Not One, But Two!

Chapter 50

Abigail placed Genevieve's picture back into the book and put the book back in its original spot before leaving the room. Arianna had woken up by then, and the young girl ran over to her mother when she saw her mother walking out. "I thought you left, Mommy!"

"So, which would you prefer—do you want me to stay or leave?" Abigail lifted Arianna into her arms. Arianna was just a little lighter in comparison to Alissa.

"I want you to stay, of course," Arianna said happily.

Abigail felt an ache in her chest as she spoke in an apologetic tone. "Unfortunately, not everything can happen the way you want it to," she said.

"What?" Arianna's face collapsed into a frown.

"Are you leaving already, Dr. Kain?" The housekeeper felt rather worried after hearing Abigail's words. Abigail nodded. "Yeah. We should leave since Arianna's awake."

"But Mr. Buckley isn't home yet," the housekeeper replied.

"Please thank him on my behalf." Abigail carried Arianna out of the house as she spoke. The house wasn't a place in which she belonged, and it certainly wasn't a place for Arianna to stay. Greg has a girlfriend, and he will eventually have his own family and children. Everything that happened five years ago was a misunderstanding, anyway. I'm the one who was tricked into it, so Greg shouldn't be the one handling all of this.

Initially, Abigail wanted to allow the children to interact with Greg since he was their biological father. However, if her actions caused him any trouble, then she figured it'd be better for her to just leave. The

kids and I have led a pretty comfortable life for the past five years without him, anyway. Abigail didn't want their presence to disrupt Greg's daily life—she figured that caring for him in this manner would be a way to repay him for the beating he received.

At that thought, Abigail felt rather bad toward Arianna and Alissa. Abigail ran her fingers through Arianna's hair as she spoke in a whisper. "Let's go home, okay, Arianna?"

Arianna froze for a moment before she turned to see her mother's slightly teary eyes that were glistening under the light. Arianna swallowed all the complaints that she had been about to make. "Did something happen, Mommy?"

"No. I just miss home all of a sudden." Abigail couldn't give her young daughter the full details, so this was the best way she could explain herself. When Arianna saw how sad her mother looked, she quickly wrapped her arms around Abigail before whispering into Abigail's ear. "Okay. Arianna will go home with Mommy," the young girl said in her sweet voice.

"That's my girl!" Abigail felt tears burning in her eyes for some reason. She felt rather sorry for herself, although she didn't understand why. Yet, another part of her felt guilty and self-critical due to her daughters' situation. In the end, Abigail sent Greg a text. 'Please get Stanley to send my mother's files to my email. My email address is below. Thank you.'

After sending him the email, Abigail immediately booked flight tickets back to Marona. She hadn't brought much for her trip since it was all a last-minute plan, so she didn't have much to bring back either. She called to check out from the hotel before she brought Arianna into a taxi that led them to the airport.

As Abigail glanced at the passing scenery from the car window, she found herself getting lost in her thoughts. Arianna didn't know what her mother was thinking about, but Arianna was wondering if her

father would be fine after they left. She pulled her phone out to text Greg. 'We're leaving now, Daddy. Can you send us off? Our flight is in one hour.'

Meanwhile, Greg was still smoking a cigarette by the window. The smoke circled around him, and he didn't hear his phone's notification as it was too far away. Arianna was waiting for his reply, so she felt rather disappointed when he didn't respond at all.

Once they arrived at the airport, Abigail got out of the car while Arianna looked at the view of the city longingly. She had never known about this place called Harrion, and previously, she had no idea that her dad was here. She had only been around for a few days, but she had already grown attached to the place.

Why can't Mommy and Daddy be together? Arianna held this question in her heart without verbalizing it —she was too afraid to ask her mother. Instead, she tottered along behind Abigail as they headed into the airport. Every now and then, Arianna would turn to look behind her. Abigail noticed her daughter's subtle gestures, and she had also seen Arianna send a text to Greg. However, Abigail didn't stop her daughter. Sometimes, the child will just have to experience the things that us adults fail to explain with words. Perhaps she'll understand when she grows up.

Abigail felt sorry for her daughter as she picked the young girl up. "It's cold here. You should put your scarf on."

"Okay," Arianna muttered before moving in an unenthusiastic manner. Right as they were about to go past the security check, Abigail's phone began to ring. Arianna's eyes widened as she stared at the phone. "Is it Daddy?"

Abigail couldn't bring herself to look into her daughter's eyes, so she turned to her phone. "It's a call from Allie."

Abigail lowered Arianna to the ground before picking the call up. "What is it, Allie?"

"You need to come to Rorea now, Mommy. Papa can't hang on for much longer." Alissa's sobs came from the other end of the phone, and Abigail felt her chest tightening immediately.

"Calm down before you talk, darling. What happened to Papa?" Abigail asked.

"He's bleeding a lot, and I can't stop it. Come here, Mommy. I'm scared!" This wasn't the first time Alissa went out with Hugh, and the young girl usually wouldn't lose control of her emotions that way. Sometimes, Abigail even wondered if her daughter was genuinely just four years old.

However, now that Alissa was bawling and gasping for breath, negative thoughts began to surface in Abigail's mind. "I'll go there right now. Don't cry. Send me your location!" Abigail cried.

However, Abigail found herself in a tough spot after receiving Alissa's location. With Arianna's asthma, she couldn't follow Abigail over to Rorea as the air there was bad. What should I do? Greg's face immediately flashed across her mind. Abigail didn't want to trouble him, but she couldn't find a better candidate right then.

At that thought, Abigail took a deep breath before bending low to be at the same level as Arianna. "Mommy has to go to Rorea, Arianna."

"I know. I heard that Papa is in danger. He'll be fine, right, Mommy?" Arianna's eyes were tearing up as well. Although she was happy to find her birth father, Hugh was someone who played a huge role in their lives growing up. Arianna was close to tears when she heard that something bad had happened to him.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything bad happen to him. However, I can't bring you along, so you'll have to stay with Daddy, okay? I'll give Daddy a call," Abigail uttered.

"Okay." Arianna nodded. She knew her condition well, and she knew that she would only cause more trouble if she went along.

Abigail only phoned Greg after she made sure that Arianna had agreed to the plan. When Greg saw the phone call, he frowned for a moment. His instincts told him not to pick the call up. Genevieve is dating Cody. This came as a huge blow to Greg, and it gave him the urge to disappear from everyone's lives for a while.

He wanted some alone time, but his phone continued to ring. He frowned before putting his cigarette out and walking back to his desk. Abigail's contact number was flashing on the screen. Greg didn't want to pick her phone call up, but he suddenly thought about how Abigail never called him for anything. Could there be something important? He picked the call up.

"What is it?" He spoke in a raspy voice.

"Greg. I have an emergency, and I need to go to Rorea. Can you come to the airport to pick Arianna up? I can't bring her along," Abigail explained.

"Why did you guys go to the airport?" He sounded rather grumpy.

"Let's not talk about that now. Can you get someone to pick her up? I have to fly now." Abigail went to check her tickets after finishing her sentence. "Hi, the fastest flight to Rorea, please." Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

"Hello, Miss. There's one leaving in 15 minutes," the air stewardess's sweet voice said.

"Book that for me, please." Abigail came to an immediate decision.

Greg voiced out when he heard what she said. "I can't make it in 15 minutes. You should get the next flight, Abigail."

"I can't. People's lives are involved here. I have to go now. I'll leave Arianna at the airport office, and you can pick her up there," Abigail replied.

"How dare you, Abigail? Your daughter's so young. What if she goes missing?" Before Greg said anything else, Abigail ended the call. "Sh*t!" Greg cursed. "Prepare a car, Troy!" Greg rushed out without even bothering to wear his coat. That cursed woman! I'm going to hold her accountable if anything happens to Arianna. Troy didn't know what was going on, and he thought Greg was going to catch his girlfriend red-handed. "Where are you going, Mr. Buckley?"

"The airport."

"It's too late to stop Miss Leynthall at the airport now. We should use our own helicopter," Troy offered. Greg's gaze darkened upon hearing Troy's words. "Why don't I send you on a 10-year work trip to Antarctica?" Greg hissed.

Troy kept his mouth shut after that. Greg rushed out of the company and found one of his fastest sports cars before speeding all the way to the airport. Abigail knew it wasn't right to leave Arianna at the airport office, but she was too worried as she knew that Hugh's life was hanging on a thread.

"Will you be okay alone, Arianna?" Abigail asked.

"Yes. Hurry up and save Papa, Mommy. I'll contact Daddy. Don't worry, I won't walk off with a stranger if Daddy doesn't come for me." Arianna made her promises.

A strong sense of guilt and self-hatred sparked in Abigail's chest, but all she could do then was kiss Arianna on the forehead. "Text me when you get to Daddy. I'll check my phone."

"Okay. Bye, Mommy."

"Bye, Arianna." There was no time left—Abigail checked her watch before running to the gates. Arianna was secretly afraid as she had never been by herself at a busy place like an airport before. However, she cheered herself on by thinking about Hugh and Alissa's sobs from earlier. "You can do this,

Arianna. You're a big girl. You're not scared," she whispered to herself while sitting down on one of the chairs in the office.

Arianna pulled her phone out to play a few games. By the time Greg reached the airport, he could no longer get through Abigail's phone. That cursed woman didn't actually leave, did she?