Enemy Basis | ✓

33| fatherly chats

DORRAN

It was the second time that Darcy had disappeared into the night right through my fingers, the second time in my life that I had felt so hopeless, anxious and severely regretful like I could've prevented such a situation, should've prevented such a situation.

I stood outside the bar with the other four guys and Tay as the party guests filtered out through the doors, unaware of the shit we were feeling, how quick the night had turned sour.

It was Darcy's birthday and her surprise today. Lennox had organised some gathering, adamant that we should attend and despite how childish this party sounded, I couldn't help but go.

I had gifted her the crystal, something of my mothers, realising instantly that this was what I wanted to give her, what I needed to give her. Everything I said to her about the pendant was true, and more so. The girl had changed my life for the better and seeing her in the green dress and the necklace around her pretty throat that she wore with such pride, I couldn't help the surge of emotion at the sight. She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen.

The kiss had felt like a long time coming but unexpected at the same time; something that made me feel everything I had never felt before, the emotion almost overwhelming but in a good way as liberation, peace, lust, love, hope, happiness washed away the darkness inside of me.

Darcy was everything.

And now she was gone.

As I stood underneath the bleak skies, I couldn't help but worry. There was a feeling inside of me that warned me that this was not like the first kidnapping, that this situation was much much worse and would have such severely different outcomes, a thought that sent my heart into overdrive.

Darcy was so unbelievably strong but at the end of the day, she was still just a girl, thrown into the deep end with no life vest, no anything.

Tay's voice brought me back to the present as I tried to filter out the thoughts.

"No one knows where her father lives so we can't identify if it was him who took her again but seriously, look at the evidence. Darcy said herself that her father was planning to kidnap her again and bring her home. Surely this is the only plausible answer?"

He had a point but I knew deep inside of me that he was wrong. It wasn't Michael that had taken her; it was someone else and I had a feeling that it was Mathew, the bastard that had plagued my thoughts for so long. If he had so much as laid a finger on her, I'd kill him and I wouldn't feel an ounce of regret.

However, looking around at everyone else and seeing their relieved, tired expressions, I could instantly tell that they wanted to believe that Darcy wasn't in danger unlike myself, that Mathew hadn't taken her and them convincing themselves of this was slowly easing their minds of the worry that they had been feeling.

So I kept quiet. Who's to say for sure that I was right? And if I was, I wouldn't drag some more people into this. I was relying only on myself this time. I wouldn't be the cause of any more deaths.

Apart from Mathew's.

"You're probably right," Lennox announced, albeit it was dejectedly, "I'll call her in the morning and if still nothing, we can call the police."

Things after that moved into motion. Everyone made their ways home and Marcelo offered to drive me to his house but I declined. My intuition was always correct and I would not be able to do anything until I knew Darcy was safe.