Back To The Stars: ROMANCE: ALIEN (Alien Invasion Abduction SciFi Romance) (Fantasy Anthologies & Collections) (51 page)

“I think I have got it right this time. I have taken one of her attendants in confidence. She was Mary’s girlfriend and she knew that Victoria was at fault. When I traced the connection, I asked her for all the details and she had given this information. She will also be helping Elaine get the records if Victoria has left them.

She knows a lot about Victoria’s mansion and Mary would go along with Elaine to help her out. I have everything planned; all we need is a little luck.”

Just as Daniel was filling me in all the details, I saw Victoria coming out of her car. She had put in a scarf to hide her face softly and I saw Rosie in her lap. Rosie was sleeping which made me realize that she had drugged my little child.

I wanted to smack her face right there. I almost jumped and wanted to kill Victoria when Daniel stopped me.

“What? Why are you stopping me now?” I asked clearly furious.

“We do not know if she had the records against you or Elaine. It would take her just a second to hand over the things and then Rosie would end in foster care. We need to trap her in her own plan.”

“How are you going to do this? We do not have a lot of time and what if she ends up boarding the plane?” I asked as I didn’t know what to do.

In the worst case scenario that we are unable to work, we will come back to your plan and run away with Rosie. We will figure the rest of it out but for now let me see what I can do.

Daniel made a few calls again and soon enough, a security guard stopped Victoria. Daniel smirked letting me know that it was all a part of his plan.

“Why are you questioning me? Don’t you know who I am?” Victoria said. Under the police laws, she was not supposed to travel or leave the place. She was going under disguise and as she realized the loophole in her plan, she panicked.

Daniel emerged out of the den at that time and then decided to play the lead.

“She is Victoria Green, officer and she is not supposed to be traveling. She has a lot of cases filed against her and she is doing all of it in disguise. I am not sure the kid belongs to her either.” Daniel said and the officer nodded.

“Who are you and what the fuck do you have to do with me?” Victoria barked and Daniel smiled and said, “I am the FBI”

Victoria could feel the color drain from her face and he quickly took Rosie in his arms and asked the officer to take her away. Surprisingly, the officer didn’t take Victoria inside the airport for questioning but rather outside.

Daniel came to me with Rosie and said, “Quickly, let us run away.”

“What do you mean run away? Why do we need to rush?” I asked.

“That guy is not an officer and neither I am from the FBI. This was all a lie so that I could have Rosie and now we will make an exit and Victoria would be left wondering what the fuck just happened.”

I couldn’t believe it. This was finally happening. I took Rosie in my arms and even though she was asleep, I knew she was safe. We hit the car and just as we were about to leave, I saw that Victoria saw the two of us and she immediately realized that she had been fooled.

She jumped and started chasing us but to not avail. I was sure that she was not the kind of person to give up and she would have tried harder. However, I kept checking the rearview mirror, but she was nowhere to be found.

I called up Elaine and let her know about the success we had. She took the phone and thanked Daniel time and again. Elaine still didn’t get the records and I asked her to hurry because Victoria might get back to her home. I knew she wouldn’t give up so easily as she would try to do something about the whole situation.

As I was on the call, I heard a shrill voice and I realized that Elaine’s phone had fallen down. I tried to strain my ears until I could finally hear her.

“You bitch, you took away the guy I loved. Let me see what it is that Andrew loves about you. I gave him everything. Every fucking thing but you came out of the blue and he was soon yours. There was nothing he asked or said, but he was yours! I am never going to leave you. If I can’t have your daughter, I am going to kill you fucker,” Victoria said and my soul shuddered at what she could do.

I could clearly understand her wrath and I knew that this signaled a lot of problems.

“Daniel, we need to head to the Victoria mansion right now. Call in as many people as you can. Elaine is in danger and I need to do something. Do one thing rather. Take Rosie with you and make sure that no matter what happens; you do not leave Rosie. Keep her with you, I am going to the mansion and I will take care of the rest.”

I drove the car as quickly as I could and I wanted to be sure that I could be there before Victoria did any major damage. I kept praying that nothing would happen to Elaine.

I went back to the time when I had saved her at Arizona. I knew that even at that time, I could have easily lost her but destiny had played in my favor and I had saved both Rick and Elaine. Then again, when we were out there running away, Rick had almost killed me had it not been for Elaine.

We had always been there for each other, but I regretted the time when I asked Elaine to go to Victoria’s mansion. I should have been more careful. There was no way I should have let her be by herself. I knew what Victoria was capable of and I knew that she could kill my Elaine without blinking an eye.

I tried to use some kind of distraction. Daniel told that he would send fake media to the mansion as it might end up creating some kind of a distance. I prayed that these plots would work. I had no idea what I would do in my life if I would lose Elaine. Amidst the struggle I had gone through in the last few months, it hadn’t once occurred to me that I might lose Elaine and the very thought made me claustrophobic.

I knew that I would have to handle the situation in a much better manner. As I reached her mansion, there were no guards there. I guess this was it for Victoria. She too had realized that there was nothing more she could do. Being on the verge of another loss had left her to the point that she had become crazy and had absolutely no idea what to do anymore.

So, she decided to let everyone be and she was after the one true love of my life. I kept praying all the time hoping that I will eventually find a way out of this mess. I climbed up the stairs in a jiffy and I could hear Elaine’s voice. She was petrified and a little scared and I knew I would have to hurry up.

By the time I reached the edge of her room, I knew I would have to conceal my position. I had to keep everything hidden so that I could attack her from behind. I saw that Victoria had a trigger pulled at her neck.

Jesus, I didn’t know what to do. I could feel my heart beating profusely and it was hard for me to decide the right plan of action. I knew that if I missed it even by a little, I might end up in a lot of problems. This was my wife who was in danger. I had a split second to react and I wanted to be sure that I didn’t miss it. I remembered the times when I had saved her in Arizona and I wanted to trust my judgment. I had been in such dangerous situations a lot of times and I knew I could trust my gun.

I carried a gun with me and I wanted to fire it. This could kill Victoria but I had no other option. I knew that this was my one last shot and I didn’t even think again and pulled the trigger. When I opened my eyes, I saw Victoria was lying still.

The trigger had hit right at the bull’s eye and she stayed there motionless. Elaine was shocked and stunned and we both knew that in that state, we were back to where it had all started.

This time, only the person had changed and the one to pull the trigger. The rest all of it was still the same. I remembered the time when Rick was after my life. I had seen the flashbacks of my life and I had known that this was my last moment, the real goodbye, but Elaine had come out of nowhere and saved me. She was Ila then. Ila saved me and we had vowed to live a life where there would be no more bloodshed, no more killing, but there we were again.

Life often had a way of bringing people on the same crossroads of life. Life knows how to make people walk in the same circles which we vow to leave. Elaine was shivering and we were both remembering our past.

There was no point promising that we would lock our past because often life knows how to throw your past right in your face.

I hugged Elaine and I could feel her tears wet my shirt. I knew that she was going through a tumultuous time and I was well aware of the fact that the troubles might not have subsided completely.

There were so many incomplete stories and it would be hard for us to justify who killed Victoria. She was a renowned name and not someone obscure as Rick. I knew that this might open an explosive investigation and what if more leads came out. Elaine was still Ila, and she was one of the prime culprits in Anthony’s murder.

“What is going to happen now?” Elaine whispered and I didn’t know what to answer. The real horror was over, but even then the pain hadn't completely gone. Regardless, I was happy that both my daughter and wife were safe, at least in that instant.

There was nothing that could go wrong so soon and yet I wanted to get done with this phase of my life one more time.

“The storm has subsided. The real trouble is over. Yes, there are a lot of missing pieces and puzzles that we need to deal with and we will find out the ideal ways to battle it out. I am not sure how everything is going to work out, but we are all together and alive and that is a lot.”

As I said those words, I heaved a sigh of relief. I wanted nothing more but to relax. I kissed Elaine and she kissed me back. Our lips touched and in that second, we could feel how much we were entwined in each other’s life. I knew that this was one of the perfect moments which brought us closer.

Every cloud has a silver lining and in this case too, despite all the troubles we both went through, nothing changed the fact that we made it. We remained together and that was telling a lot.

“Regrets?” I asked and I knew Elaine could remember our wedding. I had asked her the same thing and she had kissed me. She did the same thing. Life never comes with a promise that everything would be always alright. There were always a lot of changes that often came up and I couldn’t predict what was ahead.

Given the kind of life we had lived, I knew that there would be more troubles in the upcoming days, but then again, I was happy to know that we would fight it out. There was no point changing identifies or running away to new places. I was here and I was with the people who mattered to me.

In all of this, it was my friend Daniel who had helped me out. I would have lost the battle long before if I didn’t get the right support from Daniel. He had left all his work and put himself on the line for the sake of helping me.

“You know Elaine; we did the wrong thing by shutting the door on our friends and family. In this hard time, it was friends who helped me. I have realized that we should never run away from the past because running away is never going to fetch you anything.

I am done with all the running. I am not afraid of what the future holds. Our daughter would not judge us because we didn’t do what we did out of choice. Life happens and it makes us do a lot of things. This was one of these things. She will embrace us for who we are and she would be happy about it.”

Elaine nodded as she too realized that living a life alienated from these who loved us made no sense. We wanted our daughter to have a loving environment while growing up. We wanted her to have all the things a child should get.

We had a lot still left to figure out, but we knew that it would all fall in place, after all, Victoria was no more and with the villain out of the picture, we could breathe a sigh of relief.

Epilogue:

It’s been four months since I killed Victoria. Everything rolled out smoothly. There were a lot of questions and everybody was curious rewarding how things had to be done. However, Daniel turned do out to be a real brother. He tactfully handled everything and by the time, all the questioning ended no one knew that I was Larry and Elaine was Ila.

I didn’t know how to thank Daniel for it. We went to Elaine’s parents and told her about everything. They were really proud of who Elaine turned out to be. The fact that she was no longer a drug addict and had become such a remarkable mother made them proud. I was happy to find Elaine hugging her parents.

Even back then, when we had changed our identity, I knew that there was a part of Elaine that had wanted to go back to her parents for some time. She had met them but had never told them about her new life. Now that they knew she had an adorable daughter too, they couldn't help but admire her.

I had a few close friends from the circle of investigation and I got back in touch with them too. In all, we were one loving family. I never forgave James for what he did and told Elaine to always tell me if she went through any such thing.

She never had to fight anything alone because this is what love demands. Love demands people to be together and to stick by each other when the times weren’t good.

Rosie kept growing beautiful each and every day. The more I looked at her, the prouder I felt. Being a parent definitely changed everything. We promised to do our best for the sake of our daughter. I and Elaine were closer than ever and we made it a point to cherish every single moment of our life.

“Isn’t it a beautiful morning?” Elaine said and I kissed her briefly. We always started our morning with a little kiss as it kept our love alive.

I knew I was really lucky to have her by my side and there were so many people who had their heart broken too many times, but I had found the one woman I would never stop loving. Somehow, I knew that this story was not yet over. I knew that there were troubles waiting to surface.

I knew that maybe one day the past would yet again haunt us. Rick was no more, Victoria was no more, but the list of people who weren’t particularly nice was never ending. If I could, I would go back in life and change my past. I would trade it for a normal life, but no one has the power to change their past.

I decided to live in the moment and to enjoy my present rather than worry about what the future held. As long as it had a family I loved and friends who would stay with me through thick and thin, I knew that I could achieve everything. I knew that I would see through the tough times too.

I had to do this, for me, for us. Love is powerful and as I held Elaine’s hand and went to our daughter's room to wake her up, we saw that she was smiling. Elaine smiled too and I wondered if the mother and daughter had a secret to share.

“What?” I said and Rosie opened one of her eyes and winked at me.

I took her in my lap and kissed her.

“What makes you giggle so much early in the morning, princess?” I asked her and she whispered, “mommy said she is going to get me a little baby.”

I looked at Elaine and she blushed.

“Really?” was all I said and she nodded and just like that, my whole world lit up again. I had a kid on the road and I couldn't be more excited,

This time, I promised not to do anything wrong. I promised to take care of everything and to make sure that I would handle all that life would throw in my way. I promised that I was going to make a life good enough to live.

Everything was perfect and I wanted time to freeze.

“I love you, Elaine, Rosie, and my little child on the way,” I said and the two of them kissed me. Life was about to get perfect and I prayed that let the past not pop another trouble anytime soon.

I felt nothing but love and as I held all of them together, I honestly prayed to God to bless us. Life was beautiful for those who worked enough to make it so. I smiled and wondered at what other roads of life did I need to travel. There surely were a lot of surprises waiting. 

THE END