Chapter Forty Three: Weird Abductors

It was time to change Derek's nappies. Layla waited for the men to come back. She didn't want to be caught snooping around the house. That could be misunderstood as an attempt to make an escape. The men were being civil with her, and she didn't want to do anything that would warrant them to act less than that toward her. Her stomach rumbled, and she clutched it. She ought to have eaten when she had been offered it in the car, but she had no appetite for food. She hadn't eaten a bite all day from worrying about Akila's safety. But now that she had been assured of Akila's safety, she was too tensed about her own fate to do anything about her own hunger. Derek stretched in her arms, whimpering softly. He had slept soundly through noon to the late evening. Layla had set him down on the couch after Victor and Luther left the room so that she wouldn't disturb his sleep. "Mama." Derek called her name, his eyes still closed. "Yes, Der." Layla picked him up from the chair and held him