You're Mine

chapter 120

Wednesday, 4th January:

Logan: 13; Layla: 7; Leo: 4; Twins: 1; Eleanor: 2

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Owen yawned as he walked down the stairs to get Layla some more water. It was 1am and she had woken him up since she was thirsty. He jumped when his tired eyes noticed the little turned-on lamp in the living room and a person sitting on the couch.

"Babe, it's 1am. Why are you still awake?", the redhead wondered upon realizing it was his wife. She was sitting cross-legged with her laptop on her legs. She glanced up at him, pretty tired herself.

"Can't sleep.", Amelia shrugged. Since their daughter was still sick, they had chosen to repeat yesterdays sleep-constellation, but this time Leo was in his own bed, so the neurosurgeon had felt lonely, and she was extremely scared. "Is she okay?", she changed the topic while she watched her husband get some water for Layla.

"Pretty much. I want her to stay home again today, but maybe she can go back to school on Thursday.", the trauma surgeon informed her and took a quick seat next to his wife to see what she was doing. "None of this is going to help you calm down.", he advised, scanning the screen with his eyes, and reading what she had searched for.

"Nothing calms me down right now, Owen. Even if it's fake and they just want to damage me emotionally like back when they had kidnapped me, it's working.", the brunette replied and started sniffling.

"You're staying home with us today.", her husband decided, using the mouse pad to close the tabs before he turned off the laptop. "Come upstairs with me. I don't think we'll catch whatever Layls has. And if we do...honestly, I'd rather have an ill wife than an overtired one who is about to have a panic attack.", he said, taking her hand.

"Mommy!", the seven-year-old's face lit up when she saw that her mother had chosen to join them. She scooted into the middle of the bed to be in between her parents. "Thank you, Daddy.", she smiled a little, taking the glass from him and sipping on her water.

"You're welcome, Honey.", Owen told his child and kissed her head once she was done and laid back down. He put the empty glass on his bedside table and checked his phone once more to be sure he had set an alarm for later. Basically, he knew he had done so, but whenever he remembered it, he got kind of paranoid and had to check again. "Good night."

"Good night.", Amelia and Layla both answered. While the young brunette went back to sleep, her mother was wide awake. Regardless of how tired she felt, she could not keep her eyes closed, so she was laying in the dark, staring at the ceiling.

She remembered waking up in the class cage for the first time, held captive by her ex-boyfriend. She remembered the bloody hammer in his hand. She remembered the pain in James' eyes as he realized she had betrayed him.

That's when she tried to stop herself from thinking about the memories because they were unbearable. James had loved her, but his parents hated her and while he had only wanted her to himself, they wanted her to be in pain, or worse, they wanted her to be dead as well.

"Owen?", the neurosurgeon whimpered, hoping for her husband to still be awake too. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since they had said their good nights. Silent tears streamed down her face and as she was laying there, she felt paralyzed.

"I'm here.", the redhead answered in a whisper, climbing over their daughter to reach his wife, who was shaking. "You're okay, Amelia. I've got you.", he promised again, feeling some extra weight on the bed, which meant that Eleanor had taken his spot on the girl's other side. He laid down next to Amelia and wrapped his arms around her.

"I don't want them to kill me.", the brunette panicked. "There's something I've never told you before. I haven't even told Dr. Brato about it.", she admitted, her hand resting against her husband's chest while her head was laying on his shoulder. She could feel his heartbeat accelerate.

"What is it?", the trauma surgeon nervously wanted to know, his mind already flooding with horrible ideas of what it could be that she was going to tell him in a few seconds. He tightened his grip around her, not ever wanting to let go.

"They didn't just verbally attack me to make me emotionally unstable, they also used a knife and sometimes...", his wife shared, needing to take a break as she sniffled. "Sometimes they would stab it into the mattress I was laying on...so close to my body with such pressure...I just know that they would have loved to stab me and now they will. They are going to kill me.", she cried in between her tries to inhale some air.

"Babe...", Owen tried to say something, but he couldn't. The words just wouldn't come out and he felt unbelievably bad for leaving her hanging like this. But what was he supposed to say? Images were buzzing around his mind. Images he had wished he wouldn't ever have to imagine.

"It's okay. I know it's a lot of information.", Amelia told him. "I just needed to get this out. Just keep holding me and I'll be fine. I feel safer when I'm with you.", she let her husband know, who should have been flattered by her words. But hearing her say that she felt safer did not mean she felt safe, and he needed to change that.