Nik's point of view

Two days passed in a blur. But on the bright side, my manhood suffered no internal or external damage from Isabella's kick.

Talking of Isabella, she was so unstable that she had to be forced to sleep medically most times.

Eventually, my daughter calmed down but she wasn't the same Isabella I remembered.

She just sat on her bed and kept on staring into outer space. And no matter how much I incited her to action, she wouldn't say a thing to me. I guess she was mad at me but I couldn't put up with her shit anymore.

Right now, I felt so overwhelmed with responsibility; I had that daring presenter called Lily captive and haven't decided her judgment yet; I had to escape from Adam's shenanigans considering the fact I had relinquished my CEO position at the board meeting called by me yesterday- Adam probably thought I was joking when I said I wanted nothing to do with him anymore.

There was Maya's body recovery operation going on and last night, they recovered a heel she wore on the day of the incident and are now confident of finding her body soon.

But what seemed like happy news to them was a sad one for me, this new development meant I was holding on to false hope all this time; Maya was truly gone and I had to deal with that reality for the rest of my life.

There were just a lot of things to think about and solve and my daughter's emotional fit was not helping things at all.

"I never trained her to be this weak. Isabella is a strong kid, why is she doing this to me?" I complained to Amanda.

"Niklaus, breathe," she said.

"What do you mean breathe?"

"Take a deep breath," she demanded.

I inhaled deeply and released it after a long time.

"Again,"

I took a deep breath once again.

"And again,"

I obeyed and felt strangely better.

"Niklaus you have so much responsibility on your head lately that you need a breather else you burn out," she said to me.

"What do you want me to do then? I thought bringing Anabelle and Pedro over would heal her but she doesn't look any better," I pointed to her bed.

Isabella's room was spacious and had a connecting room where visitors or family who wanted to sleepover for the night could do so and that was where we- Amanda and me - were having this discussion.

"Niklaus, no matter how tough-looking Isabella is, she's just a child who is grieving differently at the moment, and as much as you dislike that, we still have to condone that. Maya was quite special to Isabella just as her mother, Kay was and now they both are gone, I can't even fathom what she's thinking," Amanda squeezed my shoulder.

"Isabella needs time and attention," she finalized.

I wiped my face with my palm with a great sigh," I um... I understand but I'm just tired. These past times, no matter what I do it just turns out negative. It looks like God abandoned me considering the amount of sin I've committed,"

"Shh, don't say that," Amanda hushed me, "God doesn't abandon his people,"

I laughed wryly, "Sadly, I'm not one of his people,"

"Say that again and I'll swat you on the mouth," Amanda scolded me strictly, "God loves us equally -"

"If he loves me as you claim, why did he allow Maya to die when he clearly knew I needed her in my life desperately?" I asked her with an intense scorching gaze.

"God has a reason for everything," was her curt reply.

"Dammit, it Amanda! What reason would he have to let the mother of my child die that way?" I asked her.

"Oh my God," She gasped, hands-on her lips," Maya was pregnant?" She was in shock.

" Yeah, I guess you know that now. So tell me, what concrete reason could be behind Maya's sudden death. No sign, just boom! She's gone?" I shrugged, " What's the gain, Amanda? What does God benefit from taking such a life-not one but two without warning?" I queried her, hoping she had a reasonable answer.

Amanda shook her head," There's a time for everything; time to live and time to die. We do not question God's actions, Niklaus. He gave Maya to you, I'm sure he would send you a comforter,"

I looked up at Amanda, hugging her without words. Rubbing her back and nestling my head on her shoulder, I said " Thanks for your bullshit, Amanda,"

I felt her shake her head pitifully as she clicked her tongue," You're a hard nut to crack yet I love you,"

"And I love you too," I kissed her on the cheeks and pulled away. Amanda was the closest thing to a mother figure in my life.

My phone rang and I looked at the screen, "The deputy is calling and I'm guessing they finally found her body. Hallelujah to your God," I said sarcastically and picked up.

I picked, "Of course, I'll be there," I said, ending the call.

"They found her body?" Amanda rubbed her clammy hands down her clothes nervously.

I shut my eyes and nodded.

A sharp gasp was torn from her throat.

"They need me to confirm her body," I said but there was this lump in my throat that made it hard to speak.

"Control yourself, I don't need Isabella to become disturbed once again," I warned her.

"I'm sorry," she began to wipe away the tears from her eyes, "I just can't help myself, the tears keep flowing. Poor Maya"

"I'm leaving," I turned around. I couldn't handle her being this emotional, it just messed me up further.

This time there wasn't Micheal to drive me there nor Lucas, no, Linda, I had her keep an eye on Isabella in case she tries another of her escaping episodes.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Deputy asked when I made it to the hospital.

"According to what I heard, it's not a nice sight and you might have to live with unpleasant, uninvited memories," he tried to change my mind.

My heart wavered, was I ready to see this? But I had to be strong for myself and everyone.

"No matter how gruesome-looking Maya's body is, I still need to see it. Right now, I'm left with a sense of unreality and I think viewing it would help me to bring the reality of loss.

"Confronting that reality would help me in the grieving process because the bond with the decreased need to be severed so I can make new attachment and for my well-being," I repeated what my therapist told me this morning - as if I had an intuition this was going to happen.

"Why do you need to sever that bond?" Was the deputy's odd question.

"Because I need to move on?" That sounded more like a question than an answer, "Her death has brought so many damages in my life,"

The deputy had just opened his mouth to answer when the coroner arrived.

"You can come in," he said, leading me inside the morgue.

And there on the table was a figure covered with a white cloth. My legs felt heavy while my heart pulsed knowing I was about to go and confront that reality.

"Do you want me to leave?" The coroner asked.

"No, stay," I lifted my eyes, I needed someone by my side.

When I reached that table, I took a deep breath and pulled away the clothes but stepped back as someone struck from electricity.

The deputy was right, this would scare me for eternity. My leg gave out and I collapsed to the ground in a heap, beginning to sob aloud.

"Apparently, she hit the water face first. The impact opened up her face, from nose to chin, leaving a grotesque death mask and it has begun its decay already, having spent days in the muddy water " explained the coroner.

I gulped, shaking my head stubbornly, "No, that is not her. That is not Maya. I refuse to believe that is her,"

What was left of that face was just bits and bits of flesh held together by the jaw. The sight was nauseating and would have caused even the strongest of men to puke out their guts already.

The coroner sighed," While going through the routine of checking the body and identification, her manager has confirmed that this was the clothes she was putting on that unfaithful day: Short black pencil skirt with graphic details paired with a ruffled top and of course the other missing heel,"

Maya always hated heels, always claimed it brought bad luck to her or something except the day she first met me - yet she hated wearing those.

The coroner lowered the white linen revealing the tattered clothes, barely clinging to her body. There was bruising everywhere and her foot still wearing her heel was twisted.

"It's enough," I ordered, fighting against nausea rising in my throat.

I took a photo of her before having her body closed entirely; that image would haunt me for eternity.

I couldn't touch her, she just seemed different like something had left her body. I was a spiritual person but not extremely religious. Whatever was there, was just a body, something had left.

"Cremate the body,"

"Huh?" The coroner was surprised.

"You heard me right," I said, wanting to give Maya the peace she needed; her body has gone through enough.

"But I.. this is a forensic evidence, I still need to carry out a postmortem examination to determine -"

"Accidental slipping or not, I'll still use my power to make sure those animals spend their entire life in jail. Do you understand me or should I show you what I mean?"

My eyes were fierce, my threat apparent as I tightened my hold on his collar.

"Yes, of course, I understand," he slowly nodded.

"Good,"