345 My fight
No matter how twisted they thought the first week of their marriage would be, nothing could ever beat this. This was not what anyone had envisioned.
"How far would you go for your little princess?"
The question was still stuck on Zaria's mind hours later.
The answer should have been the opposite of the truth.
Whoever had Rosaly had kidnapped her to get leverage for something. If he was convinced that they didn't care for her as much as he thought, maybe he would have let her go.
But how could they even think of doing that when their daughter was in an unknown place, captured by a psychopath who thought it was fun to keep them guessing?
He wanted Desmond to guess what he wanted and then hand it over before the following evening if he still wanted Rosaly alive.
When they demanded proof that the child was still alive, all they got was a brief few seconds of Rosaly's cry.
She turned on her back and let out a sigh. It was late into the night and she couldn't catch a wink of sleep no matter how hard she tried.
She had felt Desmond creep out of the bedroom too; she knew although they needed to be as clear-headed as possible to plan this out, he couldn't sleep either. Not even for a minute.
So she gave up trying to sleep and got off the bed too. Desmond was not in the study when she checked. He wasn't in the kitchen either.
She took notice of an empty glass in the sink and guessed he must have been here. She knew just where to find him.
…
"Hey." She knocked on the door softly and walked in when he looked up.
He was sitting on the floor. She joined him, handing over the wine she had poured him on her way up here.
He took the glass from her and downed the contents in one gulp. Knowing how horrible he felt, she placed a hand on his shoulder.
He put down the doll he was holding when she came in and pulled her to sit between his legs, his knees trapping her on both sides. She reclined into his chest.
"Des, you have been a wonderful father. Everyone can see that." She rubbed his hand in consolation.
He let out a breath and tickled her neck. For a while, he didn't say a word, processing what all this meant. When he finally spoke out about what he had been thinking, it hurt more than he expected.
"Theoretically, maybe. But I couldn't even protect her.
What was the use of fighting for her custody if I can't even last half a year before fucking it up?"
"Hey," she held his arm. "Don't think about that. Later when everything is settled, you can wallow in self-pity all you want." She said, knowing that would not happen. He only needed to get through this. "For now, we have to find a way to save our daughter."
He blew out a breath. "The guys couldn't locate the call. He must have made it on a burner phone."
"And Rosaly's cry?" She asked, shuddering at the possibility that came to mind.
"He either has her with him on the move or what we heard is a recorded version."
She cursed. "If I get my hands on that bastard, I will drag his eyes out of their sockets and feed them to him. And then I'll chop off every single finger he laid on my daughter."
He hummed in agreement to her but there was something about it that didn't sit quite right with her. For a moment, she didn't want to think about it.
"Hey, come on." She stood from between his legs and held out a hand to help him up. He didn't budge, so she used a little bit more force and ended up breathless when he had not moved an inch. She laughed. "Getting clumsy. Come on, you're not going to let me drag you to our room, are you?"
The last thing he wanted was to sleep—not that he would be able to. He had tried, and it had ended in bloody nightmares even before he could fully fall asleep.
He could still hear Rosaly's scream from the last nightmare, haunting his ears, her tear-filled eyes with despair.
Even then, he let Zaria lead him back to their bedroom. He didn't have to sleep.
She settled in beside him and rested her head on his shoulder, tracing the skin of his chest with her fingers.
"I could make you feel better," she offered, her hand sliding down his body.
He grabbed her wrist to stop her. "You don't have to." It wasn't lost to him how much she was bottling up herself.
When morning finally came, it was a relief to see Zeus and Skeleton back at the house.
"You look like shit." Was Zeus's greeting when she came downstairs.
"Thanks. Give me some good news." She slumped into the nearest couch.
"Where is your man, anyway?" He asked, looking around, and changed his mind. "Never mind. You can tell him. The kidnapper couldn't have gone far from the city, considering he wants something given to him by Desmond. Maybe he is still in Imperium."
"Yeah, maybe." She hid her disappointment. How many people were there in Imperium? They only had until the sun went down!
"Oh, and there's something else. Although your husband has more enemies than Jupiter's fans, there are a few that stand out." He showed a spreadsheet to Zaria but she was not looking at the screen. What she wanted was a definite answer.
"Angela, obviously." He started. "But the only reason she would want to blackmail him is to get Rosaly back, which would mean she has no reason to make a ransom call. Besides, if the girl loves her mother as much as you made it sound, she wouldn't be crying on that call."
"We already wrote Angela off." She urged. While they couldn't put it past her to use Rosaly for more of her selfish wants, she had more leverage than anyone—being Rosaly's mother. She didn't need to play tricks such as kidnapping.
"Alyssa." She suggested.
"Clean as a whistle. Oddly." He added. He had also thought about her.
"The Wests, on the other hand, have a more recent beef with him. I don't expect them to let it slide after what happened to Gabriel. It may have been believable but some people just know the truth even without evidence." He shut his laptop with a dreadful look. "Which would also mean, it could be some offspring of Nathaniel."
"For heaven's sake!" She erupted. Did Nathaniel vow to haunt them as a ghost or something? He was everywhere, even though he was six feet underground!
While they spoke, Desmond came out of the study with phone in hand. They didn't need to ask to know he had just spoken to the kidnapper.
"Des?" She stood to meet him halfway through the living room.
"I know what to do." He assured her.
Except, she was far from assured. "I'm coming with you."
He cupped her face and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead. "No, my love. This is my fight."
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