Slowly Victoria lifted her heavy eyelids. She lay on her back with her head placed on her favourite fluffy pillow. Her dark hair was a mess and after a sleepy yawn she tucked a long streak of it behind her ear so that she could check the time. 9:04 am. Wow, considering that she already went to bed at 8 pm last night she slept for an eternity but still she felt tired. She knew it was because the exhaustion of the past few weeks, or better months was wearing her out. Although the curtains were already pulled aside, it was still pretty much dark in the room. Outside Victoria heard and saw heavy rain falling out of big dark clouds. October was approaching its end and it felt like the weather was getting worse from day to day, so that Victoria would have loved to stay in bed and hide from the world outside beneath her warm blanket. "I know you want that, too" She whispered and lovingly caressed her six-months baby belly. Two weeks ago she had learned that she was pregnant with a baby girl, something she had dreamed of since her childhood. She wanted to have a daughter so that she could give her the best life possible and make everything right that her own mother had done wrong during her childhood. Daniel was also excited to have a baby sister soon. He loved the idea of being a big brother and made Victoria smile when he kept asking questions about how they knew that the baby was a girl and why she was hiding in her mother's belly. Victoria turned her head and noticed that the other side of the bed was already made. When she wrinkled her nose, she also smelled his cologne coming out of the open bathroom door. She must have been asleep and therefore hadn't noticed him getting up. Suddenly the door was cautiously opened.
"Oh, hey, good morning, Victoria." He smiled at the sight of her sleepy eyes and the messy hair covering the white pillow. "I hope you slept well."
"Hey, yes." Were the only words Victoria could get out of her mouth with a hoarse voice.
"Breakfast is ready downstairs. I'm sorry that I have to leave now to make preparations for tomorrow but I really want to make sure that everything will work."
"Yes, I understand." She cleared her throat to get her normal voice back.
"I know that it's stress for you, that's why I want you to relax today. See you tonight then.
"Sure, I'll do that. Bye Conrad."
He flashed her a last smile and then closed the door to leave his wife alone at Grayson Manor.
David Clarke awoke. His back was aching from the thing they referred to as a mattress on which he had been sleeping for almost two months now. Well, sleep was not the right word for all of the nights he lay awake, haunted by dreams and thoughts that were killing him. At first he had tried to stay calm, to not lose his mind. He had explained everything, the whole story, he had said nothing but the truth. But nobody believed him, it was senseless he had soon realized. The truth was nothing against money and power. Nothing against the Grayson family and all the people whom they had paid off to make fake statements to the press. He had lost faith in humanity. He had always believed in the good of people. But those two months had already changed him and made him a different person. After realizing that he had no chance, he had started screaming at people. He wanted to see his daughter. He needed to see her, to tell her that everything they told her about her father was wrong. That he was not a murderer, not a terrorist. He wanted to embrace her, to feel her blonde curls and be with his baby girl again. But again, nobody listened to him. When they didn't ignore his pleas, they told him that Amanda was save, that she was taken care of and that he didn't have to worry. He knew it was wrong. One of the nicer guards at the prison had told him that Amanda was in psychological treatment and that she was kept in a room all on her own and was being punished when she protested against the lies they were telling her about her father. That was the moment when he stopped screaming and started crying. They could do everything to him, but not to Amanda. She had nothing to do with it, she was an innocent girl. There was not a second when he didn't think about her and even in his dreams she was always present.
Although he didn't have any windows in his cell, David could hear the storm raging outside. The thin blanket he had was not enough to protect him from the cold that was making his whole body shiver.
Could she hear it, too? The storm? Like many other mornings when he was staring at the grey, dirty ceiling of his cell with empty eyes, Amanda's face disappeared for a moment and instead her face was coming to his mind. The last time he saw her, she was promising him she would take care of his children. A devastated expression in her face, like she was saying "I told you this was a bad idea." David swallowed. How could he have been so wrong about this woman. He should have known that she was nothing but selfish. Now, his daughter had to suffer. The one person that had told him from the beginning that she couldn't stand Victoria Grayson and wanted her Dad to stay away from her. How he hated himself. He was guilty of a crime, of betraying his daughter, of being blinded by a greedy woman, of breaking his promise of being there for Amanda infinitively.
In the beginning, he had defended Victoria. He had revealed everything about their affair, about their engagement, about the baby and how she would support his statements and would take care of Amanda. He really believed that she would visit him, that she would make sure he would not be in prison for long. When Conrad began to speak at the first press conference and suddenly the TV went black and that also occurred at the next two conferences, David had been so sure that Victoria was behind all this. That she would have called Nolan, that they were now working together. He had been proud and confident. But then one day when he was allowed to watch a news channel, he realized that he couldn't have been more wrong. The channel showed exclusive footage of the long unseen Victoria Grayson leaving the airport in New York City. She was turning her head away and was wearing a coat to hide her body from the cameras. Conrad Grayson was walking behind her, angrily telling the Paparazzi to back off and give the family some privacy after the horrible events, but his facial expression couldn't fully deny that he was actually happy to be shown escorting his wife to their private home. One second before Victoria disappeared in the black limousine, she looked directly into one of the cameras. David's heart had stopped. Her brown eyes were peering directly into his soul. "I'm sorry." She formed with her lips and one moment later Conrad was there to help her get into the car. From that day, David was sure that it was over. He now knew that Victoria was letting him down, that she was choosing her own personal life over his and Amanda's. She hadn't said anything official yet. The Grayson's press secretary didn't reveal anything about Victoria and just kept on saying that she had to recover from the traumatic experience of the last months and was staying at Grayson Manor to be with her loved ones. This had made David's stomach turn. How could he be so deceived by this woman?
Now everyone was waiting for Victoria's statement on the whole case. There was no date for a trial yet, but David knew that they had another of their famous press conferences planned for tomorrow. He was sure that they would stage Victoria's reappearance to the public and have her tell more lies about David Clarke. Then, he knew, his fate was ultimately sealed.
My dear readers, I'm so, so sorry for letting you down for such a long time. But I was just so busy with my life and didn't think much about Revenge after it ended. I appreciate all of your kind comments and messages telling me that you really love the story and want me to continue it. You reminded me how much I once loved the show and how excited I was about sharing this story with you. I don't know why, but I somehow started to think about my fanfic more often and came up with new ideas so that I was motivated enough to continue writing. I don't know how many of you are still out there reading Revenge fanfic, but if you like the new chapter and want to know what's happening next, please let me know. Lots of love to you all xoxo