"It doesn't look like there's much work going on in here," Edward remarked lightly as he and Andrew walked into the living room where Alma and Amanda were still sitting on the couch chatting.
"Alma was trying to do too much," Amanda explained. "And the only way I could get her to take it easy was to take a break with her."
"Well, that's ok then," Edward said with a wink. "Since it looks like we've got everything moved in and almost everything in the house set up, why don't we all take a break? I think we should all go out to dinner to celebrate. My treat, of course, as a thank you for helping with the move."
"Thanks, Ed. That's really generous of you," Andrew replied.
"And you don't have to do anything to thank us, we're family," Amanda replied. "Before we go though I want to get a few more things put away since I promised Alma."
"I'll help," Edward said as he picked up a book from the coffee table. "So this is it. Our new house is really coming together. What do you think, Alma?" When he looked over Alma had a pained expression on her face. "Alma? Are you feeling alright?"
She nodded. "Fine. I'll think I'll get ready to go." As she stood up she felt a pain in her abdomen that stopped her in her tracks. In a second Ed was at her side.
"You aren't fine. Tell me what's going on."
"I think I'm having the baby."
"Wait, before we go any further, you have to tell me what's going on," Blaine said as he parked in front of an old, abandoned warehouse and Cassie jumped out of the car. All the way from the police station, ever since Cassie and her mother exchanged glances and without any explanation, Serena urged them to go, he'd been trying to find out what was going on and where they were going. Cassie refused to answer any of his questions, only speaking to give him driving directions to this place.
"My father and Vanessa are here."
"What makes you think that?"
"Just trust me."
"Ok," he said doubtfully. "If that's the case, then shouldn't we have told somebody or had the police come here instead of running off on our own?"
"The police aren't helpful. They wouldn't take us seriously and there's no time to waste."
"This is dangerous."
"I know, but Mother knows where we are."
"How? You didn't say anything to each other."
"Just trust me, ok?"
Cautiously, and as quietly as possible, Cassie slowly opened the warehouse door. When no one was in sight, she and Blaine warily walked inside.
They tiptoed their way through the debris and junk left behind, afraid their footsteps would echo in the large space. Blaine followed behind as Cassie seemed to know exactly where she was going. As they reached the middle of the building, Cassie grabbed Blaine's arm and motioned towards the corner, barely whispering, "There she is."
When Blaine saw Vanessa behind the bars of some sort of cage in the corner of the room, he was shocked. He couldn't believe Cassie was right and that she had known exactly where to find her. He started to go forward to help her, but Cassie's grip on his arm tightened and he held back.
Hearing footsteps approaching, Cassie ducked out of sight behind a stack of shelves, pulling Blaine along with her.
"And how is my lovely wife doing?" Silas said in a taunting voice as he walked up the bars of Vanessa's cage.
"I'm not your wife," she spat back. "You lied about your identity and you already had a wife when we were married, remember?"
"Pssh, details. Serena was out of the picture. She was dead to me, just like anyone who has tried to betray me, just like you are now."
"You were dead to me too and I was hoping you'd stay that way for good."
"And let you get away with betraying me? I don't think so. No one crosses me and gets away with it." When Vanessa didn't respond, he came at her from a different angle. "I haven't heard from Mommy and Daddy dearest yet about the ransom money. All this time you blamed me when they shut you out of their lives and out of their bank accounts, but I guess that wasn't the truth was it? As far as they know I'm out of the picture and they still aren't doing anything to help their daughter. I guess they just don't care about you anymore."
"Oh, please, give it a rest. Even if you get the money are you just going to let me go?"
Silas looked up at her with an evil teeth baring grin. "I don't suppose I can do that now, could I? Too bad you had to give away all my wealth. Maybe if I had been able to get my money back when I first broke into your apartment I might have just gone on my way, but then again maybe not."
Silas was about to open his mouth to speak again when he heard a noise behind him. He held very still for a moment listening as Cassie nervously held tighter to Blaine's arm. He turned around suddenly, squinting through the dark space of the warehouse and called out. "Who's there?"
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