When the day met the night Part 2

Chapter Ten

I looked on as Bluebell played in the pool. She was laughing as she splashed and jumped in and out of the water. Happily thinking we were on a holiday, she had no idea we were in hiding. The baby was kicking again, I stood up and rubbed my belly. Lack of sleep and the heat was making me tired and irritable. "Go and lie down, we will look after her" I heard a voice behind me say. My rescuer, Antonio. I had gone into hiding in Italy. We had arrived about a week ago. He and Marco had welcomed us with open arms, I swore them to secrecy and after I explained to them what had happened, they invited us to stay as long as we wanted. "Look, she's in the pool with Marco, it's fine, you look tired, go" he urged. I nodded, "okay, thank you" I said wearily. I welcomed the cool and quiet of my room and I lay down on the bed. My body and mind were both exhausted, thoughts constantly racing through my head. I looked at my phone. Dozens of missed calls and messages from Jared, begging me to answer, demanding to know where I had gone. I had turned off my find my iPhone just before I'd left LA, so he wouldn't be able to track me and I'd sent him one message. "Leave me alone, we're done ". That was all, I had nothing else to say to him. I closed my eyes and finally fell into a restless sleep. I woke up some hours later feeling slightly better. I made my way downstairs and found them all in the kitchen having something to eat. I sat with them and picked uninterestedly at something. My appetite had left me days ago, but I forced myself to keep eating because of the baby. As we chatted Antonio's phone started ringing. He looked at it then up at me in shock. "It's Jared" he whispered. I gasped quickly shaking my head. "No, no! Don't answer it!!" I said frantically. He exhaled and we watched it as though it was a time bomb, waiting for it to ring out, then to see if he would leave a message. A minute later it signaled a voicemail. We walked out onto the patio to listen to the message. "Antonio, its Jared, uh, you haven't heard from Harper have you? Just ring me back, I'll explain, thanks man" he said, my heart pounding at the sound of his voice. I shook my head. "What are you going to do?" I asked, "I'll ring him back and tell him I haven't heard from you" he said firmly. "Do you think he will believe you?" I said full of doubt, "he will, don't worry, we just need to make sure Bluebell isn't around, because he might hear her" he said. I nodded sadly at our deception, but I had no choice, I needed space and time away from him to work through this nightmare and he needed to suffer for what he'd done. We waited until she was safely tucked into bed that night and he nervously rang him back. "Ciao Jared" he said trying to sound casual. I couldn't make out what Jared was saying, but I could see Antonio frowning and nodding. Every now and again he would say "hmm" or "okay" and glance at me. They spoke for about ten minutes. "Yeah, okay, if I hear from her I'll be sure to ring you ... okay" and he hit end. He looked at me thoughtfully. "What?" I demanded, "nothing" he said shrugging. "Don't tell me, you believe his bullshit excuse?!" I said angrily. "I .... have you actually listened to the bullshit excuse?" he said carefully. "No! And I'm not going to! If you're planning on telling him I'm here, just let me know so we can leave" I snapped. "I would never betray your confidence, of course not! I just think maybe give him a chance to explain" he said gently. I shook my head, "no, I'm not a fool and I won't be treated like one" I said sadly. "Please, please don't tell him we're here" I begged. He walked over to me hugging me, "of course not bella, never" he said softly. I nodded. The ache in my heart had almost become unbearable.

Jared's POV - I rang everyone who might have an idea where she would go, no luck, she was well and truly hiding. My first thought was that she'd gone home to London. Reluctantly I phoned Lucy, I hated her and she hated me, but I had no choice, I needed confirmation before I wasted precious time looking for her there. "It's really funny that you actually thought I would tell you where she was, I know where she is, but I'll be damned if I tell you, you fucking asshole" she said with a nasty laugh. "Where are they? I've got a right to know where she's taken my daughter" I said through gritted teeth. "You gave up that right when you fucked another woman, as for your daughter, I'm sure you'll be hearing from Harpers lawyer soon enough, but I'm not a total bitch so I'll throw you a bone, she knew London would be the first place you'd look, so you can be pretty sure she's not here " she said smugly and hung up on me, I threw my phone furiously across the room, my heart sank at her words, would Harper do that? Take Bluebell away from me? Fear gripped my heart tighter at the thought. No one knew where she was, hadn't seen or spoken to her, or if they did, they weren't telling me. I growled in frustration. I started to ring her again, I knew she wouldn't answer, she hadn't even opened any of the messages, but I would tried anyway. "Hi daddy" I heard Bluebell's voice and I almost jumped. "Hi sweetheart, I've missed you" I whispered, my heart pounding with joy. "Where's mama?", "in the shower, where are you?" she asked, "I'm at home, is mama okay?" I asked her, "she feels sick and cries all the time" she sighed, I felt an ache at those words. "Where are you?" I said quickly, I needed to get as much information out of her as possible before Harper realized she was talking to me. "With Marco" she said laughing, "Marco and Antonio's house?" I confirmed, "yup" she giggled. "Okay, listen sweetheart, you can't tell mama I talked to you okay, it's got to be our secret" I said hoping she'd be able to even keep it a secret. "Why?" she said curiously, "because I want to come and surprise mama, so you have to promise you won't tell" praying she would understand, "okay, are you coming soon?" she said, "yes, I'm getting on a plane today, I'm going to hang up, I'll see you soon okay, I love you and remember what I told you" I said. "Okay" she said happily and I hung up. That fucking Antonio, I had spoken to him last night and he told me he hadn't heard from her! I started racing around getting things organized. Time was of the essence and I needed to move fast, my entire world depended on it.