RECAP

GRACE POV

     Sometime later, I was made aware that I was not the only one in the room.

I could hear soft masculine humming coming from next to me.

My heart stalled in my chest as I wished more than anything that it was Niall beside me.

But I recognized the voice and knew who it was immediately.

I felt my hair brush to the side and warm breath on my neck, “I know you’re awake Grace…” He murmured against my skin.

I repressed the shudder that nearly went through my body. 

“You were a bad girl, Grace.” He hummed, brushing a hand softly against my cheek.

I wanted to cringe away. I wanted to scream. And I wanted to cry.

I didn’t do any of it. I stayed still, and focussed on breathing in, and breathing out.

“You tried to leave me,” he purred, pressing closer to my still body.

I noticed that I wasn’t bound to anything and my wrists didn’t sting as badly as they did earlier. 

“But I was smarter than you,” I could hear satisfaction in his voice.

His hand moved to my thigh and when it went up, I couldn’t pretend anymore. I sprung to my feet, swaying on my feet when I got to the other side of the room. 

Had he drugged me again? It was very possible- or it could have been that I had only had a few bites of an apple in who knows how long I had been here…

He waved a finger at me tauntingly, “ah, ah, ah…” he slowly got up from the bed.

I was sweating; I had no idea what this psycho would do to me.

Finding my voice, I stuttered on an excuse. “I needed to go to the bathroom; I didn’t know you locked the door. I’m very claustrophobic and there are no windows in here. I needed water.”

I was lying through my teeth; surely there was no way he would believe me at this point.

He raised an eyebrow, “you couldn’t wait for me to come back?” 

I shook my head weakly. I was done for.

He sighed, “I need to be able to trust you, sweets. And I can’t do that if it mysteriously looks like you’ve been trying to escape, you know?” 

He paused, looking at me with a creepy smile on his face.

“But we have lots of time to get to know each other. No one is looking for you.” 

I knew that wasn’t true, but it didn’t stop the painful lurch my heart gave at his words.

“H-how long have I been here?” I asked the question that had plagued me since I had woken up in this strange house to begin with.

His eyes darkened. “You’ve been here for a week now.”

My face paled, I had been here a week? And I still hadn’t been found?

“How is that possible...? I can only remember two days…” I said, mostly to myself.

He grinned at me, “Oh, I have these cool drugs. Pharmaceuticals. They make you sleep for however long I want… real hospital grade stuff. It’s the only way I can get close to you.”

And that was all I could take before I threw up on his shoes.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

GRACE POV

Once he had stopped his long stream of swear words, Tristan stopped and stared at me in disgust.

“You really had better get control over that stomach of yours.” He threatened darkly. I felt goose bumps cover my body with the soulless look he was giving me. 

If I had thought demons didn’t exist before, I definitely believed they did now. And Tristan was the devil.

“Why are you doing this?” I whispered, my eyes welling up with tears.

I was done trying to pretend he didn’t affect me. Maybe he would somehow show some compassion and set me free.

He seemed to look at me for a moment before he broke out in hysterical laughter. Yeah, I wasn’t going to see any compassion from this freak.

I glared at him through my lashes and my tears, vowing to make him pay for taking me away from the people that I loved.

When he finally quieted down he sobered up and looked at me in the eyes. I met his look of calmness with a deadly calm of my own. 

He was not going to win this. 

“Well, as I’m sure I explained to you before, I was tired of being left behind by people. First, my parents, and then you, and just when I thought we were getting along so well…” He leaned down close to my face and tucked a hair behind my ear.

I held my breath and leaned back from him in disgust. He must have seen it because suddenly his hand shot out and grabbed a fistful of my hair.

I cried out in pain as he brought my face close to his.

“The faster you accept that we’re going to be together, the more at home you’ll feel.” He sneered.

Maybe I was looking at this the wrong way. Maybe the only way that I would have a chance at getting away was to pretend that I really was in love with him.

I sighed, “You’re right, honey.” I nearly upchucked again at the thought, “I’m just really insecure. I’ve had my heart broken and I just didn’t feel ready to trust any other guys. But I see now that you’re different.” 

I tried not to let my mind wander to Niall; right now I really needed a clear head.

He stared at me for what felt like eternity before he finally broke out into a giant smile. 

I tried not to roll my eyes, I was certain that if I didn’t get away soon, I wouldn’t be getting away at all.

“I forgive you for your behaviour, but the next time that you misbehave I’m going to have to punish you.” He smirked at me.

I stared at the ground, praying that someone would find me.

Present day…

NIALL POV

We had just finished a performance in Australia and had just made it back to our hotel when I got a phone call from an unknown number.

I frowned at it, staring down at the screen. I didn’t usually pick up the phone if I didn’t know the number, just in case it was a fan that got through. It was really inconvenient having to change phone numbers every week.

I decided against it, ignoring the call. The background picture on my phone was one of Grace and I snuggled up on the couch. We were both grinning wildly, and while I was staring at the phone, she was smiling up at me. I hadn’t been able to change it. I missed her more than words could describe. I sighed, throwing it back onto my bed as I went to hang out with the lads. 

I picked up the game controller as Liam sat beside me, picking up the other one. 

“Up for a game of Fifa?” I challenged him, fully intending to win.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “As long as you’re alright with losing.” He teased me.

Present day…

KEGAN POV

Things back home were not good. Everyone in the house was always lost in their own thoughts and I felt responsible for all of it.

I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight. What was the point of bringing her to a party if I was just going to fall asleep anyways?

A small voice in the back of my head disagreed with me. I knew that I had truly been trying to cheer her up and get her mind off of Niall breaking up with her.

I hadn’t allowed myself to think of it, but I was beyond angry with him.

I didn’t understand why he broke up with her over a magazine he knew wasn’t true.

He knew how much Grace loved and adored him and yet he had betrayed her trust in him.

I had tried calling him on my phone to tell him what happened to Grace, but he had declined my call. The police had her phone in custody just in case it presented some sort of evidence so it wasn’t like I could call from hers either.

I decided to leave a voice mail, figuring it was better than nothing.

When it signaled me to start talking, I decided to keep it simple. 

“Niall, it’s me Kegan. Something has happened to Grace. I need you to get back to me as soon as you can.” I paused, and then added, “She needs you.”

I sighed in frustration.

The cops hadn’t found any new leads. They had tracked down the van that Grace had been taken in and even concluded for sure that it had been the creep, Tristan that had taken her.

But they had hit a dead end. And people were starting to lose hope.

Kelsey came running through the door unexpectedly. 

“I’ve had it with waiting around. I’m going to Grace’s old group home to look for answers myself. Are you going to come with me?” She asked breathlessly.

Kelsey had been taking Grace’s kidnapping just as hard as me. She felt partly responsible for letting her get out of our sights. 

I nodded, “I agree. I can’t just sit here and wait anymore. We don’t know how much longer she has with someone as unstable as him.” I shuddered and was hit with a wave of nausea at the thought. We would find her if it was the last thing I did.

Kelsey and I got into my car and programmed our GPS to direct us to the foster home. My foot was heavy on the gas pedal as we sped towards our destination.

When we arrived, we noticed that there was a car in the driveway.

“Is that woman back from the hospital now?” I wondered aloud. 

Kelsey shrugged, “The woman who got attacked by Tristan, right? I think her name was Petunia?” She wrinkled her nose.

We walked up to the front porch and knocked. 

We waited a moment but heard no movement from inside.

I knocked louder this time and Kelsey moved to look through the window.

“I guess no one’s home,” She murmured after a minute.

I frowned, staring hard at the door in deliberation.

“I’m going in anyways. You should wait outside in case someone comes back.” I said, rubbing my thumb over her hand.

She shook her head furiously, “No. Where you go, I go. I don’t want to be alone.” She said quietly. I knew she had been suffering from nightmares the past week, and I didn’t deny I had had a few as well.

“Alright, let’s find a way in.” I sighed; partly glad she wanted to come inside with me.

We found a window at the side of the house that had been left open and pried it open further, I climbed in first then helped Kelsey through as well.

“Do you have any idea which room was Tristan and Grace’s?” Kelsey asked me.

I shook my head no, momentarily blinded by fury that she had been forced into sharing a room with him in the first place.

“I’m sure it won’t be hard to figure out,” I murmured, “I think Grace mentioned it was on the first floor once, so that she could move around easier when she couldn’t see.”

Kelsey nodded in determination, looking down a hallway to our right. 

I took the opposite hallway and noticed a door that was slightly open.

I pushed it open further and my eyes went wide.

“Kels! I think I found it!” I called, making sure I wasn’t too loud. I motioned for her to come over and she joined me at the doorway.

“Creepy…” She said quietly, rubbing her arms.

I nodded in agreement as we walked through the doors. There were two beds in the room, on opposite sides. One side was bare and neatly kept, the other was cluttered with belongings that looked like they could have belonged to a teenage guy.

But that wasn’t what we were staring at in horror.

It was the writing on the wall above his bed.

It said, 

‘Monsters don’t sleep under your bed they sleep inside your head’.

He must have written that before he assaulted Petunia and kidnapped Grace.

I shivered, prying my gaze from the wall as I moved around his room. There had to be something here that would give us a clue to where Grace was.

Kelsey was still staring frozen at the wall. I called her softly. 

“Kels, we have to get this done quickly.” I reminded her.

She snapped out of it, walking to his desk that looked like it had been looked through already-probably by the detectives.

“They had to have missed something.” I murmured.

Kelsey sorted through the papers, looking at each one closely. 

“Where would you hide something if you were a psychopath?” I wondered.

Kelsey pursed her lips in thought. “This house is pretty old. Maybe there are some loose floorboards?” 

I had to smile at that, “You’ve been watching a lot of detective movies, haven’t you?”

She shrugged, continuing to immerse herself in the papers.

I started to look in weird places that he might have hidden something in.

A half an hour later, we were standing in the middle of the room, frustrated to the point of tears.

“There’s something we’re missing, I just know it!” Kelsey cried.

I tried to focus, “Okay. What looks out of place or suspicious here?”

Kelsey scoured the room, her eyes landing on a poster in the corner.

It was crooked, while the others were impeccably straight. The tape seemed to be coming off one corner.

She walked over to it, desperate. She stared at it for a moment and tugged the corner. 

It fluttered off the wall easily and I gasped in surprise.

There was a large hole behind it. It looked like it had been a storage place for his personal belongings.

I ran over to Kelsey as we began taking them out of the hole.

He must not have had time to grab his things.

There was a box with pictures inside. There was one of who I assumed were his parents in front of a large estate. They were smiling down at Tristan lovingly.

Kelsey gasped in horror, “That’s him! That’s the guy!”

I nodded, not being able to imagine Kelsey’s horror of coming face to face with the guy she had seen take Grace.

I rubbed her back as we continued to look.

There was a paper from the bank. I took it and gasped.

“This is where he took Grace!” I cried, grabbing the rest of the items.

“What was it?” Kelsey asked desperately.

“It’s the estate that’s in the picture! It was left to him, but Tristan is only his middle name. It was done privately. The records of it are sealed. That’s why the police can’t find anything!”

We ran back to the car as fast as we could, leaving the front door wide open.

Kelsey was already on the phone with the police.

My phone rang and I read the caller ID. It was Niall.

We were going to bring Grace home.

Present day...

GRACE POV

I had somehow convinced Tristan that I actually wanted to be with him.

I don’t know what kind of drugs he was taking to make him so oblivious, but I hoped that it would work to my advantage.

I had finally eaten something so I wasn’t feeling as queasy as before, but I didn’t think the feeling of wanting to puke would go away until I was away from Tristan for good.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” He looked smug.

“Oh, sure. How about Mean Girls?” I suggested. “Please, I haven’t seen it in forever!” I whined.

He stared at me in confusion and shrugged, “I guess we can watch mean girls…” 

I tried not to look smug myself when I saw his disappointment.

“But we better get cozy, because Lindsay Lohan really freaks me out.” He smirked at me.

Under normal circumstances, I would have found that funny. I stared at him seriously.

“She is a remarkable woman who just broke under the pressures of Hollywood.”

He scoffed, “Sure. Whatever you say,” He kissed my neck and I scooted away from him.

“I’m sorry, but I’m very religious and I don’t kiss until marriage.” I said, glaring at him.

Tristan rolled his eyes, “I’m sure you broke those rules for Niall. You can do it for me too,” He whispered, stroking my hair.

Niall. My heart panged with hurt. 

“Actually, we didn’t. He respected my religion and if you want me to love you, you had better respect it too.” I all but hissed. I hoped there hadn’t been any pictures of Niall and I kissing leaked or I was done for.

Tristan closed his eyes momentarily.

“Well, we had better get married quickly then.” He grinned evilly.

My face paled, it didn’t take a genius to know that he was completely serious.

NIALL POV

I was an idiot. A horrible person. Tears threatened to come spilling out of my eyes at any second.

The unknown number that had called me turned out to be Kegan. While I was off being a coward, Grace had been kidnapped and I didn’t even find out about it until a week later, because I was too selfish to check up on her and see how she was doing.

I was too busy worrying about her, that in the end it turned into selfishness. I wasn’t protecting her, I was protecting myself.

The only reason I had broken up with her was because I thought she might be happier with someone like Kegan, who could be there for her at all times. I didn’t want her to decide that long distance was too much for her, so I made the decision for her. And it was all my fault.

I missed her every second of the day. And I was so in love with her that it had blinded me.

To make matters worse, I had blamed the breakup on the magazine pictures that had come out with Kegan and her on the front page. I couldn’t have hurt her in a worse way, and now I may never get to see her again.

“Harry,” I choked back, “I have to go back and see what I can do to help.”

He was pacing the room with me, worried sick about Grace himself. The others had gone off to talk to management to figure out a way to put the tour on hold until we found her.

They were truly the best friends that anyone could ever ask for.

“I know, let’s go find her.” He said, with determination in his eyes.

I nodded, grabbing my suitcase.

Please forgive me, Grace, I thought desperately, I love you.

______

Lots of different points of view in this chapter haha. I wanted you guys to be able to see how everyone was reacting with what was going on. Sorry it took me so long to update. Honestly, I only updated today because I saw three of you lovely humans commented asking me to! I really appreciate the interest :)

What do you think of Tristan, Kegan, Grace, etc?

Please comment and let me know what you think :)

Thanks so much for reading :)

Question:

What is your favorite thing about One direction?

Let me know what you think! :)

My answer:I think my favorite thing about one direction is that they're not afraid to be themselves. Even on stage, they just do what they want and it's hilarious. I love the relationships they have with one another. And their accents. Oh man I can't pick one thing haha.