The tension in the Sanders household was at its highest peak when Rhea woke up from sleep and realized her sister Kristine never made it home last night, which had both her and her Mother tensed with worry about Kristine's inexcusable absence.
Even though Rachel told her daughter Rhea about a certain Traylor Dray from Kristine's office who called yesterday to tell her Kristine was sent on an emergency business trip with her boss, Rhea's reactions didn't seem like she actually believed that.
"Mom, you know Kristine would have called herself to tell you. Why would you believe some stranger." Rhea replied with certainty which further increased Rachel's tension and worries.
Rachel nearly thought of involving the cops since her daughter had never slept outside their home before.... at least, not without calling ahead.
Kristine would even call if she was going to be late. But instead, she made Rachel spend most of last night worried about her whereabouts until that stranger's call came through.
Nevertheless, she barely slept a wink last night despite the reassurance phone call from that Taylor.
What mostly had Rachel extremely tensed were matters related to what happened to Rhea the previous night.
Knowing her daughter Kristine, she would surely get involved somehow, but not hearing from her until this morning had her worried. She wondered whether something had gone wrong, or maybe, she was hurt or harmed.
Her intuition kept nagging her that Kristine's life was at risk. Moreover, a mother's intuitions were barely wrong in most cases. Even though she wished she was wrong this time around, and try to hold unto faith about her daughter's safety.
On the other hand, Rhea's thoughts were filled with her own worries already. Yet, she became more anxious and frustrated about her sister than her Mom seemed to be. She couldn't help but think of what-ifs, since she knew her sister Kristine very well.
Kristine would never give up on something if she said she would do it, no matter what! So what if she really went to confront Jason or Sam for what they did to her?
Her sister must be so stupid to even try that, to put herself in danger after all her warnings about those two brutes' unruly and rowdy behaviors.
"Oh, God! I really hope not...." Rhea tried desperately to think otherwise.
But seriously, Jason would have called her by now and threatened her if Kristine had gone to confront them.
After all, he had already threatened her not to tell anyone, even her family, or else he would hurt her sister or Mom, worse than he did to her. If any of family or her Dad ever tried to get involved or plot something against them, like filing a lawsuit again.
But Rhea didn't tell Kristine about that threats in order not to trigger her sister's stubbornness into confronting Jason by herself.
Ruining herself was enough, Rhea couldn't stand her family getting ruined as well, so she kept quiet. After all, she brought all these upon herself by dating a guy like Jason in the first place.
"Where are you, Kris?" Rhea whispered to herself.
Meanwhile, Rachel Sanders also had her own worries. She was extremely tense about Kristine's disappearance since the incident she had been through in the past.
Rachel got anxious and wondered if Kristine had already come across Clara Johnson at this stage.
Orchestrating Kristine's kidnapping in the past wasn't enough, what if Clara kidnapped her again out of vengeance since Kristine went there by herself.
Rachel's thoughts began to run wild...
It can't be possible! What if Clara confessed something weird to Kristine and create a rift between them through her two-faced lies and deceit? Just like Clara already did to her in the past, and ruined her maternal relationship with her lovely twins...Eric and Evans!
Oh, how she missed the twins to this date. But she had to stay away from them and keep the end of the bargain she made with Clara, or else, her family will be in danger...
Rachel's blood began to boil with fury and tension mixed altogether.
She couldn't possibly allow Clara to continue ruining their lives, as well as that of the twins...Eric and Evans.
How tall and handsome they must have grown by now. Even though she watches every show and movie featuring Eric, and she sees him every time on television.
But Evans, she had always yearned to set her eyes on him even from a distance.
It's had been long enough already!
The only wish that kept awat from returning to them was Clara's threat to ruin their lives, and she knew Clara wouldn't be joking about that.
Clara was that sort of a woman, so bitter and resentful. She doesn't care about her kids or family. All she cared for was wealth and more wealth.
Moreover, Clara still couldn't reform from her formal lifestyle even after her marriage to Nicholas Kurt.
Rachel remembered the promises she made Clara swore before she left the house. One of them was the promise to make sure she quit her criminal life in the underworld before her family finds out about it.
Rachel knew the kids will be so hurt when they come to know that Clara was actually their real mother who gave birth to them. And adding another troublesome past of their Mother's cruel lifestyle in the Underworld could add up to a huge blow of emotional damage in their life.
The emotional damage Clara caused Kristine at a young age in the past was enough!
Rachel finally figured she wouldn't be able to stand Kristine's hatred toward her like she stood Eric and Evans's contempt and hatred all these years...With Kristine, she wouldn't be able to bear it!.
Rachel stopped herself from thinking of the worst-case scenarios and decided to phone again at the Walker Empire's front desk to confirm the statement that employee Taylor told her last night.
However, her call got transferred directly to the Boss herself.
"Hello Maam, how may I help you?" Kaylan's voice was heard over the phone after Rachel's call was directed.
"Are you by any chance my daughter's... oh I mean Kristine Sanders's Boss.?" Rachel asked for confirmation since she couldn't stand to be deceived the second time.
"Yes, I am... I was told you urgently wanted to speak to me about your daughter?" Kaylan replied calmly.
"Oh yeah! I am surprised though! _ I heard you left on an urgent business trip with my daughter." Rachel's toned was now getting tense.
"And who told you that?" Kaylan returned, now attentive.
"The front desk, a staff by the name Taylor Dray...." Rachel's voice mellowed suddenly.
"Please wait, Maam, I will find out from him and get back to you. Thank you! and have a nice day!" Rachel hung up after she heard the Boss's reply and resume her worries once more.
"I need all the Taylor Drays in this building before me in the next five minutes" Kaylan's bossy voice was heard across the entire speaker on the 14th floor. And the emergency message immediately traveled from there until it got to Taylor Dray.
Meanwhile, the worried Mom and daughter had now begun to hope and pray that, the worse nightmares they thought of so far, shouldn't be the reality Kristine was facing at this moment. So they decided to think only positive thoughts and hold unto their faith.
This brought a slight consolation to their minds.
"Did you call all her friends? She might have spent the night at her friend's house for some unknown reason." Rachel was seated with her daughter Rhea in the living room.
They were waiting for Kristine to finally walked through that door and return home safely to them.
"Mom! You know Kristine would have called before doing that if that were the case...But to be on the safe side, I called almost all her friends that I could think of, but they all had no idea where she was. Even Cassandra her best friend said she didn't see Kristine the entire day yesterday." Rhea replied to her Mother's inquiries.
"Then this is getting serious!" Rachel whispered.
"Oh, Mom...Kris is already a grown woman. I am sure she can take care of herself. You already know how strong she is. She can defend herself in any situation. Let's just be patient until evening, and if she doesn't return, then we will take a different step forward by involving the cops...okay?." Rhea tried her best to convince her Mom while convincing herself.
Unbeknownst to Rachel, Rhea was also battling with worries within her, and she reprimanded herself for making her imagination run wild.
Therefore, Rhea soothes her Mom's worries and even went further to convince her Mom with various excuses.
"Maybe Kristine's phone battery might be dead, and she forgot to charge it, Or maybe, she misplaced her phone and that was why she couldn't contact us till now.." Rhea realized her excuses somehow worked since her Mom felt slightly relieved.
And Rachel wondered that, if Taylor had lied about the business trip, then he must have lied about Kristine leaving behind her phone at the office too.
A missing person had twenty-four hours before he/she was reported missing in their state. That was the only excuse Cops needed to take action and begin searching.
It was another reason why they didn't call the cops and chose to wait instead.
"Let's wait till evening...She will be home by then." Rhea reassured her Mother.
"Okay, dear...I just hope she is alright wherever she may be." Rachel heaved a worried sigh.
"I hope so too Mom. Come on.... let's have some breakfast.
Rhea escorted her Mom toward the breakfast table with a broad smile. It was an action to ease her Mother's tension and weariness.
However, they both couldn't help but stare sadly at Kristine's spot at the table and prayed silently for her safe return.
___________________________
Back at Eric Kurt's Mansion;
When Kristine collapsed to the ground after the shocking realization that boggled her mind, both brothers stare in horror as they reached out to hold her but they were too late.
Evans scooted down and lifted the unconscious Kristine and place her back in bed. Then he fixed her some drips and nutrients, as well as some other medications.
After the strange tantrums she pulled when she woke up, Evans realized she exerted too much energy and fainted from exhaustion.
"It seems she barely had anything to eat even before the accident. She seemed tired and weary...She must be very hungry as hell....Why didn't you feed her first?" Evans called out to his brother in complaint, but Eric was still fuming about getting locked outside in the cold.
"She drained herself of the last energy in her body with all your wild goose chase." Evans continued, ignoring his brother's soiled mood.
Whereas, Eric sent dagger glares toward him since he knew his brother was still teasing him amidst his mischievous smiles.
Evans chuckled at Eric's glares and further went on to give Kristine another shot.
"She will be asleep for maybe five hours after her body absorbs all the nutrients, then she will be fully rejuvenated. Don't worry, she will be fine...What she experienced moments ago was normal.
Her mind had to go through a healing process, which may have pushed the past happenings in her life to feel like, it is currently happening." Evans explained the reason behind Kristine's insane acts when she woke up.
Eric had reported every detail of what happened after Kristine woke up to his brother.
"So the Caleb she kept searching for really existed, for real in her life?" Eric was shocked beyond words.
"Yes, brother!... Everything was all real." And there goes the doctor's agreement which finally convinced Eric.
"But she also seemed too familiar with the house..when she ran out of the room, a stranger like herself would have been confused about which way to go, and where the main door it. But she escaped, and sort of like,.... knew exactly where she was going. It was as if she had stayed here all her life!" Eric once again pondered on what happened a while ago. It was still a mystery to him.
"I guess we will have to find that out after her recovery. Even though I must warn you, there is a likely possibility that she might not recall anything that happened moments ago." Evans uttered, looking quite shocked at his Brother's statement.
Evans turned face to face towards Eric, putting jokes aside and getting serious. It was about a question that nagged him for quite a while now, ever since he heard Eric mention the girl's name downstairs.
"I heard you call her Kris...with familiarity. Do you know her?" Evans inquired suddenly.
The expression on Eric's face changed at his brother's abrupt question, and he diverted to face away to hide his concerns which reflected in his action. However, it was too late, since Evans had already figured out that Eric had been hiding something from him...
"Tell me, Eric...Don't hide anything from me. Is she the same Kristine you and I know? the one and the same?" Evans emphasized, trying to hold his emotions in check.
Until now, Eric had one goal before he decided to carry out his investigations about their past.
And secondly, he wanted to finish his investigations and find out the actual truth behind the incident involving their Nanny, before he could tell his brother about everything.
But it seemed fate had other purposes since Evans figured it out himself and was now confronting him about it. So Eric couldn't lie about it now, hence, he chose to come clean.
"Yes, Brother...The one and the same!" And there came the confirmation.
Evans's feet trembled from what he just heard. He became more shocked that Eric knew and hid it from him. Evans also wondered how Eric recognized her if he wasn't tracking that family for a while now, and he chose to leave him in the dark all this time.
Evans moved past Eric and head towards the window gazing outside to clear his restless thought after that unexpected revelation.
"And you didn't see any reason to let me know beforehand? But why didn't you tell me? At least, before I even treated her!." Evans's voice got louder by the second as he grilled his brother for that mistake.
The anger within him amplified after the long silence by the window, deep in thought.
Meanwhile, Eric's only reply to his brother's pain was a sad smile, since it was obvious what his brother just said, hence, there was no room for any excuses.
"Anyways, what would you have done if I had told you beforehand? Would you have stopped yourself from giving her medical treatment? Will you let her die and have her death on your conscience?" Eric questioned back after what his brother said replayed inside his mind.
Whereas, Evans was quiet for a long time as memories of everything he had been through so far after their Nanny chose Kristine over them played in his mind, before he answered with a silent...
"Yes! I will!.... Gladly!" Then he turned and left the room feeling dejected.