The atmosphere at the house the next morning was a strained one. Carol had to wake up early to pack her stuff, otherwise, she would have just stayed in her room and slept until her family left. As it was, she had to come face to face with them. Belinda averted her gaze and refused to look at Carol or speak to her the whole time, not that Carol wanted to speak to her either. Aunt Alice did her best to pretend that everything was normal and that none of what had happened yesterday happened. It was still a marvel to Carol that someone like her, who was such a tattletale knew about all this and had been able to keep her mouth shut all these years.As her father had promised, they did leave somewhat early, so all she had to do was bid them a forced goodbye and they were on their way. However, they turned up thirty minutes later saying that they had missed their flight due to traffic on the road and that it would have to be the next day that they would leave. Her father looked apologet

Victoria Daniels cut the call with shaking hands and looked up at her captors, hoping to high heavens that she had done well enough for them to be pleased with her act. She was terrified, more terrified than she had ever been in her life, but she was doing her best to look brave, although she was not sure it was working.“Where did she say she is?” Charlotte asked as calmly as though she were asking if Victoria would like a cup of tea and as calmly as though she was not holding a gun to her head. Victoria quickly stammered out her sister’s location, her voice shaking as she did so.“Why won’t that fucking bitch stay in one place? Just when I’m planning to make my move, she moves across the country and ruins my fucking plan! Where on earth does she think that I have the goddamn money to waste in flying some stupid bitch halfway across the fucking world?” Charlotte yelled angrily, pointing the gun firmly and directly at Victoria as though it was her fault that Carol had traveled

The next day and the day after that one was a breeze of activities for Carol. Mr. James and his wife did not give her a chance to get bored but kept her fully entertained with different activities. They went swimming, and also went to visit one of Mr. James’s old friends. Carol noticed that they did not do any strenuous activities, and knew that it was because of Mr. James’s health. “I’m sorry that you’re stuck doing granny stuff. When Sebastian comes, you both can do all the young people's stuff. Our old bones just can’t.” Mr. James had said, laughing but Carol hasted to assure him that she did not mind at all. Sebastian was due to arrive that afternoon, and the whole of Carol’s body was tingling in anticipation of his arrival. She did not even bother to hide how excited she was about it, and she was sure that the older couple knew exactly how she was feeling. “You’re really excited, huh? You must have missed him so much.” Mrs. James stated as she and Carol

Charlotte sat in a corner of the restaurant, her gaze firmly fixed on her birth father, who had no idea of the fact that she was staring daggers at him or any idea of who she was for that matter. Just seeing his stupid face brought back all the hurt that she had harbored right from when she was young and brought up the pain that her mother must have felt over the years as acutely as though she was the one who had felt it. The traitorous bastard was there, right there across from her with his stupid wife and adopted son or nephew, anyhow you looked at it and the imbecile’s wife. This was the man who had taken her father away from her and her brother and it was all Charlotte could do not storm across the restaurant and beat his face to a pulp, all their faces in fact. Her so-called father was there with his bitch of a wife, smiling as though he did not have a care in the world and Sebastian and his wife laughed along as though they did not have any problems at all, which she guessed t

Carol watched Sebastian as he got his gear for diving together. He seemed really excited to go on this expedition and she was sure that she was being a spoilsport, but she just could not help herself and she was scared of the ocean. Supposing it was something that she had thought of or considered doing before now, it would have been a different situation.“You seem to like diving a lot.” She commented as he zipped up his bag and moved to another part of the suite to pick something else.“I sure do. I’ve been doing it since I was eleven. Anytime I go on vacation to places like this, I always make sure to take the opportunity to go diving. You can say that I’m a pro at it, but it’s okay if you’re not into it. In my experience, I’ve learned that it is better not to force someone to want to like it, so you can just come and watch, or you can sun on the beach if you want. I just don’t want you to be bored while I’m up and about enjoying myself.”“Awww. That’s so thoughtful and s