Derek's POV

(6 months ago - Prison)

Today is the day I fuck up my life. More than it had ever been fucked.

Prison is hard, but snitching makes it one thousand times harder. No one respects snitches, no matter the reason. They are often viewed worse than murderers and rapists.

Even if I wait five years to get out of prison, I will never have freedom. They will always use me for their shitty, illegal acts, and I know it was my fault I got myself in that situation, but I desperately wanted to get out without them hurting everyone I know.

I shouldn't be the one locked up here, while they abuse and hurt people. Not after what Felix did to Veronica.

I took the blame for her because there was no hope for me—she doesn't know that—but the drugs in the car were just the cherry on top, a perfectly placed proof to arrest me and keep me here for a long time. They knew I had something to do with Felix's gang but they had no proof before that.

I'm going to testify. I'm going to tell them every small detail, even if it will get me killed. At least someone will do something about them and they won't ever hurt anyone else again.

His men still send me messages.

If I talk, he'll hurt everyone that I have ever talked to. If I don't talk, he will wait for me to get out so I can 'work' for them again, if I don't want to work for them, they will kill everyone I love, then kill me.

There is no better way out.

It's risky. I can never know which police officers are on his side, but if he had any men on his side in this prison, he would have freed me, of course, to work for him.

My inmates don't know I'm testifying today, they don't care that I'm not snitching on them. They think all snitches deserve to get maimed, and that's if you are lucky.

The gate to my cell unlocks and Jerry, the guard gives me an eerie look. He knows I'm a dead man.

"Derek Forster, come outside."

The inmates look at me for a few seconds and then burst out in a laugh. "Gonna get shagged?"

They continue making their comments as I walk out of the prison cell.

It's barely morning and I can't remember the last time I ate. The food here is disgusting.

"You're dead," Jerry whispers over my shoulder as he puts the handcuffs on my hands.

"Wasn't much alive before either," I joke.

He laughs. "Let's hope they place you in isolation."

That somewhat sounds worse than getting my fingers cut off.

Jerry is probably the nicest guard anyone could ever have here. And the standard of niceness is low here.

I confessed two days ago and my court hearing is in two hours, my defense lawyer hired by Shanice should be here any time now.

They promised to reduce my sentence to fourteen months. Enough time to get killed by Felix's men.

(Now)

"Fuck!" I yell as I look around and then at my phone, still ringing.

I accept the video call, knowing there is nothing else I can do.

What happened to make them leave? They wouldn't do that to us without a good reason.

I hold the phone far away from my face, I look at the screen brightening up.

The first thing that pops up is Veronica's face. I take a deep breath of relief when she looks at the camera. The man holds the phone for her but she sees me on the screen.

"Derek..." she mutters as her lower lip starts shaking.

I swallow the lump in my throat and my heart sinks to my stomach seeing her like this. I don't think I'll be able to control myself once I get my hands on these disgusting pieces of shit. I'll make them suffer no matter what the cost will be, as long as she is free from them. From me.

"I am so sorry- I am so sorry, Ronnie." my voice shakes and she closes her darkened eyes and looks down.

"Where are you-" the man interrupts me as he clicks his tongue, he steps away from her with the phone.

"See? We can be tolerable too. Now I think you are wondering where your friends left."

I look at the street again and then at the phone, wanting to smash it.

Did he take them too? No fucking way.

"Relax, Theodorick," Felix's man says as he sits down and the phone reveals a bit of the darkened room. I suddenly get an idea of where they might be, although those places always look the same.

Felix knows that name because I was still using it when I was out of the orphanage. It's my full name but my parents always called me Derek.

"We just scared your friends a bit. Now, what do you want us to do with your girl? No, my bad. Our girl."

I kick the trash can and everything in it spills over the sidewalk.

"I'll make you regret this, I'll fucking ruin Felix, you, and everyone you ever came in contact with," I spit, remembering those were the same words they used with me. But I did get most of their men in prison.

The men laugh and the camera pans to Veronica. He grabs her by the throat and she tries to pull away but the other man holds her.

"8043 Devonshire Road, Raleigh, NC. Samantha Rose, 34 years old, Jess, 8 years old," I say through gritted teeth and the man's face gets red with anger as he lets go of Veronica.

I never thought I'd step this low, to threaten an innocent mother and kid's life. They know I'm a piece of shit, but they don't know I'd never touch a hair on their heads. I just have to make them believe I would.

I found out all this information with Jerry's help. That man saved me too many times that I can count.

"If you touch them, I'll torture Veronica and your friends until they beg me to kill them."

"Let her go," I mutter through gritted teeth.

"We are waiting for you."

He hangs up.

I rush towards the cabin and I kick the broken door to release the anger and the tension. I look at my phone. I know that place. I knew where to go, but it's a trap.

Irène and Dominic climb out of the basement, their faces red and sweating.

If I'm there, they will have me watch her as she dies, and then kill me so I can't hurt their families first.

"What happened?!" Dominic asks with terror on his face.

"Shanice and Nicole left, their car is gone and those idiots must have scared them away and I have no idea how."

"They didn't take them too?!" He asks through gritted teeth as he walks to me. He wants to punch me. It's all my fault.

"Try to call them," I suggest calmly.

He takes the phone out and rings Nicole, the call immediately closes.

"It can't be reached, the phone seems turned off, fuck!" he yells and Irène looks at him.

He tries to call Shanice too but the same thing happens.

We don't have a car, and the sun is almost up. We could call a cab but I doubt anyone would be okay with going to the place I have in mind, which is also three hours away.

"What if they are in danger?" Dominic asks as he puts the phone back in his pocket.

"Irène, you could talk to your parents so they bring you a car?" I say annoyed that she is always bragging about her 'power' but not taking advantage of it now.

She shifts embarrassed. "The thing is... that I'd have to ask my dad, and he won't help us."

Dominic scoffs annoyed, "wow, all that bragging and you actually can't do anything without daddy?"

"I brought a gun, didn't I?"

"You don't even know how to use it," Dominic argues back.

Irène moves her hand to the back of her jeans and Dominic walks to her, gripping her wrist as he stares down at her.

"You're a kid. You don't have to prove shit. I don't care what kind of training you think you got, but it's not going to help us. What are you going to do? Pull out the gun when they pull it at Veronica's head? Before you even think, she'll be dead."

"Shut the fuck up, there isn't time for this. Just call a cab and we will go to my place to take my car," I burst out desperate.

"Nah, I'm sick of your shit too. All of this happened because of you. I'm leaving, I'll look for Nicole."

I grab the collar of his shirt and I yank him hard. "I don't give a fuck if you think it's my fault, you are helping Veronica, not me."

"Idiots," Irène mutters as she walks out of the cabin.

"Shanice and you told me to snitch on him, it was all your idea, it was her lawyer. You said you were going to help if things went south," I explain as I walk out of the cabin shortly after Irène.

Suddenly, a familiar car passes on the street, and Irène waves at them as she yells for them to stop.

I squint my eyes to see better and I recognize it's Irène's car. They're back.

We sprint towards the street and Shanice parks the car near us. I suddenly notice all the bullet shots on the back of the car, and so does Irène.

"What the hell happened?" She yells as she steps closer to the car to analyze the shots.

"Are they gone?!" Nicole whisper-yells as she rolls down the window.

"We couldn't leave you here, but we just had to go. A young guy was straight up shooting at us, then we drove a few miles away and there was no signal."

"Who? What the fuck? No one was here," Dominic exclaims.

I look around, suddenly feeling very watched. I know Felix has a lot of people and some of them might still be here.

"Get in the car," I yell.

"My poor car," Irène murmurs as she looks at Shanice through the rear-view mirror.

"We are going to Knoxville, Tennessee," I tell Shanice.

"That's three hours away!" Nicole complains.

"I know where Veronica might be, but it's far and risky."

"Yeah, for fuck's sake, if she isn't there we would have wasted six hours, including getting back to Atlanta," Dominic murmurs.

"It's an abandoned warehouse they used for storing drugs, one of their many deposits but this one is the only one three hours away. Veronica came to my apartment at around midnight and I got the video at 3 am," I explain.

"It might be far... and risky, but I have a feeling it's the right place," Shanice adds.

Shanice takes the sunglasses from the storage as the sun rises.

"Hey, those are mine," Irène says with a bright smile, and Shanice shrugs.

"Fine, if we share a bed then we can share other things too," Irène adds, and we all furrow our eyebrows in confusion as we look at them. Shanice's face gets flushed for a second.

"Oh." Dominic laughs and Nicole just looks the other way, lost in her thoughts.

"Is there something we don't know?" Dom asks playfully.

"Oh, God, no. I could never lower my standards that much," Shanice says and I laugh.

Irène gives me the side look.

"Drive faster," she mutters annoyed.

~

It's 9 am. Nine hours since she was kidnapped, and only now we finally have a clue where she could be.

If she isn't in this abandoned creepy warehouse in the woods, then we're fucked. We drove three hours to get here.

"She has her suspension decision now... if she doesn't come they will probably expel her." Nicole sighs as she gets out of the car.

"Call them and tell them the truth." Dominic shrugs.

"Which is?" Nicole chuckles. "'Oh, I'm sorry, miss principal, she got kidnapped by a sicko and is probably getting killed right now, but no worries, you could reschedule it, in case she doesn't die.'"

"Be quiet. We shouldn't make much noise," I murmur annoyed.

Dominic brings his finger to his mouth and mimics zipping his mouth closed.

"Nicole and Shanice should stay outside, in case it gets messy, you could call the cops," I say.

"No. I'm coming."

I walk closer to Nicole and I stop when I'm several inches away from her face.

"To do what? Get killed? We can't protect everyone. Don't you get it?"

"It's all your fault, you know, we aren't forgiving you for this," she mutters as she gets into the car.

I close my eyes and take a deep shallow breath. It is all my fault.

I promise to stay away from Veronica, fully. I'll leave the city. I will do anything so she doesn't have to deal with this ever again, as long as she is away from danger.

Shanice doesn't say anything as she looks into the distance.

We have a bit of walking to do, but if we stay quiet enough-

Then suddenly the shooting begins.

The atmosphere gets filled with screams, particularly Nicole and Shanice's voices.

I run towards the car, dropping to the ground behind the wheel and I take a deep breath.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Why would they shoot? They want me alive. They want them alive so they get tortured in front of me.

Nicole tries to get in the driver's seat but a shoot flies her way, shattering the windows. She quickly pushes herself against the seat and screams.

Did anyone get hurt?!

Shanice is behind a tree and I don't see anything else other than her shoes. I try to move to the left to see if she is okay but they shoot at the windows again, shattering the rear ones.

From where I am, I can't see Dominic and Irène.

"You want us alive!" Dominic yells and I cover my mouth in desperation.

Fuck. We couldn't find any guns, and considering we can't even shoot they wouldn't have been too helpful.

If I could reach the car... I could get the taser and use it when they let their guards down.

"Derek, come out," the voice whose man I recognize yells.

I push myself up and I cooperate.

Why the fuck did I left the taser in the car...

"Come here, you fucking coward!" he yells.

I threatened his family just a few hours ago.

I stand up and I see Irène hiding behind the tree with her gun to her heart level.

Then Dominic is walking to them, one of the guns are pointed at me and one at him.

"Keep him out of this," I spit through gritted teeth.

"Come here," the man orders me. "Your hands high."

I bring my arms over my head as I walk towards them.

I'm standing face to face with the man I fake-threatened to hurt his family.

He checks my body for any weapons and he gives me a crooked, evil smile when he notices I don't have anything on me.

"Tell those two bitches to come with us," the man spits.

I gulp down hard, and with my peripheral vision I see Dominic trying to move away from the men but the other guy seizes him up.

"No, leave them alone!" I yell at him as he goes to grab Shanice, and then points a gun at Nicole.

She gets out of the car, shuddering and crying. She trips over the sticks and the stones on the ground but she holds herself up.

I tighten my jaw as he grabs both Shanice and Nicole by their arms and pulls them towards him.

They didn't see Irène.

Fuck, yes. Finally something good.

I look into Shanice's eyes and I mutter sorry. She sniffles and looks away in defeat.

The men push us towards the warehouse and they open the large entrance, then they close it behind us.

I know what they want, and I would choose to be tortured by them forever, locked in an isolated place, rather than see Veronica and my friends get tortured.

When we walk inside, I immediately notice the dim lighting, the same in the video, and I look at the chair in the middle of the room.

It's fucking empty?!

What the fuck? Where is she?

The men yell in frustration, "fuck. Where the fuck did that little bitch go?"

The other man shrugs. "She must be here, there is no other way out." He tries to calm him down but fails miserably as the man points a gun at his head.

Dominic is closer to him, and he takes advantage of the situation as he hits him from behind.

The bulky man moves to the side and doesn't even seem affected by it, I try to rush towards Dominic but they both point a gun at our heads, again.

"At least your friend isn't a coward." He spits in Dominic's face and Dom wipes it away in disgust.

They said there is no other way out, if Veronica escaped she could have only used the door we entered. No way, she has to be here.

I look around and I try to distance myself from them and they look at Dominic and Nicole now.

Shanice catches my attention, and She understands what I'm about to do. She slowly nods in agreement.

Then we hear a banging noise, followed by a groan in pain. Veronica.

"Go get her," he mutters to the other man and I move slightly as he doesn't look at me but then he rushes towards me and pushes me to the ground.

Before I try to stand up, he puts his foot on my stomach and presses on it, harder and harder.

He stops pushing on my stomach once the kidnapper comes back with Veronica, crying, as he pushes her back to the chair.

He ties her up and she finally notices us through the dim lighting. She gasps in terror.

The man lifts his foot and I stand up, still shaken up.

"The rest of you might be wondering why you're all here..." he mutters as I lock eyes with Veronica for a second. My vision gets blurry and my throat dries up from the ache of seeing her like this. And what they are about to do to the rest of us.

She tries to speak but they cover her mouth with duct tape. I close my eyes for a second and take a deep breath in. I need to do something, but if I move, he will shoot her, or someone else.

Where the fuck is Irène?!

He loads the gun as he presses it against Veronica's head and Nicole screams.

"You want me, not them. Let them go. They won't say anything," I explain desperately.

"No, no." The man clicks his tongue. "You were so tough a few hours ago. What happened to you wanting to kill my wife and daughter?"

Veronica lets out a small gasp and I look at her. I hope she doesn't think I would ever be capable of doing anything like this.

"Tell me how you know where they live!" He walks to me with his gun in his hand.

"I- I know it from prison." I try to stay calm but my voice fails me. I can't tell them about Jerry, he doesn't deserve that. They will kill his family.

"Name," the man whispers, his stinky breath hitting my face.

"Shoot h-"

"No! Wait. I heard it from a group of prisoners during lunchtime, they wanted to end you. You know you have a lot of enemies," I gulp down hard hoping they take my lies.

The other man lifts the gun from Veronica's head and walks to us.

"Tie him up too," he says to the other man and I instinctively take a step back.

"No! Leave him alone!" Shanice yells and she immediately covers her mouth in fear when she realizes what she just did.

They both laugh and my heart races at her unexpected involvement. She shouldn't have done that.

"You are the one who got him a good lawyer and told him to snitch, don't worry, sweetie, you will see him on the other side."

We all gasp in terror as he points the gun towards her and his finger presses on the trigger.

"No!" I yell as I get in front of Shanice and he shoots.

Everyone screams. My eyes widen in terror as the realization that I've been shot hits me. I don't feel anything other than the heaviness of my body. I put my hand on my chest, trying to locate where I've been shot but I feel nothing.

I see Veronica for a split second, trying to shift out of the rope and scream through the duct tape, her tears covering her whole face.

I look down at my bloody hands and I quickly fall to the ground.

Someone rushes to me and it's all chaos, I don't know what is happening anymore as I hear other three gunshots.

No, please, don't kill them. I beg you. They don't deserve this.

Someone puts their hands on my chest, trying to stop the blood flow but I lay my head back, suddenly feeling too tired.

"Don't close your eyes! Please, Derek..."

I don't see or hear anything else.

——

Author's note: This is the end of Gone Girl series. Thanks for following me on this amazing journey :)

Phahaha I'm evil, no. It's not the end. Forgive me Lol. Next chapter in two days probably.