kidnapped.

Chapter 4

Lilian POV:

"Oh my God, what's happening?" Lana screamed.

"I don't know, but hold on tight!" I yelled back.

Suddenly, we jolted and shook violently. I could hear the sound of metal crunching and glass shattering. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I thought it might burst.

When the car finally stopped moving, I took a moment to gather myself before turning to my children. They were both crying.

"It's okay, it's okay," I said, trying to comfort them. "We're okay."

But it wasn't okay. My heart was still racing, and I knew we were lucky to be alive.

Once we had parked, I got out of the car and pulled my children into a tight hug.

"Mom, what happened? Are we going to die?" Liam sobbed.

"No, we're not going to die. We're okay," I repeated, not sure if I was trying to reassure them or myself.

As we drove home, we were all quiet, lost in our own thoughts. When we finally arrived, I saw that Damien's car was parked out front. He had come home early today.

"Hey, babe," he said as I walked in the door.

I couldn't stand the sound of his voice. All I wanted to do was scream at him for being so insensitive.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sensing my anger.

"You wouldn't understand," I snapped back.

"Try me," he said, his face softening.

"I had a near-death experience today. Our car was hit by another car, and we could have been killed," I said, my voice shaking.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" he asked, concern etched on his face.

"Yeah, we're okay," I said, my mind still reeling from the experience.

But then Damien started in on me about my conduct at the hospital. He was angry that I had almost killed a patient, and he was questioning my judgment.

"I don't want to talk about this right now," I said, tears streaming down my face.

"Why not? We need to talk about this, Lilian," he said, his voice rising.

But I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to talk about the fact that I had almost killed someone. And I definitely didn't want to talk about Lucas.

"I just need a change of environment, a change of pace," I said, my voice breaking.

"Why? What's going on?" he asked, his eyes searching mine.

But I couldn't give him an answer. I just knew that something needed to change, and I didn't know what else to do except run away.

"I just think we should move," I repeated.

"Why?" he questioned.

"I just want a change of environment and air," I replied.

"But my hospital is close to our house and the kids are registered in their school," he reasoned.

"I know, but I just can't explain it. I feel like we need to," I answered.

"That's not a good enough reason," he said.

"I can't explain it any better than that," I said, getting frustrated.

Later that day, I was cooking when Damien rushed into the kitchen and put out a burning pot before I even noticed.

"Why did you let it burn?" he asked.

"I didn't even smell it burning," I replied.

Damien didn't say anything, still holding onto his frustration.

***

A week later,

I woke up to the sound of my triplets' voices echoing in my ears. Opening my eyes groggily, I saw Landon, Lana, and Liam bursting into our bedroom with excitement.

"Mama, wake up! There's something on the mirror in the bathroom!" Landon exclaimed, tugging at my arm.

Damien stirred beside me, rubbing his eyes. "What's going on?" he asked, his voice filled with sleep.

"There's something written on the mirror in the bathroom," I explained, my heart racing. "We need to go see."

Curiosity getting the best of us, Damien and I followed our children down the hallway to the bathroom. As we stepped inside, I immediately noticed the message scrawled across the mirror in bright red lipstick.

"What does it say?" Damien asked, his voice full of concern.

I hesitated for a moment before clearing my throat. "It says, 'I'm watching you, Lilian. You can't escape me.'"

Damien's face paled, his eyes wide with shock. "Who would do something like this?" he whispered, glancing at me suspiciously.

"I don't know," I replied, my voice shaking. "Maybe it's just some sick prank."

But deep down, I knew that there was something more sinister at play. The letter from Lucas, the strange encounters, and now this message—it all felt like pieces of a puzzle slowly coming together.

"We need to leave," I said, my voice filled with urgency. "We can't stay in this house anymore."

Damien looked at me, his brow furrowed. "What do you mean? We can't just uproot our lives because of a message."

"I have a feeling that it's connected to a psycopath," I explained, my voice barely above a whisper. "I think we're in danger."

Damien's eyes widened, the realization sinking in. "You think a psychopath is responsible for this? That he's stalking us?"

I nodded, my heart pounding in my chest. "I don't have proof, but everything seems to be pointing in that direction. We need to go somewhere safe." I replied nervously. "He might be a psychopath who's targeted us."

Damien wasn't convinced. "Maybe you have something to do with this message," he accused.

"What? How could you even think that?" I yelled back.

He tried to calm me down, but I was too upset. Eventually, I composed myself and suggested that we couldn't stay in this house anymore. "We have to move," I told Damien urgently.

He looked at me in disbelief. "Move? Where?"

I explained that I feared for our safety and that we needed to go somewhere else. "Call your sister in the other city," I urged. "We're going to her house now."

Damien reluctantly accept , with a sigh, he reached for his phone and dialed his sister's number. "Sophia, we need to come to your place. It's an emergency."

While Damien made arrangements with his sister, I began packing our essentials. I didn't want to waste any time. As I rushed around the house, stuffing clothes and necessities into boxes, I felt a sudden presence behind me.

Startled, I turned around to see Damien standing there, his face pale and his eyes filled with fear.

" I'm scared, what you told me scared me a little," he said to me .

"We need to get out of here," I said firmly, trying to steady my voice. "We can't waste any more time."

Damien nodded, his grip tight on his phone. "Sophia said she will be waiting for us. Let's go."

As we hurriedly loaded the remaining boxes into our car, a sudden shriek pierced the air. I turned towards the source of the sound and froze.

Standing in front of our barrier was a car, its windows tinted, and two burly men dressed in all black were forcefully dragging me towards them. I struggled against their grip, shouting for help.

"DAMIEN!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face as I was pulled further away from him.

Damien's eyes widened in shock and horror as he dropped the box he was holding and sprinted towards me. But before he could reach us, the car sped away, leaving him standing there, helpless.

Everything around me blurred as fear gripped me, and darkness closed in. The last thing I heard was Damien's anguished cries for me.