Kate

Well at least Thanksgiving is over. My father showing up with his date was icing on the cake. My mother threw one of her outrageous fits then retreated to her room for the night leaving us in uncomfortable silence for the meal. I will say Dad's date tried to be polite but quite honestly I couldn't get past the fact that my parents are still married yet he's dating her, she couldn't be more than a few years older than Ollie. The boys couldn't calm Oliver down and Avery's insistence of planning a wedding that isn't going to happen only made the whole night that much of a nightmare.

After what seemed like too long for a family dinner, we went back to Ollie's and drank the whiskey Mason had bought. Melanie was furious with him and refused to talk to him when he finally called her. She apparently is staying the long weekend with Abby at Quinn's place. This seemed to help Oliver relax knowing Abby isn't alone with Quinn for a few days and Abby has her best friend to take care of her. Mason however is furious.

"I just don't want you there! You don't know Quinn and how he is with women. Let me come get you..." Mason is arguing with Melanie over the phone. It's Friday morning and I'm wanting to leave to get the girls for our Christmas shopping that we had planned. "Melanie please we need to talk about this! Quinn isn't a nice person!" I know he's getting frustrated. "No, he's not as bad as Grace but... Melanie! Damn it woman, you're just being stubborn about this!"

"I could be wrong but I don't think yelling at her is really going to get her to forgive you." Dylan says shoveling bacon into his mouth.

"I'm not trying for forgiveness, I'm not wrong." Mason says then realizes how bad that statement was. "Baby, that's not what I meant. Melanie come on sweetheart, just come home."

"Give me the phone!" I grab the phone from Mason and walk away from him so he doesn't grab it back. "Hey, it's me. Are we still going shopping today? Please get me out of here, these three are driving me crazy!"

We make our arrangements and I can't wait to get out of here. Oliver just sits quietly drinking his coffee. Oliver is never this calm or quiet, I swear it's just the calm before he blows. I know he's angry and hurting over all this, but it's not forever. Just as I'm about to say something to him there's a knock at the door. We all look at each other before Oliver goes to answer it. As soon as we hear the voice we know there's trouble.

"Oliver my boy, we have a problem." Quinn says walking right into the house and back to the kitchen where we're sitting. "Good morning, my darling Kate, always good to see you. And the entourage, don't you boys have a life?"

"I'll see you later." I tell them ignoring him and try to leave but Quinn grabs my arm.

"You want to hear this love, I promise." Quinn tells me, linking his arm through mine and bringing me back into the room.

"What do you want Quinn?" Oliver comes in following him.

"Our friend has found Abby. I got the call this morning. He knows you two are not completely done for and has given me some directions he expects you to follow." Quinn say filling a plate with food and then getting a cup of coffee. "He wants to meet us today at my office at noon. He's willing to negotiate terms for Abby's life."

Oliver growls viciously under his breath. I know this is what we expected, but Ethan has to expect us to not bargain with Abby. We won't let him touch her. Oliver begins pacing around the kitchen table as if he's stalking his prey. I hate it when he does this. It makes me nervous.

"There's no negotiation, you know that. Ethan has to go down and Abby has to be safe and back with me." Oliver grumbles. "This isn't a negotiation!"

"I understand how you're feeling Oliver, I do. We, however, need to keep up the appearance that we aren't going to box the boy in. He needs to believe this is the real thing." Quinn grins as he takes a bite of bacon.

"What do you mean the real thing? Quinn you're only supposed to be keeping Abby safe, nothing else." I remind him. Quinn tends to take plans beyond what's necessary.

"And she is, love. I assure you, Abby is completely safe in my hands. In fact, I have a bodyguard hired for you ladies today for your shopping trip. I've also arranged for my driver to take you everywhere you wish to go." Quinn informs me with a cocky grin on his face. "Ethan is watching our every move. He knows what happened yesterday and he isn't pleased that you aren't taking this seriously."

"Not taking it... are you fucking joking? I'm letting her stay with you! The one person I trust the least. He doesn't think that's not serious! I'm done with his shit! Let's just call the cops and have them waiting for him." Oliver goes off he is done dealing with Quinn. I know this whole mess is killing him.

"He's watching my office, mate. We have to play by his rules right now. He'll mess up, Oliver. It's just a matter of time." Quinn calmly tells us. I don't think time is the problem. I think, it's Abby being stuck with Quinn twenty four hours a day.

"Why don't we just take him down ourselves?" Dylan suggests breaking into the argument. "Tonight. Let's just set him up and get rid of him. I can get the cops there, you just keep him at the office until we show up."

Abby

"So you're telling me that you aren't in the least bit interested in Quinn?" Melanie asks as I get ready to go out with her and Kate.

Christmas shopping is supposed to be fun, but I'm not feeling it. I want to shop for Oliver and really do this right. I can't though, not with Ethan lurking around threatening my life if I go near Oliver. It's not making this holiday season any fun at all. I pull my hair up and wrap the light scarf around my neck. Christmas in California isn't cold but I imagine it is just to get me in the mood.

"No! I'm not. Quinn has been very supportive and wonderful to me but I love Oliver. I don't want Quinn." I tell her as I check my purse to be sure I have everything. Quinn was nice enough to give me his credit card for the day before he left for work and told me to shop for anything I want to get. Informing me there's no spending limit. I swear in this way he's just like Oliver. Money is never an issue for either of them. It drives me absolutely crazy.

"I'm not trying to interfere with your relationship but I can see Quinn really cares for you Abby. I know Oliver does too. It's just.... Abby it shouldn't be this hard for a relationship to work." Melanie is trying to help I know this but I'm not happy about what she's saying.

"I love Oliver and this problem isn't between me and Ollie. it's everyone around us who don't want us together." I stare hard at my friend. I really thought she understood this. Why would she want to push Quinn at me when she knows I love Oliver? "Am I now including you on that list? If so you can leave right now."

Melanie shakes her head at me and grabs her purse. "I didn't mean it that way. It just seems to be making you more miserable than happy. You deserve to be happy Abby. That's all I want for you. I'm not trying to get you to break up with Oliver, really."

Melanie's phone goes off and she pulls it out to look at the caller ID. "Mason, he's being a completely irrational jerk about me staying here with you. I'm gonna take this outside."

She walks out to the patio and closes the door. That's strange, Melanie has never walked away while having a conversation with someone. She's never cared who she was talking to or what she was talking about. Now I'm curious so I go near the door and listen. It's not something I would normally do but Melanie is acting strange. I have to wonder if there's a problem between her and Mason.

"...No, Abby doesn't suspect a thing, I'm going shopping with her and Kate today, so I'm positive she won't be here or at your little meeting. You have to get Oliver to agree today." I frown as my pulse begins to speed up. That doesn't sound like she's talking to Mason. "We've been working this for too long. If you can't get the money out of Oliver today, then we need to move on. Abby isn't the only naive fool out there for a billionaire to fall all over himself for. Besides I'm really getting tired of her whining about how hard all this is on her. I know I was the one who picked her when I saw her in that coffee shop but she just needs to be a stronger person and not such a damsel in distress. This poor Abby shit is driving me crazy. She's got two fucking billionaires fighting for her, life can't be that bad."

What? Poor Abby? I don't understand. What does she mean that she picked me?

"Look, if they don't agree then we just kill Kate. Let's just make our point clear." Melanie says and I'm baffled by this.

What is she saying? I can't be hearing this right.

"I'm tired of waiting for Abby to screw up yet again. ..., I know she's fallen for everything until now. It's all going as planned because he actually loves her. I swear Oliver is a fucking idiot! It's sad really, Abby finally found a fool who actually loves her and she's just gonna die anyway!"

What? I'm going to die? Oliver?

... "I know you wanted a bigger score with the entire Steel fortune, but I think we've outstayed our welcome. Not to mention that Avery bitch and Oliver's mother are both absolutely crazy. You fucked up there. We're lucky they didn't suspect anything in New York. Grace isn't stupid, not like her kids. They're going to figure this out soon. Mason is already getting suspicious." Melanie turns to look to see if I'm paying attention. I move away from the door and against the wall.

She's in on this with Ethan? I have to be wrong. She's my friend. Or I thought she was.

"I miss you Ethan. Let's just finish this and get out of here..... I love you too." Melanie says and my heart sinks. My best friend has been in on this the whole time. What the hell?

I walk to the table and sit down. I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest. Melanie was my best friend. I'm shocked and I know I have to do something. I'm not supposed to contact Oliver but I have to. The rules we had are changed, everything has changed. Oliver is in danger if we keep this up. He needs to know, Mason needs to know. I feel so betrayed. Quickly I text Oliver telling him Melanie is working with Ethan and I hear Melanie coming back in. Quickly my fingers hurry with the message and I look up to see Melanie watching me before I could send it. I try to push send casually and only hope it's not too late. As I put my phone back in my purse I turn to find Melanie now standing right behind me.

"What are you doing?" She asks me and I freeze.

Do I lie or tell the truth?

"Just letting Kate know we're on our way." I smile and turn around my eyes close as I hope she believes me. I'm a horrible liar. "We should get going."

Melanie says nothing but heads out the door. I don't know if I can do this. I'm the absolute worst liar. Melanie has always been able to read me. I'm afraid this will be no different. We head out and climb into the waiting limo. Melanie sits across from me and smiles. It's a smile I haven't seen before. Distant, cold and fake. Her eyes are cold and bare down on me like she knows I heard her conversation. I really have a bad feeling about this.

"Can I see your phone Abby?" She asks and I know I'm in trouble. She holds her hand out for me to give it to her.

"Why?" I ask slowly, suspiciously. I don't want to give her my only way to call for help.

"Give me your phone Abby. Don't you trust me?" Melanie smiles again and it's then I see it. She knows I know the truth.

Dylan

Sitting here waiting for Quinn I really wonder why Mason is so worked up. More so than normal. I know he and Melanie have been fighting a lot lately especially with Abby's problems with Ethan. I get Melanie is worried about her friend but it seems like she's not looking at the whole picture. What happens to Oliver really does affect all of us. Mason needs to get her to understand that. We're a family and we stick together.

Kate was supposed to go with the girls shopping, but after a text from Melanie telling her that Abby changed her mind and wanted to stay home, Kate came with us. It seemed strange but then Abby's been through a lot lately. If Kate and I were separated I don't think I would want to celebrate the holidays either. I can't blame her for sulking about it.

So Kate is being supportive of her brother and I think seeing if she can work some magic with Quinn. The guy always has had a crush on her. It's pissed me off for years the way the guy flirts constantly with Kate, well with any female around Oliver really. I mean he's even dated Avery at one point. Then there was Oliver's ex. The she devil who won't be named. That was a horror story all of its own.

Oliver is pacing the office, while Quinn is watching him from his desk. Kate and I are sitting on the couch while Mason is staring out the window. He's definitely much quieter now than earlier. Something is definitely wrong with him and Melanie. Quinn's phone rings on his desk. Without thinking Quinn picks it up.

"This is Quinn." I watch Quinn's face pale as he and Oliver's eyes meet. Without a word he pushes the speaker button. "He's here."

"Well hello, Ollie! I expect you to follow every direction I give you if you want your precious Abby to live." The familiar voice greeted us.

"Melanie? What the fuck?" Masons voice is barely above a whisper.

"Oh, get over it Mason. It's not like you were so wonderful I would forget my plans." She says. It's her voice, we know it's her but there's a different tone to it. Harder, more irritated and angry.

"Where's Abby, love. You two were supposed to be Christmas shopping today. Where is she now?" Quinn asks and I can hear the worry in his voice matching the fear on Oliver's face. I think all of Quinn's plans just went out the window.

"Oh, she's right here... napping. She's going to be asleep for a while. This way we have plenty of time to talk. Maybe you boys will figure things out. You know I've never seen so many fools act so stupid for a girl. I mean really? Do you think Abby is made of glass and she can't handled shit?" Her hatred dripping from her voice.

"I want to talk to her!" Oliver demanded.

"Nope! You know the deal, Quinn. I want twenty million wired to my account and then we'll start negotiating. Until I see the funds, no talking to your precious girl. Get the money to me, Oliver. Before noon tomorrow or Kate has an accident and Abby gets blamed." Melanie addresses him before the line goes dead.

"What the fuck?! Quinn? Where's Abby?" Oliver roars.

"How is Melanie working with Ethan?" I ask thinking about this.

"Melanie is working with him? Quinn you knew about this? And you put Abby's life in danger? You stupid fuck!" Oliver rips into him, lifting Quinn out of his chair by his collar and throws him against the wall. Oliver isn't handling this well at all. We don't have time for us to fight amongst ourselves. Melanie wants that. Abby has twenty four hours before they come after Kate. Blaming her, Abby would be behind bars instantly. The Oliver would lose the two more important women in his life. It would destroy Ollie and implode the rest of us.

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