Rule Number 2: Never lose hope.

~~~Anna's POV~~~

This bitch is really starting to annoy me, well she was always annoying but what's bugging me right now is how Ian will beat her one minute and then look after her the next.

You may be wondering who the fuck I am and l will tell you that l'm the best person you will ever meet. Everyone loves me and if they don't then well, they have a problem on their hands.

l used to live here and be friends with Violet up until we were 10 and then l moved away, hoping that my best friend will still write to me and not forget me but just weeks later l stopped receiving any letters, from anyone.

This may seems like a small thing to you that a childhood friend did not write to me but it made me feel excluded and alone and those things did not help being added to my family problems.

I have an older sister named Rose and she is just 10 months older than me. I know a very small difference.

She is back in Brighton while l moved back here on my own when Ian called me and asked me to come back. It's not like l was enjoying living down in Brighton anyway since l was not in our house but in juvie because l was part of an armed robbery but that's only the little things l've done.

So when l got the call l ran away and came here and moved my things into Violet's house since she is now living with Ian but l have a feeling that some shit will go down soon. I shake those thoughts out of my mind and pick up the tray l'm supposed to take to Violet filled with food. I'm not a god damn maid!

I make my way down to the basement but on my way there l pass Ian's office and see the door open and him watching TV, typical man things.

I make my way towards him making sure to sway my hips and put on my most seductive face that work's on everyone. I even expect Ashton to come knocking down my door begging to fuck me but that's in the future and not right now.

Ian still hasn't noticed me but he does when l walk in front of the TV to set down the tray on the desk, making sure to bend down and show him the curve of my butt and know it's worked when l hear a groan behind me.

l turn around and slowly make my way towards the couch that he is sitting on and when l reach him l lean down, showing him my cleavage and then swing my legs onto the couch so l'm straddling him and press my whole body to the length of his.

When l sit down on him l expected to feel his erection but l felt nothing down there which is strange since every man l've met wants me and there are no exceptions.

"What's got you so down baby?" l purr in his ear but he doesn't react, must be because of that bitch Violet. Why does she have this effect on everybody?

"Why are you here and not giving Violet her food?" he asks me in a hard tone and it's hard for me not to show the anger on my face but l manage to keep a straight face.

"Have you seen her, she needs to lose a little bit of weight." l spit out venomously but catch myself too late and the words are out now. I was expecting him to be angry and push me off him but he looks thoughtful and not angry so l let out the breath l was holding.

"You might be right, go and take that food back to the kitchen and just give her an apple for today and a banana for tomorrow." he says and then pushes me off him and goes out of the room to Violet l guess.

l walk back to the kitchen and grab an apple for the whore and once more make the journey to the basement but when l enter, I don't like the sight in front of me. Violet is once again tied to the pole in the middle of the room with her head down but Ian is next to her stroking her hair and the bitch is just there and not reacting to the attention she is getting.

Looks like she doesn't know anything about pleasing a man.

Ian looks up when l come in and l smile in my head that l have that effect, making people stop and stare at me.

"l have some business to take care off so look after Violet and you are not allowed to harm her." he says in a hard tone and within seconds he is out of the room and now l am finally alone with her for the first time since I've been back.

This is going to be fun.

I throw the apple on one of the chairs where she can't reach it and then grab another chair and sit down in front of her but she is still not looking at me and that is increasing my anger by the second.

"Look at me bitch." I hiss at her but she still does not lift her head. I reach forward and grab her bruised chin and lift her head so she is forced to look at my beautiful face.

"You are to look at me when I talk to you." I say harshly and let go of her chin but she doesn't let her head down again.

"So, now that we are re-united after so many years, why don't we catch up on what has been going on in your life? l heard you have a boyfriend." I ask her and look into her eyes and see nothing but hate, making me smile even wider.

"Yes, l do." She answers and l clap acting as if l give a shit.

"Oh goody and l have some pictures to show you from the last couple of days and what he has been doing while you are missing." I say and show her pictures of Ashton kissing other girls and hugging them and one from his latest party where the girls are naked but unfortunately l couldn't find one where he is fucking a girl but these will have to do.

She looks at them but l see no emotion oh her face at all. l was expecting tears and shouting but l'm getting nothing. After she has seen them all she just looks up at me and gives me a smile.

"All of these except one are from before meeting me so these have no importance and before you say anything about the naked girls, he was not around them or kissing them or doing anything. l can tell by his expression that he is sad and not into it and drunk so this little stunt is not going to work you slut." she then spits in my face.

l cannot even begin to describe the anger that is rushing through my veins right now so l take it out on the whore in front of me and start slapping her already bruised face and kicking her black and blue side that may have a couple of broken ribs.

She would once in a while scream or protest but for most of it she keeps her mouth shut and that is good since Ian is not going to hear this and punish me for doing what's right. After about 5 minutes l got tired and the bitch got lucky that l didn't want to break a nail or leave a mark on my flawless skin, so l stopped hitting her.

Just as l was going to start again the bell rang and l knew l had to go and get it since it pleased Ian very much and l'm all about the pleasing. I kick Violet once again and make my way up the stairs and open the door to this cute looking guy that looks like he could be fun.

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~~~Josh's POV~~~

l ring the bell and wait for someone to open it, really wanting it to be Ian so l can use the door and smash his face in but l force those thoughts out of my head. l'm here to distract Ian and any company he has while Ashton and Lea go inside and get my little sis out and the twins are waiting in both cars ready to drive off when or if we come running out.

We are going to get Violet out and maybe to a hospital if she needs it. l hope to god that she is well and not in too bad of a condition or l might just kill someone.

Just when my thoughts were turning violent again the door opened and a tall brunette was standing in front of me, wearing nearly nothing. Her hair was big and looked soft while on her body there was a corset, a pair of black panties, tights and a pair of black heels on her feet.

l have to admit that she is pretty but something seems off about her and the way she purposely sticks her chest out and flutters her eyelashes. l had always liked a girl with a genuine and warm smile and whose arms could take away the bad day and make it all okay.

"What are you doing here handsome?" she asks in a what l'm guessing is a sweet voice. I give her my best fake smile and ask her to take me to Ian but not before she can start swaying her hips and saying innuendos.

"I will take you anywhere you want." she says and sent a wink my way.

l fought hard not to cringe, not because she wasn't attractive but her attitude and personality so far are a massive turn off. You can't blame me that l don't want to jump into bed with the first hoe l see.

She leads me through the house and now l finally understood why l had to call before hand to come here and visit my friend.

All along the halls there are pictures of 2 women, my sister and the love of my life.

In all of the pictures they are either naked or wearing as minimal clothing as possible but that's not the thing that killed me. It was the tears and fear in their eyes as they have their shoulders bent and l have never seen either of them defeated.

l can feel tears rising up in my eyes and know that this is one of those times when you can't stop the tears no matter how hard you try. l quickly say that l'm going to the bathroom and lock the door before she can get to it and assume that l meant something more than l did.

l turn the shower and tap on so there is some noise in here and the eavesdropper outside can't hear the sobs that are taking over my body. l finally let the tears fall after keeping them in for the short journey to the bathroom but to me it felt like a lifetime to hold in the desperate sobs of my heart breaking once more.

l would go through her breaking up with me a thousand times if l just knew that she was alive and well even if she was not with me but it kills me to see what she had to go through and she still managed to smile for me but l wish she would tell me what was going on. l would have done something and not gotten mad at her for not wanting to come to Ian's parties.

l would have shown her l love her even more and never raise my voice at her and never let her leave my arms and make her stay in them so she would be safe and never in the arms of that monster that l used to call my friend.

l would give anything to wake up years ago to when we both went away for a week to celebrate us getting into the same uni together. We never left the bed and were wrapped in each others arms the whole week and only went out to eat.

Her smile would blind me momentarily and l would ask myself over and over again how l got so lucky as to the most amazing girl to fall in love with me.

l continue crying for the time we lost being mad at each other and me for not realizing that time is so fragile and no matter what she or l did then l would love her forever and the small stupid things do not matter at all.

l just want her back next to me.

Even after 2 years l still long for her and l know l give off the impression of sleeping with girls and drinking and the girl bit is not true but drinking takes the pain away even if just for a little while.

l want to kiss her, hold her and love her again. To feel her soft skin and take all of the darkness away so she can once again be the sun she is meant to be. l lay down on the cold bathroom and cry out my heart but then suddenly l stop and a single though enters my head and keeps repeating.

She wouldn't want me to be laying here, she would want me to stand up and be the man she fell in love with.

That though was a ice bucket on my tears and l sat up onto my knees and brushed any stray tears away and turned off all of the water, stood up and looked in the mirror. l have never been more glad to see that my eyes are not red. l am one of those lucky people that their eyes turn red only for while when crying and then they go back to normal.

l spray cold water on my face and force my thoughts to be on saving my little sister because she needs me right now. l wipe my face and open the door to see nobody outside for which l'm glad and make my way towards the noise coming from the living room and enter to see Ian and the girl sitting on the couch and she is trying to seduce him but he is not paying her any attention.

Ian notices me first and stands up to greet me and pull me into a hug that l reluctantly return. The thought that this guy has killed the love of my life and abused my little sis twice, has not left my brain once.

"I haven't seen you in a while buddy, were you avoiding me?" he asks grinning. l return a fake smile.

"Nah, bro just been busy." l tell him and he suddenly has this mischievous look in his eyes that l've seen many times before.

"Fuck many bitches?" he teases and if l was drunk and this was last year then it would have been funny since l would say yes but it was never true. I haven't been with anyone other than Marcy in my whole life, as pathetic as that sounds.

"Nope, just been busy studying and stuff. You know the reason l went to uni." l tease back but my words are true. It's not easy being at uni either knowing that Marcy was supposed to be there with me and one of the reasons l am there is to make her proud and be a man worthy of her love.

"I know, I know. You were always the boring one with the girlfriend and shit." those words make me see red but l hold it in, repeating that if l do this then l get my sis back.

"Do you like Ann? She can make sure you have a good time." he points to the girl on the couch who is now giving me bedroom eyes that do nothing to me.

"I came here to see my buddy not to look at some bitch, no offence. Bros before hoes, you know." l try and make the sentence a joke but l mean none of it.

Ian and the girl laugh and l with them but not at the same thing but at how stupid they are to believe me. l should be an actor if l can convince them like this with such ease. l feel a vibration in my pocket and take out my phone to see the message.

We're inside, get them as far away as possible.

The message was from Ashton and that made me act faster to get Ian and the whore out of the room so l can get out of here faster and see never see this bastard again.

"Want to show the gym? Looks like you've been slacking." l punch him in the arm a little harder than l should and he winces while the bitch gets a dark look in her eye.

Ian leads me out to the garden and across the lawn and into the outside gym and l hope l can distract him long enough so Violet can get out or l don't kill him.

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~~~Ashton's POV~~~

Me and Lea go in through the front door hoping that Josh has taken them out of the main house. Yup, this asshole has more than one building to his house. His parents were rich so he got the inheritance.

I don't pay attention to any of the pictures on the wall since they are probably family photos and that's wasting time and getting to my girl slower.

"Where should we look first?" Lea whispers next to me and it's a pretty good question since l have no idea where to look.

"Let's try and find his office, there may be a clue in there." l tell her and lead forward.

After a couple of minutes of looking through countless rooms we come across one that looks like an office and we walk in and l quickly hack into the computer for it to come up with half a dozen screens of the same room but when you look closer in the darkness you can see my princess in the middle of it tied to a pole.

l look around for a couple more seconds and notice that there are no windows so my first guess is the basement.

l run out of the room and down the stairs right next to the office and open the door to met with the exact scene from the computer but what l didn't notice on the screen was the whole wall filled with pictures of my sister.

l don't look at her pictures often because it's too painful and it just drills in the fact that she is never coming back.

When l look along the degrading pictures of my naked sister l notice that the other half of the wall if filled with the same type of pictures but of Violet. Some of them are from years ago l can tell and some of them match the same condition she is in right now.

That snaps me back to reality and l run towards Violet who is tied to a metal pole in the middle of the room, naked. l try and not look at her body because in her moment of pain it's disrespectful for me to be looking at something she would not want me to.

l take off my jacket and run towards her and cover her while untying her hands and legs. She must have been asleep but when she feels me touching her she wakes up and starts kicking and trying to punch me while l have my hand over her mouth so she doesn't let Ian know that we're here.

"Violet, sweetheart it's me. l'm going to take my hand off but please don't scream or Ian will come down here and then l won't be able to get you out of here." l feel her nod and l remove my hand and she doesn't scream but she does lift her head up and looks me in the eyes.

l try and not show any emotion on my face but inside l'm seething with anger at the bruises on her once flawless skin but that's not the thing that killed me, those scars can heal and fade.

It was the numb look in her eyes and she looks defeated and has none of the light l'm used to seeing in her, is all gone. She has no kind of emotion on her face or in her eyes and it's killing me to see her a shell of the person l fell in love with.

"What did he do to you?" l whisper and gently reach out my hand to touch her face but she moves away as if l would hit her and it hurts me but l can't blame her. l wasn't there when she needed me and she has been put through something no one should through.

"l'm going to show you real love for the rest of my life." l look into her eyes and take a deep breath for what l'm going to say since l know right now she's not going to believe me or it just won't sink in.

"l love you Violet and l won't stop showing you." l say in a confident voice and there is a little bit of shock on her face but then it's gone as soon as l see it. l pick her up and hold her to my chest and gently place my head to her neck and l'm jumping for joy when she does the same to me.

"l'm not worth it." she says but it's so quiet that l barely catch it.

l take a chance and place a small, almost unnoticeable kiss to her temple and whisper that l love her again. l'm going to repeat that until she believes it and even after that.

l turn around and for the first time notice that Lea is in the room but she is too busy ripping the pictures off the wall and stuffing them into a bin and when she finished that she started just trashing the room and if l didn't know Lea, l would be terrified of her right now.

She looks like the devil in a female form and anything that get's in her way will be dealt with and l'm glad that l'm not the one in her way.

"Lea, let's go." l say quietly because Violet has once again fallen asleep in my arms and even though the circumstances are awful, it still feels so right to have her in my arms, even though right now she feels nothing.

Lea turns around and sees Violet asleep in my arms and gives me a sad smile but stops her sprint to get to her and just decides to let her sleep. l did notice Violet's wince when my arm made contact with her sides so l'm going to make the twins take her to the hospital while l deal with Ian.

l come out from the same door we came and run as fast as l can while not waking up Violet and l place her in Blake's arms in the back of his car while Lea gets in the driver's seat and Jace in the passenger seat.

"Take care of her." l warn Blake and notice that he feels and sees the desperation behind my words as he only nods silently and the look in his eyes is reassurance enough that he will take care of her while l can't be next to her.

l have to make sure that Ian never gets to her again.

l nod at them once more and tell them to take her to the hospital and them reluctantly turn around and run back up the long driveway.

l take out my phone and quickly text Josh telling him that Violet is out and ask him where he is. A couple of seconds later he sends me directions to the outside gym.

l follow them outside and walk inside the gym and the first thing l see is lan working out while Josh is standing next to him warming up, smart man l smile to myself. The last things l see is the half naked girl laying down on the bench press with her legs spread wide open and well you can guess that she is not working out.

l look at her face and notice that she is the girl that opened Violet's door the other day and handed me that dreaded note that made me act like an immature idiot, should have known something wasn't right.

Josh sees me first and smiles at me and comes over to hug me.

"Thank you." he tells me quiet enough only for me to hear and l see the relief in his eyes and that he is thankful that we got Violet out of here .

However at the same time l hand him an audio recorder so the whole conversation can be handed over to the police. After that little scene both lan and the girl noticed me and she had a seductive look on her face while lan had a smile on his but there was a hint of panic in his eyes.

"Ashton baby. l knew you'd come back." said the girl and started walking towards me, making me frown and go to stand behind Josh who is glaring at her but she doesn't seem to notice or care.

"l'm not here for you." l tell her in a cold tone and see the surprised look on her face. l guess she really does think she is the best thing for me and irresistible but my girlfriend is so much hotter than she can ever be.

"He's here to see me." lan says from behind her with a smile.

"Aaand he got it right!" l say in an overly excited voice and move towards him but the girl steps in front of me and start to run against me, l push her away.

"Look here...what ever you name is. l'm not here for you and please go and put on some clothes because you are doing nothing but embarrassing yourself here and leave the room because you might not want to see what happens next." l tell her and turn back to face lan.

l hear her huff and her heels walking out of the room but none of us look after her. l know l was a bit harsh but she hasn't left the best impression on anyone. We all walked out of the gym and back into the main house in what l'm guessing is the living room. We sat down silently but me and Josh were glaring at lan but he just leaned back and looked unaffected.

"Not to be rude but why are you here Ashton?" lan asks straight away and l smirk and lean back, copying his sitting position.

"l'm here to talk, lan." l tell him vaguely.

"About what?" l can see that he is getting a little agitated.

"Violet and my sister." l get right to the point and he looks like a ghost when l mention my sister and looks over at Josh looking now panicked and you could see he was dying to run from the room.

"What about her, isn't she missing?" he asks in a nervous voice and l can see Josh tense beside me and l know it must be very hard for him right now.

l don't know how l would cope if this was Violet and it being my sister was bad enough.

"Don't tell me, l know the truth but would you like to tell Josh here why she isn't here with us or married to him?" l tell him in a bitter tone and l feel bad speaking about her like this in front of Josh but l need to get lan to confess and Josh needs the closure. He once again looks at Josh and is visibly speechless and has realised that Josh already knows.

"Yes Ian, would you like to tell me why there are pictures of my girlfriend around your house and you had my sister in the basement?" asks Josh in an angry voice. If l could take a picture of lan's face right now l would frame it and then burn it.

"Well since Violet is now my girlfriend she was down there because she likes it a little rough and the pictured of Marcy are because we were very good friends." says Ian and he looks very pleased with his answer but me and Josh both know that this is a plot to rile us up.

"The truth now asshole." Josh shouts and Ian loses his smirk thinking that for a second he had us fooled.

He then tells us everything and l have to repeat countless times in my head that l have to stay calm and not break his face but l manage to keep my cool knowing that the machine in my pocket is going to put him away for life and l can focus on spending my time with Violet.

After he told us everything, a couple of minutes later the police sirens could be heard outside and it was so much fun watching him pale and try to run but me and Josh both got a good punch in before the cops stormed into the house.

We claimed self-defence of course. We handed in the tape and they took him away and we were free to go.

l took out my phone and texted Blake while Josh has taken the role of driving.

Me: How is she?

Blake: Bro, please get here. She has been taken into surgery and the last thing they told us is that she has fallen into a coma. l'm sorry.