Sophia had initially planned on teaching Carmen a lesson, but the little girl turned the situation around and made herself the victim first. âAlright, my good girl. Who said you arenât an angel? Youâre still the princess of angels; youâre the prettiest angel among the thousands of angels in the sky.â Carmen finally stopped crying after Sophia coaxed her for a little while more. The young girl then picked the corgi up and invited everyone to admire its butt with her.
Once Carmen fell asleep, Sophia got her babysitter to send the dog back. She glanced up toward the third floor wearily, which remained silent the whole time. Cooper must be feeling terrible right now. He really wants to see Anna, but heâs also afraid of seeing herâafter all, she has completely lost all memories of him. Sheâs now the wife of another man, and she even has four sons⦠Michael might be the only person who can understand this torturous experienceâ¦
â¦
Meanwhile, it was past midnight in the Yard Residence when Anna found herself caught in a hypnagogic state. She had a really odd dream which had been troubling her ever since she returned to Cethos. In the dream, she felt a splitting pain in her belly. Amidst all the suffering she was in, she felt the emergence of new lives as two babies tore themselves away from her flesh and wiggled their way out of her body.
She barely caught a glimpse of the two newborn babies before someone picked them up and raised the babies toward the sky. âYouâd better hand the right of succession and all your shares over. Otherwise, Iâll drop your son onto the ground right now!â
âAh!â Anna woke up from her nightmare and felt someoneâs arms around her. âWhat is it, Annie?â A manâs deep voice came from beside her. She felt his strong arms curling around her, but for some reason, that only made her feel more afraid than ever. âAh!â Right then, Anna lost control of all her emotions. She threw away all the things that she could lay her hands on; all she wanted to do right then was to throw out the person who had just wrapped his arms around her. âGo away! Get out!â
The man caught everything that Anna had been throwing as he explained himself and said, âAnnie, itâs meâ¦â However, Anna couldnât hear anything he said right then. The disgusting scent of a male body lingered in her nostrils; it was a repulsive scent that triggered her desire to break everything that she could grab onto. She threw her belongings onto the ground as she screamed like a crazy woman.
Her loud screams caught the attention of Callum and Cade, and Callum turned the lights on to see the room in an utter mess. The pillows, vases and Annaâs cell phone were on the ground, and her hair was an utter mess as she continued to throw things out. Meanwhile, Jordan pathetically took a few steps back to avoid getting hit by something.
âMom!â Callum cried out in surprise before he quickly ran forward to hold his mother in his arms. Anna began to thrash around in his arms, looking like a pitiful woman who couldnât seem to escape from her own nightmare. When Anna saw Jordan trying to edge closer to her, she lost her mind even more than before. âAhhhh!â she shrieked at the top of her lungs.
This came as a shock to Jordan; he took a few steps back, his eyes filled with hurt and terror. âDad, Momâs having a relapse of her illness. Please go out for a while,â Cade quickly said.
âAnnieâ¦â Jordan tried to call his wife, but Anna was completely out of control. He had no choice but to bitterly step out of the room. Callum continued to tighten his grip around his mother in the room. She was crying and wailing as if she had just experienced the most traumatic incident in her life, and her face was soaked with tears of terror.
âItâs Callum, Mom! Iâm your son!â The look on Annaâs face flickered for a moment as she seemed to regain some consciousness after seeing Callumâs face. She quickly threw her arms around Callum. âMy son⦠My son, my darling Callum⦠My son⦠Donât hurt my son! No! No!â She clung onto Callum tightly, as if she was afraid that someone would snatch him away from her. He returned the hug and began to tear up as he listened to her muffled sobs and incoherent sentences. âItâs okay. Itâs alright. Iâm here now, and no oneâs going to hurt me. Weâre all grown up, so we can protect ourselves now!â
However, Anna was still extremely emotional. She couldnât seem to detach herself from the nightmare she had, and she was having a complete mental breakdown. Eventually, she began to quiet down a little after Callum soothed her emotions. She then moved to the guest room for the night while the maid tidied the messy room.
Cade picked the two roses up from the shards of glass that had once been a vase. The roses were a gift from Cooper, and Anna had carefully placed them in the vase earlier that night. She threw the vase onto the ground and it shattered into pieces when she lost her mind moments ago, so the roses were left in a puddle of water on the floor. Cade picked them up and placed them into a new vase before gently putting it by Annaâs bedside once again.
After taking two sleeping pills, Anna went back to sleep. Callum tucked her into bed and gazed at her tear-stricken cheeks as she slept. The public only saw how great their lives were, but they had never seen all the pain and struggles that the mother and her two sons had to go through. Callum and Cadeâs childhood were filled with fear and terror; everyone wanted them dead back then. Direct and distant relatives of the Yard Family wanted them dead, and all of Jordanâs other women wanted them dead too.
The survival of Anna and her two sons had a huge impact on the potential benefits of others around them, so everyone wanted them gone! On the outside, they were threatened by the Yard Family; on the inside, they were controlled by Jordan. They never once had the freedom and right to direct their own lives, and it felt like they were constantly living under the shadow of everyone elseâs power.
Callum and Cade could never forget the day they had been kidnapped while they were still asleep.
Those men laughed heartily as they tortured Anna and forced her to kneel in front of them. They found joy in hearing her bitter cries; they wanted her to pick a son to fall to his death so that she could live the rest of her life blaming herself for what she had done. Callum always remembered how helpless Annaâs cries sounded back then. She continuously bowed down and pressed her head onto the ground; she kept begging until the skin around her forehead split apart. Her face was covered in her blood and tears, but she still didnât manage to get her son back. Callum felt like he was forced to grow up after that night.
Although they were eventually saved later, Anna became extremely anxious over everything. Every night, she would wrap her arms around her sons tightly, using her frail and skinny body to protect them.
Anna would coax them to go to bed by singing them to sleep and trying her best to provide them a sense of security. However, once they fell asleep, she would stay awake for the entire night. Her bloodshot eyes were alert to every tiny movement around her, and she was afraid that someone would come and snatch her children away from her.
Even until today, Anna would occasionally have such nightmares of the worst night of her life. No one knew how the mother and her two sons had managed to survive until today. Some people were born into a world where they were given all the greatest pleasures of life, while some others had to sacrifice everything just to keep themselves alive. The very fact of life was a luxury to them. Despite their struggles, they insisted on surviving; they wanted to be the happiest people on earth.
âCallum.â Callum only came to his senses when he heard Cade calling for him. Callum turned the lights off and quietly shut the door behind him before he wiped his tears and calmed himself down. When he walked to the living room, Jordan had already been sitting there for a while.
âHowâs your mother?â Jordan asked.
Callum put on a relaxed expression. âSheâs the same as before. Itâs just an old habit; she canât be triggered, and she canât have any men near her. This also happens when she sleeps with me or Cade beside her sometimes.â
Jordan seemed a little dejected to hear this, but he quickly changed the topic. âWhen are you and Cade going to return to Ronney City?â