#40 I'm proud of you

"What the heck are you doing?" I finally asked, confused by his actions.

"Saving your a*s."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Just cut the rope with that knife and move. We have to get out of here." He pointed towards the knife he kept beside my hand. What is he exactly doing?

"What do you mean by 'we'?"

"Do you want to get to the Stefan or not? Yeah right? So move!" He shouted.

"Stop shouting!" I shout back.

"Just cut the rope!"

"Way ahead of you." I rolled my eyes as I freed my hands from the already cut rope. He just gawked at my hands.

"Okay. Either we are stupid for not checking you for knives or you are really good at hiding knives." He chuckled.

"I am going with both." And with that, I punched him.

"What the f*ck is wrong with you? Can't you see I am helping you." Anthony glared at me.

"Why are you helping me?" I glared back at him, as I rubbed my wrists which were red due to the rope marks.

"Because I want to." He shrugged.

"Not buying it." I rolled my eyes.

"Look." He turned towards me. "I regret telling Ethan about everything. I never knew he had gone so far just to take revenge when what I told him, wasn't even the whole story. So, believe it or not, I really want to help. And if you want to get to Stefan, we have to get out of here, before Ethan gets to know about this stupid stunt that I have pulled." He deadpanned. The look in his eyes was enough for me to believe him.

I still don't trust him. But if he is helping me get to Stefan, I will take it. We both slowly stepped out of the room, checking everywhere and anywhere for any movement. Surprisingly, there was no one standing in the whole corridor. That was before we reached a small lobby, where I saw a figure, walking towards us. My hand immediately went to the knife in my sleeve. But Anthony held my hand, stopping me from reaching it.

"They are keeping the Mangoes in the other basement. They have about fifteen people there. It's not going to be easy." The person said as he reached us. I couldn't see who he was because he was wearing a mask.

"Come on. We need to get them out of there." Anthony said as he started walking towards where the man had come.

"Wait a minute. Why do we need Mangoes?" I asked Anthony.

"Mangoes is Stefan."

"Why is the hell would you call him 'Mangoes'?" I rolled my eyes.

"Because, when this person asked me for a code name, I was drinking Mango Juice." Anthony chuckled.

"You suck at giving names." I glared at him. "How do we know that we can trust him?" I nodded towards the person. As a reply, the person chuckled and removed his mask.

"Dad?" My face dropped.

"Hey, Sweetie!" My dad said.

He talked. He just talked to me. He actually acknowledged me. What is he even doing here? Why is he talking to me? Why is he not ignoring me?

"Vanessa? You coming?" I heard Anthony call me, snapping  me out of my daze. I didn't even realize that they had walked ahead.

"Yeah." I shook my head, making all the thoughts fall in place.

As we slowly reached the basement where they had kept the 'Mangoes'. I still hate that code name. I slowly peeped inside to see all the fifteen men sitting in a place, talking. I scanned the room for Stefan, who was tied to a pillar. He was covered with bruises.

According to the plan, my dad was supposed to go and free Stefan while I and Anthony were supposed to distract the men.

"Boss wants some people to go get some drinks. We are out of beer." Anthony ordered as he casually walked in as I and my dad hid behind the wall of the corridor.

"Boss told us to stay here." I heard one of them say.

"He told me to tell you this. You know how Boss needs his beer. Do you want to anger him?" Anthony asked.

"We will be going." I heard some receding footsteps.

"Boss asked everyone to go," Anthony said.

"Why does everyone has to go to bring some beer?"

"Ask Boss that. I am just the messenger over here." Anthony answered.

"Yes sir." I heard more receding footsteps.

"What the f*ck are you doing?" I heard Stefan ask. I immediately ran inside and hugged Stefan.

"Oh my God! Are you okay? Are you hurt? What did they do to you? Sh*t. Please tell me you are okay. Oh My God! I love you!"

I immediately felt him tense at what I said. I also tensed up as soon as I realized what I said. I can't believe I just said that. But it's the truth.

"Yeah. I do." I felt him relax.

"I love you too, Princess." He smiled. I finally looked at him, only to be met by a more bruised face.

"You look horrible." I chuckled as I pressed a small kiss on his lips.

"Yeah. Didn't get much of a spa treatment. What happened to your hands?" He asked, looking at the rope marks on my wrists.

"That's nothing. Plus, you look way worse." I chuckled.

"Gee thanks!" He chuckled. Anthony cut Stefan's rope and Stefan stood up. He kept his hand on my cheeks and pressed his lips on mine.

"I am happy about this reunion, but we need to get going before they realize that Ethan never told them to bring beer." Stefan and I separated as Stefan went and punched Anthony.

"Why are you guys punching me?" Anthony asked.

"What the f*ck are you doing here?" Stefan glared at him.

"Helping to get away?" Anthony shrugged.

"What's the catch?" Stefan asked.

"There is no catch," Anthony stated as he walked out of the room, followed by me and my dad, about whom I had totally forgotten.

**********

"What the f*ck are you doing here?" I asked Anthony and my Dad as soon as we left the building. I had waited for us to move out so that I could ask them what they were doing here.

"Language." My dad stated.

"You don't get to 'language' me when you totally ignored me for so many years." I glared at my dad. To say I was angry would be an understatement. And the confusion was only feeding to it.

"Guys! I am glad that you are having a family reunion but we need to go." Anthony said.

"Shut up, Anthony! You are the reason we are in this mess." I glared at him.

"Princess, we really should go." Stefan softly said. He might have sensed my anger.

"No. I want some answers over here. They both do not get to harass me for so many years and then come out of nowhere to act like heroes." I stated.

"So firstly, let's start with why have you and mom not told me about me and Ethan, both being adopted?" I asked my dad.

"Yes. That's true. You both are adopted. Your mom had a miscarriage and both our children were dead. Your mom was devastated. But then she brought home Ethan and you. I had no idea how she had found you but I was glad that she had a smile on her face.

"But then your mom told me about her being a gang leader. I was angry, yes, but I was more disappointed in myself that your mom didn't trust me before to tell me such an important part of her life.

"She explained everything to me. Yes, Ethan is the son of the dead leader of the Knights. You, on the other hand, are the daughter of his wife. Cassandra Knight. That is the name of your real mother. She had cheated on her husband and was pregnant with you. She was ready to do anything to hide her secret.

"So much, that she came to the leader of the Elites, the rival gang, for help. Your mom agreed. But before they could do anything, the Knights attacked their house in Australia. Her husband had found her secret. Your mom's gang was a strong one. The Knights had failed to realize that. They lost. Their leader was dead. And your mom gave birth to you before she died. And the Knights went into hiding.

I was the one who told your mom to not tell you both about this. I thought if you both knew, you would rebel. But when you took over the gang, I thought mom told you everything. I didn't talk to you-"

"Because you thought I would be the one to rebel and kill you. You didn't trust me." I completed the sentence for him. There were tears in my eyes. My parents had hidden so much from me. I was standing beside Stefan, his arm around my waist was the only comfort I was getting right now.

"Yes, I didn't. But I was wrong. Life went on and then Ethan was hospitalized. After we came home after seeing him, Anthony met with us. He told us everything about how he had told Ethan about his real parents and Ethan's plans. We knew that we had to keep Ethan away from you. So, we faked a divorce." My dad sighed.

"Wait. So you never divorced?" I asked.

"No dear. No one can just go to a court and divorce in one day." My dad chuckled.

"But you were so angry at me. You freaking slapped me!" I shouted.

"You did what!" Stefan glared at my dad. If he was not hurt, I am pretty sure, by now he might have pounced on my dad. "How dare you do that!"

"I am sorry. I know I was wrong." He looked down.

"This does not make any sense. I had freaking nightmares about it." I glared at my dad.

"I am really sorry." He sighed.

"Guys! I very happy about the family reunion you are having, but we need to get out of here before the bomb goes off." Anthony announced.

"What bomb?" I immediately asked.

"The bomb I smartly placed in Ethan's office. I am pretty sure it would take them all out." Anthony smirked, proud of himself.

"No! You have to go and deactivate it."

"And why would I do that?" Anthony raised his eyebrows.

"Because I don't want to kill Ethan. He is my brother. He is only misled. That also by you, I might add." I glared at him. But before he could reply, we heard a loud noise and the next thing I saw was fire.

"No!" Tears started streaming down my eyes. I left Stefan's side and started to run back into the building. But I was stopped by Anthony.

"You can't go in there. You'll die."

"You killed him. I need to go and save him. He can't die. He just can't." I cried as I tried to free myself from Anthony, who now had his hands around my waist, trying to stop me from running.

"Princess. You need to calm down." Stefan stepped in front of me. "Just look at me. Even if you go in there, you won't be able to find him." Stefan said.

"No." I sobbed as I felt Anthony's hand loosen and I was engulfed into a warm hug by Stefan.

"We really need to get out of here before the fire catches up to us," Stefan whispered in my ear. I just nodded. As soon as we turned around, I heard a familiar yet foreign voice. I looked back to see a bruised and bleeding Ethan standing there.

"You seriously can't be leaving with them. You won't last a day without me, Nessa." Ethan growled.

Although he was hurt, he still had a smug look on his face. That look was enough for me to lose all the sympathy I had for him. I realized that I would have to learn the fact that he is not the same Ethan I knew and loved.

"I will happily live my life without you." I glared at him.

"They are not even your real parents." He glared.

"I don't care. They are the ones who took care of me, of us. They loved us. And even if dad ignored me, he did pay for all my needs. That was enough to tell me that he cares for me. And mom was the best person in my life. My mom, whom you killed. As for my real parents, my mom was killed by your dad. So technically, it makes you the parasite of the family.

"You talk about revenge. But you should know, the cycle of revenge is endless. It is the quality of mercy and forgiveness which always prevails. And if asked for it, I am pretty sure, someday, I'll forgive you too. Till then, you can rot in hell, and see what I care." And with that, we all started walking towards the exit.

"I'm proud of you." My dad smiled. I just smiled in return.

"You are really something, Princess," Stefan smirked.

"Oh, I know," I smirked.

"Now how are we exactly planning to get out here, unnoticed?" I asked, looking around to see people gathering around the building which was on fire.

"Well, I called someone." Anthony chuckled.

"Hey, Nessa!" I heard a voice. I turned around to see Selena and Ryan standing beside two cars.

"What the heck are you doing here?" I asked as I went and hugged Lena.

"Well, I got a call from Anthony. At first, I wasn't going to pick up. But then he called almost ten times. and I thought it really might be something important. Turns out, it was. He needed to perform a rescue mission." Lena smirked.

"I never thought I would be so glad that you picked up Anthony's phone call." I chuckled.

"Yeah, Neither did I."

We all sat in the cars and drove off to Lena's house.

**********

"So you mean to say that you never cheated on me?" I asked Anthony.

We were currently at Lena's house and Anthony had just finished his part of the explanation. Turns out, Anthony never cheated on me. Even the Winter Formal fiasco was Ethan's plan. I still don't completely trust him but I can say he is telling the truth. After all, I did date him for some time.

"I would never even dream of it. I loved you." Anthony shrugged.

As soon as he said that, I felt Stefan's arm tighten around me. Anthony saw that too and chuckled.

"She is all yours man. I just hope you would forgive me." Anthony said.

"That might take some time, but I think you'll get there." I shrugged. Anthony chuckled.

I looked around. Selena and Ryan were in the kitchen, trying to make something to eat for us. I, Stefan, my dad and Anthony were sitting on the couch talking. Well, I was mostly listening. My Dad and Anthony were doing most of the talking part. After so many hyperactive days, it felt nice to sit back and take a breath.

"But there are still two things that I didn't understand," I said.

"What are those?" My dad asked.

"Firstly, why didn't you just come and tell me?" I asked.

"Well, Ethan was keeping close tabs on you," Anthony answered.

"And he would have noticed the change in your behavior. You were never a good actor." My dad answered.

"Okay... And secondly, how could you let him kill mom?" I asked, slightly raising my voice.

My dad looked at Anthony and they both shared a knowing look.

"Your mom is alive."

A/N:

Hey guys!

And that was the last chapter of this book...*wipes tears*

Hope you liked the chapter...

Before you say anything, there would be a epilogue for this book...

What do feel about the chapter? Was the ending the way you expected? Was is better or worse? (I really hope it's the first one)

Anyways....

You might have noticed something new at the start of the chapter...Well, I added aesthetics to the whole book...I had been wanting to do that for quite sometime now...And I did it :)

You could revisit the previous chapters and see all the aesthetics. Do comment which one is your favorite...

See you soon...