Anne felt at peace hugging Carl and she slowly began to get a hold of herself. Her body stopped vibrating in fear and she now realized she was hugging Carl tight that she could barely breathe.
Anne disengaged from the hug, feeling embarrassed to have pulled and hugged Carl like that out of fear.
"Carl, I'm sorry didn't mean to pull you close to me like that," she said in a low tone looking down.
Carl was as happy as a clam inside his heart after realizing that Anne called him by his first name instead of acting so formal and calling him by his last name all the time. He cupped her face and wiped the tears under her eyes with his thumb.
He noticed a pint of blood on the corner of Anne's bottom lip. "you're bleeding" Carl said. "those fucking imbeciles" he cursed in his head with a scowl on his face.
The cops came in their direction with the three hoodlums all handcuffed and forced to kneel down.
"prosecutor Carl, they're the kidnappers," one of the cops said to Carl.
With anger, Carl threw a heavy punch at their leader who was in front, on his jaw.
"who sent you to kidnap her" Carl yelled at him, strangling him like he was going to kill him with his bare hands.
The leader of the hoodlums coughed nonstop, using that as an excuse not to answer Carl's question.
Since he was proving stubborn to talk, Carl brought out his pistol and cocked the gun on the leader's face to threaten him to talk.
"It was your mom, Ms. Sarah McAlester. She… she asked us to kidnap Miss Anastasia and do whatever we please with her" The leader had no option but to confess because he was scared for his life.
Carl was in shock because he never knew his mom would go as far as hiring hoodlums to kidnap Anne.
Anne who was also surprised said to Carl, sobbing "why would your mom want to hurt me?"
"Anne please get in the car," Carl said to her. "tell the other cops we've found Anastasia and get these men out of my sight," he said to the cops.
"get into the car... You're all going to jail" the cops said to the hoodlums and they all got into the police car and drove off.
Carl got into his car with Anne "here's your phone and your bracelet… You have every right to press charges against my mother, what she did to you was unforgivable and you can sue her for that"
He brought out a handkerchief and carefully clean off the blood on her lips.
"I'm not pressing charges against your mom and I can't sue her," Anne said
"why? I don't understand, after hiring those thugs to kidnap you? What if something terrible had happened to you because of my mother?" Carl questioned.
"…but I got saved by her son… twice!! I can't press charges against her because I know it'll hurt you. She's your mother." she sighed.
"I don't know what I've done to her or why she hates me so much but I'm terribly sorry if I've ever offended her," she said
"you don't have to be sorry. I'll make sure to protect you at all cost from my mom." Carl said earnestly.
He started his car and they drove off.
"I yelled your name but you didn't hear me while you drove passed me when I was taken, hostage. How did you figure I was behind you" Anne curiously asked as Carl was driving.
"my ears might not have listened to you but my heart did," he said with his eyes on the road.
Carl stopped in front of Anne's house. He was about to come down from his car to see her get to the door but Anne stopped him.
"you don't have to, you've done too much already," she said.
"Are you sure you're okay? I could still take you to the hospital for a proper medical check-up" Carl insisted.
"There's no need for that, I'm okay now. Thanks for everything" Anne said
"You don't have to thank me," he said smiling and she smiled back.
Anne got down from his car and walked towards her door. Meanwhile, Carl was staring at her departing figure until she got inside her house.
She took a long shower and wore her nightdress. As soon as she got to her bed to sleep she heard a gentle knock on the door.
She knew it wasn't Dexter because he was not supposed to come home until the day morning.
"is Carl still outside??" Anne smiled to herself walking towards the door. As soon as she opened the door, she saw Carlos and her smile dropped.
"Were you expecting someone else?" Carlos asked and she closed the door in Carlos's face but he held the door from outside so the door won't shut completely and he walked in.
"Anne, you just shut the door in my face... Sweetheart, aren't you happy to see me?" Carlos said. He went closer to Anne to kiss her and she pushed him, causing him to stagger backward.
Carlos wasn't expecting the push at all. He saw the angry look on Anne's face and he wondered what he did wrong to make her push him like that.
"Anne, what's going on? are you mad at me?" he asked.
"it would've been better if I was mad at you Carlos, I am very disappointed in you," Anne said with a straight face.
Carlos became worried all of a sudden. 'has she found out about my affair with Linda?' Carlos said in his head. He believed it was the only thing he had done to make Anne get upset with him.
"Anastasia, I love you and I didn't mean to hurt you I swear," Carlos said in a shaky voice, holding her arms.
"let go of me," she broke free from him and Carlos felt his chest tighten. "You've been professing your feelings to me for some time now but you never show it."
"Anne that's not true…" Carlos said, still thinking Anne must've found out about his affair.
"then why do you keep bailing on me? You suggested you and I go for a picnic but you never showed up." Anne said and Carlos mentally had a sigh of relief.
She added, "if you loved me like you said and if I was important to you, you wouldn't have made me wait for you like an idiot for close to two hours."
"Gosh!, Anne!! I completely forgot I'm so sorry" Carlos facepalmed.
"you forgot?? Okay, why haven't you been picking up your calls or responding to any of my texts? Or did you also forget you have a girlfriend?" Anne sighed "You know what Carlos? I feel like I'm the only one in this relationship," she said bitterly.
"You're saying these things to me because you're upset. Just let me make up for what I did…."
"Carlos do you think I'm stupid or what?" Anne cuts in before he could apologize to her.
"I can't give you another chance because I know you're going to bail on me again. You've made me realize I am not your priority and maybe you've started seeing someone else." She angrily said.
"Anne, I can understand you're really angry but.." Carlos tried to speak up
"but what!!!" she yelled interrupting him.
"but don't yell at me" he counted his words In a husky tone
"or else what?? You're going to beat me up just like the way you beat up Dexter?" Anne said with raised brows. She had seen Carlos beat up Dexter anytime Dexter yelled at him and that was one of the reasons Dexter can't stand Carlos.
"If you upset me why can't I express my anger and you listen." she yelled pointing to him "don't you realize you're one of the major reasons I took a break from baking so I could spend more time with you?"
"Well, I never asked!!"Carlos fired back. "I never asked you to take a break, I never complained about you being too busy for me in the first place. I tried to understand you also have your life and now that I'm busy, you're becoming too clingy. Do you have any idea what I've been going through for you for the past few weeks?" he yelled at her walking closer to her face.
"Alright then, if I'm being too clingy and possessive and you've been going through a lot for me why don't you just fucking leave me alone" she yelled at him to his face and it provoked Carlos to the point he clenched his hands into a fist.
He firmly gripped her jaw with his right hand and held the back of her neck with his left hand, coldly staring into her eyes.
"Anne, I love you but don't you dare provoke me" he whispered to her with gritted teeth.
Carlos looked like a monster at the moment, his fingers were buried into Anne's soft cheeks, and unknowing to him, it was hurting her. He wasn't thinking straight at this point, it was as if he had lost his mind.
"If hurting me would make you feel better then go ahead, please hit me," Anne said amidst tears. "go ahead and hit me!!" she screamed at the top of her voice.
Carlos's anger ceased immediately as soon as he saw a pint of blood at the corner of her bottom lip and he let go of her. He realized his bipolar disorder had taken the best of him.
"you're bleeding, who did this to you?" Carlos muttered. He tried to touch her lips but she hit his hand.
"Ohh! And if only you had shown up at our picnic I won't have been kidnapped" she said wiping her tears.
"what?? You were kidnapped?" Carl was shocked.
"Please don't pretend like you care about me," she said leaving and he pulled her.
"Anne, don't leave me, please. I know I've been a jerk, and why would I want to hit you or hurt you?" Carlos said in a broken tone.
He cupped her face with both hands and he noticed that her cheeks were red from how he harshly gripped her jaw.
"Oh God! What have I done?" Carlos whispered to himself. He regretted, rough-handling her like that in the first place.
"Carlos, let go of me," Anne said removing his hands from her face.
"Anne, I'm sorry, forgive me, I don't want to lose you," he said in a soft tone. He tried to hold her waist but Anne pushed him away from her and rushed to her room.
"Anne, Anastasia, please wait," Carlos said, following her to her room and she quickly shut the door in his face before he could get inside her room.
He tried opening the door but she had locked it from the inside. "please open up the door" Carlos pleaded, knocking on the door "Anastasia please" he begged as kept on knocking on the door
Meanwhile, Anne lay down on her bed with her face buried in her pillow, crying profusely. She was really hurt.