"Thank you for a great lunch," Candice said sincerely and Eric blushed. He waved his hand as though it was no big deal. The lunch had been lovely, full of light-hearted conversation, good food, and good company. Candice had almost forgotten what had led her here. It could have been a lovely first date.

"What next?" Eric asked. They had asked all the questions they could. Neither of which were useful. With no further leads, there wasn't much Candice could do.

"Try to get to White Falls?" she said uncertainly. It wasn't like she actually had anywhere to go, other than home or college. The clause was weird, but it all won't be a problem when she reaches White Falls. Her family had security, and Nelson— she could call Nelson. If he'd sent the security guards down to get her, then there won't be a problem.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Eric asked. They stood up and made their way towards the door.

"I'm going to find a pay phone and call my butler," Candice started, pulling the door open. "I'll get him to send some security guys down to meet me. I should have done that ages ago—"

Candice crashed into someone outside the door hard, but whoever it was steadied her before she fell backward. Annoyed but grateful, she looked up, ready to give this person a piece of her mind when she felt something cold against the exposed skin on her jeans.

"Are you okay?" the man asked. Candace gulped and felt Eric came to a halt behind her. Her mind went blank as the reality sank in. The man she crashed into, the one who was holding her arm, was also pointing a gun at her.

"Don't scream or try to get away, otherwise I'll shoot you," the man whispered before straightening up. Candice's heart was beating wildly. They found her.

"Are you okay?" Eric asked, not suspecting a thing. Her capturer moved backward a step so they were out of the restaurant, and the gun was pressed tighter against her bare flesh.

"Candice?" Eric asked. Candice wanted desperately to look back, to warn him, but all she could think of was her parent's death. By gunshot.

"The sound of body clashing and light struggle sounded behind her, and Candice was taken by the arm down the street towards a back alley. She wanted to scream for help, but everything seemed distant like she was having an out of body experience.

"Get on," the man shoved her up the back of a van. A pair of hands reached for her in the dark and someone put a cover over her head. She yelped as someone yanked her wrists, binding them roughly, causing her to tumble over. Eric's voice sounded behind her and she felt both guilty and relieved. At least he was still with her.

"Stay low," a male voice commanded. She heard the people get off the back of the van and the door slammed. A whimper escaped her mouth and she tried to move into a seated position. With her wrists bounded, it wasn't possible.

"Candice?" Eric's voice sounded muffled. "Are you okay?"

She was decidedly not okay, but what else could she say? "Yeah," she answered, finally finding her voice. "I—I think so."

The floor beneath them reverberated as the engine started, and Candice crouched down as the car backed out of the street. It didn't stop her from sliding forward and something crashed into her. Probably Eric.

"What do you think they'd do?" Candice asked. She wanted to sound brave, but it was pretty obvious that she was scared out of her mind. She had gotten Eric into this mess, too. Gosh, what had she done?

"It's going to be okay," Eric tried to reassure her, but the van made a sharp turn which thrust them against the side of the car. Candice felt a sharp pain in her lower back as it connected with something, which worsened as Eric was thrown at her.

"We should stay in the corner," Eric suggested, but neither of them could move very well with their face covered and wrist bound. The fabric of the cover was starting to make her hair and face itch, and Candice wanted more than ever to unwind the clock back to the cute Italian restaurant.

"I'm sorry that you got caught up in this," Candice started, a sense of helplessness overwhelmed her. No one knew she was here, her parents were dead and she was going to get this cute boy who helped her dead, too. "I'll get you out of this."

"Don't say that we'll be okay," Eric whispered, but it was clear he didn't believe that, either. Candice replayed the scenes from the restaurant in her heads, wishing she'd have done something, anything, instead of freeze up. If she had, then neither of them would be here.

Neither of them spoke for the rest of the ride, though it was all Candice could do to hold on and not got tumbled around in the van. When the car finally stopped, she had no idea if they had driven for half an hour, an hour, or a couple of hours. Her entire body was exhausted.

"Get up," the same voice that told them to stay down command. Candice tried but stumbled immediately as her head spun. A pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her down. Candice hissed in pain as her knees scraped against the rough pebbles, but she was hoisted to her feet.

Their kidnappers didn't speak to them as they were pushed and shoved in between them. They walked for a few minutes, and judging from the insect noise and lack of light penetrating the head cover, they were somewhere rural.

The ground beneath her shifted from gravel and grass to concrete, and before long Candice was shoved on a chair. Her wrists were unbounded then rebounded behind the chair, and her legs were tied, too. Candice's heart was in her throat as they manhandled her, but at least no one had tried anything funny.

Someone took off her head cover and Candice sucked in a deep breath, though it immediately turned into a sneeze. She was in the middle of an empty warehouse, and there were five masked men surrounding her. Two of them were right next to her, another one next to Eric, who still had his head covered.

"Ouch," Candice yelped as one of the guys next to her pulled her hair and a few strands came away. He then put her hair in a clear ziplock bag and stepped away.

"Candice White," one of the man cooed as Candice's eyes watered from having her hair pulled. She spent big dollars caring for them! "We don't want to hurt you. Just sign this paper and we'll let you go."

The man on her other side took out a sheet of paper and Candice didn't even need to read it to know what it was. They wanted to get her inheritance. Fat chance.

"Perhaps we can come to an agreement?" Candice found herself saying instead. The man in charge didn't make any objection, so she carried on, "the police would be looking for me, and you'll be caught. Why don't I give you ten grand and we forget this ever happened?"

The room fell silent. The men around Candice and Eric looked at the two that were standing on the other end. They conversed lowly and the one who had yet to spoke yet stepped forward.

"Do you have the money now?" he asked. His voice was a low rumble. Candice gulped. She had not a cent.

"I can give it to you as soon as I inherit it all," Candice said but the man already turned around, disinterested.

"Why would I settle for ten grand later if I can have it all?" he asked, throwing his hands up. The other men roared in agreement and Candice flinched. Were they really capable of killing her and Eric? The two of them would definitely be missed in UCLA by now, but would the police be looking for them? She really wished she had said something to Detective Wallace now.

The two men in charge exited the room and the three circled around Eric. Candice was both relieved and scared as one of the went to wheel a trolley of things towards them. On it was bats, tongs, and nails. Surely...

Eric's head cover was finally taken off, he looked relieved for a second before he spotted the torture devices next to him. Candice cringed as Eric looked towards her in panic, only to realized she wasn't receiving the same treatment. This finally snapped Candice into action.

"I don't know this guy, why don't you just let him go and we can talk about this," Candice scrambled to say, unsure of how to make this situation right. She was selfish, sure, but not selfish enough to watch someone gets tortured because of her.

When the three men paid her no heed, Candice started to panic. How could she stop them without signing the paper that would take away her entire family legacy?

"If you hurt him, I won't sign it. Just get your boss back and I'll give you all a grand when all this is said and done," Candice blurted. The three men stopped in their tracks, one of them holding a bat. They turned towards Candice slowly and she breathed a sigh of relieve.

"One grand each?" one of them asked, eyeing the other two warily. They listened to my bribe, which means they weren't a solid group with the other two. Which meant they could be brought.

"Each," Candice nodded confidently, trying to look as much like a rich girl as she could. "And if you can get us out, it'd be ten grand each."

The three of them shared another look, and Candice cast a wary glance towards the door the two men disappeared to. "Hurry up, the offer doesn't last forever. Only to the ones who unties us."

With that, one of the men lurched forward and started undoing the bound around Candice's wrists. Another guy beat the third to Eric and Candice winced as the rough rope rubbed against her skin. That was going to bruise.

Candice's heart was beating fast when the man moved onto undoing the ties on her legs. She had every intention to honor her promise, providing that they could get out of here. That seemed like a big if, but it was getting closer to becoming true.

"What are you doing?"

The men had returned and they barked at their accomplices, who were letting go of their hostages. Candice wiggled and the third guy ran towards the two. Then all hell broke loose.

From nowhere, a gunshot sounded and Candice shriek. The man who was untying her stopped but Candice continued to pull at the ropes with her free hand. She could hear them shouting when another gunshot sounded. She screamed again and started to tug her feet out instead.

She was so concentrated at riding herself of her binds that she didn't saw the head kidnapper charging towards her. The man toppled her chair, sending Candice crashing to the ground with her right leg still tied to the chair. Eric screamed beside her, receiving no attention as he wasn't a person of interest. Luckily for him, his hands were untied and he was rapidly freeing himself.

"You, stop!" the other head kidnapper shouted at Eric, finally realizing that he would also be a problem should he free himself. He pointed his gun at him, identifying as the shooter and the three guy who Candice managed bribe were already nowhere in sight, save for a trail of blood.

Candice was hoisted upright again along with the chair and the man slapped her across the face, hard. Candice felt like her head was spinning and her chin stung, and she tasted blood. Eric was shouting something at her but she couldn't hear. The man grabbed her shoulder and shook her violently.

"Listen, you spoiled bitch. Either you sign this now or we are going to beat you until you do. Then we are going to sell you as a whore," he threatened her. Candice started shaking as the gravity of the situation sank in. That could very well be her future...

"Leave her alone," Eric shouted. Candice's heart warm but it quickly sank as the other guy gave him a hearty bunch. She could see blood on his lips and she gasped. The man who'd hit her grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. But all she could make up from his masked face was that he had brown eyes and probably a beard.

"Sign the paper," he ordered, his breath stunk of garlic and cigarette. He shoved her face left and put a pen and paper on her laps. Candice closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment to take a deep breath. It's okay, you can get through this.

"You have 10 seconds," the man grunted. Candice had no idea what to do. And the catch was" she didn't think they'd let her go even if she had signed.

"3, 2..." the man shouted, but before he reached the end, a cluttering sound appeared and white mist started filling the room. For once, Candice didn't feel immobilized with fear. She reached down to untie herself and jolted in shock when a figure appeared next to her.

"I'm here to help," a vaguely male voice said. He cut through the rope and pulled Candice up, half dragging her back away from the two kidnappers. Candice's mind was whirling; the man was dressed in head-to-toe armor, not unlike those you'd see on police. Were they really here to rescue her? Had someone called the cops?

"Eric!" she whispered furiously as she remembered he was tied up, too. She heard coughing and saw Eric emerged, held by another black-clad man. She reached for his hand and Eric took. The two armored man didn't make a move to stop them and that felt like a good sign.

They joined up with more men and they led the duo to an exit and an open field greeted Candice. There were two vans not far from them, guarded by more men, and one of the men gestured for them to get on.

"Who are you?" Candice asked; this was likely their only ride out, but what if it pushed them into a worse position?

"We are just following orders to get you out, ma'am," he answered, his posture unchanging as he waited for Candice to move. She looked back at Eric and he gave her a grave nod. He didn't like it too, but this van out was their best chance.

Candice and Eric were ushered into the back seat of the first van. The door closed immediately, leaving them inside. Candice's heart was pumping so fast that she was scared of passing out. Two men got in at the front and before long, they were speeding away from the warehouse.

"Where are you taking us?" Candice asked. The men ignored her, and a divider started to go up between the driver's section and the back seat. Candice started to protest, but it closed with a hard click.

"It's going to be okay," Eric said soothingly. Candice wanted to feel reassured, but she didn't. Things had taken a turn for the worst so quickly that she didn't harbor her sense of positivity anymore. The sting on her face was a sharp reminder.

A hissing noise sounded and Candice watched in horror as a white gas emerged from the air conditioning vents. She only had time to share a look with Eric before a wave of tiredness hit her. She reached forward to pound on the divider, but her fists slacked and her body slumped down. Her vision started to swim and the last thing she remembered was Eric pulling her back and the two of them collapsing on the chair.

Then the world went black.

-----------------------------------

Hope y'all didn't think Candice could evade her pursuers forever! I really need to get out of my head and write the story from the unknown prospective :P which isn't that easy it turns out!