If Marilyn and I were still on bad terms, I probably would've blamed her first for Harley's disappearance.

But I can't do that now.

It's been almost 48 hours since Harley's disappeared and like Ryan told me, after 12 hours when he'd still found nothing, I filed a missing person's report.

No less than two hours later, the media had caught fire on the news and likewise, found out she is pregnant by me.

Marilyn came to my house as soon as she heard and she's been nothing but helpful through this tough time.
She managed to silence the media on Harley and me's relationship and rather focus on the fact that she's pregnant and missing.

I tell Marilyn as much as I can on the progression of the case because she also adds in a couple of ideas. She suggested that we go through a list of exes. It was a genius idea if you ask me.

"What ever happened to that Gregory guy that stabbed Harley's best friend?" Marilyn asked.

"Lauren's husband?" I asked and she nodded. "I don't...last I heard he was still on the run."

"Valentino. If there's anyone apart from Jermaine that would take Harley, it's him," Marilyn firmly stated but I only frowned deeply.

"Are you trying to tell me that Gregg took Harley and killed or injured her, leaving her to die," my breath grew shallow as my chest suddenly felt restricted.

Harley could be dead.

I can't..."breathe." My chest hurt as my throat closed up tightly. "Can't breathe..."

"Valentino! Valentino, breathe!" Breathe, babe. Honey, breathe..." Marilyn rubbed my back as I tried my hardest to breathe. "She's probably okay. She's okay, we'll find her," she soothing whispered.

When I caught my breath, I took a moment to myself before clearing my throat and putting appropriate space between. "Thank you for that," I said and she gave me a bright smile in return.

We sat in silence while I looked everywhere but at her. I knew she was staring at me, waiting for me to make eye contact.

My phone cleared the silence with its loud ringtone. Ryan had saved me from this awkward moment with Marilyn.

"Ryan," I answered as I tood up to take my call outside.

"The files are ready," he replied. "Any alarming suspects?" I asked and he went silent for a moment.

"I think we should meet in person for this," he said. "Fine by me. What time will you be here?" I questioned and he went silent again.

"Why don't we meet at the little coffee shop on this side of town?" I furrowed my eyebrows to his suggestion but agreed nonetheless and ended the call.

I went back inside and found Marilyn on the phone. She was almost whispering like she didn't want someone to catch her on the phone. "Make sure she eats," she harshly whispered into the phone before turning to see me walking towards her.

"Okay, mother. Don't forget to take your vitamins. See you soon, love you. Bye," she abruptly hung up and turned her full attention to me.

"I'm going down to the police station to see if they've had any progress so far," I lie. I don't even know why I'm lying to Marilyn but for some reason I don't trust her fully. At least not after that phone call of hers.

"Okay. I'll also be out soon. Heading home for Christmas eve." She smiled innocently. She was lying to me. Marilyn's family never spend Christmas "home". They always have a getaway for Christmas.

Instead I just nodded my head rather than call her out.

My heart hurt when I remembered that tomorrow was Christmas. It was going to be our first Christmas together, and if Gregg really does have her, we might never have Christmas as a family.

I headed out without another word and drove to the coffee using the long way so that I could pass by the police station.

Weird, I know but Marilyn lying to me had me paranoid.

When I arrived, I found Ryan sitting in a dark booth at the far end of the small shop looking at papers.

"Tillman," I said as I took a seat on the other side of the booth. "Why'd you want to meet here?"

"Because of this," he placed pictures in front of me.

There were three of them. The first was of Harley heading out the hotel with Marilyn in front of her. The second was of a driver having opened the car's door, while Marilyn climbed in. And the last picture was of Harley getting in the car.

"Look at the bottom of the picture," Ryan pointed at the numbers down there.

The date was of exactly two days ago, quite eerily in the morning.
"So you think Marilyn abducted her?" I was so confused right now.

She'd done nothing but help me in this dark time.

"That's not all," Ryan said. "I went and did some digging on her dirt, and it turns out that she paid the OB doctor a whole crap load of money."

"What for?"

"I'm guessing, she's not pregnant. So she paid the doctor to lie for her," he explained. "But that doesn't explain why she took Harley. If she took her," my head was spinning from all this confusion.

"Have you ever heard of fetal abduction?"

****

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas safely❤