LaraI have a lot of hope upon arriving at the strip club. This is the only other place he could be in that would make sense before I have to accept that the worst has happened and he’s lost or has been snatched by a malicious soul. I get out of the car and race to the top of the metal staircase. I’m calling his name as I reach the top. When I get there, it’s empty. He isn’t here. I try the door and then allow all those feelings of despair to rise to the surface and swallow me whole. I sink to my knees in front of the door and cover my face with my hands. Tears stream down my face and my shoulders are shaking with every sob. I then put my hands together in front of me and pray. Ambrose comes up behind me after a few minutes. I’m not looking at his face but I can tell by the sigh that leaves his lips that he’s disappointed. It would’ve been great if he was here. That would’ve eliminated the need to go on a full-blown search for him. It would’ve assured me that he was safe.Now, t
DexterI couldn't believe that this was happening to me.Vanessa—no, Lara—glared at me. She then said, "How do I even know you're not the one who took him from me as punishment? How? What guarantees me that it wasn't you?"I'm staring at her and trying to figure out if it's really her. Fuck, I have no idea. In my mind, Lara Taylor was a blonde girl with a completely different face. It was Vanessa...Vanessa with her cat's eyes and sharp features.This has to be some kind of joke."Was it you!?" she demands. Her eyes are gleaming with tears. Her voice is shrill. "Did you take him? Would you hurt an innocent child for some sick revenge plan!?"I take another step back. I finally find my voice. "I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about, Red. I don't...you're Lara Taylor?"At my question, she pauses. She searches my eyes intently and then wipes under her eyes, not answering the question. The implications of this start to hit me one by one."This whole time..." I begin before th
LaraGoddess. My hands are shaking and I feel like I can’t hold the steering wheel properly. It feels like every bone in my body is frozen and I can’t function. I realize now, a little too late, that I should have never told Dexter about me. What had I been thinking?I guess this stress has made me feel like I’m not myself. Like I stepped out of my body for a moment and only returned now. He had no idea. The shock on his face and the way he behaved about everything was a confirmation of that. I fucked up. Big time. Now he knows who I am and he doesn’t even have Ander, so it wasn’t worth it. I’ve never been more disgusted with myself. The only thing that’s keeping me from crying is…I’m not even sure what it is. The determination to find my son, perhaps. I have to keep it together just enough to function, or I’ll lose it completely. My phone starts ringing. I look around it for a moment while keeping a hand on my steering wheel. I lower my eyes just for a moment and nearly drive in
LaraAfter hours of driving around and not finding him, I feel just about ready to give up. I’m so damn devastated. It’s impossible to know who’s telling the truth and who isn’t, and I’m just about done. I feel like my mind will cave into itself. It’s so much pressure. So much anguish. I hardly know what to do with it all. My sweet boy. Where is he?Tears prick my eyes but I have to keep going. I can’t stop. Nobody loves him more than I do so they’ll never put in more effort than me. I just have to not give up no matter how tired I am. I’ll never be able to rest unless I find him. My phone starts ringing unexpectedly and my heart drops. I park the car on the side of the road quickly and reach for it. It’s Ambrose. “Did you find him?” I ask right away. “How close are you to the strip club?” he asks me. He sounds very strange and I don’t know why. I can’t really read his emotions well. “Why?” I ask hurriedly. “I need to speak with you.”Desperately, I ask, “Is it about Ander?”“
Dexter The more I think about all the shit that’s happening, the worse I feel. There are times when I have to stop driving just to fucking think. I can’t believe this. The more I think about it, the more unbelievable everything becomes. Vanessa is Lara Taylor. I’ve never felt like I had to think back to that moment. I never saw a reason to. My goal was to bring that man to his knees in any way I could and I succeeded. I figured why not use her? I was a different man back then. Riddled with hatred and uncaring of anyone who wasn’t me. I’m still that man, but not where Red is concerned. I feel a deep sense of shame whenever I recall those moments. I’m forced to park the car again, which I do, because I get so lost in my damn head that it’s easy for me to forget I’m even in the road. She was blonde. Younger. Her face was rounder. But hell, I hadn’t been thinking about her face. And when I recognized her as my mate, I felt so damn angry still that it didn’t matter to me
LaraA Few Minutes Earlier…What was that sound?Ambrose and I pull away from each other and concern courses through me. I’m pretty sure I heard a loud sound. “Get back!” Ambrose says suddenly while simultaneously reaching down his waistband and closing his hand around a gun before pulling it free. I stagger backward, my eyes on the cold-looking metal in his hand. A few moments later, the doors burst open and a scream leaves my lips. It’s instinctive. I rush behind the desk just before bullets start to fly. My whole body is tingling in a way that it never has before, and I find myself feeling random pains on certain parts of my body. Why does it feel like I’ve been shot?Ambrose. My thoughts are on him as I hear the grunts of the men fighting. I want to peer over the desk to look at him but I’m too scared of getting shot. Bullets keep hitting the wall behind me. My ears are ringing. For a moment, it feels like I’ve been hiding under this desk for years and not mere seconds. It’s b
LaraI reach Finch's place in what feels like a few minutes. I'm sure it's been longer than a few minutes but I've been so lost inside my head that I'm having a hard time focusing on the moment. Finch is waiting outside. It seems he's been renting this house in the outskirts of the city and has been there for a while. It's pretty comfortable, with plenty of space in the front and back, but it's not comparable to the house we grew up in with its marble fountains, museum-like rooms, and two storeys. I can't say that the sight of him doesn't offer me some comfort. It does. His eyes are laced with concern and although I want to hate him, I can't bring myself to do it. His concern saved me. If he hadn't sent this man to get me out of there, I would have died alongside Ambrose. "Lara," he says when I near him. I pause, my body not allowing me to go any further. I feel these tremors now and they wreck me entirely. I've been feeling them ever since I left the strip club. I start to sob
Dexter I had watched Lara from a distance and concluded that she was safe in this house. I’d sped after the car that took her away, my heart racing in my throat. I’d never felt this kind of anxiety before. I thought she was hurt but at the same time, I couldn’t alarm Ander, who’d been by my side the whole time. He was already scared by what happened, so why should I make things worse? “You’ll be with her soon,” I told him to reassure him. I was torn between rescuing her and keeping Ander safe. I couldn’t endanger him, not after the trouble it had taken to find him safe. So, I called for backup. I asked Damson to come to the location. He told me he’d be here in a few. I parked on the other side of the road and watched. The car she was in went into the building. I gripped the steering wheel with one hand, cursing at myself for being a useless cripple. If I had both hands, I would’ve left Ander in the car and stormed in there without any fear of being caught. But I couldn’t leave hi