Part Twenty Six

                                    

                                          
ANGELICA
                          
The cold of England wrapped itself around Angelica like a blanket. Her cheeks were slightly red, and her face had paled. Even though she was only away from her family for a week, she felt like it had been a lifetime. 
                          
Instead of walking out to the sun, the dark grey clouds loomed over. And somehow, it set the mood. She could tell it was going to rain, and that if she stayed any longer under the sky, she would be soaked, but she didn't mind. The only thing on her mind was being home and being able to see her family. 
                          
Walking down the stairs of the private plane, she closed her eyes and spun around. The only words going through her head were family. The reason she lived. The reason she was so motivated to follow her dreams like a predator stalks prey. The reason her life was happy. 
                          
Feeling someone's eyes on her, she gazed up to the door of the plane. There he stood. Gabriel. But not the Gabriel she had seen on the plane. A cold hearted killer stood before her. A leader. She knew why. She didn't want to pity him. But she did. She pitied his life. 
                          
Stockholm syndrome, she thought to herself. No. Not that. She didn't love him. She did pity him. But not love. Maybe not even like. But for now she had to. To save her family. She did not know what the future would hold. Maybe he was in it. That was something she couldn't foresee. All she knew was that her family would never approve. 
                          
"Leave us". Angelica jumped at his voice behind her. She watched as each man scattered before them, leaving two very scary looking men twenty metres away, hands folded in front of them. 
                          
She was shivering. Not due to the cold. Due to the tone in her husbands voice. It was something she had never heard before. Something that elicited fear into her heart. Turning slightly, she was face to face with his hard chest.
                          
He looked down at her face, with a hard gaze.
                          
"You are now entering my world, princess. It has now begun".
                          
Grabbing her hand, he pulled her slightly harshly. 
                          
"We are getting your family as we speak". 
                          
JACKSON
                          
The days were long for Jackson and his family, along with Angelica's. Each minute that went by had felt like a lifetime. They has searched far and wide for her. But no result. 
                          
Her mother was grief stricken even more than everyone else. To lose your husband and then your daughter. Your husbands pride and joy. What were they going to do. The pain was too much. The scene of her house ran through Jackson's head. The broken glass, the blood. He knew women and even men were kidnapped for illegal activities, and prayed for the first time in his life that it wasn't what had happened to his best friend. His sister. 
                          
Walking outside the cafe kitchen, the streets were still busy. The christmas holiday was always so busy, always so flustering. Alas, they had shut shop. In Jacksons hands lay some last slices of orange cake. 
                          
"It...it has to get eaten, or else it will ruin". 
                          
Everyone looked at the slices, and sighed. No one had any more tears to use up. Anger was all that could have been seen in the boys. Angelica's mother and jackson's mother were just empty. They had both lost a daughter. Sitting in silence, Uncle Frank, Jackson, Axel, James, Barbra, Michael and even Jas - Angelica's mother - gazed off into space. The missing bubbly girl from their lives has disappeared. 
                          
"I...I miss her so much", Michael whispered. His mother was still the same. He worked to help pay for her medical bills as much as he could. The NHS helped, but he wanted to make sure she was well looked after when he couldn't be there for her. Right not, it was not visiting hours, so he used up his time to see his 'second' family. They meant the world to him. Angelica was the older sister that he never had.