Forced To Love | ✔

Chapter 40

Alyssa's POV

"Shit!", I heard Liam curse out loud as the darkness engulfed us.

I could barely see anything.

"Alyssa, don't you dare f*ucking move and do anything. Do you understand? If you do anything stupid, I will f*ucking kill you. I'm going to go check on the power. Wait here until I come back.", Liam threatened.

"Yes.", I answered as Liam headed up the stairs, ensued by the slamming of the door and the turning of the lock.

He wasn't stupid to just leave us alone here with the basement door unlocked.

"Henry?", I called out.

He hummed softly in response as he still had the cloth tightly tied around his mouth.

"I'm sorry I brought you into this mess. It's all my fault.", I croaked.

A loud groan escaped from him and I heard him shift in his chair, as though he were trying to speak to me. I wanted to remove the cloth from his mouth and hear his voice.

But, I dared not to do anything as I was afraid that Liam would return back and hurt Henry.

"Henry, there is something that I need to tell you. I know given the circumstances, this is probably not the best time to share this with you. But, I have no choice but to tell you now. Even if anything happened to us, I want you to remember this moment. Okay?", I felt my way around in the darkness and found his face. I felt the moisture on my fingertips and knew that he was crying. I began to cry along with him.

I didn't know if both of us were going to make it out of here. I had no clue what Liam had in store for us once the lights were back on. I just wanted to be in Henry's arms even if it meant that it would be the last time. I wanted to be engulfed by his warmth and love. The odds of us getting out of here were very slim.

Nonetheless, I had to at least try to be positive for Henry and the baby. I had to cherish each and every moment that I had left with him because I didn't know when would be the last one....

"Don't cry baby...I'm here with you. We're going to make it out of this. I know it in my heart. If...if anything were to happen to us....I want you to know that I love you so much...You were the best thing that happened to me and I won't change it for anything...ever. There's also another thing that you need to know...I'm...I'm...", I was rudely interrupted by the sound of a man's loud shriek followed by a thud against the floor above.

"Henry, did you hear that?", I sprung up from where I was seated. Alarm bells were going off in my head. I had  a gut feeling that something terrible must have happened.

I could hardly see in the dark and let alone move around. The last thing I wanted was to trip over something in the dark and hurt myself or the baby.

Out of nowhere, the lights came back on and I heard the doorknob of the basement door rattle violently. Henry and I exchanged confused and worried looks to each other. 

Why would Liam struggle to open the door when he had the key with him? Perhaps, he had lost it somewhere and couldn't get in?

The incessant twisting of the door knob ceased within a few seconds and was followed by nothing but complete silence.

What the hell was going on?

Few minutes passed and there was still no sign of any movement upstairs.

I held onto Henry's forearm for comfort as I sat there in fear of what was going to happen next.

That was when we heard the twisting of the door. This time, there was no force involved. The door swang open and was soon accompanied by the onset of heavy foot steps against the creaky wooden stairs.

This was it. Liam was back. We didn't have much time left. I turned to Henry and pressed my lips against his forehead as fresh new tears flooded to my eyes. Both sadness and distress lurked in his eyes as he realised what I was doing. I was bidding farewell to him. I had tried to be optimistic for the sake of Henry.

However, I had done nothing but fool myself. I felt useless. The basement was bare and desolate of any items that I could somehow use as a tool to defend Henry and myself.

Also, I was too petite to go up against him on my own. I could untie Henry and he could try to fight off Liam, securing our escape out of here.

But, Henry looked too weak and worn out to do that. And, I still remembered Liam's words from earlier. He had mentioned that he was going to put an end to everything. Did he mean that he was going to kill us?

What if Henry fought against Liam and things went wrong? If anything happened to Henry, I wouldn't be able to live with it. Would it matter at all if we planned to escape when Liam had already wanted to end our lives?

I mouthed "I love you" to him and held onto his hand before I turned my attention back to stairs and awaited for our impending doom.

That was when I saw him.

"Dad?", I choked out as I saw the familiar figure standing before me.

Without any second thought, I sprinted towards him and threw my arms around him. Relief flooded over me as I cried into his shoulder.

"It's ok sweetheart. Shhhh, everything's going to be fine.", he cooed softly and kissed my head as he rocked me along with him side to side like a child.

"I was so scared daddy... I thought I was never going to see you and mom.", I sobbed even harder. He pulled back and took my face in his hands endearingly.

"I'm not going to let anyone hurt my baby girl.", he smiled weakly and wiped the tears off my face before he rushed to Henry's side.

"We don't have much time left. We have to get out of here. Quick, remove all the ties!", Dad ordered and I went to work on removing the tight knot on the cloth around Henry's mouth.

I had so many questions as to how he found us here or what happened to Liam. However, there was no time for that now. I couldn't stand to be here to anymore.

It didn't take long for us to remove all the ties and Henry struggled to get out of the chair.

He must have been tied to the chair for many hours as there were deep red marks around Henry's wrists and ankles.

I wondered if Liam gave him any food or water at all. It was obvious that he was too fragile to move on his own.

My dad slung one of Henry's arm over his shoulder and gestured for me to do the same.

He clung onto us for support and we moved our way to the foot of the stairs when the door flung open with great force.

It was Liam with a bloodied forehead and a gun in his hands, aimed directly at us.

Hi guys! 

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I've been getting a lot of comments and messages for updates. 

It makes me happy to know that all of you are enjoying this story. 

However, each chapter takes time to write and I do not wish to rush them as I feel like I'm not giving my best when I do so. 

So, please take note that I will post each new chapter roughly within one week from the last one or earlier if I have completed it. I will send out a message to notify once the new chapter is out.

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