A N A S T A S I A

14 | he deserves to know

"Have you seen Ryder lately?" Asked Tyler as we washed the dishes.

"Ya, I saw him earlier.." I say hoping he doesn't ask what happened.

"Did you guys talk at all?" He asked as he dried a plate.

"For a minute." I reply.

"What'd he want?" He asked leaning his side on the counter to face me.

"Nothing, really.."

He sighs. "What happened? And don't say nothing because I know it's something."

"Ok.. He asked if Ariella was his daughter.." I say looking up at him as he stiffens.

"And what did you say.. You told him the truth?" He asked.

"No.. I told him no.." I said looking away.

"Why Ana?" He asked coming closer to me.

"Because.. Because I just couldn't.. I don't want my daughter to grow up and ask why her parents don't live together.. Why she has two dads.. She just needs one dad and that's you.." I say as he pulls me into a hug.

"I know that you think you're doing the right thing, but you have to think about Ryder too.. Don't you think he deserves to know that he has a child?" He asks.

"I am doing the right thing.. I wouldn't have to keep this from him if he wasn't such a bad person.."

"I just can't let Ariella know that he's her real father.. Not after everything he's done.. I don't want her to feel my pain.." I say as a silent tear rolls down my face and he wipes it away.

"I know babe, but no matter how much it pains you to tell him the truth, he deserves to know.. It would only be worse if he found out from someone else that you lied to him.." He said.

"He lied to me six years ago, I think it's only fair that I can lie too." I reply as I untangle myself from him and we walk to the living room to sit on the couch together.

"I know.. But by lying to him now, you're only doing the same thing he did.. That doesn't make you any better than him."

"I know that Ty, but I don't think I can tell him right now.. Maybe later, but not now." I say leaning my head on his shoulder.

"Ok, but I think you should tell him before it's too late."

"I will.. I promise.." I say and kiss his lips.

"I love you." He mumbles on my lips making me smile.

"Not as much as I love you." I say and attach my lips back to his.

✶ ━━━━━ ✶ ━━━━━ ✶

"Hey mom." I said smiling.

"Hey sweetie." She says hugging me.

"Are you ready to go?" I ask as she picks up Ariella.

"Yea, let me just grab my purse." She says and takes Ariella with her up the stairs.

As I wait I look around the hall and notice a wall of photos, so out of curiosity I go and check it out.

When I get close I notice how it has photos of everything. Ariella and I, Tyler and I, my brother and Izzy, my mom and Ariella, a family portrait, but the one that surprised me the most was the one of Ryder and I on the night I gave him all of me.

I don't know how my mom got this photo or why she even has it, but I can't seem to look away.

I remember taking this that day.. It was a selfie of the two of us. I was holding the phone camera up and we were both smiling, but just as I took the photo Ryder grabbed my face and pulled me into a deep kiss.. You can even see our smiles through the kiss..

I got snapped back into reality when I felt my cheeks wet. I didn't even realize that I started crying..

"You still love him.." I hear someone say behind me..

"No I don't.. When did you get here?" I ask turning around.

"I just got here.. I came to see Kai, but came over here to use the restroom when I saw you." She said smiling sadly..

"Oh, but I don't love him anymore Izzy.." I say..

"I saw the way you looked at the photo Ana.. You still love my brother whether you believe it or not.." She says and I sigh.

"What happened that made you leave?" She asked and I sighed again.

"You really don't know.. Do you?" I asked and she shook her head.

"I would've thought Ryder would tell you.." I say quietly.

"Why, he didn't know either.." She said. That's a lie, he knew..

"He knew Izzy, I left him a letter before I left.." I said..

"Then why did he lie to me?" She asked and I sighed because I knew the answer.

"Because he's the only reason I left.." I say looking right at her and she looks confused..

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he lied to me.. It was never real to him.. He cheated on me and I saw it myself. He got what he wanted and broke me.." I say wiping a tear away as I turned to face the other way.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know.. But what do you mean he got what he wanted and broke you?"

"I mean he had sex with me then left me.. I'm sorry Izzy, but I don't want to talk about it anymore.." I said and she nodded.

"It's ok and I'm sorry for what my brother did, you didn't deserve it." She says smiling as she walks away.

✶ ━━━━━ ✶ ━━━━━ ✶

"Do you think these flowers would go good for your bridesmaids?" Asked my mom.

"Umm, I think I want a different color." I say walking to a different area.

"What color do you like Ariella?" I ask looking down at her.

"Pink!" She says excitedly.

"Okay, mom lets look for some pink ones." I say.

"Okay, I'm going to go check over there while you look here." She says walking to the other area.

"Stay by my side baby, okay?" I say to Ariella.

"Okay mommy" she says looking at all of the flowers.

I was looking in the same area and saw some baby pink tulips. I grabbed them and started to smell them and right away I knew they would be perfect.

"Look at these Ariella, what do you think?" I ask turning around and see that she is nowhere to be seen.

"ARIELLA!" I yell looking for her.

"Ana, is everything okay? Where's Ariella?" She asks looking around.

"I d-don't know mom.. She w-was right next to me and I just turned for a minute then when I looked back she was gone.."

"Okay, I'll keep looking in here.. You go check outside." She says and I run outside screaming for my baby.

I couldn't find her anywhere, but then I noticed something on the window of my car. Quickly I ran over to it and saw that it was a note addressed to me.

I tore it open and read..

Dear Anastasia,

It wasn't a very good idea for you to come back to Rosewood. You have ruined my plans and so has your daughter.. If you never came back, none of this would have happened and I hope you know that it's all your fault..

I have a question.. Have you told Ryder that he has a daughter yet? No.. Well he's going to find out soon..

I have Ariella now and I'm keeping her until I get what I want, but that's not something you can give me.. Yet.. So..

Until next time Anastasia...

Right after this letter I cried my heart out.. Someone has Ariella and I don't know how to find her.. I'm going to need help, and I know exactly where I'm going to get it.

I grabbed my phone out of my purse and called someone who I know will help, but I'm not sure if they should know the whole truth..

*RING* *RING*

"Hello?" I heard a voice say through the phone.

"Ryder.. I need your help."

✶ ━━━━━ ✶ ━━━━━ ✶

❤︎ FOLLOW ME ON WATTPAD ❤︎
trinitystories_xo

✶ ━━━━━ ✶ ━━━━━ ✶

S O C I A L ❤︎ M E D I A

Twitter: trinitysunalee
Spotify: trinitystories_xo
Instagram: trinitysunalee
Instagram: trinitystories_xo
Website: trinitysunalee.com

Go to the link in my bio for all of my social media & books.

✶ ━━━━━ ✶ ━━━━━ ✶