I can't thank you all enough for the feedback you left on the last chapter. I finished this one much quicker than I thought it was going to so I thought I'd post it for you. The feedback really does help with motivation for writing. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. :-)

The following morning, Carla was woken when Michael walked into the room and she sat up slowly in bed. She was about to talk to him about the note he had left her the previous night when Frank entered, causing her heart rate to speed up dramatically. As soon as he walked into the room she was sure that he knew what was going on and though deep down she knew she was being ridiculous she couldn't help it.

"How are you feeling?' Michael questioned and Carla knew that he was trying to keep things as normal as possible, like she was, though once again her mind was going crazy with thoughts about what had happened the previous day.

"Sick . . ." Carla whispered and though she hoped that Frank thought it was due to having been told that she was pregnant, she guessed Michael would know the real reason.

"I've brought you this . . ." Michael stated, putting a plate of toast on the side with a glass of orange juice but Carla shook her head a little and turned the other way. "I'm not hungry."

"Stop being so selfish thinking about yourself Carla, it's not about you anymore so just eat it and stop making things difficult." Frank snapped before speaking up once more, only this time it was in Michael's direction. "Hurry up in here I need to have a word." he stated, before turning on his heel and leaving the room, causing Carla to let out a breath of relief at his exit.

"Just eat one of the slices hey?" Michael suggested before moving to sit down on the edge of the bed and Carla gave a small sigh before nodding, she didn't feel at all like eating but she knew that she needed something in her system if she hoped to try and get through the next couple of days. She had just taken a small bite of the toast when Michael spoke again and she felt her stomach churn at the thought of what he was talking about and almost as though it was getting ready to reject whatever was about to be put into it. "Do you still want to do it?"

Carla nodded, "yes. I just want to be away from him and back with my baby and Liam . . ."

"Who is Liam?"

Carla hesitated for a moment before answering, she wasn't sure how comfortable she was talking to Michael about Liam but after a moment she answered him anyway. "A friend . . . A very good friend. He is the one who's taking care of Dempsey . . ."

"So you want to go to his tonight?"

Carla nodded and on her doing so, Michael got a pen and a piece of paper from his pocket. He held it out to her and spoke up, gesturing to it with a nod. "Write down his address on here."

Carla gave a small nod before scribbling Liam's address down, her heart rate still hadn't returned to normal, she was terrified even then and it was no where near the time of when she had to do anything.

"I didn't get chance to give you this yesterday . . ." Michael stated quietly before handing Carla a pill. "Just in case."

Carla nodded before taking it with a mouthful of the orange juice that was on the side, not needing to ask what it was. She sat back on the bed a little and sighed quietly, hesitating for a moment before she spoke up in a whisper. "Michael I'm scared . . ."

He nodded sympathetically. "I know love, but hopefully you won't be here much longer . . ."

"I hope so . . ."

Liam was up and dressed early and had called Marc who had agreed to travel to the house so they could talk. He had accepted Jack's offer of help and while Tom was getting Dempsey her breakfast, he was getting Liam's things together after Jack had dressed him, ready for Maria to pick him up. It was her day to have him overnight and she had asked if she could pick him up earlier than she normally would have. The door to the house went moments later and Liam made his way from the living room and down the hall to answer it. "Hi . . ." Liam offered a small smile and stepped to one side, trying to keep things as civil as possible with his soon to be ex-wife, though making an effort was one of the last things he wanted to do at that moment in time when all he could think about was Carla.

"Hi Liam, how are you?"

"Liam's things are in here . . ." he had no idea how he was supposed to answer the question which was why he just ignored it and handed her the bag, holding the things their son needed.

Maria raised her eyebrow a little before speaking up once more, "I wanted to ask you if I could have him for four nights . . ."

"What for?"

"I was going to take him away."

"To where, you've not mentioned it before?"

"Down to London just for a little bit of time away."

Liam nodded his approval after a moment's hesitation, "yeah I think he'll enjoy himself, you should have told me and I would have got some more of his things together."

"It was all really last minute, don't worry. I'll just take this and then if he needs other things I'll probably just buy it."

"Fair enough . . ."

She stepped forwards and brushed his hand with her's, "thank you . . ."

Liam moved his hand rather uncomfortably before nodding and as Liam came running down the hallway he picked him up. "You're going to stay with your mummy for a little while, she's taking you on a little holiday."

"Where?"

"To London."

"London?" he repeated and Liam smiled with a nod.

"So, can I have a cuddle before you go?"

Liam smiled and nodded before wrapping his arms around his dad's neck, giving him a cuddle, which Liam returned before putting him down. "You have a good time and you'll have to tell me all about it when you get back all right?"

Little Liam nodded before taking Maria's hand who turned around to leave with him and unbeknown to Liam had a smirk now forming over her lips. Once they had gone Liam sighed quietly and hadn't got halfway up the hall when the door went once more and when he answered it he found Marc standing opposite him. "All right mate, come in . . ."

Marc nodded and stepped into the hall. "Cheers, how are you feeling?"

"I'm worried sick mate . . ."

"I know it's hard but there's been a bit of a development, you've just got to give it some time."

"Do you want coffee?"

"Yeah go on then."

Liam made his way into the kitchen with Marc following and on getting into the doorway he found Dempsey and Tom crawling around on the floor. He shook his head a little and coughed to gain their attention and on doing so, Tom got up and picked up Dempsey. "Come on you, I think it's time you got dressed."

Tom walked to the doorway of the kitchen and when they got past Marc, Dempsey spoke. "Who's 'dis?"

He smiled and turned around to answer Dempsey before Tom did. "I'm Marc . . ." he held out his hand to gently shake her's and Dempsey smiled shyly. "Who are you?"

"Dempsey . . ."

"You have a very pretty name."

"You have pretty name too . . ."

Marc smiled and gave Tom a nod of acknowledgement, which he returned before speaking to Dempsey himself. "Right, come on Mrs . . ." he turned and left to go upstairs while Marc and Liam made their way into the kitchen.

On getting into the kitchen and sitting down at the table, Liam stirred his coffee as Marc had a mouthful of his. "So what's this development? He questioned, unable to think about waiting to find out or making small talk.

"Well, I know about how Rik, Frank's sidekick, found out where Dempsey and Carla were and that was finding out what nursery Dempsey was at and they must've worked it out from there."

Liam sighed and shook his head a little before speaking up once more, "anything else?"

"I think it's extremely unlikely that they're abroad . . ."

"How do you know? How can you be sure?"

"I'm not 100% sure but I know that the only passport that Carla's ever had has expired."

"How do you know this?"

"I called in a favor from an old friend . . ."

"So you think they're in England?"

Marc nodded, "yeah I do, I have a couple of people working for me at the moment and working on trying to find her and if they come up with anything, you will be the first to know . . ."

"Things seem to be going so slowly with this though . . ."

Marc nodded, "I know but trust me, I'm doing what I can as fast as I can. I don't doubt for one second that Frank has had this carefully planned out and it wasn't a spur of the moment kind of thing which is making it harder for us to find out where they've gone, but he might not be as clever as he thinks he is."

"Did she say anything to you about him?"

"She's told me things, yeah. Why?"

"So you know what he's like then, from other than what I've told you?"

Liam nodded, "yeah"

Marc sighed and shook his head a little, after meeting Dempsey that morning it made him think of the baby his wife had just had, and the thought of her with no mum killed him and it only made him want to help them all the more. "Did she ever say of anything about where he lived or where he had properties?"

Liam hesitated for a moment as he thought about the question before shaking his head, "no, I don't think she did. She told me where their old house was, where they used to live together and when he first took her that's where she thought that he was gong to take her, but she called me and told me they weren't there and that they were somewhere else."

"Do you know where the old house was?"

Liam nodded, "yeah, one moment . . ." Liam scribbled the address down after getting some paper and Marc stood up after taking it. "I'll get someone I know to head down there now and I'll call you and let you know if I find anything out about what's going on. Thanks for the coffee mate."

"You're welcome."

It had just gone 10 and Carla guessed that Frank would have gone but after waiting 5 minutes just to be sure she got out of bed and pulled on a pair of legging's and a sloppy t-shirt that had been too big for her when it had been bought, so was even more so after all of the weight she had lost since she had been stuck there. Carla pulled on a pair of boots before pulling her hair up, she didn't have anything with her she needed to take, so, she walked to the door and turned the doorknob, opening it just a crack. She checked that there was no one around before creeping down the hall. Carla guessed that Michael would be waiting in his car when he had told her to meet him and she wanted to get there as soon as possible for them to try and get away long before Frank was due back.

Carla crept down the hallway and on getting to the top of the stairs she went down them, her heart pounding in her chest so hard she thought that it would be a loud noise echoing through the house. She was becoming breathless through panicking and it seemed no matter what she did she couldn't calm herself down. On getting to the bottom of the stairs, Carla hurried to the door but on pressing down handle she found that it was locked. She tried again, harder this time and when nothing happened she turned and quickly headed back up the stairs. She was about to walk past Frank's office when she found the door was slightly open and after nudging it open once more she found a set of keys on the desk.

Carla grabbed them and without another thought she headed back down the stairs and to the door. On getting there she began trying the different keys, though it was proven very difficult as she struggled to get them into the lock given her hands were violently shaking. It was the last key that went into the lock and turned to open the door, causing Carla to shake her head. Typical, she thought, but was pulled from thinking anything else when a voice came from behind her and made her blood run cold.

"Well well well," his tone was sarcastic to start with, but it soon changed to a cold and much harder one. "What do you think you're doing?"