I'm lying on my stomach on Nick's bed, listening to a cd with some rock band I found in a stereo. After my betting with Nick, he locked me down in his room again, and I've been here for two and a half hour now, which I know thanks to the tv I have on in the background in a lame attempt of trying to make everything seem as normal as possible, but of course I know it isn't.

I'm kidnapped. One of my best friends is one of the kidnappers. My ankle is broken. I'm locked in a room and even if the door wouldn't be locked, I still wouldn't be able to walk. Right now, my life honestly sucks.

And what can I do about it?

Absolutely nothing.

I've already searched through the room, trying to find something useful, but as suspected I found nothing.

I know I can't run away because of the condition I'm in, but that doesn't mean I can't get out of here. If I can't get to the police, the police have to come to me. I won't give up that easily, I won't let them break me. I won't lose the bet.

Therefore, I need to find a phone or computer. I need something that can help me connect with the world outside this stupid walls and fence.

But I don't think they are that stupid to just leave something like that free to me to take. They are smart, but I have to be smarter.

How I will succeed however is still an unanswered question.

I roll over on my back and hiss in pain as the movement made my ankle hurt. I focus on taking deep breaths to calm down, both for the pain and the frustration I feel over being powerless and not able to escape - yet.

The stereo shift to another song and I immediately recognize it, it used to be one of my favourite songs, and I almost starts laughing at the lyrics.

How come all girls fall for the bad guys? Well, I got an easy answer for that. They don't.

Kidnappers are -obviously- bad, but I don't have the slightest feeling for any of them. I don't like them, I despise them.

I hate them.

Suddenly I'm not in the mood for music anymore, and I sit up to go, or more like crawl, to the stereo and turn it off, when the tv screen catches my attention.

A familiar face is on the screen with a woman in her twenties standing in front of the face of the picture with a microphone in her hand. Her lips are moving, but I can't hear what she is saying so I grab the remote and turn up the volume to max. Now, the voice of the newswoman who stands in front of a picture of me drowns the sound of the music.

"Therefore, her biological parents have now joined the searching for their orphaned daughter who got kidnapped yesterday when a group of young criminals stormed into Beckwith High School and kidnapped five girls, which only two have been freed and returned safely to their families." The woman made a pause and a picture of a woman with chocolate colored hair and gray eyes showed up by the side of a tall man with short hair in the color of honey, and icing blue eyes.

The woman's hair is the same as my original hair color, and the icing blue eyes belonging to the man is identical to my own.

Realization hits me like a lightning. It's my parents.

It takes time for the words to sink in, but the picture remains as the woman continue to speak, but I can no longer hear what she says. I'm too shocked.

My real parents, who abandoned me when I was a little baby, just born, are now looking for me. Their daughter.

Tears are now resting in the brim of my eyes and I almost scream out loud when the news reporter disappears from the screen, together with my parents.

I've never seen them before, ever. I don't even have a picture of them. For my whole life, they've been nonexistent for me. They never heard my first word, they never saw me taking my first step. All they did was giving birth to me and giving me a name, nothing more, nothing less.

Suddenly, the door burst open revealing Nick, and I slip out of the shock.

"Shoot", he mumbles as he sees my face and the tv, puzzling the easy pieces together.

He takes the remote from beside me on the bed and turn the tv off, and then goes to the stereo and does the same. Then, everything goes dead silent.

"You weren't supposed to see that...", Nick says after a while, but I just look down in my clenched fists. They probably had the tv on upstairs or wherever he was, otherwise I don't know how he would've noticed the news. But it doesn't matter. What matters is that I saw enough. Not only the police are looking for me, but my parents too.

The fact overwhelms me, I've given up on them years ago and now they suddenly show up.

"Alex?", Nick says trying to get my attention, but I ignore him. Stuck in my own deep thoughts.

"Alexandra?", he tries and tugs on my arm. I only move away a little, out of reach for him. Of course, he takes a step closer and follows me.

"Allie."

I shoot up my head and give him a cold glare.

"Do. Not. Call. Me. That."

Something flashes by in his eyes, but before I get sight of what, it disappears and he goes back to his old, stupid, possessive, idiotic, maniac self, a smirk appearing on his lips.

"Fine, gorgeous." With those words, I groan despite the surprise and shock that still hasn't settled down completely. But I start suspecting that Nick got this crazy superpower, or curse, that makes him able to get on my nerves as soon as he opens his mouth - if it is to smirk or talk doesn't matter. Both ways work.

"Leave me alone", I mutter under my breath and turn my back on him. Seconds after, the madras I'm sitting on sinks down under another weight and I feel arms wrap around my waist. I instantly try to get up, only to realize the second after that I can't stand on my sore ankle, but before I even manage to stand straight on the floor Nick pulls me back.

"Gorgeous, I'm the one who's giving orders - not you. And besides, you can't even walk so what's the point with trying?"

I give him a line of curses as an answer and try to loosen his grip around me by using my own hands, but he just takes a hold of them too and soon I can't move. I feel his chest vibrate as he chuckles.

"Get off me", I squeak, not meaning to sound like such a baby.

Nick answers with a smirk. "Make me."

I'm boiling on the inside, but knowing that I can't win this fight, I stop struggling and he actually releases his grip and turns his body and face towards mine, a frown clearly visible on his forehead.

"You stopped fighting", he says slowly and I raise my eyebrows in a look that says 'oh really?'

"Congratulations, captain obvious." He becomes quiet for a while and it looks like he is thinking, and then his eyes lit up by something I don't recognize and he has a broad, amused sneer on his face.

"Have you already found your place here, gorgeous? I got to say that I'm a little bit disappointed. I've looked forward to breaking you. Didn't think it was this easy."

I take a deep breath to calm down, resisting the urge to punch him.

"I'm not broken", I state, "and I won't be either. I will get out of here, didn't you see the news? There are people who are looking for me, I'm sure they are looking for the other girls too, and you know what? They will succeed and you will finally be behind bars."

Nick 'tsk' at me and shakes his head.

"Gorgeous, you're such an optimist and I'm not the slightest sorry for breaking this. You. Wont. Get. Home. The other girls? Maybe, if their families cough up the ransom money, but that would still probably be a no. Two girls are gone, returned to their families. We didn't have any use for them and we got the money, that's all we wanted. But you? You won't get home."

I'm sure my eyes are big as plates right now as I listen to him with a half open mouth.

"But what if you get the ransom money from my real parents then? It's all you want, right? Money. If they give it to you, you let me go like with the other girls?"

Nick slowly shakes his head and his fingers start caressing my arm, leaving goosebumps behind.

"Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. You don't get it, do you? For the other girls, we wanted only money, they were useless. All they did was sitting in a corner and crying, no one of us wanted any of them, but it's not the same for you. And for the ransom money, we already got them. Your biological parents turned out to be pretty rich and we pushed the ransom to almost the double. Too bad they won't get you back, huh?"

Now, I can't hold the anger inside of me and I raise my hand to punch him with a clenched fist but he catches my wrist in the air and this time he is the one who gives me an 'oh really?' look.

"Remember the rules", he says with an intimidating voice, "this is your last warning."

My hand falls down lump beside me and I bit my lip, something I'm used to doing when I'm troubled.

"Why are you doing this?", I ask with a somewhat steady voice, "you got the money, why don't let me go?"

Nick takes a hold on my fallen arm, holding my cold fingers in his warm.

"I've already told you that, gorgeous. I want you, and therefore I will have you. I want you, and therefore you will stay."