Another Man's Treasure

13. The Beginning Of Nicholas Lane's Story

WARNING!! This chapter mentions cases of drug abuse. Reader Discretion is Advised.

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Flashback

* *7 Years Ago* *

"Honey, I'm home!" Nicholas Lane entered their home and called out for his wife Delilah Garcia. "Babe? Where are you?" But strange enough there was no answer. "Delilah?"

The both of them had agreed to get married and live together in the States, and when she got pregnant she willingly wanted to be a stay at home mom, and Nick supported her.

As he walked further into the hallway he heard the faint cries of a baby. His baby.
But where could she be? Where is Delilah?
As he got closer and closer he clearly heard the bath faucet running and the crying coming from the bathroom.

He gently knocked on the door, he couldn't wait to shower his family with kisses and hugs after a long day of work. "Lilah, You there?
Is everything okay with Daisy?"

Maybe she was just giving her a bath.
But there was no answer. In fact Daisy's crying got worse.

He couldn't understand why his wife of two years wouldn't answer him. Was it because of the fight they had this morning? He thought so, but Nick Lane was the type of man to always give his wife kisses even after they had a misunderstanding.
But lately Delilah was becoming distant as ever. He knew why and he tried helping her through this hard time she's been experiencing. He just missed her.

This time he banged on the door as fear crept inside him. He knew something was terribly wrong as his daughter kept crying.

When he still didn't get an answer he decided to kick down the door, and in that instant he saw his wife sitting on the floor next to the toilet whilst looking up at the ceiling with her bloodshot red eyes.
Then his eyes saw the drugs on top of the toilet lid.

His heart skipped a beat.

She relapsed...again.

Daisy's throat ringing cries brought him back to his senses. She was in the bathtub while the faucet was running, he panicked as he saw the water catching up to her upper body, and hurriedly took her out of the bath.

Tears of his own started running down his cheeks as he caressed and kissed his daughter.
"You're okay, daddy's here. I'm here." He whispered while looking down at his wife who is now smiling to herself. Clearly in oblivion.

He tried wiping his tears away, maybe perhaps to see who his wife has become. He didn't know this person at all.
"You think this is funny?" He was furious as she just kept giggling to herself. "Answer me goddammit!" The uncontrollable tears made it hard for him to speak. "Lilah, p-please don't do this to me."

Daisy's cries calmed down as she wrapped her arms around her father.

Delilah suddenly looked up at him for a few seconds, but didn't say anything and then slowly looked away again.

Nick didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do anymore, so he walked into Daisy's nursery, dried her body and wrapped a warm blanket around her. Daisy looked up at her father with still wetness in her eyes but at that moment she smiled adorably. Nick's tear stained cheeks rose up.
This is who he lived for. Daisy was his everything.