I look at my cousin, too confused to form any sense of words. I thought she would have fled by now after being kidnapped, yet here she is with a baby wrapped tightly in a blanket and in her arms.

" What are you doing here?" I ask stepping aside to let her come in.

" Your security let me in." she explains as she steps inside.

I turn around to face a confused looking Everly. I shrug and close the door again.

" I just didn't know where else to go." Leila says as her baby starts crying. She looks uncomfortable as she tries and calm the baby down. Nothing like Everly. Everly looks comfortable when she's around Chicka even though she doesn't have a clue on what she is doing.

" What happened? " I ask leading her into the living room and away from the crowded dining room. I catch Stella's eyes as she makes her way down the stairs.

Anger awakens inside me. I still can't believe that because of Stella, Chicka might not even be here today. Why couldn't she just talk to me and ask me for help? It's not that I don't trust Jasmin and Brent. They are nice people but I don't trust anyone besides Everly with Chicka's safety. Not even Chase. That's why I'm so pissed off that Stella took measures into her own hands.

I focus my attention back on Leila as she sits down on the nearest sofa.

" Ever since my dad died I have been getting strange calls from the people that were in his gang." she starts.

We killed a lot of The Snakes gang members the day when everything came crashing down. I do know that there are still members left but those members usually end up joing the leader that killed theirs or go rogue. It wasn't that sort of thing in my case because Leila was next in line to take over the gang.

" What do they want?" I ask curiously. The information she has will probably help me to get at least a lead on something.

" They want me to come claim my title as their leader seeing as my dad and his second in command were killed." she explains.

Right. I knew this was bound to happen but I didn't think that they would turn to Leila for directions so soon.

" They started showing up at my house with their cars and just sitting there waiting for me to come out. When I do come out they would follow me everywhere I go. They wouldn't necessarily come up to me but they would just like sit there. Today when I went to do some grocery shopping they even followed me inside. Then some guy accidentally bumped into my cart and the next thing I know a few men jumped him and beat him black and blue. I still don't know if he survived. " she continues.

She explains it as if having little body guards at her side 24/7. In my defense it sounds more like stalkers.

" I had to get away. I was going mad with seeing them everywhere. The only place I could escape to without them following me inside was to your house." her baby finally stops crying and she looks more relaxed.

Her physical appearance looks like she hasn't been sleeping for weeks. She looks ill. Dark bags under her eyes and chapped lips. Even her hair looks as if it hasn't been washed in a week.

" So you brought the ex rival gang right to my front door?" I ask.

She gulps and nods.

I exhale loudly. I seriously need some chicken nuggets now.

" Liam it's not just my safety I'm worried about. I'm a mother now." she says soflty as she looks down at her baby.

She might look like crap and not know what to do around her baby but the love she has for her child is clearly visible. I don't blame her for running to me. I'm just shocked because I had once kidnapped her. When I look at her I see a scared little girl. She's alone and has no one to help her with her baby. Her mother died when she was only a baby and her father, well he's dead now. Her baby's father, well he's dead as well. She's alone.

" It's okay. You're safe here." I exhale and place my hand on her shoulder.

She wipes away a tear and places her hand on mine.

" So what do we do now?" she asks.

That's the real question. What do we do now? All I'm doing right now is filling up my house with more and more people, claiming that I'll protect them even though I don't know what or whom I'm protecting them from.

" I was attacked a few weeks ago when I was in the Hamptons. It was gunshots being fired at me and Everly. No one got hurt but ever since that day I've been trying to figure out who could have attacked. My first thought was that The Snakes were after this but I know how our dads used to handle things when they were leaders. They can't declare war if they don't have a standing leader. So if it's not The Snakes then who the hell could it be? " I think out loud.

Leila looks confused.

" Look I don't know anything about gangs and their business. Like I told you before, whatever my dad had going on I had no part in it. So I don't know anything. " Leila explains.

" Everything okay in here? " I hear Everly ask as she walks in with Chicka.

Before I could respond Leila's baby starts crying again. I watch as Everly looks over at Leila confused when she sees how uncomfortable Leila is.

" I'm sorry guys. I don't know why he's crying so much. " Leila apologizes.

" Maybe he has a dirty diaper. My baby usually cries like that when it's time for a diaper change." Everly adds as she walks over to Leila.

" Let's go have a look." she says as she takes Leila lightly by the arm and leads her up stairs.

This is what I love about Everly. She's caring. In today's society people tend to only give a shit about themselves. It's all about social media status and how other people look down on you. They are constantly beat down by unwelcome comments and rumors. Everly is different. She doesn't care what other people thinks. If she's happy then everyone else should be happy for her. She tends to help out a lot whether it's physical help or emotional support. She's always there.

I still can't believe that I almost lost her for good. I broke so many promises that I made to her. I've broken her trust so many times that I wouldn't even forgive myself if I were her. She deserves more I know but I'm willing to be a better person in order to become what she deserves. I need her just as much as she needs me. We need each other.

" What is Leila doing back?" Chase asks coming into the living room.

I explain to him what Leila told me. He doesn't look faced with the new information.

" I knew it wasn't The Snakes all along." he shrugs.

" Yeah but that doesn't bring us any closer to who was behind it. " I argue.

Most people would think that I would have dropped the whole thing by now seeing as nothing happened in the past few weeks. But how can I drop something that nearly caused the death of Everly? I'm not letting it go that easily.

" We'll talk about it when we meet with Steve tomorrow." Chase says as he pats my back.

I nod. We called in Steve last time when we didn't know which way to go. He was the mastermind behind the whole kidnapping idea and it worked out well. Besides from the fact that Everly got in the way.

Hopefully he has good advice this time as well.

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Questions of the chapter:

1