Arabella sneaks out of her university feeling something unsettling in her chest. It feels like something is going to happen and it has been worrying her a lot.

Taking in a deep breath, she runs alongside the pedestrian path knowing well that she had to get away from whatever she was feeling.

Running seems as the best option to her to burn up some steam and worry.

While doing this, she thinks about Anastasia. It has been a week already since she is taken away. The thought makes something in her heart churns.

Her disappearance should have brought her relief but everything she felt is opposite. The thought makes her sick that she may have been starting to worry about Anastasia.

She bites her lower lip hard, enough to draw out blood. Arabella curses as she prays that Anastasia come back home soon, really hating herself at this moment.

Her mind is continuously playing pictures of Anastasia in front of her.

Never ever Anastasia had wronged her even she had tried to humiliate her several time. She had even shown worry for her when she was hurt and sick. These last two years, she never even realized when she even began to tolerate Anastasia's presence.

It all feels like a horror movie to Arabella as she understands that she is missing Anastasia. The thought makes her nauseous or maybe she pretended to feel that way.

A yelp escapes her lips as she trips and falls down hard on her knees. She pants loudly while trying to catch her breath. All the while ignoring that she has entered wood side area of the town.

She grips the fabric of her pants tightly. It hurts her passionately seeing how Ermanno has closed himself in the room. Stefano is skipping meals and all the time he does is drink his head off in order to forget everything that has been going on.

Anastasio and Giovanni never returned home since Anastasia's disappearance. They have been searching day and night, trying to find some lead that get them to Anastasia. Adriano is drowning himself in the work load. At last, Allesandro. Her father is finally starting to look like his age. Whenever Arabella sees him, he is always coming back home after tireless searching for Anastasia and other times he locked himself in his room.

It tears something apart in her chest seeing how her whole family is suffering. At this time, she wants nothing but--

"Please come back, Anastasia."

****************

Anastasia looks up as the door opens. She thought that this might be Isabella again, arriving to inflict pain upon her but she is mildly surprised seeing Alexander.

He approaches her silently and takes a seat in front of her. Anastasia watches him cautiously.

"Your mother was my first love." She flinches inwardly at the words that leaves his sick mouth.

"But that fucking Allesandro got her. She just had to fall in love with him." He mutters crazily.

Anastasia blinks silently as he places his hand on her shoulder. He ignores the silent tremble of it and looks deeply at her face that reminds him so much of Angelina and Luna. He decided that that was the right moment to take Luna with him too when Gianni had told him a plan to take Nora and Anastasia. Their main motive was to find out who could be the real key. It turned out that it was none other than Anastasia because her presence alone had triggered a tiny discarded piece of that weapon, blowing up an entire space in the radius of several miles.

They are so close to their motive.

All this time Anastasia keeps staring at him, noticing how his smile gets darker and creepier with each passing second.

Her hidden hand clenches the scissors even more tightly as his grip tightens around her shoulder.

"Now Luna is gone too. I can give you this opportunity. After you unlock that weapon and I take over the world. You can become mine." As he spoke, her stomach churns painfully. She feels nothing but disgust and pure hate as he leans in closer.

Her body feels like on autopilot. But she is aware of her intention.

Only thing that she hears is his pained screaming as he falls off the bed, rolling onto the ground like a dog and cradling his eye with his hand that is stained with blood.

A minuscule of smile spreads across her lips. Like a gem, her whole personality sparkles. Even if she is covering with scars and blood, her tiny smile is enough to light up the whole room.

Luna's wandering soul must be satisfied hearing his screams. Anastasia muses silently.

At the exact moment, Isabella and few buff guards enters. Isabella rages seeing the entire scene. The guards help Alexander while Isabella approaches her like a crazy woman as she is.

Anastasia almost does not register the pain she inflicted on her face, slapping her hard but she sure does feel herself falling off the bed, hard on the ground with a loud thump.

But it still is not enough to break Anastasia. Isabella frowns as Anastasia stares up at her blankly. There is no sign of fear and agony of pain she has gone through.

It feels though that she is in front of a completely different person. Her breath hitches as she remembers the day when Angelina looked at her like that.

**Flashback 18 years ago**

A heavily pregnant Isabella entered the hospital room where Angelina had just given birth to twins, merely an hour ago. Exhausted and extremely weak, she had just closed her eyes when she felt Isabella's presence.

A minuscule of smile came across Angelina's lips at the sight of Isabella.

"Isa...You should have been resting at home."

Isabella feigned a act of twiddling her fingers together. She shyly peeked at Angelina through her bangs that almost hides her eyes.

"I wanted to see the babies. They are lovely, Miss Angelina."

Angelina gave her a closed eyed smile and nodded.

"Umm. I-I just wanted to ask that- d-does it really hurt bad?" She asked quietly as if to also avoid Angelina hearing her.

Angelina lets out a small chuckle, hearing her words. Even if she felt too weak doing that.

"The pain will be all forgotten when you hold that little bundle of joy."

Isabella looked at her for a moment and then nodded.

"I just want to thank you and Mr. Allesandro for everything, again. You gave me a space to live in your home even when you knew about what transpired between Mr. Allesandro and I. It was like a sin. I know he regrets it too much--"

"Isa--" Angelina tried to speak to cut her off but the latter continued rambling.

"I blame myself equally too. This would have ended disastrously. But you stopped it. You forgive Mr. Allesandro because you love and trust him so much. You didn't want him to abandon his responsibility regarding me and this child. That's why you allowed us to live here until my child is born. I know you would never try to separate my child from his father. That's why, I want you to be my child's godmother. I will leave as soon as they are born and I hope that you raise them like a mother too."

Angelina didn't understand it for a next moment as Isabella wrapped her arms around her. But she smiled and hugged her back.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for your k-i-n-d-n-e-s-s."

At the last word, her voice changed from being soft to something pure evil. Angelina's eyes widened as she felt some needle piercing her shoulder.

She pushed Isabella who backed away willing. Her arms crossed across her chest and her eyes gleamed evil.

Angelina cradled her shoulder as she witnessed the sight in front of her. So all that innocence and regret was just a mask.

"What happened, miss Angelina? Quite shocked, ain't you?"

Isabella should have been at a high pedestal right now but she was somehow feeling a little threatened at the sight of Angelina just calmly staring at her.

"If it wasn't for that innocent child that is growing inside you, I would have killed you myself right now."

Isabella noticed a gun that Angelina had pulled out from down her pillow. Angelina stared at it for a moment and lets out a small breath before shoving it back on the place.

Isabella grew quiet. She was supposed to be scaring Angelina, boasting about the deeds she had done but all she could do was stare silently. For once, she really felt scared and it was not just a facade or another mask of her.

Suddenly the door opened and Allesandro holding a sleeping Ermanno in his arms, stepped inside along with Adriano who was carrying Anastasia who was awake.

On their tow, young Anastasio and Stefano stepped inside. Twins were 8 year old at that time. Both were holding Giovanni's hands. Their eyes were sparkling with joy and they beamed at the sight of Angelina.

"Mom!" Both ran towards her and 'carefully' tackled her in a hug.

Allesandro was watching Angelina feeling like something was amiss with her even if it was not just the exhaustion of giving birth. Adriano looked at Isabella who was pale like a sheet. His eyes narrowed subtly and he adviced.

"Isabella...You should sit. You don't look fine."

Isabella sputtered out something incoherent feeling her heart drumming loudly in her chest.

"Allesandro..." Angelina called, holding out her arms to take Ermanno from him. He did just that, same like Adriano who passed Anastasia to her.

She cradled the twins to her chest, feeling a lone tear sliding down her cheek.

Slowly, she handed them back to the father and her oldest son. She looked up at her husband, sons and daughter's direction once again, a sad smile crossed over her face.

"Thank you."

Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, she passed away.

Allesandro rushed towards her while others stared in horror and confusion. Anastasia and Ermanno's cries rang throughout the room.

Isabella sighed silently, her eyes shone with relief. The drug she had given to Angelina promised an instant death but it seemed like her body fought with it. It took much longer for the result to show.

But everything that happened in the end was in her favour.