Peter

Was she serious? She couldn't be! I was trying to protect her. Why couldn't she see that? This was for her own good!"

I sighed and ran a hand down my face. Why was she being so dramatic about this whole thing? She didn't need to know everything about my life! We've known each other for two weeks! I groaned and drove away from Leo's company.

I turned music up in an attempt to drown out my thoughts. It didn't work.

Maybe I was a bit too harsh. I probably shouldn't have yelled at her.

'No'. I told myself. 'She was the one in the wrong. She shouldn't have been prying.'

I still felt bad. I sighed. What was this girl doing to me? Usually, yelling at people didn't faze me, but with her, I felt as though I'd just broken something priceless.

And maybe I had.

I had to make it up to her. My mind traveled back to that day at the pier. She said she liked painting. Maybe I could get her something related to that. There was a Michael's not far from here. I could get something there. A canvas, maybe a pack of paints and a few brushes. Not the cheap stuff either. I smiled. Yeah, she'd like that.

Thalia

Working as Leo's secretary was MUCH harder than he'd let on. This man had so many meetings and clients in one day than what was considered normal. Whenever one meeting ended, another began and just when I was sure it was over, another person called demanding, yes demanding, to be fit somewhere into his busy schedule. I could barley handle scheduling all these meetings. I couldn't imagine how stressed Leo was since he had to actually DEAL with them.

I sighed as I finished logging yet another company transaction. It was now 9:50. Ten more minutes. I could definitely do this.

Leo walked out of his office and glanced over my shoulder at the papers I was organizing. "Are you handling everything okay?"He asked as I stamped paper after paper.

"Peachy keen." I muttered.

He looked at the giant stack beside me. "I can tell."

I half chuckled, half scoffed before going back to my work.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"9:50." I responded.

"You know what, go ahead and clock out. You can finish all this tomorrow, okay?"

I looked up at him. "What?"

"It's your first day and you're already working harder than mostly all of my previous secretaries. You deserve little break. Go ahead and relax. I'll call Peter to come and pick you up. Go and wait in the parking lot."

"...Thanks." I said. Leo handed me my coat and nodded as I left the room.

It was dark and chilly outside and I looked down at my phone. 9:55. Where the hell was Peter? I wrapped my coat closer to my body and shivered. For a summer night, it sure was cold. The parking lot was mostly empty except for two or three cars that no doubt belong to the straggling workers.

Suddenly, two blinding headlights pulled into the parking lot and I had to shield my eyes. Finally! The doors on the car opened and I crossed my arms in playful impatience. "Took you long enough." I said.

Peter said nothing. He simply walked towards me. It was then that I noticed something.

That wasn't Peter. This man was taller, leaner, and had long hair with a stubble beard. He wore a long, black trench coat. His accomplice, who I just noticed, was much beefier...and bald.

"Oh shit." I muttered.

I slowly backed away from them.

"Please, Ms. Moore. Don't make this harder than it has to be." The lean man said.

I quickly turned around and ran, ignoring his request.

I didn't end up very far, however, seeing as the beefy man had somehow managed to catch up with me. I writhed in his grasp and began to scream for help. The lean man tilted my chin up so I was looking in his dark eyes and covered my mouth. "My, my, my. The Ronan men sure do know how to pick their women." I snatched my chin away and scowled at him. "No one can hear you, dear. We're about five levels underground as it is." He said calmly.

"Great. Guess I'll just have to scream louder." I sneered.

I cried out in pain as I felt something prick my arm. I looked down to see that the beefy man had injected me with some kind of shot. Suddenly everything became muddled and blurry. My tongue began to feel numb and I felt my eyes closing.

"Or you could just stop screaming, period." The man smiled to reveal a mouth full of gold teeth.

"Fuck...You..." I mumbled as I fell victim to the anesthesia.

Peter

As I pulled into the parking lot, I looked at the backseat to check on the gift.

It was fine. Why do I keep checking on it? I'm acting like it's going to disappear.

Maybe it was...

I rolled my eyes. I was being so stupid right now. The gift was fine, and so was Thalia.

Speaking of, where was she? Leo said she should be out here waiting but I couldn't see her anywhere. I honked the horn a couple of times and waited. My heart froze. What if-

I quickly dialed the phone. Leo picked up with an exasperated sigh. "What, Peter?"

"Is Thalia in there with you?"

"No. I told you she's out there waiting for you. Now please stop-"

"She's not out here." I rushed.

The line was silent for a moment. "What?"

"Thalia isn't out here."

"Stay there. I'm coming down." I heard rustling on Leo's side of the line and then he hung up.

I ran my fingers through my hair. My brain instantly started to formulate the worst case scenarios.

Leo ran out of the elevator and I rushed out of the car to meet him.

"Where is she?" Leo asked.

"Are you fucking DEAF, man? I just said I don't know!" I yelled.

Leo ran a hand through his hair and turned to me. "Look around. She couldn't have disappeared into thin air."

I instantly began to search the parking lot. I looked around pillars and in parking spots, Leo right beside me.

I shouldn't have yelled at her. I should have been kinder. This was my fault. I should have been here earlier or never left the parking lot at all.

"Pete!" I heard Leo call. I quickly rushed over to see Leo kneeled down on the ground with some sort of small syringe.

"It's obviously some sort of paralyzing drug. This isn't a heroin needle."

My brain suddenly connected everything. Someone had taken Thalia. "But who the hell leaves behind a needle that can be so easily identified?"

"Someone who wants to leave a message." Leo looked over at me with a furrowed brow.

My heart stopped beating for the millionth time today. "Jason." I muttered.

Jason was a ruthless rival mafia mob boss. He'd always hated our gang. Whenever he got his hands on someone, it often ended badly for them.

Images of Thalia's dead and mutilated body flashed through my mind. What was Jason doing to her right now? Was she okay?

Was she dead?

"Peter, listen to me, we have to be rational about this."

"How? I demanded. "How are we going to be rational about this? What are we going to do, Leo? Go to his trap house and go, 'Oh yeah, I'm sorry. You kinda sorta kidnapped my friend. Can we have her back please? Oh by the way! Sorry for literally hating your guts and trying to ruin you at every turn! I hope you can forgive us'!"

"Pete," Leo began.

"Don't 'Pete' me, Leo! I promised myself I wouldn't get her dragged into this! Now look! She's not only been dragged into it, but her life is on the line too! I'm sick of this." I walked towards my car and hopped in. Leo held the door open and kept me from closing it.

"Are you out of your mind, Peter? What the hell are you going to do?"

I reached under my seat and pulled out a pistol.

"I'm gonna kill myself a fucking mob boss."