Sydney ’s POVGently, Mark moved closer to the baby cot and lowered Aiden who had fallen asleep in his arms I to it.He covered him well with the blankets and still patted him for a while before he pulled away.He flexed his shoulders and rolled his neck and arm, that must have gone sore from carrying Aiden for so long.Then he casually perched at the foot of the bed, his hands briefly grazed my feet before he placed his hands on his thighs."Why are you so keen on finding Lucas, though?" He asked as he faced the pole that was at the foot of the bed. He turned to me and his shoulders lifted in the briefest shrug, "I mean, it's been so long since he contacted you or tried to reach out to you. He hasn't made any attempt since he left.""You can not say that," I felt the stupid urge to defend him and I did. "What if something happened to him and he's unable to reach out to anyone? What if he's scared if reaching out?" I shrugged, "There are lots of what ifs, you know."Mark bobbed his he

Sydney's POV"Lucas," I called in a shaky voice. "Why are you pointing a gun at me?" I know I should feel less terrified of the guns that were pointed at me because Lucas had showed up but it was quite the opposite. I felt even more terrified at the sight of him.My eyes pricked with tears as I looked at the man before us. He was a total stranger, nothing about him seemed Iike the gentle demeanor of the man I fell for.Lucas didn't even register my presence or act like he had heard my question. He just turned to Luigi, his lips twisted unpleasantly in anger. He took a menacing step toward him and Luigi took hesitating steps back, preferring to have the gun pressed more firmly to his nape than be close to Lucas."What her you doing?!" His clenched fists shook as he finally bit out harshly. He wasn't facing me or talking to me but I flinched back in fright. I wondered how Luigi still managed to be in one piece there, he hadn't even blinked at Lucas' shout. I guess he must be used to it.

At first, I flinched away, then I moved closer and flattened my palm on the small mound that I had thought was just a pile of sand. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I couldn't stop them from flowing freely.Now looking closely at it, I could see the weeds sprouting from the mound like they were mocking me. The sight felt like a dagger getting piercing into my heart.My chest hurt so much it was as if my heart had been wrenched out of it, and it was groaning from the loss of what it revolved around. That was exactly how I also felt, a hollow emptiness.All these years, I had been waiting for Lucas, hoping against hope that he was alive, and then he turned out to be...gone. I had fallen in love with him, allowed myself to be consumed by those feelings, only to start hating him again because I wasn't privy to the real truth— he had stopped existing a long time ago.The poor boy, Lucas, had only wanted to make friends and experience the simple joys that most take for granted. He wanted to

SYDNEY’S POVI couldn't remember how I ended up on the bed with Dylan last night… Or maybe I did, I just didn't want to recall it, I couldn't. I feel sore all over. And right now, all I feel is extreme tiredness and a gnawing hunger.Dylan fucking whoever he really was, was a greedy and insatiable man. It only took not more than twenty minutes after pulling away from me for him to get on top of me again. He kept grinding me like he was some beast, ordering me to keep telling him I loved him. What type of psycho was that?I actually wished the gnawing hunger was related to my tiredness or even a little something to do with it but no. The louder my cries and fake moans mixed with his loud grunts got, the higher my hatred for him heightened. My hunger for revenge was making me starved and I needed to collect myself before I did something really stupid and get myself killed.Every touch of his hands on my skin made me want to recoil in disgust. The weight of his body pinning me down was l

SYDNEY’S POVI erupted in a fit of laughter, mainly because he cracked me up. How could he possibly be jealous of a dead man? He really did look adorably pouty in that moment, standing there trying his best to look intimidating with that angry gaze. At that instant, it was almost easy to believe I was simply bantering with my beloved Lucas.This confrontation was actually a very good sign, despite his melodramatic display of envy. It meant that my carefully cultivated deception was still going strong. Even if I hadn't fully penetrated his twisted heart yet, I had undeniably managed to worm my way into his fragile psyche to a fairly substantial degree."Sorry," I giggled, palming my mouth in an attempt to stifle the burbling laughter as I climbed down from the bed to face him properly. I couldn't help but be faintly amused by his irrational jealousy over something so silly.While I laughed at his preposterous behavior, Dylan hissed out a irritated breath and stalked over to perch himse