Happy #SlaveMeThursday! This chapter is a bit sad, but kinda awesome. And we're one step closer to Ziam!

Also, thank you all for the support for this fic! Much love

COMMENTS AND VOTES! MWAH!! Xoxo

***

"Zayn! Zayn, mate, get up!"

Zayn groaned, head dark and eyes heavy. He blinked his eyes hard and then opened them just enough to see a blurry head of blonde hair standing over him.

"What..."

"Zayn, you need to get up. Let's get you home."

Zayn shook his head, sights and sounds starting to invade his mind. Blue. Red. Blue again. A high pitched....siren? "What's going on?"

Niall picked Zayn up forcibly and threw an arm around his shoulders. "The police are here now. They'll take care of it."

Police? Why are they here? Zayn turned and reached for Liam, to help him up too, only to grasp thin air. "Liam," Zayn called in a quiet, broken voice.

"I don't know-He may be in there. They'll find him, Zayn."

Find him? Where is he? Why isn't he here with Zayn? "I need to find him."

"Zayn, you can barely walk." Niall dropped him in the passenger seat of his car and squatted down to talk to him. "You did a good thing. The police have been waiting for someone to be brave enough to out Marcus and the stuff he's doing."

"Marcus," Zayn snarled. "He has Liam."

Niall nodded. "I figured. We'll get him back."

Everything from the night's events came flooding back, nearly ripping Zayn's chest open with pain. "I lost him. I lost him! Niall, please," Zayn inhaled a shaky breath as tears fell from his eyes.

Niall pulled his jacket off and hung it over Zayn's shoulders before rubbing them as if Zayn could ever feel warmth again. "We'll find him," Niall assured the tired man. "But when Liam needs you, you'll want to be rested and ready. So let's go back to mine, yeah?"

Zayn didn't have the mind to protest. Instead, he just cried as Niall maneuvered his legs into the car and shut the door. He drove them back down the silent, deadly streets to his seemingly safe home. But what did Zayn really know about safe anymore?

Niall helped him inside and up to the guest room Zayn used when he stayed over. Harry must've gotten wind of something happening because he came around the corner just as Niall was opening the door to Zayn's room.

"Is he okay? Oh my god," Harry followed them in and knelt in front of Zayn when he slumped down on the edge of the bed. "Zayn," Harry tried, hands squeezing his thighs. "Sir, please say something."

Zayn opened his eyes to look down at the one slave that had been a happy constant in Zayn's life. But he wasn't even his own. Zayn could only keep a slave if he didn't belong to him. "Harry," he greeted fondly. "Beautiful, kind, loyal Harry."

Harry smiled, relieved. "Yes, sir."

Zayn pulled Harry closer and hugged him to his chest. "Stay with me," he whispered with his lips in Harry's hair.

Harry's eyes flicked to Niall, who nodded, before hugging Zayn tighter. "Of course."

Harry helped Zayn out of his dirty suit and into some shorts that belonged to Niall. He offered a shower, but Zayn just shook his head and curled the blanket around them tight. "Tomorrow," he breathed. "Tomorrow."

***

"There has to be something. A slave doesn't just disappear!" Niall pressed shaking fingers to his temple. "Liam Payne was there tonight. I know it for a fact. Find him. Find him!"

Niall hung up the phone before launching it across the room. Later he'll be thankful it landed on the sofa, but right now he couldn't see past the bright red behind his lids. "Fuck!" He grabbed a throw pillow off the chair beside him and screamed into it.

"Ni?"

Niall froze then dropped the pillow to see Harry's hunched form across the room with his phone in his hand. He looked to where the library door was now open. Harry was biting his lip, and his eyes actually held fear. Of Niall? Of Zayn? Of the situation?

"Come here, baby," Niall waved him over. Harry wilted in his arms, sagging against his body.

"What's wrong, Daddy?"

Niall pet his hand through Harry's messy bed head. "Honestly? Everything, right now." Harry whimpered into his shoulder so Niall kissed his hair. "You don't have anything to worry about though, sweetheart."

"But Liam..."

"We'll find him," Niall assured. He'd said it so many times over the last couple hours. To Zayn, to himself, and now to Harry. He wasn't sure if it was even an encouragement anymore. He didn't want to think about it. "How's Zayn?" he asked instead.

"Asleep. He knocked out really fast. Must be so tired."

"But you couldn't sleep."

It wasn't a question; Niall knew. Harry never slept when someone he loved was distressed. Said it made him feel like he wasn't doing enough.

"He's crying even in his sleep, Ni," Harry admitted. "I don't know what to do."

"Just hold him, Hazza. You're so good at making me feel better, and I know Zayn loves your hugs."

Harry nodded, allowing Niall to comfort him even though he was meant to be the comforter at the moment. "Are you doing alright?"

"I am...working on it," Niall answered.

"Well, don't work too hard. You always get so tense when you work too hard. Then I have to work harder." Harry pulled back to smirk at Niall. Niall smiled for the first time that night. Harry took it as a small win. "I love you, Daddy."

Niall kissed him softly. "I love you, too, baby."

Harry let his hand trail down Niall's arm as he walked away, fingers tangling for a split moment of relaxation before Harry headed back out the door.

Niall went back to work, getting updates from the police, and using every resource he could think off to find the boy that made Zayn fall.

***

Six a.m. wasn't any prettier than three a.m. that day. It was uglier even. Niall had worn bags under his eyes and his hair was sticking in all different directions from the amount of times he'd pulled on it.

Zayn was still only in Niall's shorts when he came bumbling into Niall's office, but he had wet hair and looked semi rested. He found Niall at his computer, phone between his ear and shoulder.

"I need a full count of people. I'll get as many details as I can, and I want to speak to him as soon as I can." Niall hung up without saying goodbye and stood up to greet Zayn. "Hey, man. How are you feeling?"

"I'm not."

Niall shoulders fell, but he nodded in understanding. "Can we talk?"

"Did you find him?"

Niall looked around his office desk, unable to look at the man himself. "Not yet. That's actually what we should talk about."

Zayn came forward and collapsed into the chair across the desk from Niall. "Is he dead?"

Niall sat again, but put a hand out in front of him. "I don't think so. We haven't seen any evidence of any harm anywhere in the warehouse." Niall sighed and dropped his hand. "But..." Niall took a long breath.

"What is it, Niall?"

The words all came out in a long gasp. "There's also no evidence that Liam was there at all."

"What? He was. He was there. I saw him. I talked to him. I tried-" Zayn inhaled sharply.

"I know. Of course, I know. The police know there were slaves there, but there weren't any records in the logs and books they confiscated last night."

"Because..." realization dawned on Zayn. "Because the deals weren't finished when they threw me out. The police must've showed up before the sales were recorded."

"They arrested Marcus, and most of the attendees, but the slaves and whoever was buying them must've been in a different part of the building."

"They were," Zayn confirmed. "They were further down in some hallway away from the showroom." Zayn was scratching at his shorts. "When Marcus threw me out he took me out another way."

"Where I found you?"

"No," Zayn shook his head. "I'd wandered away by then, before I passed out. It was around the back I think."

"They must've gotten out ahead of the cops." Niall typed something on his laptop. "But we'll find them. All of them. How many were there?"

"I don't know. I got there after the slaves were in separate rooms. I only know where Liam was being held when I found him." Zayn pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. "I found him, and I lost him."

"Do you know anything about who might have him, Zayn?"

Zayn's head popped up and he nodded. "This guy....um, Magee. He said something about being Liam's Master. God I don't-" he shook his head to try and coordinate his thoughts. "He was, he was Liam's former Master. No-current Master. Liam wasn't abandoned."

"What?"

"Liam ran," Zayn exhaled.

"What?" Niall asked again, louder. "But running-"

"I know. But that man, that Master, he beat him. He sent out guys to beat him the night I found him because he tried to run. You should see the scars, Niall. I didn't even notice-God, how did I not know?"

Niall came around and sat in the other chair next the Zayn. "And this Magee, he has Liam?"

"He has to. He was the one buying Liam. He was working with Marcus to get him back. Marcus knew who he was." Zayn's hands were in fists now, pressing into his thighs.

"Okay, we'll tell the police. This is, this is really helpful, Zayn." Niall got up to go call the authorities, but Zayn's hand shot out and caught his wrist.

"Wait. Don't call the police."

Niall turned to Zayn, confusion etched on his face. "Why not? This could be it, Zayn."

"I want to talk to Marcus first."

"I'm working on it," Niall shrugged. "He has to be processed and his lawyer is taking his sweet time getting to the station."

"I need to talk to him, before the police."

Niall laughed, a nervous sound. "Zayn, you can't talk to him before them. They're ready to pounce as soon as his lawyer gets there."

"I need to talk to him," Zayn argued as he stood, looking more determined than he had a minute ago. "If his lawyer gets to him I'll never get Liam back."

Zayn was up and out of Niall's office before Niall could even blink. He went after him, chased him up the stairs and to his room. Zayn was half dressed in the ten seconds Niall spent begging him to slow down. He was buttoning up last night's shirt when Niall grabbed his wrist.

"Zayn, think about this. You can't just go barging into a police station. You could be arrested."

Zayn shook him off, but placed a kiss to Niall's cheek. "I have to find him."

Niall tried to think of something else to say but Zayn was already out the door again. Niall followed him to the stairs, but stopped at the top. Zayn kept going, a mad wind about him.

"I'm borrowing the Rover," he called over his shoulder as he grabbed the keys by the front door. "I'm getting him back." Then Zayn was out the front door and walking around to the garage.

He passed a few house servants on the way, but it's like they could sense his madness and took steps in the other direction. Zayn didn't let up on the pedal all the way to the station. He honked at innocent cars and ran a light or two.

When he got to the police station, the chief was waiting for him right inside the door. "Zayn, how ya been?"

"I figured Niall called," Zayn ignored his greeting. "I need to talk to him, Damon."

"I can't let you do that, Zayn. Why don't we go-"

Zayn walked towards the locked door that led to the interrogation rooms. "Don't pull that shit with me, Damon. Let me in."

Damon put a hand on Zayn's shoulder. "Don't make a scene, Zayn."

Zayn turned and steeled the Chief of Police with a dangerous look. "You owe me so much. Let me in. Just two minutes."

Damon held his gaze, lips in a stern line, for a good minute before sighing and putting in his code for the door.

"Thank you, Damon. Give Sheryl my love."

"Yeah, yeah."

Zayn walked down the hall, looking into each window until he saw the man of the hour. He looked bored mostly, but when Zayn wrenched the door open he jumped. Zayn came and slammed his hands down on the table, making Marcus pull back from him.

"Where the hell is my slave?"