*A/N- I have a couple of Mia and Char chapters for the next parts. Just small things between them, but don't worry, we're getting there.

(MIA POV)
After about three failed attempts to get Reece back, Roger was furious. It didn't matter how many times I had threatened Marjorie. He wasn't going to budge. I even tried going in on and making fun of Carly when she'd leaked all over herself at work the other morning. Nothing I did was working.

I told Roger all of this on the phone and then had to sit there as he yelled at me for an hour. "Roger, I've tried everything I can. It may just be time to let this go. You should just give me the information on my dad and let me out of this little deal. It's not working anymore." I said to him after he'd finally stopped screaming at me.

If he wasn't drunk already, then he was definitely getting that way. I could hear him pour another glass through the phone. "Marjorie has some strange affect on him. She got him to reconnect with his sister, he's opened up to her about things. I don't know how it happened so quickly, but she's stolen him from me." I was trying to get him to leave me be after all these years.

I knew it wouldn't work.

I heard a dark laugh come through and then glass shattered. He would never throw a drink, so I just assumed it was a lamp or the glass of a picture frame.

"Amelia," he used my full name. He never used my full name unless he was dead serious. "You aren't getting a damned thing about your father until Reece is miserable again." He chuckled, thinking that he'd won. No, not this time.

I was over it, and something in me just...snapped, "I've been doing this for the last 23 years of my life! How long do you expect me to go on for like this?" I raised my voice, "I've lost the only relationships I've ever cared about because of this stupid arrangement! And for what?" An angry laugh escaped my lips, "Some details on a man that I hate with every part of me? No, I'm not helping you anymore. I need to get out of this before I waste the rest of my life stuck under your thumb. I quit! I'm done!" My blood was boiling. I just wanted to hang up and throw my phone out the window.

As I pulled the phone away from my face to end the call, I heard Roger on the other side. He was laughing for a moment, and then he took a deep breath before speaking again. "Amelia. C'mon, darling. You know you can't really quit. You wouldn't do that to your mum. You know what will happen if you don't stay on my side." He was right. She could lose everything and relapse.

What would I do? Even with my shares in the company and my side jobs as a business consultant, I couldn't risk it for her. He might even tell her all the things I've done over the years. She would hate me. It would kill her.

"You made your bed, and now you have to lie in it. They'll never forgive you for what you've done. You lose me, and you'll really have no one left to turn to. You think you're in hell now, just wait." My eyes started to fill with tears as I realized he was right. I was so angry at myself for getting into this mess. Now, I had nowhere to go. "My little disappointment and his girlfriend are out of town for the week on holiday. My daughter and her...boyfriend are sick as well. I'm putting you in charge of her nursery, and I'll be sending Siobhan over to Reece's." He was calmer now. It was an eerie feeling.

I bit my tongue so I could try one more time to get the details of my father from him. I may have hated the guy, but I still wanted closure. "Fine. I'll figure something out. I'll try to turn the staff against them. After this I want the information on my father."

"Not going to happen, Mia. Just do as you're told. You don't want to start a war, you know you'll lose."

With that, he hung up the phone, and an overwhelming thought entered my mind. I was too naive before to realize it. "That RAT!" I yelled again, throwing my phone against the wall. He never had the info on my dad, did he? He probably hasn't seen or heard from him since the day he'd left.

I tried to walk over to my bed but collapsed on the floor as all the awful things I'd done over the years came flooding back to me. All the times I'd hurt Reece. Every time, I sent a new bouquet of dead flowers to Autumn. Even all the secrets of theirs that I had shared with Roger to use against them if need be.

"It's all been for nothing..."

As I felt my heart breaking, I let out a very loud scream from the pain and frustration. I brought my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I'm not sure how long I'd sat there crying before I pulled myself out of it. I slowly got up.

"No. I'm not doing this." I said to myself as I walked over to the mirror. I wiped my face, fixed my makeup, and straightened out my hair.

If I couldn't have what I wanted, then fine. Neither could he. "I'm tired of this chokehold he's had me in." I was still at the mirror, and I started thinking of how I would take my revenge on him. "Poor Rog. Always talking about how big and bad he is, he doesn't know that I can be worse."

I picked up the shattered pieces of my phone and threw them in the bin.

Walking over to my bedside table, I grabbed my old phone out of the drawer. It wasn't the newest model like I had been using, but it would work for now.

I started to write down my plan in my notes. I already knew how I was going to make it work. All I needed was a little bit of help from the angel of the nurseries. I planned it specifically so she wouldn't end up getting hurt if things didn't go the way I wanted. I just needed her to get the ball rolling.

I started typing a message to Charlotte to let her know she would be seeing a lot of me for the next week. "Hello, Sweetheart. It seems Autumn has fallen ill. The owner wants me to come and "take care" of things over there until Marjorie and Reece get back. Can't wait to get started." I put a wink at the end of the message and sent it.

It was a little past midnight, so I knew she was asleep and wouldn't see her messages until the morning. Hopefully, she would call Marjorie to let her know, and the plan would soon be in motion.

I went back over to the mirror and smiled at myself, "If it's a war he wants, then it's a war he'll get."

(CHAR POV)
It was quiet in the house. Too quiet compared to what I was used to. I would normally hear my husband's breathing or the girls stirring in the beds. Trying to fall asleep in an empty house was the hardest thing I'd had to do in years.

My head turned to the empty space next to me, and my hand reached over to the pillow next to mine, gently tracing the patterns on the pillowcase. I knew it wouldn't be easy, especially after being with someone for so long. I just hadn't prepared myself for how lonely the transition would be.

The girls were over at his tonight, so I couldn't even bring them in to lay with me.

The silence was deafening.

The lonely feelings were forcing themselves into my mind and screaming at me. I've never understood why our brains would work against us like that.

I was so lost in my own toughts that I jumped as I heard my phone go off next to me. When I sat up to grab it, I started to wonder who was texting me this late at night.

I turned the screen on and let my eyes adjust to the light. "Mia?" I said, reading the space of who it was from. I clicked on the message and started reading.

I won't lie. When I saw it was her, my heart skipped a beat. Only for a moment, though. I smiled when I saw that she called me sweetheart. Something about it just seemed to give me a calm feeling.

The smile soon left, and my face dropped as I continued reading. She was coming over to the nursery for the week. It was too late to call Marjorie and Reece, and I knew they would want to hear it from me directly.

I dropped my arms to my sides and fell backward onto my pillow. I was happy I would get to see Mia, but anxious about what problems would arise over the course of the next 5 days.

"Shit!" I yelled into the empty room around me. I covered my face with my hands. This wasn't going to be good.