The Secret Obsession of the CEO
Chapter 63: Misapprehension

Chapter 63: Misapprehension

Rory couldn’t get the top or bottom of the situation there. The only thing she remembered was the challenge she made to Liam. She knows that he takes challenges personally.

How could I lose my baby like this?

She blamed herself and ran out of her room. The house was empty because everyone was asleep. Even Mrs. Delport won’t wake up this early and as Rory expected, she was still sleeping.

Where could he have taken her? That dark figure... Was he waiting the whole night to steal Ellie from me?

Ugh! Why did I make an open challenge? I could have done it all silently! Why am I stupid?

Like a madwoman, she ran around to check every room. Hearing the noise, the cleaning staff stopped her.

"Baby... my baby..." Rory said amidst her heavy breath.

"Your husband took her out just now..." the staff pointed outside and Rory’s heart skipped a beat.

Forgetting that she is not wearing shoes, she stepped out of the house. There was no car in the driveway and there was no sign of a car there.

The fence!

Rory ran to the gap in the fence which connects the two houses. Both of them use that gap as a shortcut to go to the other’s house. As she was running, the little pebbles scraped her feet and they hurt. But she was so focused on getting Ellie before Liam takes her away from her that she didn’t care about the pain and ran.

As she was about to get to the fence, she heard a soft murmur from the garden and slowed down. The guy sounded like Liam and she listened closely. The moment she heard the unadulterated laugh of her baby girl, Rory turned and ran toward the garden.

She saw Liam holding Ellie and pointing at something in the distance. Ellie was following his movements and laughing back. Watching that, she felt guilty for doubting Liam.

She stopped and took slow deep breaths to compose herself. She then walked towards them fixing her hair.

"What are you doing?" she asked. He had covered Ellie properly and looking at her, she looked fed.

"Ah... just..." Liam didn’t look at her and pointed at the bird houses in the distance. "I was telling our daughter how stupid those birds are... They know that humans build those wooden houses explicitly for them to build their nests there. And yet, whenever they see a human, they fly away as if humans are going to hurt them," he snorted.

"They’re pathetic!" he added. Ellie babbled along with him and started patting his rough cheek with her small stubby hands.

"She is pathetic, isn’t she? The mother bird." Rory said folding her hands over her chest. "She has no way to know who is safe for her kids and who is not. And so, she is wary of everyone. How can she take a chance on the well-being of her kids, right? And how stressed out she must be...

She needs to find a proper place for her kids, which is safe for their development, and she needs to take the surroundings and the availability of resources into account... She can’t take a risk, can she? Once she builds a home in a place, that is it! She has to live there come rain or shine until her kids grow up. Her decision will make or break her kids. That’s a big decision for her to take alone, isn’t it?"

She let out a sigh. Liam turned and looked at her as he didn’t think she was talking about the birds. Her words are more personal. She looked like she jumped out of the bed.

Ah! I should have left a written message that I am taking Ellie out!

Liam chided himself in his heart.

"I know a child needs her mother the most, Rory. I know how much I miss my mother. My child doesn’t have to..." he took in a deep breath. "I will never take her from you. It’s a promise." He patted her hand.

Rory bowed her head. He means those words now. It made her happy. But she told herself to not have much hope that he will keep his words.

Her eyes ended up on his shoes and a thought popped into her brain. She walked toward the house.

Liam thought she would say something but she didn’t. She walked away from him and he followed her. It was then he noticed that she was barefoot. Her feet were dirty and she walked like her feet hurt.

"Cherry, stop!" He held her shoulder. "Why are you not wearing shoes?"

Rory shirked his hand off and walked to the window of the room she slept in the previous night. Her heart pounded as she re-lived the horror she faced during the night, but she talked herself into walking closer. She needs to confront this head-on.

If there was a person there, he/she must have left some marks or some proof, right?

She walked to the window and there she found it. Two footprints that belong to both legs were distinct as if they made a deep impression because that person stood there for a long time.

"What are you doing, Cherry? Wear your shoes first before..."

Liam paused as he noticed the footprints. "What happened here?" he asked.

Rory was bending to take a clear look at the footprints. Liam stood close to the footprints and she pushed him aside. He took a step back and that’s when Rory noticed the marks his shoes made.

The footprints... They are the same!

"You came here last night, Liam?" she asked grabbing his collar. His eyes went wide as if he was stunned. But Rory did not stop.

He is capable of doing it. He has done it before.

"Do you know how scared I was when I saw your shadow on the curtains? You know how scared I can get about these things and yet you..." she let out a snort and held her head.

"Oh my God! You wanted to scare me, didn’t you? Or... were you here to see if I was sleeping with Ian, huh? Liam, you’re such a ..."

She spat on the ground and after getting Ellie from him, walked into the house.

Liam watched her leave without blinking. He couldn’t even understand what was going on.

He looked down as Rory was angry at him after seeing that. It was then he saw the set of footprints that was from before.

He placed his shoe just over the footprint and... it was an exact match. He checked the grooves and even they were the same.

It should be my footprint. But I was never here. What is happening?

He was confused. He would never stand by the window and scare her. He did that only once and after seeing how scared that made her, he was always careful with her.

Who was here? And why are the footprints matching with mine?

He started to panic.

Who? Why?

He took in a deep breath as he could think of only one person.

Derick!