I woke up with a terrible headache and a pain in my arm, unable to remove the sack from my head because my hands were tied. I felt like I was on a car going through a lot of bumps. I was depressed and bitter enough to wish for my death, the least I expect from my kidnapper is to kill me, otherwise I would be very disappointed.

But a furry feline stopped me. If I didn't have a responsibility called Horus, I would let them kill me, so I have to fight. Although I know if I die, both Freya and Tiana would be willing to take care of him because Eric wouldn't in his wildest dreams.

"Whoever you are, let me tell you that I'll kill you as soon as I get the chance." I yelled.

What if they are the Divergents who killed Matt? But it's stupid, I'm not a threat to them, not anymore at least. Or maybe they'll try to recruit me. I'm a Divergent and I'm a leader, I have a lot of power and it's convenient for them to have me. But there's no way they know I'm a Divergent.

The car stopped, the door closed violently, and I heard their footsteps. They opened the trunk and I felt the air fill me. I was in a trunk. Whoever it was grabbed my arms and violently pulled me out of the trunk, followed by a kick. Definitely not here to recruit me. They ripped off the sack with violence, and the brightness flooded me, making me let out a loud groan. My legs were weak, I wouldn't be able to stand easily, something was off. As I gradually got used to the brightness, I noticed I was on a white Dauntless truck, a big armored one. I looked up, noticing how even the dark clouds began to hide the sun, and James' silhouette was in front of me. "Ugh." I gasped. "I swear I had forgotten your existence." I rolled my eyes. "What are we doing here?"

With a furrowed brow, he closed the trunk. "I'm just taking out the trash." he shrugged casually, as if taking out the trash was a common act for him, and we both know that taking out his trash means killing me.

"After all this time?" I asked incredulously. "Your damn grudge is unjustifiable bullshit. What do you hope to achieve by killing me?"

"Shut up!" he shouted, approaching me violently and grabbing me by the neck, lifting me up so that my toes barely touched the ground. "I lost everything because of you. Eric made sure to take everything from me. I have nothing left. My position is shit, they took away all my benefits."

Part of me was relieved to hear it. Eric did do something about it, I thought he hadn't done anything more than beat him up that night. The problem is that he's going to take it out on me for what Eric did.

"You're a fucking piece of shit rapist, what did you expect?" I clenched my jaw trying to breathe as he was cutting off my oxygen.

He pulled a knife from his pocket, running its edge along my cheek, applying pressure and cutting my skin.

"I'll kill you." he admitted. "And I'll enjoy it."

He let me fall to the ground, and I coughed, regretting it immediately. The cut on my cheek hurt a lot. I breathed, recovering my oxygen, and looked at him with disgust.

"No, I'll do it first." I said decisively. "As soon as they realize I'm missing, they'll come looking for me."

"Really?" he scoffed. "You've been missing for two days, remember you're no longer important to Eric."

"Two days!" I shouted. My body trembled at hearing it. That's why my arm hurts and my legs are weak. He must have injected me with something and I slept for so long.

"You drugged me." I whispered, lost in a fixed point. He just scoffed, confirming what I said.

I looked up, we were far from the city, halfway through the desert, and James was about to pick up a pickaxe, apparently to dig a hole in the ground.

I need to get out of here. I've been out for two days. Someone must have noticed I was gone, at least Tiana or Ronald. I hope Horus has eaten.

I looked at my legs, he made sure to take away my weapons and my knife kit, except for my knife, bless Hall and his gift. I watched James struggling to dig the hole, he's an idiot, he can't even kill someone properly.

With my hands tied and my fingers free, I unbuttoned my pants pocket to take out the hunting knife. Without making a sound, I gripped the knife handle and began to cut the rope with effort. My heart was a sea of ​​panic as I watched James digging the ground with the shovel.

I glanced to make sure he was doing it right; I had cut two ropes when suddenly the knife was snatched from me, and I received a blow to the cheek where I had the cut.

"You're not getting out of here, admit it already."he growled. "You're already dead." His boot pressed against my wounded cheek, crushing me into the sand. I let out a scream of pain as his dirty boot caused a burning sensation on my cheek.

"What do you gain from killing me, James?" I asked with difficulty as I tried to free myself from the ropes.

"Nothing but sheer satisfaction." James replied. He stopped pressing his boot against my face. "There will be a search, and I'll be the one to find you dead. It'll be a terrible loss, but that way I can regain my position."

"You'll be a suspect, idiot." I scoffed, trying to sit up but failing as he climbed on top of me, pinning my arms and placing the blade of my hunting knife against my neck.

"Two Dauntless leaders and another Erudite disappeared yesterday. Your death will be reflected in the new attacks." he shrugged.

"You're part of them, aren't you? You helped kill the Erudite and the Abnegation." I asked with difficulty as the knife's edge grazed my neck.

"Of course not, I just took advantage of the situation." he snorted.

"Well, then kill me already if you have the damn guts because seeing your face is torture." I spat.

James smiled. "I can't, not yet. I have to cover my tracks."

Before I could anticipate it, he plunged the knife into my hand, piercing both to bury it and keep them up. I suppressed a scream, trying to contain the pain.

Then he pulled out another knife and tore open my blouse and cut my bra apart. I couldn't move, the pain had me paralyzed, and all I could do was watch as he opened my clothes and drove the knife into my stomach, making several incisions. He was recreating the same scene that was done to Matt, wanting to create the crime scene again to make them think it was the divergents and not him.

My lower lip trembled from the cold, the pain, and the fear, as the clouds rolled in with shades of gray and black. I tried to gather enough strength to ignore the pain and pull out the hunting knife. Several tears escaped, and death breathed down my neck once again. Ironically, both times I was nearly killed were because of Eric.

James stood up from me with the knife in his hand, surveying his handiwork, and tilted his head.

"I think it need more blood. Does 'genocide' spell with a 'c,' right?" James grimaced at the word.

"You disgust me." I spat out with difficulty.

He turned away and approached the truck, apparently, he was going for something, and this was my chance. I lowered my arms, seeing the knife embedded in my hands. I clenched my jaw and pulled my hand forcefully, managing to break the ropes. My hands trembled, especially when I saw my stomach. I turned just as he did and caught him seeing me standing.

I turned just as he did and saw him standing. He shook his head disapprovingly with an axe in hand. He was going to cut my throat. He walked towards me, and I backed away, trying to hide my pain and gripping the hunting knife tightly.

Come on, Grace. You're in Dauntless for a reason. You were first on the leaderboard, and you have superior training to him. You have to beat him.

I sighed and, hands covered in blood, approached him as we began the weapon fight, both trying to avoid getting hurt. I had lost a lot of blood, but I managed to disarm him and throw the axe away while he tackled me. I fell to the ground, but I managed to stab him in the back under his ribs, making him scream and giving me time to get up. I covered my body with the gray jacket, zipping it up.

I sighed, watching him stand up. "Now, I'll kill you." I declared, and I ran towards him at the same time he did.

I kicked him in the stomach near the wound, elbowed him in the shoulder as he lifted me trying to throw me, but I used his strength against him, making him spin and fall.
I groaned, it was the first time I had done those kinds of acrobatics in the air. I looked up, seeing several vans in the distance heading straight for us as James pushed me back to the ground.
He grabbed me by the neck and squeezed tightly, cutting off my oxygen completely. I opened my mouth in surprise, trying to catch my breath as I thrashed my legs desperately and hit him with blood-filled hands, realizing I didn't have much time left as I couldn't feel my fingers. This is my end, and at least it comforts me to know that Dauntless will know it was him.

I hope Freya takes care of Horus.

Truck engines became increasingly present as I slowly lost my vision and resigned myself to live. However, his hands were brutally ripped from my neck, I turned to lie face down and cough, trying to breathe and snap out of my daze. Someone lifted him off me while another took me in their arms and lifted my head to check on my condition. "Grace, hey. Look at me." he took my chin to see him, Ronald. "Where's Shira? Have you seen her?"

I frowned trying to understand the question. "Shira?" I asked, confused with a raspy throat.

Concern exploded in his eyes, he sighed and his lower lip trembled.

"Eric, that's enough!" Max shouted, he was beside us. "He's already dead."

Dazed, I turned my head to where James was. He was on the ground and Eric on top of him, hitting him violently with bloodied hands, he seemed blind with rage, standing up and kicking him violently. "Did you kill him?" Ronald shouted, getting up and leaving me lying on the floor. "He might have Shira and Raymond, he's our only lead and you screwed it up!" he was red with rage.

Eric stood up, looking at James with disgust, he looked up at me, for a fraction of a second his face relaxed and he walked towards Ronald. "He doesn't have them. He was just a sack of shit." he commented with a tense jaw, passing by Ronald and hitting his shoulder to get into the truck. I'm too dizzy to think of a response, I just saw the pool of blood I had and my vision blurred.

**************************************

Waking up to see the blood transfusion they were performing on me relaxed me a bit, or maybe it's because they must have given me anesthesia, but one thing I'm sure of is that I'm alive. I sighed, closing my eyes. "Do you know how lucky you are?" Andrea's sweet voice sounded. "You really don't know how terrible it was to see you in that state, you were about to die, you lost too much blood." I opened my eyes to see Andrea approaching me.

I smiled wearily. "Weeds never die." I whispered with a raspy voice.

"God, your voice. You must be thirsty." she went to the water jugs and took a cardboard cup to fill it. I raised my hand, noticing both of them were bandaged, and took the cardboard cup to take a sip and enjoy the liquid entering my throat.

"Ten stitches in your hands, they'll stay like this, and you'll come for me to change the bandage twice a week, clear?" she smiled, taking the glass again and leaving it on the nightstand.

"Whose blood is it?" I asked in a normal voice.

"Mine." she smiled. "The leader of Amity was very quick and managed to get us your blood type, she seemed worried. You're O - and you're lucky that I am too." She showed me a bruise on her arm.

"Thank you." I smiled. "But you should rest."

"I'm fine, what worries me now is you, and I want you to get better."

"You're quite the nurse." I smiled.

"Yep." she emphasized the 'p' with pride. "I prefer being here, I'd rather be in the infirmary in Dauntless. The one that's open to the public is very uncomfortable, Erudite can't stop looking at you with disdain." she rolled her eyes with a smile.

"You look happy."I remarked.

"I am." she replied.

"I'm glad."I said.

"You should rest, you were unconscious for two days and asleep here for one. Your pulse is still weak."

"And my cat?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." she grimaced.

The door slammed open, Freya entered with Horus in her arms, and I relaxed, smiling. Then my smile faded when Eric entered alongside Max and Ronald, who looked terrible, affected by the disappearance of his wife.

"Just look at how they left you." Freya approached, stroking my hair.

I smiled. "I can't see myself, but I can assure you I ended up badly."

"How are you feeling, Grace?" Max asked.

"The anesthesia is doing its job." I nodded.

"We have several questions for you." he cleared his throat. "We can't understand what James and you have to do with these disappearances. Are you sure there wasn't anyone else with you?"

"Tell us everything, Grace."Ronald spoke.

Eric didn't want to be here, and I didn't want to see him either. He had a slightly furrowed brow, looking at me expressionlessly.

I don't understand his attitude, it frustrates me. One day we're giving each other the cold shoulder, and then I disappear for two days, almost die, and he's the first one to rush to get my attacker off me and beat him to death. Am I not supposed to be the least important, just someone whose virginity was taken?

"I was at the bar, ready to go to my room. I went out and felt someone hit me. I was knocked unconscious, and I didn't know what happened after that. I woke up, James got me out, I was in the trunk of the truck. He said he would kill me because he had nothing to lose with me."

I saw Eric lift his chin, paying attention.

"He told me his plan would be simple: kill me, there would be a search, and he would find my body. It would only be a matter of time before he returned to his previous position." I continued. "That's when I found out there were two Dauntless missing and one Erudite. He admitted he took advantage of the situation and only took care of creating everything as they did with Matt, which is why he wrote that on my stomach. He was covering himself." I sighed. "You arrived in time." I nodded.

Ronald was upset, he exhaled forcefully, turned around, and left the room.

"Why did James say you were responsible for him being demoted?" Max asked.

"Months ago, he invited me for a drink. I was in the early stages of initiation, and he tried to assault me once I was drunk. Eric was there and stopped him." I swallowed hard, struggling to say his name.

Max furrowed his brow, looking at Eric, who turned around and left the infirmary.

Max rolled his eyes at Eric's attitude. He turned to look at me, and in his eyes, there was a sense of "I know there's nothing left between you two."

"I'm glad you're okay, it's a shame we couldn't find the others." Max grimaced. "You don't have anything to worry about anymore. I don't know if you saw it, but James is dead, so rest. You lost a lot of blood and need to recover." Max turned to his beloved, and with a nod from both of them, they turned and left.

Freya sat on her chair beside me with a grimace, looking at me.

"Can I have my cat? I missed him." I asked.

"He might hurt you." she caressed the feline.

"No, he won't. Come on." I pouted.

She left Horus beside me. The cat climbed onto my abdomen to sniff me and meow. I had to suppress the pain and gently set him aside, where he lay down purring.

"What happened in my absence?" I asked.

Andrea was no longer there, she had left, and I didn't know when. My attention turned to my mother.

"Your disappearance caused total chaos." she raised her eyebrows. "First it was Shira and Raymond, then the Erudite, and while we were in a meeting, your friend, the redhead, barged into Max's office. She exclaimed that she didn't know where you were. We watched the recordings and saw how you were beaten and carried away." she stroked my hair. "It was such a horrendous experience, I hope you never have to go through this again." she sighed. "Darling, Eric went crazy, he followed the tracks, interrogated everyone, threatened several people. In these two days, I never saw him because he was outside looking for you."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. That's exactly what I'm talking about, I don't understand him. Eric is an enigma.

"I know you're not together anymore, darling." she continued in a whisper. "And I'm sorry, I feel bad because I know you're the one who's hurt the most. But you had to know what happened, and he was the one who organized the operation, he found you."

"I'm not going to thank him." I raised my eyebrows.

"Don't worry, your friend took care of that and also told him what a disgusting human being he is." she suppressed a smile. "It was quite entertaining, I'll show you the recordings."

"Tiana is very explosive, I truly love her." I laughed just imagining it. "She really would be. Do you know where she is?"

Freya grimaced. "I don't know, I haven't seen her again."

"And when can I leave ?" I asked.

"Two more days, no exceptions." she replied.

I rolled my eyes, it's too long.

**********************************

It's been a day here, Freya took Horus, and I don't have much to do other than stare at the ceiling and sleep. The pills they give me make me drowsy. Andrea is the only one who comes to visit me, I don't know where Tiana is. Hall and Dean came a while ago and expressed how much they missed me. I also thanked Hall for the knife, it saved my life.

Now I was freshly awake, it was 5 in the afternoon, and my feet were numb, so I sat up with great effort, letting my feet touch the cold floor and walked to the bathroom, holding my IV bag in hand.

The dark circles under my eyes were almost impossible to remove, bruises were present, and I had a large cut with at least 12 stitches on my cheek. I felt thinner; hospital food is disgusting, and being missing for two days didn't help my nutrition. I lifted my oversized shirt and saw my torso wrapped in bandages. I sighed; this time I was in bad shape, not even Genesis left me like this.

I left the bathroom, only to encounter Eric. My heart raced on its own, I swallowed hard and forced myself not to look at him for too long, focusing on taking the right steps.

"Did you get lost?" I asked disinterestedly.

I approached the bed and sat down carefully, exhaling with pain, it hurt a lot. I took my cardboard cup ready to drink water, but to my bad luck, it was empty.

I stood up again to get water from the jug next to Eric, who was just staring at me. I raised an eyebrow in frustration.

"Instead of just standing there, do something useful, give me water. It hurts to walk." I spoke, handing him the cup.

Eric lifted his gaze, looking at me expressionlessly. He approached and took the cup to go to the jug while I took the opportunity to sit back down. The painkillers had lost their effect; it was terrible.

It only took seconds for him to stand in front of me, placing the water on the table. He took me by the back and removed the IV bag.

"Hold onto my neck and stay straight." he ordered.

Perplexed and completely embarrassed, I raised my hand to his neck, leaning my elbow on his shoulder while he lifted my legs. I tried my best to stay upright, but even just applying pressure caused me terrible pain. He deposited me on the bed.

Holy crap, how I missed his scent. He brought the IV closer to me, adjusted my pillow, and I couldn't help but raise my gaze and connect it with his, those blue eyes are my damnation.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered as he handed me my glass. I closed my eyes, taking a careful sip to avoid spilling it.

"They're hunting leaders."he murmured, then he stepped back.

"Oh, and you're worried about me?" I half-closed my eyes.

He rolled his eyes. "There's a new protocol, no one is supposed to be alone, and Freya wants to stand guard with you." he sighed. "And since she's busy, it falls on me."

"I'm not a danger to them, and you know it."I rolled my eyes. "They're hunting divergents, and it's not hard to imagine you're next."I raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Is that why you're here? Seeking refuge?"

"I never told you I hunt divergents." he raised an eyebrow.

"Nope." I emphasized the 'p'. "Hey, I have my contacts and influences too."

He sighed in frustration. I love his company, but it hurts more to know he's not here because he wants to be; his rejection hurts more than my physical wounds.

"Look, you don't have to be here. Just go, and if they ask, I'll say you were here."I continued.

He fell silent, raising an eyebrow and maintaining a straight and serious demeanor.

"What? Don't you want me by your side anymore?" he smiled. "I remember you used to."

"I'm waiting for someone." I lied blatantly. "It was fun while it lasted, but..." I grimaced. "Haven't you heard the saying 'whoever leaves the villa loses their chair'? Well, someone else is sitting in it now."

Eric raised an eyebrow with amusement; he knew I was lying, but he enjoyed my deception.

"Really? And who is it?" he asked. "I didn't see anyone else during your search." he crossed his arms.

Damn, think of a name.

At that moment, the door opened.

"Am I interrupting?" Raphael asked, holding a rose.

Damn luck is on my side.

I smiled, turning to Eric. "Raphael." I addressed him. "You're late. Come in."

Raphael entered, observing the situation. Eric's smile vanished as my favorite tattoo artist approached me and kissed my forehead, leaving me a rose.

Bless Raphael.

I only heard the door slam shut violently, and Eric was no longer there.

"What happened here?" the dark-haired man asked.

I smiled. "You saved my damn skin, thank you."