Nora and Theo arrive around thirty minutester. Like I said, I haven’t been outside since that short trip


    from the hospital


    I was dying to see how the city had changed. Four years is a lot of time for a fast–moving city like this


    one


    to stay the same.


    When the doorbell rings, I get up excitedly and open the door.


    “Are you and lo


    you and Iris ready?” Nora asks.


    She was buzzing with the same excitement as me. I let both of them hug me. Being in their arms felt so


    wonderful and familiar. Like it was something I constantly got from them.


    “Yes, let me just get her.”


    I turn around and head back to the living room. Picking up my daughter, I say a hurried goodbye to


    Teresa,


    then leave the house.


    I was about to climb into their car when a bodyguard stops me.


    “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t let you leave,” he says, dampening the excitement.


    I didn’t know his name, though I’ve seen him a couple of times while he was patrolling thepound.


    “Why not?”


    “I’m just following orders,” he replies kindly, but it honestly pisses me off.


    “Call him,” I demand, my voice harder than I’d expected,


    Almost reluctantly, he takes his phone from his pocket and dials it. I would have called Rowan myself, but


    I didn’t want to admit to anyone that I was struggling to read the names saved on my phone.


    “What’s going on? Theo asks from behind.


    I raise my hand to stop him. I wasn’ting off as rude; I was just frustrated. I hated feeling like I was


    caged. Like I was a prisoner in my own house.


    The guard then hands over his phone.


    What? His voice is hard and gruff,


    Rowen, why is the bodyguard preventing me from leaving? I ask in imitation,


    “Where do you want to go? You can send him or he can drive you.”


    “Nora invited me for lunch with her and Theo… I have nothing to do so I want to leave with them.”


    I expected him to put up a fight, but he doesn’t. Instead, he just sighs and asks to speak to Theo. I hand


    over the phone to him. He walks a couple of meters from us. When he is done, hees back and


    hands


    over the phone to the bodyguard.


    “Well?” Nora asks her husband.


    “He has agreed, just as long as we take extra bodyguards with us.” He then turns to the guard. “Take at


    couple of you, men. You’ll take one car. My bodyguards will drive in front of us and you’ll be in the rear.”


    He nods. “Yes sir”


    It doesn’t take long for them to organize themselves. A few minutester, we are on the road.


    The drive is silent, and before I know it, we pull up at a fancy restaurant. The driver parks the car, and


    Theo helps Nora and me out of the car.


    “Is it okay if I hold her?” Nora asks as we walk.


    I don’t see a problem with it, so I hand Iris over to her. She smiles wide as she stares at me, daughter.


    Her


    granddaughter.


    Theo leads us inside. Some of the bodyguards stay outside, while a few enter with us.


    The moment the hostess sees us, she directs us to a VIP section. It was obvious that the couple had


    money and were well known. It reminded me of Rowan’s family.


    “Can you tell me more about Ethan?” I ask them the moment that the hostess leaves after she’s made


    sure we’re settled


    Theo and Nora exchange looks before they both turn to face me.


    “So Rowan told you about him?”


    “Yes, but only that he is your adopted son, Iris’s father and that he’s in prison.”


    Given Rowan didn’t really like him. I knew that he couldn’t have known Ethan well. These two have


    raised


    him. Maybe I can get to know him better through them.


    What do you want to know about him?” Nora asks.


    Do you visit him??


    I


    They both nod their heads. Iris was now awake, but I didn’t take her from her grandmother. She wasn’t


    crying, so there wasn’t any need.


    “Yes, and I know most people wouldn’t agree


    but he’s still our son despite what he did. All I pray is that


    don’t hate. He was wrong but I swear he isn’t a bad person.”


    you


    To be honest, I can’t really hate him. It’s hard to hate someone you don’t know and have no recollection


    of. Right now, my opiniof him is based on what others have told me.


    I listen carefully as they tell me all about their Ethan. They also tell me what happened and how I ended


    up with the Sharp’s.


    I did pay


    y attention throughout, but by the time they’re done, I’m still confused about Rowan. They went on


    and on about how he was a good man. If I’m being honest, I feel like they were trying to sell me a pitch.


    Highlighting all of Ethan’s good qualities without telling me who he truly is.


    All these just made me more desperate to see him. If I wanted to know what kind of man he is, then it’s


    better to see him face–to–face rather than ask others about him.


    “Please excuse me.” I tell them needing to take a breather.


    Leaving them with Iris, I ask the hostess to guide me to where the bathrooms are. My head was


    pounding.


    It’s like I had an overload of information and didn’t know what to do with it.


    I get to the


    opens.


    washroom and ssh water on my face. Taking a deep breath, I release it just as the door


    “What are you doing here?” I was surprised to see Emma.


    I’m even more surprised to see her with Christine. I didn’t know they were friends. Did Emma know that


    Christine has been after Rowan for years?


    “I’m here to warn you,” she replies, both of them staring at me with hateful looks.


    “So you decided the best way to do that is to corner me in the washroom?”


    “We were here having lunch when you and your parents walked in,” Christine shrugs.


    Remembering how disrespectful Emma was that day, I dry my hands and move to leave. She grabs my


    hand and stops me.


    Rowan is mine. Ava: stay away from him,” she snarls, bitterness clouding her voice.


    right? enquing. Then why isn’t he with you? Why is it that hees home to me every day? How


    he sleeps holding every night and not you?


    To be honest, I’m surprised at my own boldness. This is so unlike me. I would have usually bowed to her


    because I didn’t want conflict.


    She shoves me hard, and I knock my head against the wall.


    “I know you nned all this to trap him again. To make him feel sorry for you so he cane back to


    you. I’m warning you, though, that it won’t work. I’ll expose you for faking your amnesia and once I do,


    Rowan


    wille running back to me.”


    I couldn’t pay attention to what she was saying because pain shot throughout my head right before I


    copsed to the ground.


    Thest thing I see is Emma’s worried and panicked face looking down at me, and Christine’s devious.


    and evil smirk.