Chapter 29

The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn Chapter 29 ~ATTICUS~

I wish I hadn’t made such ridiculous promises to Anya. I should have been upfront with her from the start. But she wasn’t the problem currently; getting Autumn to open this door was more important to me. I knock once, then twice.

“Autumn!” I shout loud enough for her to hear me. “Open the door. Please!”

I try again but she shouted for me to leave her alone. Hearing her say those words to me bothered me more than it should. It was almost like her feelings affected mine. Like we were connected. But that couldn’t be possible. I was connected to Anya, not to her. My mate bond was with Anya, not Autumn. So then why did this hurt me just as much as it did her?

“Why are you wasting your time with her?” Anya demands. “She doesn’t wish to speak to you. I’m the one that’s trying my best to make things better between us. I’m the one that’s fighting for you. Can’t you see that Autumn doesn’t care for you at all?”

“She’s only ignoring me because of you.” I remind her. “Are you purposefully trying to cause problems between us Anya?”

She narrows her eyes and folds her arms stubbornly.

“Are you out of your mind Atticus?” She inquired. “It’s not my fault that Autumn doesn’t trust you. I was never like that when we were together. I knew you loved me, and I didn’t have to worry about any other woman in your life. I know you still love me.

That’s why I can never let go of you. It’s why I plan on fighting till the end for you.”

I was right. Anya wasn’t going to let our past go. She was determined to keep fighting for us.

I hear footsteps, and I see my brother walking up the stairs toward us. His eyes find us, and he looks surprised to see us alone together.

“What’s going on?” He asks as he joins us. “Everyone is waiting for you, Atticus. I didn’t expect to see you with Anya. Did something happen between the both of you?”

Was Damon also about to misunderstand the situation? He should know that I would never disrespect my wife like that.

“Let’s start the search,” I say without answering his question about Anya. It was useless trying to get Autumn to talk to me now, and I had already promised her to bring her friend back safely. The longer we waited, the harder it would become to keep my promise to her. Maybe if I found her friend, then she would forgive me. That is if she remembers anything from tonight when she wakes up.

Did I want her to remember this? I didn’t think so. The look on her face even though she was drunk told me that she wouldn’t forgive me easily for this incident.

It was even more useless trying to speak with Anya about her behavior. She never likes when I ignore her, but when I try to be friendly and not hurt her, she does things like this which makes it difficult for me to be there for her.

“Are there any leads so far?” I ask him as I walk past Anya towards the stairs. Damon looks at her before following after me. He knows something has to have happened; he wasn’t stupid. But lucky for me, he didn’t try to ask any other questions.

“No, none except that Griffin confessed to provoking Kane before they went missing.” He informs me.

“How did he provoke him?” I ask. Griffin was always looking for trouble. This wasn’t news to me.

“This is where it gets interesting,” Damon says. “Kane is supposed to be mates with Maya, Austin’s sister who they’ve recently been reunited with. It turns out Kane had something going on with the girl he went missing with. Griffin was trying to get him jealous by flirting with her. Apparently, Griffin promised to help her make him jealous. It worked.”

“Are you telling me that it’s possible they both ran away to be together?” I ask.

He shrugs his shoulder, “there is really no telling what happened until we find them. The way I see it, this is the least of our problems. When Austin discovers what Kane has been doing behind his sister’s back, he might kill him if he isn’t already dead.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. If they’re mates, why is he cheating on her?” I ask.

That was a question I shouldn’t be asking. Anya was my mate, but it didn’t stop me from desiring Autumn. It’s not supposed to be that way; mates didn’t desire anyone else but their partner.

Damon looks at me, and there is a guilty look on his face, almost like he understands Kane. Did he also desire someone other than Anya? We never spoke about feelings; we did in the past, but after Anya came into our lives, we’d drifted apart. It didn’t feel right to explain what we each felt about her; it was awkward since we would be talking about the same woman. Now here we are, knowing very little about each of our feelings.

Damon looks tensed as Clarissa joins us, “how does my outfit look for the search?” She asks.

Damon and I look at her as though she’d lost her damn mind. “Where do you think you’re going?” He asks her.

“To help you with the search.” She answers him. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Damon grabs her wrist and pulls her to his side, “you’re not going on this search with us. When do we ever involve you in things like this? Stay here with the guests and keep out of trouble.”

“Keep out of trouble?” She asks. “I am not a child Damon. I’m all grown up; this is not the body of a child, in case you haven’t noticed.”

What the f**k?

“Clarissa.” I hiss. “Are you feeling okay? What the hell is wrong with you all of a sudden?”

I’m surprised that Damon didn’t respond to her little comment, and I’m even more shocked when I turn to him and see that his cheeks are bright red.

“I’m perfectly fine.” She assures me. “I hate that everyone treats me like I’m a kid. It’s frustrating. I want to help. Why can’t you let me?”

Was this really happening tonight? First, I had to keep Autumn from joining us, and now I also had to deal with Clarissa. We were wasting precious time.

“If it means that much to you. Fine. Join us.” I tell her.

Her face brightens with a smile, and Damon looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“She can’t come with us. We’re not sure how long we will be out there. It’s safer for her here.” He complains.

“Well, then you try and talk her out of this because I don’t have time to convince her not to come with us.” I point out.

I knew Damon was even more protective over her than I was, but I couldn’t stay here trying to convince her not to go when I had to find Autumn’s friend. I was still pissed over what had just occurred. I was desperate to find a way to get Autumn to forgive me.

Clarissa grabs a bag and walks in front of us, “what do you even have in that bag?”

“Just girl stuff!” She shouts as she runs to the jeep.

Dante joins us and quirks a brow when she opens the back door and jumps in the vehicle.

“Clarissa is joining us?” He asks.

“You can thank f*****g Atticus for that,” Damon growls as he joins her in the backseat.

“You’re welcome!” I respond sarcastically.

“Do we have everything?” I ask as I start the jeep.

Dante nods, “should we have asked Anya to join us as well? She’s probably going to be pissed that I told her no, but allowed Clarissa to join us.”

My hands tighten on the steering wheel, and before they can agree on bringing her, I’m already moving the jeep into the pathway to the front of us. I wasn’t giving them a chance to get her involved in this search. I was already in deep s**t with Autumn; I didn’t want to worsen things. Besides, I couldn’t trust myself around Anya; she would find some way to get us alone.

“Honestly, Atticus, I’ve never been more proud of you.” Clarissa cheers in the back. “Not having Anya with us is the best thing that has happened to me all day. It’s tiring being around her. I’m honestly not sure how you can stand being around her for more than a minute.”

“No, the best thing would have been if you had stayed your butt home.” Dante retorts. “How did you convince Damon to let you come with us?”

“Damon isn’t the boss of me.” She snaps.

“I am right here,” Damon says in a dry tone. “You’re speaking about me like I’m the one that stayed back.”

Was this what it would be like for the entire search? With these three constantly bickering and giving me a bloody headache?

“Are there any new updates?” I ask Dante. He’s the one that’s been in contact with Arthur about the search. “And where is Griffin? He should be in the center of the search since he’s partly to blame for trying to get Kane jealous.”

“There are no new leads,” he informs me. “And Griffin, he’s leading one of the searches, but it’s in a completely different direction. We’re trying to spread out as far as possible since we don’t know where they might be.”

That would make sense; we wouldn’t stop until we covered the entire island. I had to find them. I had to for Autumn.

“Griffin loves to cause trouble,” Damon says, “name one event we’ve ever had that he didn’t cause an uproar.”

Now that Damon had mentioned it, I realized that he was speaking the truth. I couldn’t find a single event where Griffin hadn’t caused trouble for the rest of us. This was only his most recent incident.

“The trail ends here,” I say as the jeep abruptly stops. “We’re going to have to walk from this point onwards.”

Damon turns to Clarissa, “are you sure you’re up for this?” he asks her. “You can still take the jeep back; we can shift and return to the beach house in no time when we’re done with the search.”

“I didn’t come all this way to be of no help.” She says.

She’s the first to step out of the vehicle, she attempts to grab her bag, but Damon takes it from her. “I’ll carry it. Just focus on walking.”

She practically beams up at him, and this is the relationship I’m accustomed to seeing between them—Clarissa in complete awe of Damon.

Dante looks at me, and I shake my head. We’re used to this. It wasn’t anything new for us. Though, their bickering has for some reason increased recently.

“I still can’t get over the fact that Kane is cheating on Maya. I’ve heard their story. Didn’t he go insane trying to find her when she went missing? How could he betray her like that in the end? You don’t just cheat on your mate. It’s not normal behavior.” Dante says.

“Well, maybe she’s the wrong person for him,” Clarissa says. “Look at Atticus, for example, Autumn is the better option for him than Anya, and she isn’t his mate. She agrees with him, and he’s so much happier with her than he ever was with Anya. Maybe you and Damon can experience that happiness if you give someone else a chance.”

“Here we go again,” Dante growls. “Just another reminder why we should have left you home.”

“I’m allowed to give my opinion Dante.” She snaps at him.

“Do you smell that?” I ask.

Damon looks at me, and his body goes on high alert, “witchcraft.”

“Did we invite any witches on this trip with us?” I inquire.

“I can’t say for sure,” Dante answers me. “It’s not something I paid attention to.”

“Even if we did, no one came here to perform any weird ritual or whatever the f**k this is,” I say as I look down at the burning circle in the dirt.

“Do you know what spell this is?” Dante asks me.

I couldn’t say for sure. We’ve studied witches and their spells at the academy, but I can’t say I paid attention.

“It seems like a teleporting spell,” Clarissa says as she goes closer. “Someone used it to get out of the island.”

We all stare at her, completely stunned.

She looks up at us and quirks her brow, “what? Have none of you ever paid attention in class? I’m in a lower level but somehow, know more than you?”

Damon sighs and kneels next to her, “it looks like there was more than one person here judging by the size of these footprints.”

“Do you think it was Kane and the girl?” I ask.

“They’re not witches,” Damon points out. “If it was them, a witch must have taken them.”

“This just gets weirder and weirder,” Dante says.

“I’ll give Griffin the update,” Damon says as he takes out his phone. “He can inform the others of what we’ve just found out. I don’t know how we will explain this, though.”

“So witches are involved in their disappearance?” Dante asks. “Is that the conclusion we’ve come up with?”

“We still can’t say for sure,” I respond as I scan the area. “We can’t jump to any conclusions, but what we could do is keep looking and hope to find some more clues.”

Witches. I never liked when they were involved. They were tricky and could never be trusted. I’ve barely met honest witches;

most of them were always looking for ways to trick you and benefit in whatever way they could. Their spells always freaked me out. Knowing that there were people out there that could make you fall in love with them through magic alone didn’t sit right with me. They had the power to control and make you do things you wouldn’t normally do, and there wasn’t much you could do about it. If you didn’t know that you were under a spell, how could you break free from it?

“Let’s keep looking,” Damon says.

My eyes widen as Clarissa almost walks straight into the fire. Damon grabs her by her waist and pulls her to him.

“Oopsie!” she whispers as she hides her face against his chest.

“This is why I didn’t want you here with us,” Damon growls. “You could have seriously burnt yourself, and that’s not even normal fire.”

“I’m sorry.” she apologizes. “I’ll be more careful from now on.”

“I think it’s time I take you back to the jeep,” Damon tells her. “We can wait there until they return.”

“I told you that I could do this.” She complains. Damon looks frustrated, but he doesn’t try to convince her again.

We searched the area more than once, hoping to find other clues, but we didn’t see anything that could help us find them.

“Let’s head back to the jeep; we can check another area,” I say.

They nod, and it doesn’t take us long to get back to the vehicle. Even though I wanted to find Autumn’s friend, I was still distracted because of what had happened earlier. She was constantly on my mind. I couldn’t get over the look on her face when she thought that I’d lied to her.

“Stop the jeep!” Dante shouts suddenly. His words broke me out of my thoughts just before I could hit a tree.

“Where the hell is your mind at, Atticus?” He demands.

“We have Clarissa with us; you can’t be so f*****g careless,” Damon warned.

“Sorry.” I apologize. “I have a lot on my mind.”

“You still didn’t tell us what happened with Anya.” Damon reminds me. “It looked like you were in an argument when I interrupted you.”

Anya was the last person I wanted to speak to anyone about.

“Have you noticed recently that her behavior has drastically changed?” I ask them.

“She just watched her mate marry her best friend. I think she’s allowed to react the way that she’s behaving. You’re the one that doesn’t have any sympathy toward her pain.” Dante says with a hint of irritation in his voice.

This is why I couldn’t discuss anything with my brothers; they would instantly take her side.

“Or, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, maybe you’re finally able to see her for what she truly is. Her true nature is finally showing, and you’re finally opening your eyes.” Clarissa cuts in.

“We’re straying from what we came here to do,” Damon says. “Let’s continue with the search.”

“You’re right.” I agree.

“I think I’ll stay here,” Clarissa says.

“Why did you change your mind?” I ask her. “You were confident that you could do it an hour ago.”

“Speaking about Anya has given me an instant headache.” She complains.

I laugh, “You’re exaggerating.”

Damon sighs, “I’ll stay with her to ensure that no witches turn up and try to kidnap her. We’re still unsure of what’s happening.”

Dante and I don’t ask any more questions as we continue the search. I hope we find more clues that could lead us to Kane.

. . . . .

We’ve been searching for hours, and still, there was no sign of anything or anyone. I was beginning to believe that Kane and the girl were indeed kidnapped by witches. It’s the best way to explain their disappearance. We’ve been in contact with Griffin this entire time, but they haven’t found anything helpful to us either.

“Do you see what I see?” Dante asks me suddenly. “I want to make sure that I’m not hallucinating. We haven’t slept in hours, and we’ve been on our feet for a long time.”

He was right; we have been on our feet for a long time without rest.

I follow his gaze; there’s a note stuck to a tree and a knife at the top holding it together.

“You’re not hallucinating,” I assure him. “Who will leave a note in the middle of the forest? How were they so sure that someone would find it?”

“Well, to be fair, we practically did find it. Whoever left it knew that there would be people searching for Kane.”

I grabbed the knife and pulled it off the tree. Dante takes the letter and reads through it thoroughly. The frown on his face tells me that this was far from over.

“I think you should have a look at this yourself.” He says as he hands it over to me.

After reading it, I’m dumbstruck. What kind of sick joke was this?

According to the letter, Austin’s baby had been kidnapped.

How the f**k did this happen? Witches were definitely behind this; there weren’t any questions about their involvement anymore.

“We have to find Austin and the others! A baby is involved; it’s just gotten more serious.” I shout. “Let’s get back to the jeep.”

I was even more desperate to get to the bottom of things now that an innocent baby was involved. The letter was threatening his life. How cruel were these people? How did they even get the baby from Austin and Lucy? And if this was true, why hadn’t there been an uproar by now? Did they not know that their baby was missing?

I slammed the jeep door shut as soon as we got to it.

“What’s happening?” Clarissa demands as she jumps up. She’d fallen asleep on Damon but was wide awake when she heard us return.

“Great job waking her up when I finally got her to get some rest,” Damon says, annoyed with us. He wouldn’t be when he found out what was happening.

“Read this letter,” I tell him. “You’ll understand why we’re in a rush.”

We give him a few seconds, and we hear his sharp breath intake the moment it sinks in.

“They kidnapped a baby?” He shouts. “Who the f**k did this?”

“A baby?” Clarissa gasps. “Who’s baby?”

“Austin and Lucy’s. They’ll freak out when they read this letter if they aren’t already aware.” Dante says.

“Get Griffin on the phone,” I command. “He needs to inform the others for us.”

“We don’t have to.” He says as another jeep pulls up behind us. It was Griffin; he’d come alone to find us.

“We know where they are.” He informs us. “But we need to hurry. Things are getting crazy out there between Austin and Kane.

They’re about to fight. We need to get there before someone kills the other.”

“How do you know all this?” I demand.

“We saw everything through one of the drones Arthur’s family sold us. Luckily I remembered we had one on the island with us.”

“That’s not the only problem,” I warn. “We just found this letter.”

He takes it from me, and he has the same reaction that we all did.

“This is messed up,” Griffin says. “Since Austin is too busy trying to kill Kane, I think it’s safe to say that he isn’t aware that his son is missing. We need to get this letter to him immediately.”

He was right. Austin must have found out that Kane was cheating on Maya with Autumn’s friend, so he was trying to kill him for hurting his sister.

“Let’s not waste anymore time.” I shout as we jump in our vehicles.

“Do you think we will make it in time?” Clarissa asks. “I’m terrified for the baby’s safety.”

We all are. I knew one thing for sure, I wouldn’t rest until we found him.

. . . . . .

~AUTUMN~

The cold ground beneath my body was the first thing I noticed. Why was I on the ground? I slowly open my eyes, and to my surprise, I’m inside a bathroom. I winced as I tried to get up but fell straight on my ass.

I squeeze my temples as I try to remember what happened last night for me to wake up on the cold, hard floor.

The last thing I remembered was Scarlett and Clara offering me a drink. I remember asking for more than I should have taken.

And that was it. Everything went blank after that.

I try once more to get up from the ground, and this time I can. I stare at myself in the mirror; why are my eyes so red and swollen? It looks like I’ve been crying the entire night. Where was everyone?

It was tranquil, and this wasn’t a room I was familiar with. I open the bathroom door, and the next thing I see are roses all over the floor . I follow the trail to the bed, where rose petals are almost everywhere. It doesn’t look like anyone slept there.

Was Atticus in here with me last night? I gasped as I remembered the spring. Did that even take place last night?

The headache increased as I tried even harder to remember what I had done last night.

I wince as my hand accidentally grazes my n****e. Why did it feel so sensitive? They felt different. . . What exactly happened last night?

An image of Atticus sucking on them flashes across my mind, and my body comes to an abrupt halt.

That’s impossible. Atticus wouldn’t do something like that to me when he had no interest in me at all. It must have been a dream.

But if it was, why did my body feel all tender and needy? Like it wanted something but didn’t know how to get it.

“Autumn!” I heard my sister shouting as she continued to knock on the door.

I unlocked it, and she barged in, “what are you doing locked up in your room when there is so much chaos going on outside?”

She demands from me.

“Chaos?” I ask. “What’s happening?”

“Austin and Lucy’s baby has been kidnapped.” She informs me. “There are so many other things that took place while you’ve been sleeping. It turns out Maya was a fake; the real Maya was the one that went missing with Kane. They found them.”

What? My head was spinning with all of this new information.

“Where is Atticus now?” I demand. “I have to see him.”

“They’re organizing a helicopter to help find the baby before it’s too late.” She explains.

Did this mean he was planning on leaving without me?

Before my sister could stop me, I was already running down the stairs; I had to get to them before they left. I wanted to help; a baby was involved. A baby!

How could Atticus plan to leave the island without telling me anything? Has anything changed at all since we got married? Or did he just see me as a burden to him and his family?

I was still trying to figure out what had happened last night, but my stupid mind was still blank. I don’t think I should ever drink like that again. I can only hope I didn’t make a fool of myself again like I did the last time I had gotten so drunk.

“Where can I find the helicopter?” I ask Clarissa when I spot her.

“Autumn?” She questions as she studies my face. “Have you been crying?”

“I heard that Atticus was leaving; he didn’t tell me anything,” I informed her.

She nods, “he said you had a long night, and he wanted to make sure that you stayed here and got your rest. He asked me to take care of you before he left.”

A long night? I couldn’t remember anything about last night, and it was beginning to frustrate me!

“I can’t remember anything from last night,” I confess. “I think I had too much to drink.”

She giggles, “I’m guessing you don’t remember walking up to Atticus and kissing him in front of us?” She asks. “Anya was pissed, and I enjoyed every second of seeing her like that. It would be best if you did that more often. I think even Atticus enjoyed it.”

We kissed?

What on earth was she talking about? I would never do something like that, not in front of so many people. I’ve never been that bold. But I was different the first time I’d gotten drunk, and this time I’d had more to drink.

“You really don’t remember anything,” Clarissa notes as she notices my tense posture.

“I don’t have time to think about last night,” I tell her. “I want to find Atticus.”

She takes me to Damon’s jeep, and just as she promised, she gets me to the helicopter just in time.

Everyone is now getting on board.

Luckily for me, Atticus was still outside, waiting for the others to get in.

“Good luck!”Clarissa shouts as she waves goodbye to me.

I thanked her and ran towards Atticus. His gaze falls on me, and he looks surprised I’d come.

The moment I reached him and felt his closeness, something strange happened. I got another memory. We were kissing in this memory, at the front of the yacht. And it wasn’t just a peck on the lips.

It turns out Clarissa was telling the truth. I did kiss him in front of everyone.

“What are you doing here?” He asks. He has to shout above the loud noises the helicopter makes as its blades spin.

“I’m coming with you,” I tell him. It was hard to concentrate on his words when the memory of our kiss was still fresh in my head.

Why did he kiss me back in front of Anya?

And it wasn’t just any kiss. It was the most passionate kiss I’ve ever had in my entire life, and why did I have to be drunk when it happened? I felt giddy inside from just the memory; I can’t imagine how good it must have felt last night.

“Autumn,” he says. “This is about to turn into a massive battle. I didn’t tell you for your good. I need you to stay back here. It’s where you will be safe.”

I frown as another memory crashes into me.

I could hear Anya shouting that she loved him. I covered my mouth with my hand as everything returned to me all at once. Our hot session in the spring, begging him to touch me. My friend going missing. And then, finally, Atticus promising that he wasn’t going to see Anya but doing the exact opposite.

The pain from last night crushes my heart. It explains why I woke up on the bathroom floor with puffy eyes. After everything that happened between us last night, how could he do that to me in the end? How?

Out of everything, I hated when someone lied to me. And Atticus was someone I trusted; I always thought that he wasn’t someone that would lie.

He promised not to see Anya, but he went and saw her right in front of our room, where he knew I would be able to hear them both.

Did he purposefully try to hurt me last night? Why else would he have an entire conversation in front of our room? And it wasn’t just a conversation; they were hugging as well.

I take a step back from him, and the look on his face tells me that he knows I remember everything that happened.

“Autumn—”

“I’m going, Atticus. Nothing you say or do can stop me.”

I could barely face him anymore. He’s not the man I fell in love with. The Atticus I loved would never betray me like this. He would never intentionally find ways to hurt me .