Falling for my Ex-Fiancee’s Best friend

Nathan squeezed his phone in his hand and thought about crushing it. He wanted something to hit. He wanted to do something other than sit down in his bar uselessly, the cup of alcohol still in front of him.

He had no idea what he was going to do. All through the week, he had been stressed out of his mind. First, there was the entire issue with Silver and the scandal that she brought along with her, and then there was the incident with Demelza, and now, an abduction?

There was just too much going on. Nathan didn’t know how he was going to deal with everything. It all suddenly seemed too much for him to bear at once. He didn’t know whether he should continue drinking or if he should smash the glass on the table.

Eventually, he settled with the option of retiring to his bedroom. When he fell to his bed, he could not sleep. He had been getting a lot of that in recent times-sleepless nights. Oh, how he longed for a time when he could sleep in peace again, like before.

His sleep was fitful, and he dreamt several times that Demelza was cradling a baby in her arms, and Silver was a watchdog with scornful eyes. It was late in the morning when Nathan woke up, large half-moons under his eyes.

He sat up in his bed for a while, trying to remember all the details of the previous day. Demelza had been abducted, and when her abductors had eventually called back, they had requested a ransom. The ransom wasn’t some imaginable sum he couldn’t raise; he was fairly certain that he was more than able to raise the required amount in a short period of time, but what bothered him was the fact that the abductors had told him not to involve anyone else.

They had known where Demelza would be heading. There was no other explanation as to how they had been able to kidnap her. That probably meant that they were watching her. Could they have been watching him too? Maybe he was being tracked. Maybe he was under observation even right now.

The thought worried Nathan so much. He couldn’t even get through breakfast. When he got to the office, he was constantly sidetracked by the thoughts that ran bumbling in his head. Sometime in the day, a call came in. A different private number.

Nathan thought that it would certainly be the abductors. He was right.

“Hello,” his voice sounded rushed, breathless.

The voice on the other end of the line was cool, too deep to be a normal man’s voice. They were being very careful, Nathan noticed. “How’s it coming along, Mr. Storms?”

“I want Demelza released.”

“We know that. And we also know that we gave you a ransom. Or shall we make the stakes more exciting? A little higher perhaps? Then maybe you would take us seriously.”

“I take you seriously, alright,” Nathan said as he stood. “I just don’t know what you want with me… or her.” He added as an afterthought.

There was a pause on the other end of the line, then the deep grating voice came again. “Prepare the ransom, Mr. Storm. We’ll be in contact. Be ready. Evening. Again, it would be in both your and her best interests if you were to keep all this under wraps and not inform anyone about it. We are watching.”

The call ended.

Nathan had already made up his mind. He was going to arrange the money.

Evening came too quickly and after his employees had left and the office had closed, he brought out his phone and made a call to a private investigator whom he trusted.

“Larry, it’s me, Nathan. I need you to do me a favour.”

Demelza’s abductors called again, leaving directions to where he was supposed to come to. Nathan got in his car and quickly sped there. He found more directions there that asked him to leave the money at a certain place. Nathan followed all their instructions fastidiously.

After he had been separated from the money, a man who Nathan had thought was simply a bystander had walked up to him and placed a note in his hand.

Nathan read the note immediately.

CAR PARK 7:00PM. DON’T BE LATE.

It was almost 7:00; Nathan ran there with all the strength that he had, and found Demelza by the side of the road, unconscious. A surge of emotions swept through him as he hugged her. There was no one else in sight.

Nathan lifted Demelza and carried her in his arms back to his car, but instead of driving her straight home, they took the route that led to the hospital instead. As they neared the hospital, Demelza stirred awake.

“Nathan,” she murmured. “What’s going on?”

Nathan patted her on the arm and continued his furious driving. “Everything’s going to be alright, Demelza. Just hang in there. We’re almost at the hospital.”

Harriet had given Nathan directions to the hospital where Demelza’s father had been admitted to, so that was where Nathan drove to. He didn’t know if this was an especially wise decision considering the fact that Demelza had been kidnapped on her way to this particular hospital, but it was the safest bet he had right now.

If the abductors were truly watching him like they said they were, there was a chance that his house was under surveillance too. He hoped the private investigator he had called would find something out. Anything that could lead to the capture of Demelza’s abductors.

“Careful, careful,” he said to the staff that had come with a stretcher for Demelza. “Put her down gently now.”

As they entered the hospital, Harriet came crying to meet them.

“Oh, my beautiful daughter, I was so worried…”

Her face looked like she had been run in a dishwasher, and it was wet from all the tears, but Demelza didn’t seem to mind. Although she might not have actually had the strength to do something otherwise.

“I’m alright, mum. Nathan got me.” Demelza kept repeating until she had been signed into a ward and, weary, had fallen asleep.

Nathan had fallen asleep in the lounge, waiting with Demelza’s step-mother. He had not told anyone else where they both were, and he didn’t want to. For now, he was just content to be here.

Later, when Demelza was feeling much stronger, and the nurses had said it was okay to see her, Nathan and Harriet had gone in to stay at her side.

“How do you feel?” Nathan said in a hoarse voice.

Demelza smiled at him. “Like shit. I don’t even remember anything. Do you, Nathan?”

Nathan shuffled his feet by her bedside and held her hand. “You should rest, we’ll be here.”

“Thank you.” Demelza said and smiled at Nathan. She squeezed his hand and turned to her step-mother. “There’s something that you need to know: I’m pregnant.”

Harriet held her hand to her chest. Then she was crying and hugging Demelza. “Rest now, sweetheart. I’ll let your father know when you’re better. Now you just be well.”

Nathan and Harriet left the ward once Demelza had gone back to sleep.

“Are you alright?” Nathan asked Harriet once they had gone. Harriet’s face was no longer emotional. Instead, now she looked hardened.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

“I don’t like this.” Harriet said, leaning against the wall. “She’s not supposed to be pregnant.”

“But you were happy to hear the news when she told you.”

“I was happy because she’s my daughter and she’s just gone through a traumatic event.” Harriet said and slumped. “She just needs rest. I’m glad to hear that she’s alright, and even though I don’t really like this pregnancy, I’ll accept it.” Harriet really likes Demelza and ut wasn’t as if dhe isn’t hr biological daughter.

Nathan exhaled. “Thank you.”

A few days later, Demelza was discharged along with her father. His condition had stabilized and improved. Nathan had taken her home, and for a while, it seemed like everything was going to be alright.

He kept on apologizing for letting her go off on her own, but Demelza continually shut him down, stating that he could not possibly have known that she was going to be abducted. Still, Nathan argued, it was his fault.

Sometime in the night, when they were cuddling up to bed, Demelza’s phone rang.

“Who’s calling at this time?”

Demelza said nothing, but she excused herself to go into the bathroom to take the call. Nathan wondered why she was hiding to take the call.

“Everything alright?” He asked when she returned. Demelza said it was nobody, and pulled into bed.