7

For a moment, my tears stopped to savour the moment. Liam's scent brought back so much memories that I've been desperately trying to forget. His arms that enveloped me made me feel secure, relieved and made me feel like I was... home. His embrace made my heart skip a beat in which I immediately mentally chastised myself in.

'No, we've talked about this before, Iris. Remember what he did to you, to your family, Iris. Don't be stupid.' I told myself, but despite that warning, I raised my arms and hugged him back.

Right now, my hate for him didn't matter, my anger for him subsided at the loss of our son. His embrace made me feel like everything was going to be alright now, I felt somewhat comforted and as if on cue, my tears started to fall again and I sobbed continuously. "Pl-please..." I said in between my sobs, tightening my hug. "Please b-bring him back to me... Bring me back my Jace." I managed to finish, fighting off the painful lump in my throat.

Liam didn't say anything for a while and only rubbed my back comfortingly before finally whispering : "Shh... I'll bring him back. I promise." he said so surely that all I could do was nod and cry. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Jamie and Jacob at the doorframe of the kitchen watching us. Jamie was on the verge of tears, but he was trying so hard to fight them from falling.

I quickly broke free from Liam, in which he looked stunned at, but seeing me look behind him, he quickly understood that the two were right behind us. He turned to face the two and quickly went and picked Jamie off the ground.

"Is mommy still sad that Jace is not here?" Jamie asked as Liam carried him towards me while his other hand was holding on to Jacob who was biting his lower lip to stop the tears. My heart sank at his question as I approached him and wiped the tear that stubbornly fell.

"Yes, Jamie. Mommy's sad that Jace is not here, just like how I will be if you're not here too." I said. He nodded and thought for a while.

"But the man said that Jace will be back if you give him the key." Jamie continued. Liam and I shared glances at what he said. I suddenly found strength at the clue that he blurted.

"What? You saw the man that took him?" I asked, maybe too eagerly. His expression changed, understanding that the information he carried was valuable. Jamie slowly nodded, curling up in nervousness at his father's arms. "We were playing tag. Then a man came and said that he was taking us to daddy..." his voiced faded. I glanced back up to Liam, he was focusing solely on Jamie's statements, probably piecing everything in his head.

"And then?" Liam asked softly. Jamie looked up to him unsure and continued. "And then, Jace said we didn't have a daddy. But the man said that that he knew him and mommy was only lying to us. Jace said no and we were running away when the man took Jace. I asked him where he was taking him and he said they were just going to play hide and seek. And after, I couldn't find them anymore." he ended. I released the breath that I've been holding. Why didn't he tell me this before?

I haven't had any reports from the police yet, but I know that all the things Jamie said must have been still there, in the CCTVs, for sure. I felt hopeful at the newly found information.

"Do you remember how the man looked like? Does he have any tattoos?" Liam asked again. He seemed to have an idea of who took Jace. My heart was beating while awaiting for his answer. He thought for a while before cocking his head in confusion.

"Tattoo?" he asked.

"Yes, like— like a drawing." I answered hastily. He thought again and after a while, his face lit up.

"Yeah! It was like a big bird here." he said, touching his arm. As soon as Jamie dropped the bomb, Liam muttered unspeakable curse words in which I quickly covered Jamie's innocent ears while sending a death glare to Liam.

He sighed in defeat and put Jamie down while ruffling his hair once again. "Thanks for that, bud. I'll bring back Jace right away, so you don't worry." he says before sending me a I-need-to-make-a-call look. I nodded and he left the kitchen.

I hugged Jamie tightly after that, silently thanking him for telling us such an important detail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was tucking Jamie and Jacob in for bed when I heard the door from downstairs open followed by voices that I quickly recognized.

'Ezra and Mason?'

Are those who I think they are?

I quickly went down the stairs and followed the gloomy chattering voices of three men. It is them. It's been so long since I've seen the two of them and I missed them so much.

I mentioned Ezra before as Liam's close friend, but we have another one. Meet Mason Miller everyone, but we usually just call him Mace. Naturally, these two belong from the same life status as Liam, from very rich and powerful families that were capable of destroying anyone who came in their way. Sure, my family was rich, but... we weren't the most fortunate. My father made the mistake on stumbling upon the Parkers.

I stopped on my tracks to listen to their conversation, but the creaking of the wooden floor made them stop talking. Oh, great. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and cursed under my breath. As I surged out from the darkness of the hallway to the lit living room, I was greeted with the curious looking faces of the three men.

Ezra's eyes widened and Mace's jaw dropped at the sight of me as if they had just seen an alien. I forced a smile while lifting my hand for a wave, but they were too shocked to responds. I glanced awkwardly at Liam who only raised his eyebrow at the two.

"Is this real?" Mace asked and turned his head toward Ezra who just took a big gulp.

"I don't know man. Is she real?" Ezra turned toward Liam this time. The latter just shook his head and kicked Ezra and Mace causing me to chuckle for a bit.

I walked towards them with a smile, a feeling of excitement dawned on me now that I was seeing them. I didn't realize that I missed them so much, how could I have spent five years of my life without these two? Or three? I don't know. Without a word, I went up to Mace and hugged him and next was Ezra.

"I missed you guys so much!" I exclaimed, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Woah, you look like a mess, but I still missed you too." Ezra said and messed my hair even more. What he said was probably and understatement and that I didn't look like a mess, but I looked like garbage, but that was honestly the least of my concerns. I rolled my eyes at his remark and slapped his hand away like how I would tap the triplets' hands when they try to steal extra candies from the counter top when I wasn't looking.

"So I heard Iris is mommy Iris now? And Liam is daddy Liam now?" Mace asked which earned a chuckled from me again as I nodded and shot Liam a look.

"You heard right. And I'm sure that you've heard about the situation..." I tried to finish. I smiled because my eyes didn't tear up at the thought of Jace. Now, I felt more hopeful. I was going to have Jace back, I'm sure of that. Liam said so. Ezra grabbed me closer and enveloped me in a hug.

"You must have been so scared. But don't worry, we'll bring him back to you." he whispered before turning back to Liam, giving him a knowing look. The latter sighed as he put his hands in the pockets of his now, black jeans.

I just noticed that Liam changed into new pair of clothes rather than his business attire. He was now wearing a pair of black jeans, matched with a grey shirt and a black leather jacket. His hair, neatly combed back made him look really serious and tough. He was dressed like a protagonist from an action movie who was ready to kill.

Now, my brain will never admit it, but my heart raced at the sight of him. 'I mean, what. Can't blame me. The man was devilishly handsome.' a part of me tried to justify.

"It's actually why we're here." Liam continued wearily as he shared looks with the two guys. He was actually avoiding looking at me.

"What do you mean?"

He smiled sadly.

"We're on our way to Jace."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iris Parker

I stared dumbfounded as the black Lambo sped away. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in attempt to calm my nerves.

'They're going to be fine, Iris. They're going to be perfectly fine.' I repeated like a mantra, playing with my hands. Liam, Ezra and Mace were on their way to the people who kidnapped Jace. I stared onto the ceiling as I recalled what happened literally just a few minutes ago.

"We're on our way to Jace." Liam said. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"The people who took Jace are known as Aquile Neres, a really lame mafia group with a really corny name." Mace said mockingly as he said Aquile Neres which earned him a punch from Ezra.

"It is not a lame name. It's simply... old-fashioned." Ezra defended as Mace rolled his eyes in response.

"Wh-what? Have you let the police know?" I asked, which probably was a stupid question because the two stopped arguing and Liam stopped trying to calm them down and they all looked at me incredulously. "Okay, okay, I get it. No police." I said as my eyes shifted nervously into Liam's.

Ezra suddenly grabbed Mace by the arm and led him to the door.

"We'll start the car." Ezra said. Mace gave a disgusted look to his friend and was about to say something when Ezra put his hand into Mace's mouth and dragging him out of the house, leaving Liam and I alone.

"Sorry about them." he started. I smiled, but that quickly disappeared.

"W-will you guys be fine? What if you guys get hurt? I mean-- you guys are practically going up against a gang. Are you guys bringing anyone else with you? Do you want me to co--" I stopped talking when Liam smiled. "What? What are you smiling for?" My heart leaped when he walked toward me, still wearing that irritating smile of his.

"Nothing. We'll be fine. And don't worry. We'll bring Jace back. " As he said those, he fixed the loose strands of my hair into the back of my ear. He leaned in and I swear, my heart has never beaten so loud for so long now. "I promise." he said before pulling away. Dumbfounded, I nodded slowly as he started walking away.

I sighed and let myself sink into the sofa. I prayed silently that they would be safe, that they would bring Jace back safely and that maybe... maybe we can be a normal family, but I found myself shaking that thought away quickly.

No, I have to let go of these kind of thoughts, I shouldn't even think about this possibility because they're never gonna happen. As much as I want it to, life has a cruel way of teaching us all of our lessons.

I decided to go up where Jamie and Jacob were sleeping. However, they weren't sleeping. They were standing on the couch staring out the window, clearly arguing.

"No, Daddy went to get Jace!" Jacob argued.

"No, Daddy's gonna give the man the key!" Jamie fought back. They bantered for quite a while until they noticed me behind them.

"M-mommy!" they screamed in unison.

I smiled and sat in the middle of them, encircling my arms on their shoulders.

"Don't worry too much, okay. Daddy will get Jace and return safely.

Yeah... Definitely...