The worry that Ryan had been feeling since Christmas day intensified as the days passed and the New Year approached. If not that he had the twins to look after now, he would have turned to the only way he dealt with stressful and painful situations … which was drinking himself into a stupor. However, he had the twins to think about now, and could not afford to be near them perpetually drunk. It said a lot about the type of person that he had become, and he realized that it wasn’t only Angela who had grown, but also him.However, he began to have sleepless and restless nights, no matter how hard he tried to exercise so that he could be tired enough to sleep. The only thing that consumed his mind was the fear of losing the kids to their grandparents. If he was being truthful to himself, that wasn’t the only thing troubling him. As much as he did not like to think of her, thoughts of Becca came unbidden into his mind, and he caught himself wondering how she was faring and if she ever tho

The little baby slept peacefully in her crib, swaddled in warm clothes and blankets, and obviously unaware of the fact that her mother was staring at her in awe. It had been exactly six days since baby Emma had been born, and still, Becca could not get enough of looking at her daughter. Most times, it was because Emma looked so cute sleeping, while at other times, Becca wanted to be sure that Emma was still breathing. She looked so still and peaceful whenever she slept. Becca knew that she was being overly sentimental, but she could hardly help herself. It felt like she could just sit all day and stare at little Emma's tiny face and never get tired of doing so. As a matter of fact, she realized, so could Toby and Sandra.“She’s as cute as a button.” Sandra sighed wistfully, coming to stand beside Becca.“I know, right? I feel like I could just stare at her forever. She'll probably be screaming her head off if she knew how creepy her mother is being.” Becca replied, every inch the prou

There were a series of messages between Becca and the Peter guy, dating back to when they were still dating. Ryan wondered if he should even be going through her phone, but he needed to know. Once he started going through the phone though, he almost wished he hadn’t. Most of the messages from Peter’s end were not only sexual, but also vulgar and disrespectful, and he kept sending them, even after Ryan and Becca were married. The tone of the messages suggested that he was threatening her for some reason. Becca didn’t reply to most of them, or maybe she had deleted her replies, although that was absurd.Ryan spent over an hour going through her messages, of which there was a ton, mostly from Peter. It was now clear to Ryan that Becca did not delete her replies, but had been ignoring the man most of the time because Peter kept referring to how she was ignoring him. By the time Ryan was done, he realized two things, one of which was that he was probably the world’s greatest fool, and the

“Angela, what on earth do you think you’re doing? You do know that taking Taylor away with you as you did is called kidnapping, and it is a crime, don’t you?” Ryan asked, anger overcoming his fear immediately, at least for a few seconds. “Really? So tell me, what did you do? Report me to the cops? Oh, please, it’s not like I’m torturing her, or anything so drastic. She’s just fine.”“Have you fed her? Why is she crying? Look, just bring her back home right now, and I will forget that all this happened.”“Hmmm, I don’t think so. Don’t worry though, she’s in safe hands. You of all people know this better than anyone else does. We’re just taking a small vacation together and will be back before you know it.”“I doubt that that’s true,” Ryan said slowly.“Well, it is, so you can just tell the cops that this is all just a mistake and that she’s fine. See, she even stopped crying.”“Angela, look I know that you’re mad at me, but that is no reason to punish Taylor too. Okay, just tell me wh

As soon as Noah saw Ryan, he got up to greet him and came over to shake Ryan’s extended hands, pumping his fists as though he was very glad to see him. Ryan shook the man’s hand warily, wondering what the hell he was up to now. After all, they weren't exactly on friendly terms.“Damn, Ryan. You look like death warmed over. One of your maids said that you are sick. What is ailing you?”“Oh, just stress, I guess, and the fact that the very people I consider my second parents are fighting me for custody of my children. Hello, Anna. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”“Hello, Ryan. You know that we would never do anything to hurt you and that is the gospel truth. We are simply doing what we think is best for our grandchildren, whom we still haven't met in person. I know you think that Angela girl walks on water, but something about her doesn't sit right with me. She seems too desperate if you ask me, and apparently, she's not quite right in the head either.” Anna said.“Yeah. My