TAKEN

"Raped? By who?" Travis failed o believe that his daughter was raped yet he knew nothing about it.

"By…by the young master Pinkerton," she stammered.

"Oh my goodness! My child! Was it on that day when you went to serve at the Two-Sons Hotel? I saw it! I could tell that something went terribly wrong on that day…" Aletha cried out.

"Was it on that day, Kiara?" Jeremy asked her, his thoughts running in all directions as many snippets of previous occurrences came to his mind. He struggled to paste them all in place in order to make a single meaningful picture.

"Was it on that day, my love? On that day you looked terribly drained, scared, upset. I know that was the day!" he clenched his feasts in great anger and without warning, turned to face Gareth with,

"Your young master raped my girlfriend? Do you hear me? Your young master raped my girlfriend!! He raped her!! He raped…"

"Enough!" the bodyguard screamed and brought a gun to Jeremy's head.

"Shoot me! You think I care whether I live or die? Shoot me, what are you waiting for?"

"Oh Jeremy my son, please try to calm down…" Sharon cried helplessly, folding her hands in a silent prayer to God.

"Young man, do you have proof that Vine raped Kiara?" Gareth asked in a flat tone.

With the gun still pointed at him, Jeremy responded, "I saw her on the day that she was raped. She was a huge mess! Her face was swollen and I could tell that she had been crying…."

"Do you have evidence?" Gareth cut in.

"I saw her…"

"What if I produce evidence now, of your girlfriend begging Vine to make love to him? Will you believe after watching the video?"

There was silence.

"You…you actually begged him?" Travis asked his daughter, a bit unsure of how to feel about the news that he was hearing

"Do you have such a video?" Jacob asked.

"I do." Gareth said.

"Let us see it then," Jacob said.

"No!" came Kiara's voice. "Please, don't…there is no such video…I…I…I mean, don't listen to him…"

"There is a video." Gareth spoke with finality.

The events of that day played in Kiara's mind. Although it was all hazy, she knew that if a video was to be played, she was going to be found guilty. She remembered very well that on the said day, she got very drunk and for the entire night, she thought she was with Jeremy. But how was she going to explain that?

Standing in her spot, Kiara was thinking of a way to get out of the mess. What if she faked labour pains? Could she? The idea of holding her tummy, screaming and falling to the floor crossed her mind, but she was not sure if she was strong enough to execute it. How about the real birth…why was the baby not coming at that moment? It was in mid-November anyway, and she was sure that although it was about six weeks before the child's expected date of delivery, there was a good chance that the child could be….

"Kiara!" Travis interrupted his daughter's thoughts. "Is there a video? Why did you stop this man from showing us? Is he telling us the truth?"

"I….he….no, I mean, he is not telling the truth."

"Then why did you refuse for him to show us the video?"

Kiara did not respond.

"I think we've wasted enough time. We need to go now. We're taking Kiara Angela Noels with us." Gareth said.

"But you can't go with her. I have so many questions, I need to talk to her, please…"

"Young man," Gareth pointed at Jeremy with his finger. "We've had enough of your nonsense. This lady here is carrying the grandchild of the Pinkertons."

"But she's in love with me. I'm in love with her. Please, for the sake of closure, may I have a few minutes…"

"The woman is not in love with you!" Gareth sneered.

"She is! She has been in love with me since…"

"Since what? Since the first grade? You're just friends! If she loved you, then why didn't she tell you about the so-called rape? You think she was raped? No! And that's why she is adamant that I must not show you the video. The video of her and her lover Vine…"

"No!" Jeremy screamed out.

"Enough, man!" Jacob said, coming to stand between Gareth and Jeremy.

"The truth hurts." Gareth mocked.

"Are you ready to go?" he looked at Kiara.

"I…I am never going anywhere with you," her voice was low and full of fear.

"Look at me, Kiara! Look at me and tell me that the child you're carrying is ours. I am the father, am I not?" his voice was shaky, and at that moment he prayed with all his heart that it was all just a bad dream.

She did not move an inch but remained silent, facing the floor. Jeremy held her chin in his hand and slowly lifted her face. Finally they faced each other. With his hands on her shoulders, he wanted to see the truth in her eyes. He wanted to read them, yet her eyes remained blank. There was no sincerity in them; neither was there any remorse or regret. No kind of feeling could be detected. It was just a blank stare.

"Ok, Kiara," he licked his lips and said in a whisper, "I know that I am the father of the child. I know that. All I am asking you now, Kiara, is for you to confirm it. Say it, Kiara. Just say it."

Jeremy's eyes started to swim in his own tears, and he refused to let the tears fall. He felt heaviness in his heart, and he hoped for someone to wake him up. What kind of a nightmare was that? Why was the dream so long? When was it ever going to end? He hated that dream. He shook his head, trying to wake himself up from the nightmare. He closed his eyes briefly, and opened them again; yet everything remained the same. Kiara was still standing right in front of him, with his hands on her shoulders.

"Kiara listen, once you confirm that the child is mine, I will believe you. I won't ever mention this incident again. The visit of these men will be forgotten, and you and I, together with our baby, will live our lives happily. I will accept this child with my whole heart, and not once in my life will I ever need a DNA test to prove that he is mine. He is mine if you say that he is. Your word is enough. Say it, Kiara; please just say it now."

"Jeremy…I…I have been trying to tell you," she finally spoke. She lifted her eyes to stare at Jeremy. Large teardrops rolled down from both of her eyes, and she sniffed in great pain.

And it all came back into Jeremy's mind; the moments when she always said she had something to say. Jeremy had always known that she held something in her heart, but never had he suspected it to be a secret this huge. He thought she was only stressed by the pregnancy, or that she regretted having a child before marriage.

"So this child is Vine's?" his voice came out horse and shaky.

She lowered her head and whispered, "I don't know. But…but the baby might not be yours, Jeremy."

Jeremy slowly removed his hands off her shoulders, and he took two steps back. An unexplainable feeling enveloped him, and he felt like he was marinating in pain. His whole body felt weak, his joints gave in, and he would have slumped onto the floor was it not for Jacob who held him just in time.

"You heard her! She's carrying a Pinkerton. It is a rule of the Pinkertons that no child of theirs will be raised by anyone else except for their rightful father. We're here to take our young master's bride. Let's go."

Gareth slightly patted Kiara on the back, and motioned for her to move.

"No! No I cannot go! I'm not in love with…"

"You don't have to be in love with the young master. You're carrying his child. That's enough reason for you to come with us now."

Kiara wailed in pain. She wanted to kneel down and plead, but the two men held and guided her.

"My child," Sharon cried, looking from Jeremy and then to Kiara. "Please, there must be a misunderstanding. May we have some time to talk to Kiara alone, please?"

"We've given you more than enough time," Gareth said.

"So are you going to force her to come with you?" Jacob screamed out. "You're forcing her, literally!"

"She feels bad that the whole family now knows about this, but this young lady is in love with young master Vine; you can trust me on that one. I have more than enough evidence."

"Ok, what…what about you give her a bit of time to pack her belongings?" Sharon was trying her best to buy time.

"Everything will be provided for her at the Pinkerton mansion," the bodyguard said and started walking towards the door. He opened it and called in two women from outside.

"It is not proper for us to touch our young master's woman in any way. These two ladies will lead you, ma'am," he said those words directing them to Kiara.

The two women came forward and stood on either side of Kiara. Just at that moment, Travis moved towards his daughter and whispered something into her ear.

"Will you, dad?" Kiara widened her eyes.

"I promise you," the man said to his daughter.

"Daddy but…"

"Trust me on this one, Kiara!" he said; and with that the tearful Kiara walked slowly, being guided by the two ladies towards the kitchen door.

"You're leaving with them?" Jeremy cried out. He followed, and although he knew that both Gareth and the bodyguard had guns, at that moment it did not matter at all.

"Kiara! Kiara! Please don't take her away! I will take care of the child, even if he's not mine. It's ok Kiara, I will be the father to the child!" Jeremy wailed in great pain.

Kiara disappeared into one of the limousines, with the woman sitting close to her. Soon everyone from the gang was in the car, and before the motorcade drove off, one door was opened and a woman came out.

She headed to the house and said, "I need to get her handbag and personal IDs. She told me where everything is."

Having given up on the fight, Sharon asked Nesisa to show the lady to Jeremy and Kiara's room. The woman entered the room with much confidence showing that she really knew where she was going and what she was going to find. Swiftly she picked up one of the handbags, checked inside to see if the wallet was in and without saying a word, she walked to the bathroom.

"What now?" Nesisa asked while she held her baby tightly to her chest.

She did not respond but proceeded into the bathroom and there, the woman opened the sink drawers and pulled out a box written "sanitary wear".

"Sanitary wear? She needs some pads? She asked you to get her pads?" Nesisa asked.

The woman, as if not hearing anything that Nesisa was saying, chose to ignore as she opened the box and pulled out the pads that were on top. She swiftly threw them on the floor and picked out from the bottom of the box a colourful pink book.

"What is that?" Nesisa asked curiously.

"It is her diary. She said she cannot go anywhere without it." The woman responded before marching out of the room with the diary in her hands.