Crossing The Line With You (COMPLETED)

Chapter Six

It is already dark when Sam's plane landed. It was an 8-hour flight. There's only a short queue in the immigration checkpoint, so Sam was out at the arrival meeting area within 30 minutes. She scanned the crowd and saw her name written in bold letters. She approached the guy.

'Ms. Elliot?' the guy asked.

'Yes, that's me.' Sam replied.

'My name is John, Madam. Mr. Wang asked me to pick you up and bring you to the hotel's restaurant, across the road. There's actually a bridge-way directly to the hotel. My colleague will take your things and if you can please follow me.' The guy pointed to his left toward a sign bridge-way to Resorts World.' Sam followed John.

'My apologies for making you walk, I know you are tired from the long flight but because of the traffic, Mr. Wang agreed that it is more practical if we just use this bridge-way.'

'It's fine John. It is just a short walk.'

After crossing the bridge which literally just crossing the road if you are on the ground, Sam thought. John guide her inside the restaurant where he saw Gilbert walking towards her, all smiles. Gilbert gave her a peck in the cheek and hugged her.

'Welcome Samantha It is so good to see you. I said I will not let you stay in the hotel but it has been raining the whole day and the traffic is so bad. I decided to just get you a room here so you can rest, we have a big day today. My boys will take care of all the arrangements, and you, join me for dinner.' They spent an hour over dinner and Gilbert call on John to take Sam to her Suite room.

'Good night Ms. Elliot.' John said after after giving Sam the hotel card key.

Sam decided to wash up before checking her emails. She needs to know what happened with Meghan, she's been trying to call her but she won't pick up. After changing to comfortable clothes, Sam opens her laptop and scan through her emails. She skipped most of it and found one from Tommy Gazini. 

Tommy Gazini is Sam's personal bodyguard, she decided to hire him through the recommendation of a friend, with her position she has her own share of life threats. No one knew Tommy works for Sam or that they have a professional relationship. This is an arrangement they agreed on, so Tommy can follow Sam without suspecting eyes. With the exception of this trip, Sam instructed Tommy to focus on getting information about Meghan, then he can follow her after a few days.

Sam checked on the email attachment. The picture shows a women in airport lounge wearing a full dark shades. It's Meghan.  Why is she at the airport and who are the two guys beside her. She read through Tommy's report, no Meghan Bradwhick was on the passenger list, no information yet if the two men are with her and who they are. The apartment owner where Meghan stayed said that she just received a call that she will be terminating the lease and deposits and pre-payment she can keep. Sam took her phone and dialed Meghan's number but all she gets is the voice message of the telco company. She replied on Tommy's email, 'Send me another update in the morning.' and press send.

'Where are you Meghan?'  Sam whispered.

She decided to focus on tomorrow's meeting, she has few more documents she needs to review. After two hours, her back is aching so she decided to go to bed.

'My Angel, this is all for you.' She closed her eyes.

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That night, Sam did not came home. Her parents were so worried but the police will not do anything until she is missing for 24 hours. Rodrigo together with Alberto were in town, so the three searched for Sam all night. The next morning, they got a call from the hospital.

Sam was found in an alley near the housing complex.  The police brought her to hospital and started the investigation. Sam was hospitalized for a week. The medical result shows that she was r***d and found four types of semen on her v****a. There are also traces of party drugs on her blood. When she knew the results of her test she was devastated. She stopped talking and just stayed in her room.  She cannot remember anything that happened that night, all she can recall is she is on her way home.  The investigation resulted to nothing as the police cannot find any witnesses or suspects.

Her parents thought that a different scenery will help Sam recover so they decided to take a leave of absence from work and stayed with Sam in their hometown. The familiar people and beach did help Sam, she was starting recover, seeing her play again with the kids as she usually does. Two months after, Sam felt so sick and got hospitalized, another devastating news hit the whole family, Sam is pregnant. 

Her parents knew Sam is a strong willed but her being pregnant as a result of the crime against her will be too much for her. They decided to put her under therapy. In one of her session, she was asked to find a hobby that she can express herself, what she is feeling and how she looked at herself. This is when she painted the 'Fallen Angel'.  Sam kept the painting to always reminds herself that she can be better. Sam did like to paint before but did not push through when she decided to study business.

One night, Sam unexpectedly saw a documentary of unwanted and abused children that her parents were watching in the living room.  When Sam started crying, her parents turn off the TV and was so worried about Sam.  Sam cannot control her tears seeing the sight of fetus in jars and babies left to die on the street. Sam told her parents, she is fine and just got carried away with the documentary.

She went back to her room and rub her tummy. She is due to deliver next month. That very moment she apologized to her baby girl and promised her that she will do her best for her to have a good life. After Sam gave birth they went back to the city, she insisted she needed to provide for her baby girl. She named her Elizabeth but the whole family calls her Angel because of her angelic face. Everything went back to normal until the night of fire.

It was Angel's first birthday. Because Sam needs to work that day they decided to have the celebration over the weekend back in the island together with their friends. There was an unexpected traffic all over the city due to burst pipes that caused flooding. People are cursing the corruption in the government. It was the worst traffic she ever experienced. She called her parents to let them know she will be late but no answer. 

Suddenly a breaking news shows on the bus's TV. It shows a huge fire at the background, she can hear people shouting and crying. It was blurry but Sam recognized the place. The announcer was saying the fire is on the highest-level alert and due to the unexpected traffic only a few fire trucks came and they are having difficulty controlling the fire. Sam cannot breathe, she looked outside, nothing is moving. She gets off the bus and just run towards the direction of their house. She run for almost an hour before she saw what was left of their house.

When Alberto saw the news about the fire, he called on Rodrigo and tried to contact Sam and her family, when no respond they decided to drive to the city. They cannot believe what's in front of their eyes when they reached. Nothing is left in what they previously known as the housing complex. No traces of any houses or structure were left. Only foul smell of smoke.

They scanned the faces of the people around for any familiar face and found Sam sitting on the ground.

'Sam?', Alberto called on Sam. When she saw them, she just cried, they both hugged Sam and all she can say is 'They are gone, they left me.'

The two men took care of all the arrangements to put the Elliot's in there resting place back in the island. The investigation said that the fire started because of faulty wiring two houses away from the Elliot's place. Because the building is already old, the fire spread fast and most of the families were caught off-guard and only few managed to get out. Hundreds died that night. Sam decided to stay in the island to be near with the remains of her family, the two elders offered there homes to Sam but she refused and said she will stay in the villa her family owns.

It took a while for Sam to get back on her feet and found a job as a waitress in one of the restaurant in town. She was due for a promotion as assistant manager for almost two years of working in the restaurant once she completes and pass the training classes offered by the head office in the city .  She was on her way to take the final test in the city that morning when she passed by the area where the housing complex previously stood.  She stopped her car and got off. Seeing the place the familiar ache she felt that day just came crushing through and she just burst into tears. 

When she recovers and walking back to her car, the huge billboard caught her attention. The billboard shows a picture a new building.  It says another housing complex will rise in the same location. 

'When you lost something you can always build something new.' Sam thought. 

She never went to take her final test and instead found herself a small apartment in the city. She went back to the island and pack her things. To the surprise of the two elders, they did not question Samantha, they just supported her and reminded her that whatever she needs they can always rely on them.