#24 Cold-blooded

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   Bring me the money tomorrow. Alone.

   Jennifer keeps reading the message to make sure that she is not misreading anything. Freddy asked her to bring the money that they already promised tomorrow, which is in fact, today.

   "Jennifer, are you ready?" Andrew puts his hand on Jennifer's shoulder firmly, making her blink her eyes in realisation. She nods slowly and looks out the window. They are outside a log cabin which is a house where Emily is currently in.

   Jennifer gets out of the car with Andrew and Thomas, with the latter insisted that he wanted to come along. They are accompanied by the police and all of them parked their cars a few miles away from the house so that Freddy will not suspect them.

   Andrew takes out a holdall from his car which contains an amount of money that Freddy had asked for and hands it to Jennifer. She just stares at the bag blankly, making him drop it to the ground slowly.

   "Don't worry, okay? The police will keep their eyes on you all the time," Andrew calms Jennifer down who looks scared and worried.

   "That's right, ma'am. We also have the snipers who will watch you while you're in the house and some police officers will guard the perimeter of the house," one of the police officers who is standing beside Andrew, confirms reassuringly.

   "Are you okay? If you don't want to do it, I'll do it," Andrew reaches his hand to the holdall, but Jennifer quickly stops him.

   "No! I'm okay. I'm just worried about Emily. That's all. I will do it. He told me to," Jennifer says. Then, both of them stare at each other for a long time until Jennifer breaks the tension between them by embracing Andrew.

   "I'm sorry for everything. Please take care of our children, okay?" Jennifer whispers, still hugging Andrew.

   Andrew, who is in shock, quickly reacts by hugging Jennifer back. "I-I'm sorry too," he manages to choke out those words as he is still surprised by Jennifer's spontaneous reaction. It's been a long time since they hugged like this.

   "I already forgave you," Jennifer says, tightening the hug. She closes her eyes as she prepares herself to say the next words.

   "I always love you," Jennifer states softly and quickly releases herself from the long embrace and then moves to Thomas who is watching his parents from a distance.

   Andrew blinks his eyes in astonishment as he watches Jennifer hugging Thomas. Her last statement still makes his eyes go wide. He didn't expect that she would say those powerful words to him at this time.

   "I love you, Tom," Jennifer wraps her arms around Thomas, using the actual name that she wanted to give him after he was born.

   "I love you too, Mum," Thomas smiles and hugs Jennifer tighter. He beams in happiness when his mother called him 'Tom'.

   "Take care of yourself and your sister, okay?" Jennifer pulls away and puts her hands on Thomas' shoulders, making him nod. She hugs him again and kisses his forehead lovingly and maternally. Lastly, she pulls away and smiles at him.

   "Okay! I'm ready," Jennifer grabs the holdall and heaves a deep breath. She sees Andrew staring at her and she mouths 'bye-bye' whilst waving at him. She does the same at Thomas also.

   One of the police officers nods at Jennifer and she begins to walk towards the log cabin whilst carrying the holdall. Alone.

*******

   Emily sits cross-legged on the bed, staring into space. She wonders when she will get out from this awful place. She heard that Freddy will get his money today. Maybe her mother will be here too! Her mouth twitches happily.

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