected and how old is he? Like four months?” She asked.

Anton’s expression softened a bit when she said that and he nodded. “Stole her sass and then some. I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when he’s older.” He chuckled and looked down at Zach who was looking up at the sky now.

“A whole handful and a half.” She chuckled as she looked at Anton with a smile and started to walk alongside him. He smiled a bit at her words and looked over at her and then furrowed his brows. “Wait- didn’t you just have twins? Why are you out in this weather?” He asked as he pulled the hood of her jacket over her head.

Naomi and Anton had a very platonic relationship. They argued and spoke as if they were siblings, so he had those moments where he felt like he needed to scold her for doing something so idiotic. Especially when the news of how her twins were conceived. He let her have an earful.

“If you think for one moment that I’d be sitting on my ass when my sis is stars knows where then you’re in for a rude awakening. I can’t just sit home. Plus Val and his boyfriend are watching them for me so they’re in good hands.” She said as she rubbed her hands together.

“I just-” She started and then fell silent and Anton looked over at her with a raised brow. “Is it bad that I’m happy that we haven’t found her yet? In the woods I mean?” She slowly glanced over at him as she shoved her hands into her pockets.

He shook his head. “No, it still gives me some hope that she’s alive but I highly doubt she’s…” He had to take a breath before he spoke. “I highly doubt she’s going to be found out here.” He said softly with strong conviction.

She smiled and nodded. “I doubt he wants to kill her.” She muttered and then the sound of a twig snapping caused them to freeze and look over their shoulders for the source. They had strayed a ways away from those who had joined their search party. They both looked at each other with expressions of unease and kept walking.
“Who are you talking about?” He asked with a raised brow, stopping to look at her. She looked back at him with a deadpan expression. She looked like she wanted to slap him for asking such a ridiculous question.

“That man who murdered her family, Anton. Are you daft?” She asked as she crossed her arms, looking up at him.

“Him? It can’t be him. He’s dead, we looked up records of him and everything. Man died from alcohol poisoning.  Even went to his gravesite to give her some closure. You know this-” He explained. He didn’t want to believe that the love of his life was suffering at the hands of that monster again.

Naomi shook her head. “I doubt that. Do you not know anything about her past? The people her father was friends with?” She stressed the word friends and used very aggressive hand quotations. “Those very same friends is what left Lia orphaned and scarred and Val and I witnessed it firsthand and there was nothing we could do about it.”

Anton stared at her trying to piece this all together. “Naomi, wait, what does this have to do with the man miraculously coming back to life?” He asked.

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered a few well chosen words under her breath before looking back up at him. “Lia’s guardian, Santiago, who was also her godfather, is a very corrupt man with loads of money. And what can you do with loads of money?” She asked with a raised brow.

Anton snapped his fingers as if it was going to help speed up his thought process and then it came to him. “Fake a death-” He looked at her.

“Bingo! Bullseye! Right on the money!” She clapped. Anton’s heart sank.

“For all we know, he could have taken her back to Europe if he has those kind of connections.” He muttered and Naomi rubbed his shoulder. “I highly doubt that as well. At least not yet.” She said softly and started to walk again and he followed beside her.

“I still don’t get it. How could he find her all the way out here? We're in Oregon. He never met me before. Probably didn’t know my name and we legally changed her last name to her mother’s maiden name. There’s no possible way he could have known that unless- unless he had help from Santiago! Or whatever his name is.” He was finally piecing it together for himself and looked at Naomi who was looking at him with that same slightly annoyed and angered expression.

“How the hell did you become an attorney because you don’t think too well on your feet.” She muttered as she rubbed her temples.

Anton glared at her, looking as if he was going to shove her down the small hill they were standing on. “You’re lucky I tolerate your existence.” He cut his eyes at her and turned to go a different way but the shrill sound of the whistle prompted their attention and it seemed as if his heart sank.

“We found something over here!” A man shouted. Anton looked at Naomi. “You go, I’ll stay with the baby.” She said with a nod, feeling uneasy herself. Anton didn’t hesitate to hurry down the hill, slightly losing his balance as he did so. He hurried towards where the crowd was gathered but a horrible stench stopped him in his tracks and he slowly maneuvered his way to the front. The smell only got worse and there were a few who couldn’t stomach the smell and walked away to vomit. He felt like he could do the same.

At the center lay a body. A female’s body. She was half hidden under leaves. She was laying face down in the dirt, one hand was outstretched in front of her. Her brown hair matted and riddled with leaves, twigs and such. She looked as if she had been there for some time which was a feeling of relief on his. It couldn’t have been his fiance.

“Someone call the police…” He backed away from the scene to go tell Naomi what he discovered. He stopped in his tracks when he found the petite woman on the ground at the bottom of the hill, seeming unconscious. “Naomi? Hey?! Naomi!” He shouted trying to get her to wake up. She stirred slightly. “Anton, the baby…” She mumbled as she slowly regained consciousness and then she jolted awake. “The baby!” She tried to hurry to her feet to get up the hill. Anton had scrambled to his feet to get up there before her and he dropped to the ground.

The stroller was empty and there was no sign of his baby anywhere. He felt as if he was falling apart even more, the one being that was helping him keep his sanity was gone. He had vanished without a trace. Naomi climbed up the hill and stood beside him, bringing her hands up to her mouth.

“What happened?” He asked softly. His face seemed to be void of all emotion. Naomi continued to stare ahead.

“I was watching you leave, then someone struck me from behind. I’m so sorry, Anton.” She said tearing up, feeling extremely guilty and the pain in her head from where she was struck.

Anton shook his head. “I want you to tell me more about them.” He said softly as he slowly stood up, walking over to the stroller and picked up Zach’s blanket and held it tightly in his hand.

“What?”Naomi looked at him with a slight look of confusion. He seemed oddly calm to her but then again when he finally turned to face her, she felt a chill run down her spine. He looked absolutely livid. His face didn’t show it, but it was in his eyes. She thought she would evaporate on the spot.

“I need you to tell me more about Caractacus and Santiago. Or more about the story if you remember fully after we leave here.” He said as he placed the blanket back in the stroller.