WARNING: this chapter contains themes of sexual assault. It's nothing too intense (it'll probably just evoke slight uncomfortableness) so just a heads up !

Nadia witnessed her relationship with Danny slowly deteriorate into fear, power, and control. Her body was covered in light bruises from attempts to fight him back and unwanted love marks from non-consensual acts.

She was now locked away in a room upstairs in Christian's vacation cabin. Nadia had no idea where she was. Somewhere in California was the only thing she knew.

In this room, a large skylight was placed high upon the ceiling and she would lie down and look up at the stars in the night sky, hoping the next day would be different.

It had been a month and nothing happened. She wondered how secluded this place was. Or maybe Danny was just good at keeping off the radar.

The doorknob twisted and Nadia gasped, quickly sitting up.

Her heartbeat began to race as the same distinguished feeling of fear engulfed her. Danny walked in, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"There's my favorite girl." He smirked, stepping closer to her.

Nadia quickly stood up, backing away from him.

"Hey, where are you going?" He pouted. "I only want to talk to you."

Nadia's chest felt heavy and she started to cry. This wasn't the Danny she knew anymore. She wondered if the real him was still there somewhere. She didn't want to believe he was completely gone.

Her back hit a corner of a wall as she didn't realize he had led her directly into the spot she was in.

"Danny, please." Nadia whimpered, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

"Please what, baby? Hmm?" His voice was dangerously low as he leaned down to her level.

Nadia lightly shook her head. "Please, don't hurt me." She sobbed out.

He chuckled softly. "No, I'm not going to hurt you Nadia." He leaned closer to her face, caressing her cheek. She flinched at his touch as her breath trembled.

"You don't have to be so afraid." He whispered, tucking a strand of Nadia's hair behind her ear.

Nadia desperately wanted to push him away, but she cowered in fear knowing making him angry would worsen her situation.

Danny tilted her head up as he placed his hand under her chin. "I wanted to let you know I'm going out for a bit. You won't miss me too much now, would you baby?" Nadia looked away from his gaze, keeping her mouth shut.

He grasped her chin, applying uncomfortable pressure to her jaw until it grew painful.

"No," she cried out. "I won't."

Danny smirked in satisfaction, finally releasing his grip.

"Guess what? When I get back, I have a surprise for you." He mischievously grinned at her, faintly tilting his head as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. Nadia tensed up and he provokingly placed a hand on her thigh, slowly trailing inward and Nadia instinctively gripped his wrist, stopping him.

He chuckled, giving her a wink as he stepped away from her. Danny left the room without saying anything else. He closed the door behind him, locking it once more.

Nadia slid to the ground, tangling her hands in her hair. She softly began to cry as she dreaded Danny's return.

...

"Here it is." Amelia leaned closer to the windshield, looking up at the hotel Nadia stayed in. They left Austin at 10pm, driving for 21 hours, with minimal rest stops. It was 5pm when they arrived in Vegas.

Amelia glanced at Leo. "Do you want to rest for a while?" She asked. "You look exhausted."

Leo shook his head. "No, no we don't have time to rest right now." He turned off the engine. "C'mon, let's go."

Amelia sighed as they stepped out of the car. She was just as adamant as Leo, not wanting to get off track, but she worried he would overwork himself. Amelia had offered to take turns driving throughout the night, but he refused, keeping himself up with multiple shots of energy drinks.

She walked by Leo's side as they entered the doors of the hotel, making sure he was okay. They approached the check-in counter and a lady with straight, black, shoulder-length hair greeted them.

"Hi, how can I help you two today?" She smiled politely.

"Yeah, hi," Leo briefly paused, looking at her name tag pinned onto her shirt. "Kris. If you don't mind, my friend Amelia and I would like to ask you a few questions." She looked slightly confused but agreed to Leo's proposition.

"Do you remember anyone by the name of Nadia Marie?" Amelia asked. "She was staying here about a month ago with-,"

"Danny." Kris finished her sentence for her.

Leo and Amelia glared at her. "You know him?" Leo hurriedly asked her.

Kris nodded. "Yeah, we're friends. Why?"

"Well your friend kidnapped her." Leo snapped harshly.

Amelia quickly placed her hand on Leo's shoulder, trying to avoid any conflict. "Sorry about him, he's just a little edgy from driving for hours. What we mean is, Nadia's missing and we came to find her. Do you know anything that could help us?" She spoke calmly.

Kris looked at them in shock. "Missing? Oh my god, since when?"

Amelia already knew that was a sign Kris didn't know much either. "We don't really know exactly, but she's been gone for a month or so. Do you remember the day they left?" She asked Kris softly.

"Uh, kinda. She was supposed to fly out earlier that day, but Danny told me her flight was delayed. He was getting ready to take her to the airport and said he'd drive himself back home to California after that. My shift was basically over, so I was getting ready to head home. That's all I remember." She shrugged. "I hope that was helpful."

Amelia lightly smiled. "Thank you." She glanced over at Leo who looked disappointed.

"Do you know which part of California he's from?" Leo asked her. Kris sighed. "I don't know. He's never mentioned it. Whenever he says he's going home, all he says is California. He never states a city."

Leo cursed under his breath. "I'm sorry." Kris sheepishly apologized. "No, it's okay. Don't worry about it." Amelia reassured her.

"You...you really think Danny has something to do with her disappearance?" Kris hesitantly asked her.

Amelia faintly nodded. "Yeah. Like he said," Amelia pointed at Leo. "we think she was kidnapped. Her missing person report went out a week after she was supposed to be back home."

"God." Kris furrowed her eyebrows in distraught, lightly shaking her head. "I would have never thought Danny would do such a thing. He was always so loving and affectionate towards her. They looked so happy." She sighed. "I guess you never know what happens behind closed doors."

Leo abruptly stepped away from the counter, walking out of the lobby.

"Leo," Amelia called out.

"What's up with him?" Kris asked.

"Um," Amelia chuckled awkwardly. "He's Nadia's actual boyfriend."

Kris narrowed her eyes at Amelia. "Actual boyfriend? You mean Danny's not..." She trailed off. Amelia shook her head. "No, no. They used to date, but, um what you witnessed was just a fling."

Kris scoffed in amusement. "And Nadia did all that with Danny while dating him?" Kris laughed. "Well damn, there was a lot of shit I didn't know about. Hey, they could have fooled me."

Amelia curled her lips back trying not to laugh or smile. This was a serious matter.

"Well, I should probably go see if he's okay. Thanks for the information Kris, it was nice talking to you." Kris smiled. "No problem." Before Amelia walked away, Kris called out her name, bringing her back to the counter.

"Here." She handed Amelia a card. "It's my number. Could you let me know if Nadia's okay when you find her?" Amelia smiled taking the card from her hand. "Yeah, of course."

...

Amelia walked out of the lobby, back to Leo's car. He was sitting in the driver's seat with his arms crossed against his chest.

She lightly smiled at him before getting into his car. She sighed, leaning back into the passenger seat. "I'm sure you didn't want to hear that."

Leo scoffed. "Yeah, you think? It was weird hearing she was happy with someone other than me. I can't believe it was with him."

"Well, at least you know she's not happy anymore."

Leo glanced at her. "How do you know that?" He asked. Amelia raised an eyebrow at him. "Would you be happy with someone who kidnapped you?"

Leo shrugged. "There's always Stockholm syndrome."

"Okay Leo." Amelia stifled a laugh, playfully rolling her eyes. "Let's just start heading to California alright?"

Leo chuckled. "What? No breaks?" He teased. Amelia rolled her eyes, grinning at him. "Let's just get out of this city first."

...

"You're not gonna believe what happened today Nick." Kris stated excitedly as she placed her glass of water down. She had invited Nick over for dinner.

"What happened?" He mumbled with a mouthful of pasta in his mouth. "These two people, one girl and one guy came by the check-in counter and they wanted to ask me a few questions."

"What for?" He asked, clearly paying more attention to his food than Kris's story.

"Well turns out, Nadia's missing."

Nick almost choked, coughing a few times before responding. "Missing? What the hell, since when?"

"One week after she left the hotel with Danny. They think he kidnapped her!" Kris stated dramatically.

Nick shook his head. "Jesus Christ, I warned him not to do anything stupid." Kris leaned onto the dining table. "But get this, the guy who was with the girl who confronted me, he's Nadia's boyfriend."

Nick shot her a confused glare. "As in present tense?"

Kris quickly nodded. "Yeah! She was messing around with Danny while she was dating him, can you believe that? I mean Danny's pretty attractive and all, but I didn't think he could make a girl betray her whole relationship with someone else."

Nick chuckled. "I'm sure you would do the same Kris."

Kris laughed, playfully throwing a piece of garlic bread at him. "I would not! I have decent morals you know." They shared a laugh, almost forgetting the somber topic of Nadia's disappearance.

Their laughter finally died down and Kris exasperatedly sighed. "I just hope they find her Nick. And I really hope Danny's not the actual culprit."

Nick lightly frowned. "Me too Kris, me too."

...

Nadia laid down on the bed, keeping her eyes shut thinking of happy memories in an attempt to keep her fear at bay. Her arms were tightly wrapped around herself and her legs were bent in a fetal position. She laid there for hours, preparing for the worst.

She finally heard the door unlock and tears began to slip out of her eyes. She didn't move as she heard quiet footsteps approaching her.

"Nadia?" The voice was full of doubt.

It wasn't Danny.

She slowly sat up, turning her head in the direction of where the voice came from. She let out a shaky sigh of relief seeing it was Christian.

He noticed the tears and fear in her eyes. He hurriedly walked over to her, crouching down in front of her. "What's going on? What are you doing here?"

Nadia faintly chuckled. "You have no idea what your brother's doing to me, do you?"

Christian glanced over the bruising on her arms and legs. The bruises on her jaw and chin. The purple hickeys against her brown skin on her neck and chest. Christian suddenly remembered the detectives that questioned him about Danny and fear quickly loomed over him.

"I was with Danny in Vegas and I guess he didn't want me to leave him, so he drugged me and took me to your parents' house first. Then he dragged me here, wherever here is." Christian looked disgusted and ashamed of the way Nadia talked about Danny.

"How long have you been here?" He seemed afraid to ask her that question.

"Since July." She whispered.

It was early August.

"Oh, god, Nadia." Christian quickly embraced her and she cried on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry." He sorrowfully whispered. "I just wanna go home." She sobbed. Christian pulled away from her, wiping the tears that ran down her face.

"Don't worry, I can get you back home. I just have to contact Detective Myers-,"

"No!" Nadia quickly shook her head.

Christian furrowed his eyebrows, gazing at Nadia in disbelief.

"No," she repeated, lowering her voice this time. "Don't call law enforcement just-just call my friend Amelia. Tell her I'm here. Please, just don't get the police involved."

Christian sadly looked at Nadia, wondering if Danny scared her into keeping her disappearance a secret from the police.

Christian heavily sighed. "Okay." He agreed.

Nadia lightly smiled at him, telling him Amelia's number. He saved her number in his phone. "I'll give her the address to this place." He said softly. "I promise I'll get you out of here safely."

"Christian, where am I anyway?" Nadia asked.

He sighed, faintly chuckling. "Far from San Jose I can tell you that. You're in this small area near Lake Tahoe called Carnelian Bay." He scoffed. "No wonder Danny told me he wanted to get out of the city. He was smart enough to bring you here."

"Well, what brought you here?" Nadia timidly asked again.

Christian chuckled. "Well, it is my vacation home. I just wanted to check up on Danny, but now I see he isn't here. I usually check every room, just to make sure things are okay. I'm glad I did."

Nadia hugged him. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you. Thank you." She breathed out.

Christian warmly smiled, holding her a bit tighter. "Don't thank me yet. Thank me when you're out of here for sure."

So how do y'all feel about Christian? Do you think he'll help Nadia escape?
Lmk what you thought about this chapter! :)
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