Steph's P.O.V

Where the hell am I?

And what time is it?

One minute I'm putting my pj's on after I take a shower and then I'm waking up here, in this cold and darkroom. Oh God, and where the hell is Carter? Is he here too? I tried to get up. Note the word tried. But I was way too weak to even stand. When was the last time I even ate? I think lunchtime with Carter, however long ago that was. And there's the fact that my hands are chained to a wall. So yea, I tried to get up, but clearly whoever has me doesn't want me leaving anytime soon.

"Well, would you look at that. Sleeping beauty is finally awake." a voice says. It was a familiar one, I just couldn't figure out to whom it belonged to.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" I demand

"Oh honey, don't kid yourself. You're not that important, your simply a pawn in my game." a voice says. This time belonging to a woman

"Our" the man corrects

"Yes, our," the woman says. From her tone, I could tell she was rolling her eyes

"Carter will fin-," I start

"Hun, that's exactly what I want. I want Carter to come to your rescue," she says

"What? You realize you're making absolu-" I start again

"Shut up! No one gave you permission to speak," the woman says again

"Now Steph," the man's voice says

"We're going to play a little game. I'm going to ask you a question and if you answer correctly then nothing happens to that pretty face or body of yours. Answer incorrectly, and I can't promise I'll go easy on you." the voice says. There was only a little bit of light peering in from the small window, but it wasn't enough for me to see the faces of the people who had kidnapped me.

"Shall we begin?" the voice asks

"Whatever sicko," I say. Bad move. For saying that, I got a slap in the face, but I refused to let any tears fall.

"Now, tell me Steph, how long have you and Carter been dating?" he asks

"Like 5 months, what do you care?" I snap back

"Ah, ah, ah. Watch the attitude little girl," he says

"Tara is your best friend. No?" he then says

"Yes, and you leave her the fuck alone," I spit

"Stupid little girl, you have no idea huh?" he says with a laugh

After about an hour of questioning and being beat up, I was sorer than ever. And if you're wondering who it was that was beating me up, I still couldn't tell. Kinda hard to get a look at someone's face when you're getting beat up after every single question they ask cause you either had too much of an attitude or you just didn't want to answer.

Right about now, I was tired as fuck. And even though I didn't want to fall asleep, soon enough darkness took over.

Carter's P.O.V

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?!" a screaming Tara said

"I'll explain it again. I had some stuff to do so I sent her ho-," I started

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT. ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME THAT YOUR WORK IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR GIRLFRIEND? WHAT KIND OK BOYFRIEND ARE YOU? THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE. I CAN'T BELIE-," she says, yelling at me again.

"Look, in case you didn't notice, I also have a company to run. And as much as I love Steph, I've got to put some time aside to figure out what is best for my company." I say calmly

"FIGURE OUT WHAT'S BEST FOR YOUR COMPANY MY ASS. THAT IS NO EXCUSE TO SEND STEPH HOME ALONE. NOT UNLESS YOU'RE... OH MY FUCKING GOD! YOU'RE CHEATING ON HER AREN'T YOU?! YOU LITTLE SHIT. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING BREAKING STEPH'S HEART LIKE THAT? THE ONLY THING THAT IS GOING TO BREAK IS THAT PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A FACE YOU'VE GOT!" she screamed some more

"Sis, maybe you should calm down a bit," Brad says

"CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN! DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! MY BEST FRIEND IS MISSING AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN?!" she yells

"Tara please jus-," I try to say

"SILENCIO! ERES UN MALDITO IDIOTA. ELLA TE AMA Y ES ASÍ COMO LA REPAGAS? ¿ENGAÑANDO A ELLA? VOY A ASEGURARME DE QUE NUNCA VUELVAS A VER LA LUZ DEL DIA. PRIMERO ES: ¿ESO DONDE LLAMAS A UN EX-FIANCE EN EL CLUB Y AHORA ESTO? ¿QUIÉN ES? ¿UNA DE ESTAS PUTAS QUE CONTRATASTE PARA TRABAJAR PARA TI? NO TE PUEDO CREER. VOY A HACERTE UN MENSAJE TAN MALO QUE LAS PERSONAS NI SIQUIERA PODRAN DECIRTE QUE ERES TU. MEJORS IN EMBARGO, VOY A MATARTE. ¿ME ESCUCHAS? ¡ESTAS MUERTO! ¡MUERTO" she still screams. Goddamn this woman can scream.

"Tara, I have no idea on what you're sa-," I start again

"TAIS-TOI! JE NE ME SOUCIE PAS DE CE QUE VOUS DEVEZ DIRE. VOUS N'ÊTES RIEN QU'UN FAUNE ET STEPH NE VOUS MÉRITE PAS. MAIS POUR CERTAINES RAISONS, ELLE EST TOUT POUR VOUS. J'ESPERE QUE TU VAS EN ENFER CONNARD!" she screams once more

"TARA! Shut up and listen to me ok?" I yell back at her.

"DON'T TELL ME TO SHUT UP! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" she screams

"TARA! LISTEN TO ME! I CAN'T UNDERSTAND A WORD YOU JUST SAID OTHER THAN WHAT WAS SAID IN ENGLISH. AND I'M NOT CHEATING OK?! SO GET THAT THOUGHT OUT OF YOUR HEAD. PLEASE JUST LET ME EXPLAIN!" I scream back at her

"Brad, care to explain?" Tara says more calmly

"Do I have a choice?" he says with an eye roll "In Spanish, she said: Shut up. You are a fucking idiot. She loves you and this is how you repay her? By cheating on her? I'm going to make sure you never see the light of day again. First, it was that whore you call an ex-fiance at the club and now this? Who is it? One of these sluts you hired to work for you? I can't believe you. I'll make sure I mess your face up so bad that people won't be able to recognize it's you. Better yet, I'll kill you. Do you hear me? You're dead." he says with a sigh "And in French, she said: Shut up. I don't care what you have to say. You are nothing but an asshole and Steph doesn't deserve you. But for some reason, she fell for you. I hope you rot in hell, you motherfucker." he says

"Look, I'm not cheating," I say

"That's exactly what a cheater would say," a fuming Tara says

"Look, I'm not one to side with my sister, but what were you doing here if you weren't cheating on her. And why the fuck haven't you gone to get her yet. They literally sent you an address." Brad says

"It can't be that easy," I say

"What. Were. You. Doing. Here?" Tara demands

"Did Steph ever tell you she was adopted or anything along that line?" I ask Tara

"No! What the fuck are you on about?" she yells

"Hey, keep your voice down. Other people work here too you know." Brad says

"Shut up," she says

"When I first took Steph to meet my parents, they loved her. But as always, they looked into her even more.Re-," I start

"Clearly they didn't look into the people you date enough because you almost married a gold-digging whore," Tara says

"Tara, enough," Brad warns. All she does is roll her eyes

"Records say that she was taken from the hospital she was born in and never seen again. Even the nurse that allegedly took her went off the radar. Steph's parents think she's dead, and for some reason, I feel like this and the fact that she disappeared are all connected. That's why I was here. I was trying to piece it all together. Time got away from me and by the time I got home, all I found was the note on the bed and the bedroom a mess." I continue

"So, you're telling me that Steph has been living with some bat shit crazy nurse who claims to be her mother this whole time?" Tara asks

"Umm, pretty much yes," I say

"Wow. The more you know," she says

Just then, I get a message on my phone. It was from a blocked number and it had a video file attached to it.

"What is it?" Brad asks

"It's a video," I say

"Put it up on the big screen," Tara says

Connecting my phone to the big screen, I press play on the video. We see Steph, who's hair is a mess and is covered in bruises tied to a chair. I couldn't tell who it was because they were using a voice modifier.

"Sweet, sweet Carter. Look at what's happening to your precious little toy. Such a pretty face, too bad I had to harm it. She's a tough one. Hard to crack. I can tell she loves you. She took quite the beating for you. You have 72 hours to get here. After that, I can't promise that nothing else will happen to your girl. As always Carter, Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock." And with that, the video ends

"Whatever happens, you find her. You find my best friend. Or so help me God I'll kill you myself." a teary-eyed Tara says

I'll find her, even if it's the last thing I do.