Before Happily Ever After

CHAPTER 22: Larkin

I couldn't hurry home fast enough and as soon as we had pulled up, I hurried inside and saw that both of our kids were being held by Cassidy and Kylie as they seemed to be crying, but I didn't see my wife.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"She's upstairs." Kylie says.

I quickly run upstairs and as soon as I go into the bedroom, I notice she is in the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror and looks as though she is putting some foundation on then see's me.

"Baby..." I begin slowly walking towards her.

"Please. We'll talk about this later. Right now I need to hide some marks in case I bruise, because the kids are already upset. When they came home I was crying, they don't know what happened but I..." She started telling me but I stopped her and embraced her in my arms, holding her close to my chest, letting her cry.

"Shhh...It's alright baby." I try and soothe her.

I swear to God, Ashton's dead when I get my hands on him.

My phone then goes off and I look down to see it's Mr. Denton-right now is really not the time.

"Who is it?" I hear Kamille sniffle while looking down at my phone.

"It's Mr. Denton." I reply.

"Oh God. Larkin..." she begins to tell me something and then I send the call straight to voicemail.

"It's alright. Listen, Mr. Denton called mean earlier, before Nate came in and told me you were hurt. Denton told me about Ashton and his 'temper'. He warned me to keep our family as far away from him until he returns." I tell her.

"But he won't be back for another..."

"He is coming back sooner. Hopefully by tomorrow night, maybe the next day. He said he'll take care of Ashton when he does come back." I try to reassure her.

She starts to shake her head and begins pacing slowly back and forth.

"Ashton will have done something to us by then. Larkin, he will hurt us so badly. He'll hurt the kids." She looks into my eyes terrified.

I hold her face in my hands and press our foreheads together.

"I promise that I will not let him hurt you or our kids. I swear on their lives and yours, I won't let him near any of you again." I struggle to tell her as I start fighting back tears now of my own.

I swear, so much for giving the love of my life a Happily ever fucking after.

We both are startled a bit when we hear a knock on the door and see Cassidy standing in the doorway looking as though she has something she wants to say.

"Not now Cassidy. Please, we'll be downstairs in a minute." I try and tell her.

"I need to speak to the both of you right now." She says with certainty in her voice.

"Right now isn't a good time." I try giving her a hint.

"Trust me, this is the ONLY time I have to explain a few things to the both of you and then try to get you all out of here quickly." She states.

Kamille and I look at one another a little bit bewildered before looking back at Cassidy who seems a bit nervous as she fidgets a little with her hands.

"What is it?" Kamille asks her.

"I am truly sorry. Both my father and my Uncle, Mr. Denton and I, are very very sorry. We have been trying for years to get Ashton to change his ways before things got worse. But it looks like he'll never change. I was asked to come here to try and help you both."

"What do you mean? Help us both with what?" I asked.

"I was supposed to help protect all of you. You see, my father told me a couple years back what all he did to you, Kamille. I didn't want to believe my brother was that kind of a monster. Because he was different around me and our family. At least for a while. Then he became obsessed in trying to find you." She begins tearing up.

"Oh God." Kamille mumbles to herself.

"We tried to get him help but, he's narcissistic. He is a great manipulator that can make anyone believe anything. Which is how he got released from prison. He works for a very dangerous man." She stops for a moment to wipe some tears away before she continues.

"My Uncle, who just tried to call you? He messaged me soon after telling me I needed to tell you all the truth of who I am and to also mention that we have an hour to pack and then I have to take you to a safe place where my Uncle and father will both meet us and explain more about what is going to happen next. To stop him." She struggles saying.

She lowers her head and looks down at the floor while silently crying as Kamille and I continue standing here not knowing if any of this is real. I mean, this had to be a dream or a trick or something other than reality.  Come on, this shit doesn't happen in real life.

It takes me a moment to find anything remotely decent to say after hearing all of that.

"Fine. We'll start packing." I tell her.

She looks at me and smiles.

"Thank you." She says.

As she turns around and begins to head back downstairs, I look at Kamille who seems to have calmed down somewhat but is holding herself together as she looks at me worried.

"This can't really be happening." She tells me. "And the fact that she never told us who she was or anything".

"I know but, Kamille, we can get through this. We WILL get through this. I promise." I try to assure her.

Next chapter will be posted soon! :)

Sorry for the delay in chapter being posted, I have been busy with some things and have been trying to format my full version of a few stories so I can also not just have them published on Amazon soon but also, hopefully, through Wattpad too. :). Because before, I was told one way to post the full versions but it didn't sound right or make any sense and now I have been reading something else than what I was told before, so now, I am also going to try and not just go through Amazon but also through Wattpad now and hope Wattpad will be interested.....Fingers crossed. :)  Hopefully soon they will my full versions will be on here or and Amazon. :):)

Keep you all posted on everything as always. :) Love you all! :)