Olivia finally let herself breathe the moment she felt the cold surface of the doctor's stethoscope leave her wrist. She monitored the look on his face and could barely read a thing, not with how tired and afraid he was. Olivia remembered how his hand had trembled on her the entire time, and how he kept looking back at the door in fright to confirm if Austin was still there watching them. He was. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to be.

The old man gulped and slowly raised himself from the bed. He took two steps backwards and cowered.

"Your blood pressure," he started just as Olivia left her focus on him. "You need to take better care of yourself for the sake of your baby." He went on. "Rest, you need lots of it."

Olivia gulped hard as she slowly started to pull herself up from the bed without even letting the man finish. She needed to get back on her feet. There was something that she needed to do.

They both watched how Olivia managed to get on her feet again and how she had left her gaze on Austin who stood even straighter when his eyes caught it. He could see the frown on her face get even worse as she approached him. Her eye bags had gotten worse from literally crying all night and the dark circles under them were just enough to show anyone how exhausted she was at the same time.

Nothing made sense to her. She had spent the entire day wondering what had happened to Grace, wondering what Austin had done to her. She was worried, she was afraid of the worst case scenario. There was nothing the man in front of her could not do to fulfill his desires of wanting her all to himself.

Olivia glared at him the moment she got closer to him, she took about three seconds to put what she was about to do into consideration. She watched how his eyes were laced with concern and curiosity as she got closer.

Olivia slapped him and she made sure she put whatever strength she had left into it. The doctor gasped in shock. He wasn't the only one surprised, Austin was too. The way he froze for a second to take it all in showed just how much.

The satisfaction she had gotten from seeing that he had obviously hurt from it with the way his head had turned in the opposite direction and remained there gave her just a tiny bit of satisfaction. She watched how his cohort tried to step in to probably make her pay for what she had done but Austin stretched a hand to him to stop him. He was never going to let anyone hurt her anyway.

"Where is Grace?" Those were just about the only words that her chapped and pale lips could say just as tears welled up in her eyes again.
"What did you do to my daughter!" She yelled at him but Austin turned to look at her, holding himself back from giving her as little as a response.

"Did you hurt her? Did you-" Olivia sniffed, she found it really hard to say the next words she wanted to.
"Did you kill her?" Her voice broke again. She waited for him to say something but he didn't. Was that a confirmation? Did he really kill her?

"Then just kill me!" She told him as she hit him on his chest as hard as she could.
"Kill me too," she pushed him again. "Why won't you just kill me." She kept on hitting him as she repeated the same words over and over again. Nothing made sense to her anymore, there was no reason for her to keep living anymore, not like that at least. She felt him grab her hand and hold on tightly to it so she didn't move it anymore.

She glared at him for a second while he turned slightly to the man beside him.

"Take the doctor back to his quarters." He commanded and in a second, the big man stormed to where the old man was and grabbed his arm. He started to pull the man away from them and out of the room.

Austin waited, he needed to make sure that it was just them now. He turned back to Olivia.

"I would never forgive you." Olivia made sure her words were as clear as crystal. "I would never forgive you for hurting Grace."

He exhaled.

"Grace is fine." He said and then frowned harder. "I hope she is."

Olivia gulped. What did he mean?

"I made sure she was dropped off in plain sight, in front of a hospital. Someone should have found her by now and alerted the authorities."

Olivia raised her hand to her heart and squeezed the portion of clothing that covered the area. She didn't know if it was okay to get relieved by what she had heard, or fear. She was going through it. The outburst of many emotions at once. She took deep breaths first of all, trying to at least wrap her head around the situation

"On the bright side, we got a good donation from a common friend," he went on just as Olivia raised her head to him again. A donation? Just what was he talking about this time?
"We could get the best honeymoon as planned, bigger than yours with Andrew, rent money and all living expenses for the next few months are settled too, courtesy of your baby daddy."

What did he mean? Olivia didn't understand what he was on about. Was he trying to say Rafael had sent them money? What honeymoon? What wedding? What living expenses? Rafael would never do that, not unless-

She gasped silently the moment she caught the smirk on his face. What was that? Was it what she think it was? Did Austin make some kind of deal with Rafael in exchange for Grace? Was that money paid as ransom for Grace's freedom? Olivia froze as she felt his hands slowly finding her jawline and drawing traces with his fingers up her face, caressing her gently.

"You would make a beautiful bride tomorrow."

Tomorrow?
Did this man just insinuate that she was going to get married to him, and the next day as at that? That was impossible, that was preposterous and she needed him to know that. Olivia looked him in his eyes.

"I would never get married to you." She told him, her voice being as cold as her eyes were. She could notice how the look on his face had changed and how he had suddenly started to frown even harder and glare at her.

"I would never get married to a murderer and man like you, to a criminal. You would never get what you want, I am never going to let you. I would rather die than be your wife."

"Don't say that."

"I belong to someone else, and you would never be half the man he is-"

Austin grabbed her by her neck immediately and made sure to tighten his grip on her. He was choking her and she could hear his rough breathing as he glared into her eyes, watching her struggle to breathe and pull his hands away from her. She was suffocating, barely breathing and he was too strong for her. His grip on her was too tight too, there was no way she could fight him, she couldn't push him away.

"Where is he then?" He asked her.
"Where is this man that you brag so much about? I don't see him anywhere. I'm all you have now, I'm your only chance at making sure you leave this place.  Me! I am the one in charge, I own you, I love you! You would never be with anyone else but me. Do you not understand what I have done for you? What I can do for you? I killed my own brother just to have you, do you think I wouldn't do the same to that man and any other man that desires you?"

Olivia could barely even cough. He was killing her and she was fighting so hard for oxygen at that point.

"A-a-Austin-" she tried to speak, to call his name, hitting his hand as hard as she could so he took it off her.

"Try it, keep pushing me and see how far I can go, refuse me and see just how much of a lunatic that I am, maybe I should just go back to that hospital and kill them all. Rafael, Grace, that big mouthed cousin of yours, and then that disgusting brat growing in your belly would be next. That's what's going happen if you keep refusing me, If you don't get married to me tomorrow as planned. I might just get mad and kill everyone."

Olivia kept hitting his hand over and over again, her eyes pleading with him to stop. She was going to give up at that point. It was hard to hold on to life with his hard his grip was on her.

Austin inhaled sharply and then let her go and she cringed backwards, grabbing her knees as she struggled to catch her breath. Olivia placed a hand over her speeding heart, taking deep breaths as tears started to fall from her eyes. She wasn't even sure what part of the situation had frightened her. Was it the fact that she had almost been choked to death? Or was it all he had said? Was he really going to go after everyone? She could barely wrap her mind around anything with the way she still struggled for air.
She didn't notice Austin turn around and walk out of the room but she heard the door close immediately and then lock right after.

She raised her head to the door, he was gone. She hit her chest over and over again like it was going to speed up her breathing process. She was terrified and way beyond broken. She knew she wasn't going to be able to keep her sanity by being there any longer, she had to plan an escape. She had to leave, she didn't care how or where. All she knew was she was going to die before she let anyone hurt her family or use her as leverage or a reason to hurt the people she cared about.

She was never going to let him have his way.
She had to do something about it.

━═━═━═━┤➴├━═━═━═━

"Well, it looks like you all are going to have the meeting with the board without me this time. I'd make sure my assistant turns in all the documents you requested for Mr Thomas. Thank you."

Rafael hung up quickly as he made his way out of the car, struggling to hold on to the shopping bags in one hand, while the other tried to shut the car's door. He had his phone glued to his ear with his shoulder. It got easier to multitask after he had closed the door and reached for his phone.

He lowered his gaze to the bags in his hands.
Grace had said she craved something sweet but he didn't exactly know what to get her so he had spent the better part of his evening grocery shopping for everything Grace would like.

He didn't do it often but Rafael was just realizing how shopping distracted him, not enough to not be worried about Olivia, but enough to keep his mind in one slightly in one piece.

"Hello."

Rafael picked yet another call without looking at the caller ID the moment his phone had started to ring again. He managed to put all the bags in one hand just so his other hand was free enough to hold his phone to his ear.

"Good day Mr Okonkwo, this is Sylvanus Okezie, from Acer bank, Abakaliki branch. I called you the other day to verify a cheque transaction on your joint account with your late wife; Constance Okonkwo."

It took him a few moments but he finally got a hang of it. Rafael had remembered who the caller was, he had remembered the call he had the other day out of the blues, the one from the bank he and Constance had shared together. He didn't remember much from the conversation but he remembered enough to recognize what kind of conversation he was about to get roped into. Rafael let out a weak exhale.

"Are you by any chance free to talk sir?

"I already told you everything I know?" He said as he made his way into the large hospital's hallway, holding on tightly to the shopping bags in one hand and his phone on his ear with the other.
"I don't know what else to tell you."

"I'm afraid sir but this isn't exactly a conversation that can be swept under the rug. There has been several transactions, withdrawals and transfers made to and from your joint account with your late wife for the past year."

"Well, just like I said to you before, I have no idea what is going on with that account. My wife and I submitted a form to close our joint account with Acer bank a long time ago. I am certain that this has to be a mistake-"

"Except that it's not."

"Good afternoon sir."
Rafael exchanged smiles with the nurse that greeted him as they walked right past each other while he still held on to his phone.

"There has been no request to close down the account in question within the last three years, as a matter of fact, the only request we got was to update its signatory from both, to single."

Rafael stopped walking the moment he got to the front of the door leading to Grace's room, he looked in through the transparent glass at the top and could already see how properly taken care of and comfortable that she was. His heart was relieved when he saw how focused she was in the book in front of her and how Amy laid beside her, reading it to her.

Grace had recovered quickly the past fourth-eight hours and was looking way better than she was the day they had found her. She looked brighter too and could still force a smile on her face with all that went on. That was really all he needed, all he could concern himself with. 

The new hospital she was transferred to had the biggest and most comfortable rooms and it looked like she was thriving well in it.

"Sir?"

Rafael felt his attention get cut short the moment he heard a voice from beside him. He slowly turned to the tall figure of Kenneth standing right there and bowing his head slightly to him. It was like he had something to tell him with the way he had his eyes glued on Rafael the moment they made eye contact. Rafael let out a weak exhale, suddenly taking the fact that he still had his phone glued to his ear into consideration .

"Mr Okonkwo, we might have to place your account on a temporary hold until we get a hold of the situation-"

"Just close it." Rafael told him.

"Sir?"

"It's causing a lot of hassle and I really can't stand to get my attention divided at the moment. My wife is dead, there is no use for it anymore. Please close the account."

"Well, I'm afraid sir, if this is what you really want, you would have to visit the nearest branch to request for an account closure form? Or better still, we can send someone to get one to you?"

"Very well then, thank you."

He hung up and drew a deep breath while he slowly pushed his phone into the pocket of his jeans, returning his gaze to Kenneth who still stood put looking at him.

"Any news on what I asked you to find out about?"

"I checked the prison records, and confirmed all Austin Silver's visitors within the last nine months."

Rafael looked at him carefully, waiting for him to go on. He was eager to hear what he had to say, especially since he had been anticipating this exact news Kenneth was about to share with him for days.

"I'm afraid sir but I wasn't able to get anything substantial from his records. The only visitor he ever got was his lawyer and he stopped getting visits from her two months ago."

Rafael exhaled loudly to show his disappointment. He was so sure that he was at least going to get some kind of evidence or explanation as to how Austin was suddenly given a pardon even after he had made sure he got a deserving sentence for his crimes.

"However, I made some further investigations at the Federal prison Suleja."

Rafael raised his head to him the moment he had heard him say those words. He didn't know how but his mind immediately registered what he meant and who he was referring to, it was no other than Victoria.

"Victoria?" He wanted to know, and Kenneth's little nod gave him all the confirmation that he needed.

"She got a visit from someone on the up a few weeks ago. It looks like it was supposed to be a secret visit since there were no records of it on file but I was able to pull some strings from a few people in the correctional facility that owe you some favors."

Okay?

Those were the exact words Rafael's eyes told him with the way he looked into his, eagerly waiting for Kenneth to drop the bomb, even though he was almost certain that he had an idea of who it was.

"It was the God father, your father."

Rafael scoffed. He couldn't believe it even though he and Tony had their suspicions of Randal's involvement in all of it. Somehow, he had hoped that it wasn't true. He had hoped that for once, his father had not tried to do the one thing he was never going to forgive him for; hurt his family, again.

"Were you able to find out what they had talked about?"

Kenneth shook his head.

"It was a private meeting."

Rafael took a deep breath. Everything was a mess but he needed to think things through. He knew how unwise it was going to be if he just went around throwing accusations like that without solid evidence. Even though he didn't want to believe it, he knew he had to do something about it, he had to think of the best possible way to find out the truth about Randal's involvement in Austin's release, and Olivia and Grace's kidnap. If he could somehow connect the dots, he was sure it was going to be one step towards finding her.

He nodded.

"We'd talk about it much later." He said to Kenneth. "No one can know about what you just told me, especially Amarachi or Grace. They are going through so much already, I don't want to give them something else to be worried about, at least not until I get a grip of what's going on."

Kenneth understood perfectly what it was that Rafael was trying to say. He nodded once and that was all Rafael needed to know that he could trust him. Rafael nodded too and took in a deep breath.

That was enough hassles for one day, he knew better than to let any of the events that had just unfolded print themselves on his face. He had to at least lighten his mood and pretend that he had not heard what he just did especially when he walked into the room. Grace was sensitive, she was a smart child too, there was a good chance that she was going to detect that something was wrong immediately he walked in, depending on his mood.

Rafael brushed it off. He had to.

He faked a smile on his face and turned to the door as fast as he could just in time for Kenneth to open it for him. Grace's smile the moment her eyes lifted from the book she was reading and met his was all that he needed. He could feel his heart manage to pick its rhythm the moment she had called out his name in an excited cry.

"Took you long enough." Amy smiled brightly as she managed to pull herself from the bed just so she could help him with the grocery bags he had gotten. Amy took a few from him and walked with him to the table in the middle of the room just so she could help put them on it and fit them into the little refrigerator at the other side of the room one after the other.

"Any news yet?" She whispered to him as she multitasked between getting out the packs of cereals from one of the bags, and raising her eyes to Rafael at the same time.

He shook his head.

"Not yet." He told her and watched how Amy had exhaled so exhaustively. It was obvious how tensed she was and exhausted with the back and forth. Olivia's sudden situation had put a toll on her, on everyone so much so that it was hard to focus on anything else at that point.

"I just don't understand how any of this could even happen. We were doing good, we were finally living past the shadows of the Silver's hovering above our heads, how did this happen? Why did this happen? What else do they want?"

Rafael exhaled. He wished he had the answers she needed to hear but it saddened him that he had no way to bring comfort to Amy or made the situation better for her. He dropped the can of powdered milk on the table and raised a hand to reach for Amy's shoulder gently.

"We are going to get her back." He told her the moment his eyes found Amy's staring into them. "I would never let anyone harm Olivia, I'd rather die first than watch that happen. I promise."

With the way Amy exhaled softly, anyone could tell how unsatisfied but relieved that she was. Rafael's affirmation was soothing and almost believable. It was the best she had gotten all day and she was going to take it. Amy nodded.

Rafael lowered his gaze to the bag for a second and got out a stuffed animal from inside of it. He managed to get a smile on his face as he turned quickly to Grace's bed and raised it beside his face just so she could see it.

"Look what I found." He said to her as he slowly started to make his way towards her bed just as Grace raised her head to him. The huge smile on her face followed by the sharp gasp she let out told Rafael just what he needed to know about how his gift had made her feel.

"Mr Fluffles." Grace clapped her hands in excitement just as Rafael got even closer to the bed and made himself comfortable on it while Amy offloaded the rest of the groceries and started to put them where they were meant to be, smiling as brightly as she could when she witnessed Grace's excitement. Grace hurriedly took the toy from him and hugged it tight.

"Thank you so much Daddy Rafael."

Rafael scoffed sarcastically

"You named it already?" He asked her even through Grace was too busy being in love and showing all of that love to her new toy and paying almost no attention to him. He exhaled.

"Oh what do I do? It looks like you already found my replacement."

"Of course not God daddy." Grace said lowering the toy so she could look at him. "I could never replace you, you're the best father ever, the best in the whole world."

She opened her hands wide and hugged him as tight as they let her just as Amy started to approach them with a huge smile on her face.

"I love you so so big God daddy, thank you."

"You're going to make it impossible to get rid of her with the way you treat her."

"Get rid of her?" Rafael turned to Amy with a huge smile on his face just as Grace let him go. "Don't be silly Amy, I'm never letting her leave my sight, ever." He turned to Grace and gave her cheek a light squeeze.

"Well, that's good to know." Amy grabbed her purse from the bed. "Do you think you both could manage without me for about three hours?" She turned to Rafael.

"I'd just go home, take a shower and change into fresh clothes and I'd be back."

"Oh," he said. "It's fine, you can take the rest of the night off, get some rest." He took note of the eye bags that had gotten worse beneath Amy's eyes.
"You look like you probably need a lot of it. I'd stay here tonight with Grace."

Amy frowned.

"Really?" She asked him. "Are you sure? You've been by her side all night since she got admitted. I don't mind taking shifts. I know you're busy with work and-"

"Amy, please." Rafael chuckled nervously. "Just go home, I've got this. There's nothing to go back home to for me anyway. The twins left the country yesterday as well. This is exactly where I'm meant to be."

Amy exhaled as she watched Rafael go back to playing with Grace right after.

"Thank you." She told him and he turned to her again. He could see the tears that welled up in her eyes as she looked at him. She slowly reached for his hand and held on tightly to it, squeezing gently.

"Thank you for taking care of my sister and her daughter. I might not say it all the time but I am really grateful that they have a man like you in their lives, by their side, a good man."

Rafael was embarrassed and the way his cheeks reddened could tell them all how embarrassed he was. He quickly placed his hand on Amy's and turned to Grace, not sure of what to say. He turned back to Amy.

He let his gaze shift to Kenneth standing right in front of the door behind them.

"Kenneth, would you please take Amarachi back to her house safely?" He instructed and Kenneth nodded immediately.

Amy sniffed and slowly took her hand away from his and nodded too. He was right, she probably needed to rest. Besides, it was Rafael, she was sure Grace was the safest with him. She turned and walked towards the door and Kenneth joined her right after.

Rafael could feel how his heart had become burdened with guilt and fear the moment Amy walked out the door. He wasn't able to manage the smile on his face much longer before it slowly started to turn to a frown.
He turned to Grace and watched how she had retreated to playing with her toy. He was conflicted with the same thoughts that bothered him.

Was his father really responsible for what was happening? Was Olivia going to get hurt because of him again? Was his family going to get hurt because of him again?

The same thoughts kept clouding his head and it made it hard for him to think. It was becoming unbearable too.

Rafael exhaled weakly. Too unbearable.