Students were circling the large ballroom, moving between tables, enjoying the free snacks and soft drinks as Big Band music played over the speakers. Olivia had joined Roxie and her brother at a poker game with Ricky and Sebastian, along with a small handful of other students.

Lincoln was very intent on the game, but Ricky quickly lost interest. He kept missing his turn and wasn't genuinely trying. He couldn't stop himself from glancing over at Olivia repeatedly, hating the idea of her ending up in a corner with Mitchell Hagen—or worse, alone in a room at the hotel with him. Hagen was a dick when it came to girls.

Ricky finally decided to leave the table, throwing away his hand, and went outside to smoke a cigarette, clearing his head of Olivia. He stopped by the bachelor party on his way back, which was getting loud and unruly, using his charm to persuade the waitress at the bar to serve him a drink.

Back at the First Dance, he'd removed his blazer as the ballroom was growing hot, keeping to himself by one of the small cafe tables—playing with his phone—when Sebastian found him.

"So, Linc's a pretty sore loser."

"Noted," Ricky mumbled uncaringly and stuck his phone back in his pocket. "Do you wanna get some fresh air?" He pretended to inhale from an invisible cigarette. Sebastian nodded, so Ricky emptied his drink and grabbed his blazer off the table. They were headed for the doors when someone suddenly tumbled into Ricky's side, taking his breath away and replacing it with a pain that turned his vision white.

"Shit," he groaned hoarsely and tried to push the person off him. "Will you let go of— Casini." Ricky stopped his complaint when he realized it was Olivia, and instead of pushing her away, grabbed her arm before she fell to the floor, steadying her. "Watch it." It came out harsher than he intended.

"I'm so sorry. It's these shoes." Olivia tried to excuse herself with cheeks turning pink, feeling embarrassed as she tugged on her strappy silver heel. It had managed to twist itself around on her foot, the heel sticking out to the side, her toes awkwardly tangled in the straps.

"Are you all right?" Roxie asked Olivia, quickly coming up to them.

"Um, yeah." Olivia still wobbled on one foot, working on getting the heel in place on the other, feeling thankful Ricky helped her balance.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm fine," Ricky said with coarse irony, the pain in his ribs only slowly subsiding.

"I'm really sorry," Olivia apologized again, trying to look up at him as she was bent down, fumbling with the straps.

"Yeah." Ricky would have said, 'that's okay' if his side didn't hurt so damn much, making it impossible to breathe normally.

"I just tripped and—"

"No, you didn't," Roxie cut in. "It was that stupid Porceline. She stuck her foot out again. Why does she keep doing that?" Roxie complained, sounding frustrated.

"Move!" Sebastian suddenly exclaimed and pulled Roxie to him. However, Olivia and Ricky didn't stand a chance before they were drenched in what felt like a torrent of water.

"Oops," Nicolette said, sounding insincere, standing with a large empty glass in her hand.

"What the fuck was that for, you stupid bitch?!" Ricky shouted angrily, which didn't help the pain in his ribs. A fair amount of water had drenched part of his shirt, making the fabric see-through as it clung to his skin.

Olivia finally let go of him, standing with a shocked expression on her face, trying to shake the water off her arm and leg. The entire left side of her dress was soaked.

"It was an accident." Nicolette shrugged and smiled innocently at Ricky with her big apple cheeks.

"My ass, it was!" Ricky threw his blazer on the floor and walked toward her in angry steps. He wasn't sure what he planned to do; he was just mad as hell.

Sebastian quickly stepped in front of Ricky, grabbing his arm to stop him, standing with his wet shirt pressed up against his chest. "Hey, calm down, man. Okay?" He spoke into Ricky's shoulder in a low, calm, and collected voice, only Ricky could hear. "Just, let it go. Things will only get worse if you start going off in here." Sebastian threw a quick glance around. It seemed like all eyes were on them. "Don't let it get to you," he whispered to Ricky. "It's not fucking worth it. Just... Try to breathe." He could hear Ricky exhale angrily but also felt him relax some, no longer rigid against him, and released his arm. "Go to the restroom and dry off. Cool off," he suggested.

Ricky removed his angry stare from Nicolette, looking down at the big transparent stain on the front of his white shirt, and nodded. He knew he had to get away before he exploded.

"Maybe take Casini with you?" Sebastian suggested, and Ricky looked back at Olivia. The stain went all the way down her dress. The water had even ruined some of the soft curls in her long brown hair. She looked so small and miserable with Roxie trying to help, dabbing napkins on the wet skirt.

"Come on," he ordered more than offered Olivia, his normally soft voice tense with suppressed rage. "We'll dry off in the restrooms." He nodded his head in the direction of the doors. "They have hand dryers we can use."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Roxie offered, a concerned look on her face.

"Um, no, it's okay." Olivia smiled kindly and quickly followed Ricky when he turned to leave.

"Get out of my face, you fucking cunt," he spat at a slightly recoiling Nicolette, pushing past her with more force than necessary, making her drop the empty glass on the hardwood floor where it broke in pieces. It felt good hearing the glass shatter when he couldn't act on his rage.

They had only taken a couple more steps—the other students parting before them—when Olivia suddenly tripped again, coming dangerously close to bumping into his side as she fought to keep up with Ricky's furious pace.

"Will you watch where you're going?" he scolded and grabbed her so she wouldn't fall, then felt guilty for snapping at her. "Look," he exhaled with difficulty, closing his eyes, "just hold my hand." He held out a hand by way of apologizing. At least this way, he could prevent her from falling into his ribs again.

Olivia could feel her cheeks heat up as she slid her small hand into his big warm one, Ricky wrapping his long fingers around it. It looked like his hand swallowed hers, and she felt a heated tickling running up her arm and into her chest. At that moment, any thoughts of her family sitting at home—worrying about where she was—disappeared. She was holding hands with Ricky Stark von Linden.

No sooner had they disappeared down the corridor did Olivia's father, William, show up at the hotel reception with two police officers in uniform.

A small panic had spread through their home when Olivia didn't show up at five o'clock like she was supposed to. They tried calling her phone repeatedly, but there was no answer, and no one they called knew where she was. They even tried several hospitals. Hours passed with no words and growing unease, so William used his connections as District Attorney to file a missing person report.

Christina was slowly unraveling, scared the same thing that happened to Tom had happened to Olivia. William, on the other hand, became more determined to find her.

At last, they found Roxie's address where her mother, Elaine, apologized to William when she found Olivia's phone in her daughter's room with several missed calls on it. Elaine was surprised when William showed up at her house, telling her Olivia was missing because, as far as Elaine knew, Olivia was at the First Dance with her kids.

So now, a livid William was standing in the middle of the high school party, searching the large ballroom with his gaze for any sign of his daughter. From Elaine's description, he spotted Roxie first.

"Where is she?" he demanded angrily, turning Roxie away from the roulette table where she was standing.

"Whoa. Where's who?" Roxie asked in return, a little intimidated by the strange tall man standing in front of her with two police officers at his back, her gaze moving between the three.

"My daughter, Olivia. Where is she?" William repeated impatiently.

"Oh. Uh, I don't know," Roxie lied, shrugging her bare shoulders, and looked hesitantly at the others at the table behind her, taking a few steps away. She wasn't sure what to tell him. She just knew that Olivia's father finding her alone with Ricky would be a bad thing. Who knew what they might be doing at that very moment.

William was turning red in the face. "Where's Josephine? Does she know where Liv is?"

It wasn't until then Roxie realized she hadn't seen Josephine for a while. She let her gaze wander around the room, not seeing her anywhere. "I don't know. I haven't seen her," she answered truthfully.

"What about Constance?"

"Con—? You mean, Coco?" Roxie wrinkled her slim brows.

"Yes," William snapped. "Isn't she friends with Liv?"

"Uh, I honestly don't know." Roxie shook her head, feeling confused. She had never seen Olivia and Coco talk. It didn't seem very likely they were friends, to be honest. But then again, Coco had tried to defend Olivia at the Banks party.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to ask her yourself, sir." Roxie shrugged again, hoping William spent enough time searching the ballroom he wouldn't catch Olivia and Ricky together.

"Useless," William complained in a mutter, turning to the two police officers, describing his daughter to them. They needed to look for a brown-haired girl with big glasses at about five foot four, wearing a small silver ring with a clover on her finger.

Roxie pressed her lips together as they spread out in the room. If they were looking for a girl with glasses, they wouldn't get far. Olivia was wearing contact lenses.