II.Qveen of the $treets

Chapter THIRTY TWO - Baby Ransom

Chapter THIRTY TWO -

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Aliyah

We all sat inside of the living room in our home, thinking of what to do next. It has been a whole 18 hours since my baby girl has been missing and it is killing my insides slowly. I haven't eaten, slept, or talked to anyone since this all happened. Not having Amani around was devastating and I couldn't believe it was even real. Just yesterday I was kissing my daughter good bye for daycare and now I don't know if I'll ever even see her face again. The tears kept falling as I sat on the floor, off to the side of the room. My knees were to my chest and my face was buried deep inside of my hands.

My entire family was here for Andre and I, but it wasn't helping at all. My parents, baby brother, Paris, Ava, Aaron, Trent, and Malik were all here with us, but none of it compared to having my baby here and it never would. All of them love Amani, but they don't feel the pain that I do, that we do. Amani is my everything and not having her here is just like being dead, that's how I feel. My happiness has been taken away from me, and I want nothing more than to have her back. If only we could trade places, I'd be the one that is kidnapped and she'd at least have family to look after her.

Andre paced the floor back and forth as the vein in his neck bulged. He allowed the anger in him to course through his veins in order to hide the pain he was going through, but I knew exactly how he felt. She mean't the world to us both, and to have her taken away is like pulling the heart out of me and running with it. This just wasn't right and I feel that it's my fault for not being there. A mother's job is to protect her baby and I failed and allowed her to be snatched.

In the midst of the silence throughout the room, a glass vase slammed against the wall and shattered into a hundred pieces on the hard wood floor. Andre had tossed it like it was nothing, just like he'd done the rest of them around the house. Anger was how he showed his pain and that wasn't good. He allowed his anger to seep through and he did things just for the hell of it. After finding the courage within me, I pulled myself up from the floor, gaining everyone's attention in the room. This has been the first move I've made since I've been here, so it surprised everyone in here.

I slowly made my way over to where Andre walked back and forth, and I pulled his body into me and buried my face into his chest. We were both her parents and together we have to be strong for each other, but first he had to calm down. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and before I knew it, he had done the same to me. More tears leaked from my eyes sockets as I stood in the embrace of my fiance and child's father. I squeezed him as tight as I could and he did the same as he held onto me like his life depended on it.

"Baby .. calm down, please. We're going to find her." I whispered to him, muttering the first words to him since all of this went down and I just hope the last ones were true and that we would indeed find her. I could feel water dripping onto my shirt and I knew then that I wasn't the only one crying in this embrace. Andre was allowing his emotions to escape and he was crying on my shoulder, which only made me cry harder. I hadn't seen Andre shed a tear since his father passed nearly 5 years ago, so it broke me down.

"This shit shouldn't even be happenin' right now." he said with anger seeping from his words and tears leaking from his eyes as he gripped onto my shirt tightly. Somehow we ended up sliding down to the floor, with him against the wall resting his head against it and me sitting in between his legs and leaning onto his chest as he held me close to him. The room still remained silent. The only thing to be heard was the sound of breathing and Andre's heart beat in my ear.

While sitting in silence, the phone began to ring off the hook. Everyone sat up in their seats looking around to see who would make the first move to get the phone. No one even attempted to pick it up, like it wasn't even there. It continued to ring out throughout the silence of the room until it finally stopped, only to begin again. This time Andre got angry and lashed out at no one in particular.