Chapter 43

The floor beneath me was hard and unforgiving, cold against bare shoulders and I frowned despite my eyes being closed. I knew better now to pretend to be asleep until I was certain of what I was waking up too. The chances of myself suffering a head injury were low; I could clearly remember what had happened and it made my gut drop. There was some form of attack; whether accidental or premeditated I had no idea but there was an explosion of sorts on Oxford Street – one of the busiest retail streets within central London. Luke and I went to help people. There was thick smoke and I couldn't see anything. A man pulled up in front of Luke and I before we both blacked out. Lila was safe, though, she was at the Palace with Theo.

Luke!

Where is he? I opened my eyes and sure enough, he was about three foot away from me. He didn't look too bad, and it was a small relief. He was lying on his back, legs slightly bent, mouth opened and hair fluffy as always. I shuffled across the damp concrete floor I was lying on over to this side.

'Luke?' I whispered, shaking him slightly. 'Luke, please?' I mumbled, putting my fingers against his neck and was relieved to find a pulse. But it wasn't good that he was still unconscious. I took the moment to sit up in this room and look around; not that there was much to look at. The room we were in was dark and dingy, the black concrete floor which had small puddles on, the rest shining in the light from damp, and dark cinder block walls. There was a frosted glass window on the right-hand side and a wooden door on the left.

We were dumped near the back of the room, and in front of us was an archway in the wall, leading through to a similarly dark tacky room I could only assume. The five bags we had got from the Disney store, however, were somehow resting on the wall – the people who took us let us keep our shopping?

'Luke, please wake up,' I said, shaking him again before kissing his forehead – something I know normally wakes him up. Sure enough, he grinned slightly before surfacing. He must have realised very quick something wasn't right here as suddenly, he was fully awake and sitting up and pulling me to his side.

'What's happened?' He asked me and I shrugged. 'You – you alright?' He asked, quickly running his hand around my face.

'I'm fine; I don't know what's happened,' I said as he pulled me to stand up.

'I just remember the attack, and the man, and – why is our shopping here?' he asked, gesturing to the wall. 'What the Hell is going on,'

It hit me quick; this was the attack that we had been moved to Buckingham Palace about. This was it. The message warned about taking Luke and Lila away from me and I would never see them again but they realise there wouldn't be a chance where they could just take Lila and Luke away from me – I was constantly by their sides and would be for a while so they had to take me too. I looked at Luke, about to say what I had realised when I heard a cry.

Lila's cry.

Both Luke and I ran full force into the other room and I nearly started crying when I saw Lila lying on the cold floor in the corner in just a thin baby grow. She was grizzling and had been for a while by the looks of it and was kicking out in her damp outfit. I immediately bent down and picked up Lila, holding her close to me when I turned back to see Luke. His mouth was dropped.

'What the fuck,' He whispered and I frowned at his use of language but I had thought the exact same. 'We brought her some baby grows didn't we?' He said, rushing to get the Disney bags. 'Is she alright?' Luke asked as I walked out.

I quickly checked Lila over. She had settled down since I picked her up, but her eyes were puffy and her face was red and I knew she had been crying long before Luke and I had woke up. Apart from being damp and cold, she seemed alright.

'It might be worth trying to feed her, Grace,' Luke said softly, looking up at me and I hesitated. Since the operation, I had only really breastfed her a few times for the first few weeks before deciding bottle feeding was a hell of a lot easier and it meant that Luke was also able to feed Lila too. We had looked into breast pumps but Lila was more than happy on her formula milk. 'It's not really like we have any alternatives,' He said softly and I nodded. Mildly unhappy that the person who kidnapped us could walk in at any point which I was feeding Lila, I did what Luke suggested and sure enough, Lila appeared to be starving.

'How long have we been out?' I whispered to Luke as he realised the same thing as I did – that Lila was extremely hungry – and he shrugged.

'It doesn't feel like that long,' he mumbled. I watched in silence as Lila continued to feed as Luke took out the first baby grow he found in the bag in new born sizes, as well as a Disney towel. He looked in the last bag and frowned. 'We didn't buy these,' He said, picking up a pack of nappies. 'What the Hell?' He said as Lila finally stopped and I started to wind her.

'We've been kidnapped by the people who sent that threat,' I told him and he looked back at me with wide eyes.

'The day you went into labour with her, what did that message say?' He asked me softly.

'It said that it would be a shame if they took you and my baby away from me and I would never see you again, and then people would see me for the pathetic slut I am,' I said softly, almost like I didn't want Lila to listen to what the message said and Luke closed his eyes.

'Yeah, this is them then,' Luke said, putting his arm around me and holding me to his side. He quickly checked Lila too who was now quite happy and content, 'But how would they know to coordinate the attacks with getting us?'

'Luke, the attacks was probably them,'

'They wouldn't – surely?' He questioned as I passed Lila to him. He passed the clothes other to me and I laid down the towel on the driest bit of floor I could find – over by one corner that seemed higher than the rest, and Luke laid Lila down on it. I watched as he carefully changed Lila's nappy, making do with what we had but it only confirmed how long we had been unconscious for. Without trying to alarm our daughter (who probably knew none the wiser) Luke jiggled her belly and was very quick to make Lila laugh and happy as I continued to explain.

'If it is the same people who kidnapped me then I wouldn't put it past them. They knocked out, what was it, forty members of staff to get me out of that hospital? They had kidnapped hundreds of others for staff at their base; they somehow got Markie – of all people – to give them information. They are a Hell of a lot more powerful than anyone admits; I wouldn't put it past them. They have a motive of some kind, and if that motive involves us then guess what – they have to get us, and here we are,' I said.

Luke sighed as he changed Lila, wrapping her up in the towel and holding her tight, gently bouncing her backwards and forwards.

'How are we going to get out,' He whispered to me and I shrugged.

Lila had just about settled down an hour later, obviously devastated from her time away from us – we had no idea how long it was, but it must have been more than a few hours – when we heard people behind the door. Very quietly and quickly, Luke handed me Lila before standing in front of both of us but I could still see properly.

The door was unlocked and unbolted in three different places before it opened, and three men walked in and it nearly took my breath away. All three of them were in the grey base layers, much like the men who bossed me around when I was kidnapped. I held Lila a tiny bit tighter and rested my forehead against Luke's back and dropped my shields to him. I felt him tense up and I knew he read my mind like I wanted him too and now even he made the link and took a deep breath.

'Why are we here?' Luke asked firmly, in the voice I can only assume he used in his brief tour in the army. It was a side of him I had never seen before.

'Come with us,' They said.

'Answer my question first,'

They'll just be frontrunners, Luke, they won't know. I told him and he sighed, before taking my hand and following their lead. The men bowed slightly before two walked in front of us and one walked behind. I knew they had guns. Even Luke picked that up and whilst he was playing it cool, I could feel the muscles tensed in his back. The only person who wasn't tense was Lila, who had just settled down in my arms oblivious to all of this. I wasn't thankful she was here; she could be high and dry somewhere, with Jack and Markie or with Caroline, but if she wasn't here I wouldn't be as calm as I was now. I would be uncertain she was safe or even alive.

We followed the men in silence and I stopped dead once I realised where we were. We were in the exact same place I was taken when kidnapped. I didn't stop for long, not wanting the men to realise I knew exactly where I was but it was enough to show Luke I knew something he didn't know and he simply nodded. The men put us all in a lift, pressing a button with the number "5" on, the number near the top so I could only guess the top floor was "1" and it worked down.

I looked over at Luke and he just continued to look at the door, jaw clenched, and I knew he was in the military mode. I leant against him for a moment and he unclenched his muscles, enough just to put his arm around me and lean his head on mine, touching Lila's cheek before he regained his composition. I nudged him and he looked at me. I knew what he was thinking; I didn't need to read his thoughts to be able to do that.

He knew he might have to die in order to keep me and Lila safe.

I shook my head; that was not going to happen. No one was going to die. He needed to stop being dramatic. The first place they would look would be down in this tower, where they knew the men would be operating. It was stupid taking us here, but we had been gone for at least twenty-four hours based on Lila's reactions and how hungry she was and how soiled her nappy was too. They must be heading down here soon. We would just be able to escape, all three of us, safe and sound. Luke pulled a face at me before looking away and I nudged him a bit harder and he snapped back at me and I gave him a look. He was not going into that room with that attitude. No one will die. I made it very clear that I thought the exact same back at him; I would die if it meant keeping both my fiancé and my daughter safe. And it wasn't just a fleeting though to make him realise what he was doing – I was being deadly serious. Lila needed that strong parent and it was clear that between Luke and me, Luke would be that strong parent. Lila always has responded a lot better to him than he has to me.

Luke widened his eyes at me and shook his head at me and I just shrugged. He sighed, before kissing me as the lift pinged.

I stopped dead on the threshold and I knew where I was. The room with the glass door – new door, but frosted – and I knew through that door was Callus' main office. Luke put his arm around me, leading me forward reluctantly. I looked up at him, tearing up, scared shitless and he smiled at me, a little nudge to let me know it was okay. But I saw the fear in his eyes – he knew where we were too. The guards forced us to walk forward and into the room where the door was on the latch.

In a split second, I prepared myself to see Callus.

So I got a Hell of a surprise when I saw who was in that room.

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Hello - Sorry it's a shorter chapter, I'm still really unwell recently and this was all i had time for. But any ideas who was in that room? Hint: we all know them really well!