The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 139

Alissa's furrowed brows and puzzled eyes shifted to the door, and her defensive instincts kicked in. She extracted the hard drive from her laptop and slid it into the custom-sewn compartment in her jeans. Reaching for the loaded gun and heading for the door, she tried to guess who that could be. The property was bought under an alias. Her landlady never came up in the last ten years she stayed here. Greg and the others usually gave her a heads-up before dropping by.

She looked through the keyhole to see if she was able to get anything from the slit. All she saw was a sand-color shirt. She was also picking up a delightful yet somewhat familiar scent of oak and rain. The knock came again. She pressed her ear to the door, where she heard a heavy sigh before something was placed on the floor as the footsteps retreated.

Alissa waited for the footsteps to fade into the background before she slowly opened the door. To her shock, a bouquet of red roses that was placed leaning against the door fell on her feet. She picked it up and skimmed through the flowers for explosives, cameras and bugs before her head tilted outside to see whether the creature who left it there was still around.

The frame that was at the end of the corridor looked very familiar, and when the man turned to his side, Alissa called out in disbelief, "Gabriel?"

The man's face snapped up at her voice. Their eyes met as he mouthed, "Alissa."

He sprinted to her. His mouth opened but he didn't know what to say. In the end, all he asked was, "Can I hold you?"

Upon hearing that, Alissa leapt into his arms while still holding onto the bouquet with one hand and her gun with the other, and that was when she felt the sparks travelled throughout her being as her lycan wagged its tail and declared 'mate!

Gabriel held her close and inhaled deeply from her neck. His lycan already knew that its mate was behind the door the moment he stepped out of the elevator. He was relieved that the scent led to Alissa's apartment, but he was also nervous and remorseful. He somehow felt responsible for what happened to her. When he knocked and she didn't answer, he thought she didn't want to see him, and was leaving with a broken heart.

He never imagined she would jump into his arms like how she just did. He missed her scent of camomile and lemongrass. He missed her. "I am so sorry. I should have never let you leave. I should have sent you flowers. I should have loved you more. I should have..." Alissa smashed her lips on his, and it didn't take long for Gabriel to respond in equal enthusiasm. When they were out of breath, Alissa muttered, "I'm sorry...for doubting you, for doubting us. I was so stupid. I..."

"No, don't say that, Ali." His rough hand reached for her smooth cheek, and she leaned into his touch the same way she did all those years ago.

When she saw one of her neighbors coming out, they decided to continue their conversation inside. They sat on the couch with Gabriel's arm caging her body from the side so that she didn't sit too far away from him. He explained that he got her address from the journalist, who he bribed by offering her inside information on a rival company's scandal that she was investigating.

Gabriel held her hand as he explained, "After you left, I thought about calling you, seeing you, but I always...chickened out. When I heard that you had kids with...him, I just...I thought my chance was blown. I left town, and the next time I came back was when... the news about you and him exploded. I tried to visit you at the station but they told me that you were only allowed visits by your lawyer. I came to the trial a few times. I'm not sure if you've seen me."

Alissa was visibly uneasy when she confessed, "I almost didn't see anyone during the trial. I just kept my head low to avoid the cameras."

"Yeah." There was a moment of silence before he said, "Your boys are doing quite well though. They got your eyes. The physician even got your smile."

Alissa's brows furrowed in suspicion. How did he know? Gabriel scratched the back of his head and confessed, "I might have...stalked them on the internet from time to time. I didn't see anything before they got social media accounts though, I swear." "How do you even know their names?"

He held her closer and said, "That wasn't the hard part. I just had to comb through the local authority's adoption list and replace three kids with the dead guy's last name and make sure the kids' first names are from characters of your favorite movies." Alissa blinked before she asked, "You went through an adoption list?"

Gabriel nodded. "It's a long list. Lots of weird names."

"So...you found those families for my boys?"

"No, Ali. I wished I had. I'm glad they've been in good hands. I uh...went through the list at that time because I wanted to see if...I could take them."

Alissa just stared at him like he spoke gibberish before she clarified, "You wanted to adopt my triplets?"

Gabriel pointed at her face and said, "The lady at the desk gave me that exact same look when I applied. My application was rejected, obviously. She very crudely told me that when it came to taking care of the kids, an ex-boyfriend is about as reliable as the imprisoned mother." Alissa's eyes fumed with raged when she snarled and cursed, "That mother f="

"Hey hey...calm down. The old lady was just doing her job." Gabriel began stroking her forearms, both scared and elated that he got to see Alissa's anger again. "Look, the point is...you lost them once. Now that you're free and your name is...less tainted after helping the royal family and all of that, maybe you should consider paying them a visit."

Gabriel recalled the part of the article where Alissa mentioned she was unsure about reaching out to her triplets. He gazed at her in concern, peering into her eyes as he tried to decipher what she really wanted.

Alissa confessed, "I drafted the emails but I haven't sent them. I don't know if I should."

He whispered encouragingly, "Of course you should!"

"What if they don't want to see me?"

"What if they do? Ali, c'mon. What's the worst that could happen? We can still make the trip to stalk them if they refuse."

"I've already been stalking...watching them...from afar, that is." Alissa muttered.

Gabriel's franticness calmed with that realization. "So that's why you're still delaying this. You've already seen them."

She leaned against his shoulder when she said, "Still, it'll be nice to meet them. I'm quite intrigued by the one who chose to be a firefighter."

Without warning, Gabriel carried her and put her into her chair at the desk. He opened the laptop and said, "Go on. Do it."

And she did. She took a deep breath and clicked the 'Send' buttons. Now the pain was having to wait for a response.

Within an hour, one reply came, from the son who became a hotel assistant manager, which said, "Thank Goddess! We've been trying to replace out your location for hours, mom. That journalist who interviewed you isn't very helpful, is she? Three of us called her asking for your address, and she entertained none of us, saying that everyone had been claiming to be your children today.

We were even willing to send our birth certificates to prove it, and she flicked us off, saying that she already had seventeen poorly-photoshopped copies and we shouldn't bother sending more. F*cking idiot.

Anyway, the three of us already planned to meet tonight to figure out how to replace you, but since you've reached out, we'd love to come see you. Looking forward to receiving your address. Let us know where you'd like to meet.

Triplet #2

Caleb

P.S. the only reason this response came late is because triplet #1, Dr Oliver, was too busy to check his phone. He's the worst amongst us, mom. Busy. Busy. Busy."

Alissa cried so hard when she read the response, and Gabriel had to calm her long enough for her to send Caleb the address of a restaurant down the street before he helped shut her laptop and continue letting her cry into his chest.

When she finally calmed down, she got out of his embrace and went through her wardrobe to take out her best dress. After dressing up and checking her appearance in the mirror, Gabriel could tell that she was nervous by the way her chest rose and fell. He asked in amusement, "Ali, were you this nervous when we went out?"

She forgot about her nerves for a moment when she narrowed her eyes and replied, "No. You're one guy. I'm meeting three tonight. There's a huge difference."

He chuckled before reaching out to hold her waist and telling her that she looked beautiful, making her smile wider and eyes shine brighter. After sharing a kiss, they left the apartment and made their way to the restaurant. They were twenty minutes early. Her crossed legs were fidgeting, and Gabriel did everything he could to calm her, from stroking her hand to speaking to her. When the twenty minutes were up and the triplets were still not in sight, Alissa started getting restless.

What if they changed their minds and stood her up? What if whoever sent the response was a prankster? The maverick part of her began mentally plotting on how to make the prankster suffer if her triplets didn't show up and she found out that it was someone pulling her leg. Ten minutes later, three men with identical features stepped in through the doors, and Alissa burst into tears again. They each took turns to hold the woman who gave birth to them, with Caleb making sure that Oliver went last since he was to be blamed for their tardiness. The triplets sized up Gabriel when Alissa introduced them, Oliver being the most skeptical. Ryan and Caleb weren't worried. Their mother could always set this one on fire if he turned out to be a d**k.

Much to Alissa's surprise and relief, none of her boys appeared to be carrying any resentment for what she did. The youngest, Ryan, even found it 'cool'. Caleb agreed it was cool so long as it didn't happen in the hotel he worked at. The rest of the night was mostly hearing about their childhood, schooling days and university life.

It was the best date that Alissa had been on. She didn't want it to end, but when it was time to say goodbye and goodnight, Alissa mentioned that she'd like to meet their respective adoptive parents. Only Caleb was horrified because he was nowhere near obedient in his childhood years. This time, Oliver made sure that they all visited Caleb's parents first.

"F**k." Triplet #2 cursed.

Alissa linked Greg, Ivory, Desmond and Hailey, telling them that she reconnected with her sons and would be out of town for a few weeks, briefly mentioning Gabriel. They were all happy for her. When Greg was in the midst of asking her to 'take care', he typed in 'Gabriel Bafford' on his phone and started his research. He and the other three of the top four only called it a day when they finished reading every single piece of information there was on the man so that they could sleep knowing that Alissa would be safe.