Asleep or not, he too heard someone's voice call out 'Mikaella'. Immediately he sat up on his bed resting his back on the head board, his nerves getting the best of him, his heart beating rapidly and a cold chill running through his spine.

"I-i'm sorry. I must have mixed up the addresses", the guy spoke from the other end of the line.

"Wait. My friend would like to meet you, she's a big fan" Mikaella shouted and Marcus guessed that the guy must have left immediately he saw her.

Eight years and he would still recognize that voice from anywhere. It was Kevin's voice. To be precise, Kevin Cervantes. He ran his hands through his hair uneasily...what was he doing in New York! Why was he knocking on Mick's door? How did he find out that she was in New York?

A million questions raced in his mind as he clutched the bed sheets in his tight fists getting pissed by the fact that his father had failed him once again.

'I assure you none of the Cervantes family will be in New York. My men have been keeping a close eye on them'

Adam, his father had assured. And if his men were keeping a close eye on each Cervantes family member, how come Kevin was in New York? A feeling of dread coursed through his entire body, the room suddenly became hot than he could bear despite the air con on.

"Marc-Love, you there?"

"Y-yeah", he croaked out.

He evaluated his next words carefully. If he was going to ask Mikaella about Kevin, he needed to sound as calm as ever pretending that he didn't know Kevin and making sure that Mikaella hadn't recognized him.

"Room service, huh?"

"No. It's odd, Kimberly Cervantes' brother was here. Claimed to have mixed up the addresses but I don't buy it. There was something about his look-"

His eyes went wider,"Kimberly Cervantes?"

"The woman who donated funds to our foundation? Marc, were you even listening to me when I told you about it"

He recalled the day she told him about her going to New York and from everything she had said that night, all he heard was 'i'm going to New York' and everything just stopped. His nerves had gotten the better of him and he remained fixated on the fact that she would run into Roman in New York. How had he missed that?

How in the hell had he missed to hear the Kimberly Cervantes part? And he-he had willingly taken her to them on a silver platter.

"Carmen said that a guy by the name of Lucas was your sponsor"

"Ooh-I mean if you look at it that way, since they are both husband and wife that makes them our sponsors. Lucas Sandana is Kimberly Cervantes' husband"

Damnit! He wanted to explode. Feeling a little cluster phobic as if the walls he had tried to protect his family with were somehow caving in and at any minute they would crumble and he would lose both Mikaella and Kylie. It was all their doing, his dad most especially and Carmen ooh little Carmen had led to the mess.

He needed to get her out of New York as soon as possible before Kevin ran to tell the others that she was alive. It wasn't odd that Kevin lied and that he scampered away the minute he saw Mikaella. He could swear that he was shocked and that he needed time to process everything before he went back to look for her again.

"And did you meet them? I mean Kimberly and the Luke guy. Did you meet them?"

He asked cautiously.

"We didn't get the chance to get acquainted unfortunately due to Carmen's little incident. And why do you sound like that? My head might be killing me but you are acting strange. Anything bad happened at home?"

Luckily fate was on his side. That meant the only person who had seen her in that event was Kevin Cervantes and by the time anyone believed him that she was alive, he would have already ensured that Mick was back in New Zealand. When she asked about anything bad happening at home, an idea popped up in his head.

"Sorry to hear that. I'm just tired, it's already five a.m in the morning here. I have to call in late for work, make sure that Kylie's fever is down so forgive me if I sound a little bit exhausted"

He bluffed... waiting for her response which would come back in five, four, three, two, one and bingo!

"Kylie's sick? W-what happened? Why didn't you start with that?"

"Rue, it's just a fever. There's nothing to worry about, she'll be fine. It hasn't subsided but the doctor said that should it be intense, I should take her to the hospital"

"What? Which doctor did you call, Marc? It could be something serious like the last time she had pneumonia! No matter, I'll be there by tomorrow...I-I have to start packing. Marc, call me if anything happens"

"Rue-babe. You don't have to. She's alright, I assure you it's not pneumonia. Perhaps you just got there, enjoy New York"

"You want me to enjoy New York while my daughter is sick? I'll see you soon. Take good care of our girl, Marc"

And she hung up and no matter how wrong it was to use their daughter, getting Mikaella out of there was the most logical solution. Before Kevin and the rest of his family decided to dig up details about her accident, Mikaella would already be in New Zealand in his arms and this time, he wouldn't ask anyone for help in covering her tracks, he would take care of everything himself.

What mattered most was that his wife was coming home and he would never let her go back to the States again. It was already bad enough that they thought she was alive.

His bedroom door creaked open and Kylie stood by the door holding Mr Knuckles while scratching her sleepy eyes.

"Daddy, was that mom?"

"Yeah. She said she misses you alot",Marcus smiled watching her come to his bed struggling to climb up.

He lifted her up placing her next to him.

"And why are you up so early?"

Though she was always a morning person, waking up as early as six a.m and sleeping as early as seven p.m after dinner.

"Couldn't sleep. Is she coming back any time soon? I miss her cookies",Kylie said doodling with Mr Knuckles teddy hands.

"I thought I made you cookies yesterday"

"They weren't as good as mom's", Kylie said and Marcus chuckled remembering what a mess he made in the kitchen following a chocolate chip cookie recipe from the internet just to make them special for her.

Taking her tiny frame and covering her body so that she could go back to sleep, he brushed her brown hair with his fingers saying,

"Mom's coming back home soon and she'll never leave us again"