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- Mia White -

It's been two days since I last saw Levi.

I wouldn't be able to face him after that incident, but I was worried about where he was. How long would he be gone? Is he going to come back?

Maybe he's just as embarrassed as I am after he kissed me. I mean, he kissed me. It was very unexpected. Does that mean he likes me? He always tells me that he sees me as a little sister. And besides, he's dated plenty of girls in the past.

Dang, how will Ace react to this?

Seeing how Ace is protective of me, I know that he's not going to take it.

A light tap on my shoulder brought me out of my thoughts. I looked to see it was Charles. He was maybe two or three years older than me. He's been the kindest towards me than the other guys. All they do is glance my way a couple of times while Charles actually socializes with me.

I'm not going to lie, but he's very attractive. Unlike Ace's black hair and dark brown eyes, Charles had platinum blonde hair and light blue eyes. He looked intimidating but wasn't as scary as Ace. He had a full-sleeve tattoo and was very well built. Charles was also very tall, but not as tall as Ace.

"Mind if I talk to you for a second?" Charles asked.

I smiled. "Of course."

He sat down on the log beside me, tapping his fingers on his knee. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

He scratched the back of his neck and looked behind us. He leaned close to me before whispering a question making me very surprised.

"Is Jacob... seeing anyone."

I chuckled. "Why?"

He turned his head away from me as I heard him mumble "oh nothing."

"My friend was just wondering," he stated, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Right. Your friend," I said, emphasizing friend slowly.

He glared at me while I laughed at him.

"Charles!"

We turned around and saw one of the guys call him. Should I call them gang members?

Technically, Levi didn't deny that they were in a gang. Whatever. I'm calling them gang members now.

Charles gave him a slight nod to the guy before he excused himself.

Ben told me that Ace and Mindy's wedding is going to happen four days from now. I'm still upset that Ace agreed to marry her. But, maybe Levi's as right when he said that he had his reasons. There is that saying 'everything happens for a reason.'

Hopefully, I'll know that reason.

For the past two days, we've been looking for Levi, but also scouting the house Ace is in. Yesterday, it didn't go so well. We found out that they moved out last night when no one was on patrol. Talk about bad luck.

Ben sat down beside me, a warm smile on his face. "We're gonna see if those losers left anything behind. Wanna come?"

Having nothing else to do, I agreed to go. I still had my pistol with me just in case anything happened. I'm not that bad actually. Ben said for a beginner I was pretty good after he taught me.

Ben, Jacob, Charles and I were going to go to the house while the rest of them track down where Levi and Ace are. Hopefully, they find them when we come back or earlier than that.

Ben made me wear the earpiece thing Ace had back when he went to Mindy's house to grab the contract. Which I now know is the false one.

Ugh, why is life so difficult?

Ben and Charles grabbed a few things from the car before we all set off towards the house. I was walking beside Jacob along the way. We were behind Ben and Charles since Jacob wanted to talk about something important.

"Don't you think Charles is attractive? I mean, he's has a freaking shoulder tattoo," he whispered.

"Yeah, he's attractive. But I have Ace." I think.

"You think he's straight?" he questioned.

"Maybe," I smiled. "He did talk to me about you."

"What did he say?" he asked, eager to know my reply.

I stayed silent, trying not to laugh as Jacob kept asking me what Charles had said. It was fun to tease him. Maybe this is why Jacob liked pissing Ace so much back then.

Eventually, we reached the house Ace was 'caged' into. Charles and Ben went inside first, doing that cool protocol thing I see cops do I movies. You know, where they say "clear" and move on to the next room or hallway?

No? Just me? Okay.

When they said that the coast was clear, Ben said that we should all split up. Ben decided to go with me because Ace will murder him if anything happens to me, while Jacob and Charles were going together. I smirked at Jacob and he smiled back at me innocently.

Charles said that they were going to check upstairs, so Ben and I searched the main ground area. Everything seemed normal, and surprisingly untouched. There was no mess like the place was cleared every second of the day.

So, we decided to go to the basement.

Hooray... I love the basement...

I frowned when Ben tried to turn on the lights, but they didn't work. Ben took out two LED flashlights from his pocket, handing one to me

"It seems like a pretty large basement. So well split up," Ben told me in a hushed voice. "You okay with that?"

"I thought our plan was to stick together because Ace will kill you."

He opened his mouth to say something before closing it. "Right. Forgot about that."

Rolling my eyes, I followed Ben as he led us through the basement. I made sure to stick close to him while he checks tried to spot for what clues or whatever.

I could be my heart literally skip a beat and my stomach twist in a tight knot when I heard someone coughing. What sounded like the sound of chains were dragged against the cold floor.

Ben gestures to the closed door at the end of one of the hallways, and we cautiously walked to it. When we reached the door, Ben grasped the doorknob, and slowly turned it to see if it was locked or not.

It was unlocked.

He told me not to move before he opened the door and pointed his gun at whatever it was. I saw his eyes slightly widen, so I peeked to see what was so surprising. And just like Ben, I was shocked.

There was a young boy, maybe the around the age of fifteen or sixteen, chained to the all with multiple whip marks over his body. He was down in a basement, inside a room of filth with bruises and cuts. I could see his hands shaking as he looked at us with frightened eyes.

To make it worse, he was half naked, only a pair of shorts to keep him warm in this cold room.

I was about to walk to him before Ben grabbed my arm. "Come on Ben, we have to help him."

"Alight. Just be careful. You never know is this may be a trap," Ben whispered.

I nodded, and he let me go. The closer I walked towards the boy, the more he moved away. I gave him a soft smile, assuring him that I wasn't going to hurt him, but he refused.

His eyes landed on the gun I almost forgot I was holding, so I tossed it to Ben, trying to show him that I was a friend. I told Ben to drop the guns, and he did. However, I knew he had one in the holster he was hiding behind his back.

I stopped just a foot or two in front of him. He watched my every move, and I smiled again, hoping that he would finally trust us, but of course, I knew that was going to be hard.

"My name's Mia. We're here to help you okay?" I spoke softly as if I were talking to a small child. "Do you know where the keys are for the chains?"

He nodded his head, pointing to one of the corners of the room. I looked at Ben, and he nodded. He walked to where the boy pointed and noticed that We're was a hidden compartment. Ben opened it, coughing as duck raised. He looked through it and finally found keys.

Throwing them to me, I caught when and looked at the boy again. He kept staring at me.

"Can you show me your wrists?"

I slowly nodded, and slowly extended his wrist out. I unlocked the chains as they fell down before doing the same to the chains around his ankles.

"Can you tell me your name?"

He looked hesitant to answer with the look of fear evident in his eyes. He took a deep breath and with his tired, strained voice, told me his name.

"Austin."

••• - ••• - •••

😩😊

- Francisco Lachowski

- Stephan James

- Cole Sprouse

- Lily Collins

- Alissa Violet

- Thylane Blondeau

😂