𝒫𝓈𝓎𝒸𝒽ℴ𝓅𝒶𝓉𝒽

61.

Ana's POV
Waking up at three in the morning, I stretch in place and Justin wakes up from me moving. The babies have been waking up around this time, so it seems I've gotten used to waking up at three. But tonight I didn't hear them crying. "Babe," I call Justin and he muffles, "M?" as he softly snores onto the pillow.

"The babies aren't crying," I whisper and he pulls me to his body. "I know, isn't it amazing?" he sleepily mumbles and I chuckle. "We should probably check up on them," I suggest and he slowly turns his back towards me.

"Before sunrise, they're your kids," he mumbles and I stay quiet. I get my pillow and I hit him with it making him laugh. "Asshole," I say laughing and he covers his head with the blankets. "Alright, I'll go cause I know you're tired," I say since he had to do overtime today just to get some extra money. He mumbles, "No stay," as he turns to me and he nuzzles his face at the crook of my neck.

"I won't wake them up, I'm just checking up on them," I say and he sighs as he then let's me go. I stand up from the bed and he falls back asleep. Shivering up, I walk down the hall and check the thermostat. I become confused when I see it was at 64 and not 70. Assuming Justin set it lower when he got home from work, I walk into the babies room.

Bending over the crib, I reach in, but felt nothing. Spreading my hands around, I become worried when I don't feel Melanie in her crib. Walking over to Jackson's crib, I do the same and I begin panicking when I don't feel him nor Melanie in the crib. Quickly turning on the light, I run back to the cribs and tears arise to my eyes when I see they were both completely empty.

I pull on the blankets and I throw them behind me. Yanking the pillows and small plush toys and throwing them off to the side I mumble, "No, no, you can't be gone." I run to my room and I say, "Wake up," while frantically shaking Justin's body. He angrily groans and he turns around. "They're gone!" I say crying and he says, "What?" being completely confused. "They're not in the cribs," I choke out and he jumps off of the bed and runs to the room.

He checks under the cribs, and then he pulls out a sheet of paper from underneath. He quickly reads it and says, "Jason has them," making me break down to my knees. "He's going to kill them," I sob into my hands and Justin tells me to not worry. "Everything is going to be okay.  He gave us instructions, he said they're alive," he says bending down to me and he hands me the letter, I quickly read it.

"Don't call the police, call him right now," he says and I nod my head as I then stand up. Going back into my room, I get my phone from the nightstand and I call Jason. Frantically waiting a few moments, he finally answers. "Hel-" "Where the fuck are my kids?" I interrupt him and he chuckles. "Temper temper. Did you not read the fucking letter or do you want me to read it to you?" He says and I roll my eyes. "They're right here next to me on your bed when you and your stupid boyfriend should've been sleeping right now," he says and I grab the letter from Justin as he walks into our room.

"What do you want from me?" I say becoming irritated by him. "Well, think about what I just said. Think about why I brought them to your house, and not mine. Or about why I brought them safely to your house rather than leaving them dead in a ditch like I wanted to. Get the hint?" he says and I become livid. "You did all this shit because I don't live next to you?!" I say. He gasps as he then says, "Bingo! You're not as stupid as I thought you were!"

"This is fucking bullshit, I'm not moving next to you again. I'm calling the police, you kidnapped my kids," I say and he laughs loudly. "You don't want to do that," he says in a laughing tone. "And why is that?" I ask and he sighs.

"Remember my knife collection? And my gun collection I showed you that one time, and you idiotically ignored how obsessed I was with weapons. Anyways, I have all these beautiful things I could used to harm your kids. Call the police on me, and you're not finding your kids in one piece," he threatens and I get a sweater from my closet.