Sam and Jade wouldn't stop bickering the entire way home, and now we were all piled onto Jade's sofa, they wouldn't stop bickering here too. I knew that although they were trying to annoy each other, they were also trying to distract me, and yet I sat to the side, desperately trying to figure out home to tell Sam.

If I told her about Marcus, I doubt that she would believe me. I had no proof or evidence, and it wasn't as though I had met him before or even held a conversation with him, so I couldn't tell her it was a judge of character either. It was clear she trusted him and had probably known him for a while now, meaning that she would trust his word over mine. She would call me ungrateful, tell me that he was literally giving up his time to save me from my own blood.

I could talk to my brother. I could tell him to talk to Sam - they knew each other too, and I knew that despite Sam continuously picking fights with him that they were good friends. I had to tell him and quickly, before Sam got hurt.

"I'm going to call my brother," I said quietly, pushing the blankets off of my legs and standing up. Sam and Jade paused their bickering for a moment and gave each other a look before Sam gave me a bright smile.

"Tell him I said hi!" I nodded and tried to give her a convincing smile. Alex was going to be so mad at me for ignoring him for so long; I hadn't even told him I was staying over at Jade's, I had literally just packed a bag and left.

I sat down in the kitchen after grabbing my phone and before I even unlocked it, I scrolled through the messages still on my home screen. There were many off of my brother, a few off go Greyson and a few from Kaiden. I didn't bother replying as I swiped open my phone and tapped onto Alex's contact and waited for the call to go through.

"Mia, I swear to God I will fucking shoot anyone and everyone if you are fucking hurt," I gasped slightly at the anger in his voice as he snapped at me the second he picked up the call.

"Mia? Mia? I swear to fucking God tell me you're safe," His voice started getting concerned when I didn't speak up.

"I... I'm fine," I whispered, clutching the cold case of my phone. Alex had never been so angry at me before. I couldn't even remember the last time he shouted at me, and him swearing at me? I don't think that had ever happened...

"Mia, you need to tell me where you are, right now, okay?" His voice had softened now he was certain I was on the line, but I was still shocked at how serious he was acting. There was no sign of the casual side of him, the laid-back side he usually refused to drop.

"I'm at Jade's, I spent the night here," He sighed harshly through the phone and we sat in silence for a few seconds as he prepared to talk again.

"Are you safe?" He asked gently.

"Yeah, Jade and Sam are in the living room," I replied, ignoring the fact that someone was out there ready to hurt me.

"Are you coming home soon?"

"Probably. I need to talk to you though," He was walking on the other side, slamming a door shut behind him.

"What's up?"

"Do you know Marcus?" He chuckled uncomfortably.

"Yeah, he's a decent enough guy," He was decent enough? Had I misheard or something? If Alex didn't mind him, maybe I was just being paranoid...

"Um, well, I met him today," Alex chuckled again, just as uncomfortable as before, although a little more forced.

"Sure, sure, was he nice enough to you?" I had no idea how to tell him at this point. Was I really about to insult one of his friends? But I thought he was friends with our father... Alex wasn't like that, he wouldn't want to be around those associated with our father...

"Yeah, um... but... well..." I took a deep breath. "You know I overheard your conversations?"

"Yes,"

"Well, I heard about Marcus once, and... like... from what I understood at least, um, he's friends with father?" He sighed again.

"Yes, Love, Marcus does associate himself with our father and he is someone our father trusts to deal with certain areas of his business. Why did you meet him?" I sniffed and fought tears. It was frustrating that all I did was cry, no matter what. I had to tell him what was going on, I could cry after if I really needed to, but no, I just sat and cried continuously.

"I told Jade what was going on, and," I sniffed again. "and she told Sam, cus Sam knows what to do, and Sam told some people who said they could blackmail father, but she told Marcus, and Marcus knows and..."

"Love, I need you to tell Sam to stay away from Marcus. Is she still with Jade?" The seriousness of Alex's tone returned.

"Yeah..."

"I need you to give the phone to her, okay? Can you do that now please?"

"Yeah..." I sniffed and hurried through to the living room, where I found Jade sat on the floor, leaning back against the sofa. Panic started clawing at me as I stared at her for a second before I got myself together and asked where Sam was.

"Oh, she just left to go finish things up," I started hyperventilating. Jade gave me a strange look, picking her gave up from her phone to me whilst muting the tv. "Are you okay? What's going on?"

"Love? Where is Sam?" Alex asked me through the phone.

"She's gone," I forced out. My body was frozen, stood staring at the place on the sofa where Sam was supposed to be. Something thudded on the other side of the phone and Alex swore loudly, yelling for Greyson and Kaiden.

"Listen, Love, me and Kaiden are going to get her, okay? You're going to be alright, understood?" An engine started harshly and there was arguing in the background.

"Just track her fucking phone!" Alex yelled at someone before his tone quietened again. "Mia, was Jade with you when you met Marcus?" I couldn't breath. Everything was going so, so wrong and so quickly, I couldn't handle it.

"Mia, listen to me, this is important. Was Jade with you?"

"Yes," I gasped out.

"Thank you, listen, Greyson is going to come and pick you guys up, okay? Don't open the door for anyone, and shut the windows too," I didn't respond, choking on my tears. Jade was freaking out, trying to ask me what was going on, trying to make sense of what was happening to me.

"Mia, give the phone to Jade now." Shakily, I took the phone away from my ear and held it out to Jade. She grabbed it quickly, listening to my brother and snapping out short replies, running towards the door and locking it shut. She sprinted over to the windows and shut those too, closing the curtains and dragging me over to the sofa, sitting me down and throwing a blanket over me as she held the phone up to her ear by her shoulder.

She suddenly dropped the phone and sat next to me on the sofa, pulling me over to her and giving me a tight hug.

"Your brother told me what's going on, and we're going to be alright, so don't worry. We've just got to sit tight for a bit until Greyson comes and picks us up, okay? We're going to be alright," I could taste blood as I bit my lip as I tried to stop my tears. I gave her a nod. She held onto me for a few more seconds before standing up again and disappearing into her room, coming back out with a small pistol, disappearing straight into kitchen to check the windows in there too.

And then, a loud knock came from the door.