Chapter 32- Willow's Choice

Heather had taken Esme to a house in Santa Monica, California. Once Esme woke up, she insisted she wanted to leave. Eventually, Heather convinced her stay. Esme only agreed because Heather said her father would be coming soon and eventually Dex with the baby.

Over the past few weeks, Esme did everything she could to avoid her new-found mother, which was difficult because Heather kept trying to bond with her. Heather wanted to take Esme deer hunting and to yoga classes. But Esme spent most of her time at the beach. She made a couple of friends, which didn't last because Heather showed up and tried shooting them with an air rifle. This caused even more tension between the mother-daughter duo, because Esme wouldn't speak to her at all and ended up sleeping in a tent outside one night. This made matters worse when Esme woke up in the middle of the night with Heather leaning over her watching her sleep.

"I've had enough!" Esme shouted and clambered out of the tent. "Is Daddy coming or not?"

Heather followed her out of the tent. "He'll be here soon."

Esme shook her head. "You keep saying that! You know, I dreamt of meeting my mother my whole life."

Heather grinned and reached for her hands.

Esme yanked her hands away. "I wasted my time! You have no idea what a disappointment it was to find out you are my mother!"

Heather's lips started to quiver.

"You are weird. You smother me. And you won't leave me alone!"

Heather ran back into the house crying.

GHGHGH

The police, fire fighters, and paramedics all arrived at the warehouse after Cameron called. The fire fighters were quick to cut the wires to free Emma and Trina. Both seemed physically fine, just in shock. But the paramedics took them to hospital by ambulance just to be safe.

Cameron was still contemplating how much to tell the police but when Spencer didn't mention the threat, Cam opted not to either. They were free to go with the possibility of being questioned more later on.

Drew had offered to drive Spencer and Cam to the hospital, both to check on Emma and Trina and also so Cam could go see his mom. But Drew didn't stay because he had to get to Michael and Willow's wedding.

Shortly after they arrived, Anna, Valentin, Curtis, and Portia rushed in.

"Oh Cameron, Spencer, Drew," Anna said. "Thank you so much for saving my granddaughter."

"And my daughter," Portia added.

Moments later, Trina and Emma came walking over with TJ.

Portia hugged Trina and Anna hugged Emma.

"Both Trina and Emma seem fine, just a little in shock," TJ said. "They are both free to go home but just keep an eye on them and if there's any issues don't hesitate to bring them back. Terry and Britt approved you taking the next few days off, Emma."

"Thank you, TJ," Curtis said.

GHGHGH

Josslyn stared at Dex, wide-eyed. "Dex, what are you doing?"

Nina balled her hands into fists. "Get your hands off her."

"Taking my daughter wasn't enough for you?" Michael glared at him. "Now you're going after my fiancé?"

"All of you will back off if you know what's good for you," Dex said, keeping his gun pointed at Willow's temple.

"Listen, buddy," Sonny said, holding his hand out. "You have one chance to live. You walk out of here, right now, and leave Willow behind."

"What?" Dex scrunched his face. "And not get my advance of pay?"

"What, you want money?" Sonny asked. "I'll give you a cheque." He reached inside his jacket. "How much you want?"

"Get your hands out of your jacket! I'm not taking a cheque that will probably bounce by the time I get to the bank. And that'll only take more time before I get to where we're going." He smelled Willow's hair.

"Get your hands off her!" Michael shouted.

"Let her go!" Nina pleaded. "Take me instead!"

"And it's not even you, Sonny," Dex said. "It's you, Michael, that owes me. You hired me in the first place."

Willow's eyes moved to Michael.

"You want cash?" Michael asked. "I'll get you cash from the vault."

"Good. 50 mill should do," Dex said. "And you won't dare call the police, or she'll be dead before you tell them the address."

Michael rushed from the room.

GHGHGH

When Cameron went in to see his mom, Spencer decided to wait for him. He stopped at the vending machine to get a chocolate bar and his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Oh, Spencer," it was Alexis. "I'm so sorry. We had a break in. Someone took baby Laura again."

Spencer dropped his phone.

GHGHGH

Ryan sat on the train and stared down at baby Laura sleeping in the carrier beside him. "Since Dex is taking forever doing this simple job, I'm taking matters into my own hands. Santa Monica here we come."

GHGHGH

Michael finally returned with the money in a briefcase.

"How does it feel?" Dex smelled Willow's hair again. "To know that your goodie two shoes fiancé is the one that hired me? It wasn't Sonny. It was Michael. He did it so I would help bring Sonny down. All because he chose Nina over his mommy. I bet he left out that little tidbit when he returned from Denver, didn't he? He brought me into your lives, and I kidnapped your daughter."

"This is ridiculous, it wasn't Michael's fault that you kidnapped his daughter," Carly cut in.

Michael's nostrils flared. "I brought you the money, now let Willow go."

"I never said I'd let Willow go," Dex said. "This is money that you owe me. It has nothing to do with Willow. Now give it to Joss and we'll leave quietly."

Carly placed her hands on Josslyn's shoulders protectively. "You're not going anywhere with my daughter."

"I don't even need to take her as a hostage," Dex said. "We've been sleeping together for months. Sneaking around on Cameron, keeping it secret all because Joss was apparently so scared that Sonny would kill me. But even I know that she just didn't want everyone to see her as a hypocrite for judging Nina."

Joss scoffed. "That's not true!"

"Are you coming or not?" Dex asked.

"After this?" Joss said. "We're over."

Dex clenched his jaw and squeezed Willow tighter. "Fine, then Willow and I are leaving." He started pulling her towards the back door.

"No!" Both Nina and Michael shouted.

They could hear sirens in the distance.

"You called the cops, didn't you, Michael?" Dex asked.

Dex turned his head and lowered the gun for a second to open the sliding door.

Bang! Sonny had pulled out his gun and shot Dex in the shoulder.

Michael held his arms out for Willow to run to him, but she went to Nina instead.

Dex cradled his shoulder but ran out the back door.

"I'm going after him," Sonny ran to the door.

"I'll go with you," Michael said. He looked over at Willow, frowning and followed after Sonny.

Carly reached for Morgan and Josslyn's hands. "I'm so glad you're okay. Why don't you both stay at the gatehouse with me tonight? Once she's recovered, you can come home with me, Morgan."

Morgan yanked his hand away from her and walked over to Dante. "Can I uh, stay with you and Lulu for a bit?"

Carly frowned.

"Uh, well, Lulu isn't living with me right now," Dante said. "She's in a long-term care facility. It's a long story, I'll catch you up later. I'm actually married to Sam now."

Morgan raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Dante nodded. "But you're perfectly welcome to stay with us. I'm sure Sam will be happy to have you. As long as you don't mind three kids there."

Willow allowed Nina to hug her, though she just loosely hugged her back.

"Are you okay?" Nina asked. "I was so worried about you."

Carly made her way over to them. "Are you okay, Willow? I think Michael would want me to take you and the kids back to the gatehouse to get some rest. I'll have Josslyn go get the kids—"

"No," Willow said, pulling away from Nina. "I'm not going back to the gatehouse, and neither are my children."

"What?" Carly laughed a little. "Of course, you are."

Willow brushed past her and headed upstairs.

Nina glared at Carly then followed Willow.

Willow made her way to the nursery where Leo, Wiley, and Donna were jumping all over Chase who was lying on the floor, while Brooklyn sat in the rocking chair with Amelia.

"Wiley," Willow said. "Grab a stuffed animal and a couple of toys. We're going."

Wiley stood up. "Are we going back to the wedding?"

"No, bud. We're going to a hotel."

"A hotel?" Nina appeared behind her. "Why are you going to a hotel?"

"It's a vacation!" Wiley scattered around picking up some stuffies and some of his favourite trucks.

Willow turned to Nina. "I'm leaving Michael. I can't deal with all of them anymore."

"Well, don't go to a hotel," Nina said and started to smile. "Why don't you come home with me?"

"Oh, no." Willow shook her head. "You just live in an apartment."

"It's a big apartment," Nina said. "Ava just moved out a little over a month ago. I have three bedrooms. You could share with Amelia, or she and Wiley could share, whatever you prefer."

Willow shook her head again. "No, it's too soon for anything like that."

"Willow, please, don't go to a hotel. You're still recovering. Do you really want to be in a hotel with a four-year-old and a one-month-old?"

"It's just temporary until I figure things out. I just feel like I can't trust anyone right now."

"Okay." Nina sighed. "Okay, at least go to the Metro Court and it'll be on the house. I'll call over and tell them you're coming. We won't charge you a thing."

Willow nodded.

"Ready Mommy!" Wiley came over with his arms full of toys.