Lana was having a good time chatting with her mother and Liam outside the mansion in the garden when a helper appeared saying she had a visitor waiting for her in the living room. Lana excused herself and walked towards the living room. She entered the doors of the living room and froze on her spot when she saw a man of a familiar build standing in front of their family portrait.

“It’s a good family picture dear. But why do I feel as if something is missing in this picture?”

The man turned around, glaring at Lana with his bloodshot eyes and fierce eyes, as he shouted, “Why I’m not there in the portrait! I am your father, your biological father!”

“No!!!” Lana screamed. Her heart started racing badly as she felt the lack of air in her lungs. That monster suddenly approached her and tried to choke her with his one hand, lifting her body up in the air, like what he used to do before also.

“No…” she mumbled, seeing Liam approaching them along with her mother.

“Don’t you dare hurt them!” she shouted as she struggled so hard to escape his grip.

“Them? They are not your family, my child. I am your family. I will remove every single one of them from your memory, my daughter… I will erase their existence from this world like how I erase your stupid mom!”

‘This is not real… Wake up… Wake up, Lana… It’s just a bad dream. Wake up…’ Lana closed herself and mumbled repeatedly.

//////

Lana suddenly opened her eyes. Cold sweat covered her body while she tried to catch her breath. Her eyes were blurred as tears came flowing down endlessly on her flushed cheeks.

She looked at her side and saw Liam sleeping heavily there. A sense of security and warmth filled her entire body, and her trembling body snuggled in his arms to find the solace he always gave her. At that moment she realised how much fear of that man she still had in her system.

She calmed down a little after breathing in his scent for a while but still felt her eyes stinging with certain painful memories floating in her mind over and over again. She then quietly and carefully removed Liam’s arms from her waist, afraid to wake him up. She slowly sat up on the bed and then gently stepped down from the bed stealthily.

She immediately rushed inside the bathroom and opened the faucet to wash her face with cold water once she was in the bathroom. Tears still flowing from her eyes, she wanted to stop those tears to not let Liam get any air of her sorrow.

She looked at herself in the mirror and tried her best to control her sobbing. Everything felt so real, just like her childhood. It had been so many years since she had a nightmare like that. It was back… everything was suddenly back again!

She put her palm on her chest, trying to calm down the erratic beating of her heart. She was still nervous and trembling like a dry leaf and she supported herself with her other hand on the table of their sink as support as despair filled her heart and tears filled her eyes again.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes as her muffled cries filled the entire bathroom. “Until when?” she cried, stuttering. She was truly scared to lose everything she treasured in her life today, but she strongly realised one thing that she would have to overcome this self torture very soon. She again looked at her crying self in the mirror and smiled bitterly at herself. Once again she splashed some water on her face and composed herself before going back to bed.

She carefully slid inside the blanket and snuggled in Liam’s embrace. He wrapped his long arms around her and tightly hugged her even in his sleep. Lana suddenly felt wanted and cherished.

She motionlessly clinged onto him and felt the protection and care of Liam surrounding her from all sides. She understood one thing for sure and that was that she could lose her life, but not this man who was her strength, mentor, her boss, a friend and even acted as her shield… the man who was her husband…

She would do anything in order to be together with him and so she decided at that moment to fight all her fears, not only for herself, but most importantly for the people she cared most for and she believed who cared for her as well, her mother and Liam.

******

The next morning, Lana woke up early. She looked at Liam, who was still sleeping heavily. Good thing he was drunk and deeply asleep last night, so he did not witness her state of despair at that time. She did not want him to get worried, so she decided to fix her issues on her own because only she could do it.

She stood up and got ready before going down to prepare a hangover soup for Liam. She also asked one of their helpers to buy some medicine for him so he would feel better after he woke up.

By the time she was done, her mother was already at the dining area.

“Dear last night was great. By the way, I heard from the helpers they received a special package for you?” she heard her mother asked.

Lana’s face paled, but she quickly formed a smile on her lips as she said, “Yes mom, it’s from one of my admirers… Ahm, can you not mention it to Liam mom? You see, Liam is a bit possessive about me.”

Mrs. Huang chuckled and said, “Yeah, I can see that. Then I will keep it up to me, but I hope that whether it is a small or a big thing… You must not keep any secret with your husband.

The secret to a strong relationship is communication and honesty so it would be better if you two open up a little more to each other… No secrets between you both… Even little small secrets must not exist because that builds trust stronger.”

Lana nodded then said, “I’ll just go fetch Liam mom.”

Lana heaved a sigh several times as she walked back to her room. She asked their helper and one of the security guards said that it was delivered by a man saying it was from one of her colleagues and the details of the sender were inside the gift itself.

The box passed the security scan since there were no alarming threats inside the box but for Lana, what was inside contained more than just a threat but an incoming disaster that was soon going to come again in her life.