CHAPTER 13

Rosemarie's Pov:

Anne led us to an abandoned warehouse. She believed James would be there.

After the call, she told us how there was a particular sound in the background of the call.

It was the sound of iron meeting iron and it is a sound that she heard when she once went to the warehouse.

She said James usually goes there because he said the place is serene and it was an ideal place for him to work from home.

She had totally forgotten about the warehouse because they hadn't gone there in a long time, even before the divorce.

Michael drove us to the warehouse. I looked at him and I couldn't be any more grateful that he was there.

I had imagined when I had called him he would have simply ignored me or, better still, wouldn't come after telling him about Jasmine's kidnapping after the last encounter we had.

He could have just easily said he wasn't coming, it's not like he was in their lives after all, but Michael came here with immediate effect after the call and she was glad he did.

Anne had dropped Jada off with a friend of hers earlier in the morning. We couldn't just risk carrying Jada along.

That morning, my initial plan was to sneak out and go look for Jasmine all by myself.

 I had made it to the car already and had asked Michael if he was tagging along, and we both agreed to meet at a particular meeting point.

As the car ignited, Anne came out of nowhere with the utmost disbelief written all over her face. 

She was angry and accused me of planning to sneak out to go look for Jasmine without her.

I apologized and told her that I didn't want to be a burden to her and I just couldn't wait for the police. 

They aren't really doing anything and I don't want anything to happen to my daughter.

I further explained that I was also afraid that if I had told her she would probably have convinced me not to go but to wait for the police and I didn't have time for that.

She talked back and asked why she said that I shouldn't look for Jasmine, whereas it was her psychotic ex-husband who actually kidnapped her. 

I apologized and she told me we were going together.

But then Jada, where were we going to drop Jada? Anne called up a friend of hers to come pick Jada up and let Jada stay with her for a while.

So here we are on our way to rescue my little girl in every possible way. 

As we slowly got closer to the warehouse, Michael began to tell us that we must have a plan so that we couldn't just burst inside the house without a plan.

I insisted that I just go inside and go get my girl but both Anne and Michael advised me against that. 

Anne further explained to me that if I could go like that, James would probably hold me hostage too.

So the plan was for Anne to meet him since that is what he wanted, then once she got there, she got him distracted and Michael would sneak and try and get Jasmine without James noticing.

I asked for my own role because I could not just sit around idly and not do anything to try to rescue my daughter.

I was then given the role of the designated driver. My job was to put the car on stand-by, so immediately, Michael was able to take Jasmine without being noticed and Anne was able to trick and leave James.

I'll drive them off. Michael gave Anne a pocket knife in case James tried to harm her, so she could protect herself. She took it with contentment.

As we got there, Michael parked a little far from the warehouse, so James wouldn't notice that Anne hadn't been coming there alone.

I hugged Anne and wished her luck as she slowly made her way to the building. I made a silent prayer to God to bring my daughter and my sister back to me safely.

After a few minutes, we saw Anne and James having an argument and James became aggressive and slapped Anne hard across the face.

I ran out of the car. I couldn't bear James maltreating my sister, but Michael stopped me from going any further.

I kept hitting him on the chest and begging him to let me go help my sister, but he insisted we needed to stick to the plan, so we could bring Jasmine safely.

I wasn't having any of it, so he made a suggestion that he would go help Anne with James, but I'd be the one to sneak around to go rescue Jasmine.

I agreed without hesitating because even though I wanted to save my daughter, I did not want my sister to get harmed in the process.

As I got closer to the house, I went to the back and looked for a window to jump into.

 I finally found one and I was in the building. Downstairs, I had James' voice bouncing from wall to wall.

I was willing to go downstairs and help Anne, but then Michael's voice popped into my head.

 I barged from door to door hoping to see my baby girl but, to no avail, I kept on looking. I just couldn't give up. I needed to find Jasmine.

I had begun to give up, so I just fell to the floor and started crying. I felt so useless.

 How could I let that psychopath take my girl in the first place? I'm such a bad mother.

I can't even find and rescue her now and she might probably be somewhere in the building, crying out for help, crying out for me to come rescue her and I can't find her. I can't have my own daughter.

While wiping my tears away, I heard a clicking sound and I made my way towards the noise slowly. Before I knew it, the sound led me to an abandoned room, but I couldn't find anything yet.

I realized the sound came from underground and then I pulled the rug and found a secret latch that leads to somewhere beneath the building.

As I made my way down the stairs leading down, I began to hear someone sniffing and crying softly from across the room. Lo and behold, staring right back at me was my baby girl.

She ran to me with joy in her face. I held her so tight for fear she might disappear. She kept on crying and thanking me for coming to save her.

I was so happy that I found my baby girl, but I knew I had to leave at that instant.

 While struggling to leave the lair, we realized that there was some serious wrestling downstairs.

My motive was to get Jasmine as fast as possible into the car and then head back to help Michael and Anne.

As we got to the car, I strapped Jasmine's seat belt on and made her promise she wouldn't leave the car.

After making sure she was okay, I went swiftly to the building with my pepper spray in one hand.

As I was about to open the door, I heard two gunshots from inside. Everything happened so fast, and as I opened the door, the sight before me was horrific.

I couldn't believe my eyes, my eyes tinged with tears.'" Nooooooooooooooooooo" I screamed. This wasn't supposed to happen, none of this is supposed to happen.