- Wednesday, December 6th -

"Are you home?" Oliver still sounds a bit grumpy after he stormed off because Noah was bugging him. After he left, I ended up putting together Jeff's profile with the help of Noah, but he's the most hyperactive, unfocused person I have ever met. I got kind of annoyed by it after an hour and went to look for Oliver, failing in finding him in that goddamn villa.

I ended up having to call Nathan to pick me up, who took Stan along with him as to not be out on his own.

We're all on edge right now, and it's causing more fights among us every day. Nathan is getting frustrated to have to pick me up every time I scared someone away. Stan is grumpy because Nathan keeps dragging his ass along to pick me up, Oliver and I weren't great friends to begin with, but ever since I laughed because of Noah's teasing our contact reached an ultimate low.

We still have contact, but only whenever it's about Finnley.

To make things worse, for the first time in years, there has been a snow blizzard and half the country is experiencing trouble due to a huge pack of unexpected snow. Back when I was young, I loved snow. Finnley, Charlie and I would always go out and build a snowman, create a slippery path by sliding back and forth over the same spot; always picking a spot that caused complaints because people were slipping the next day.

Right now, I hate the snow, since I don't know if Finnley is in the same sort of housing-situation as we had been the first time. That would mean it's freaking cold in there and I wish I would be with him to keep him at least a bit warm.

Besides, ever since I got trapped in that Jacuzzi, getting out severely hypothermic, I already feel cold in general, let alone when the temperature decided to drop below freezing point.

And then Oliver surprised me by calling me, for the first time since he left me by myself in his home on Friday.

"I'm home, why?" I mutter, still shuddering because I'm cold, even though I wrapped myself in two blankets and turned on the heater.

"I need to show you something." He sounds serious. "I'm on my way, but then I figured I didn't know if you'd be home..." He sighs deeply. "I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Eeh, okay." I frown, staring at Nathan, who is visible through the door of the office. "See you in a minute, I guess."

"Yeah, see ya soon." He hung up, while I'm taking in the living room. It's a bit of a mess, since neither Nathen, nor me, was in the mood to clean up for the past couple of days.

"Nate? Oliver is dropping by in a minute. Said he needed to show me something."

"Shouldn't you clean up a bit first?" He calls back, soon after showing up in the living room. "It's a bit messy."

"Yeah, but he's here any minute and I didn't know he was coming over."

"Then you should've told him to come by later."

"He called while on his way. Was I supposed to send him back?"

"I guess not." Nathan sighs deeply, starting to fold the laundry that we hung up in the living room by the lack of space since we can't put it outside right now. "I'm heading out to Stan's tonight. You think you'll be fine, staying at home by yourself?"

"Yeah, I might invite Sam if I don't feel like being on my own. But as long as I lock the doors and you don't let anyone borrow your keys to surprise me again..."

Nathan chuckles and shrugs with a smirk on his face. "I was agreeing with Oliver that you just needed to be dragged out of bed. I thought he would be the right person and since he came up with the idea to just go and pick you up..."

"Yeah, be happy I didn't get a heart attack, I think my heart skipped a couple of beats when I heard the door close."

"Sorry boo." He laughs a throaty laugh, before he returns to folding laundry. "Are you still cold by the way?"

"Nah, chilly." I shrug, hugging the blankets closer to my body. "think I'm gonna put on another sweater."

"I have never met someone that is feeling that cold while wearing two sweaters, wrapped in blankets, with the heater up to 24 degrees."

"Me neither, but I feel cold ever since Jeff decided to trap me."

"I know, you'll be back to normal soon enough."

The doorbell rings and we share a look, both waiting for the other to go and open the door.

"It's your visitor."

"Right." I roll my eyes, get up and walk towards the front door with the blankets still around me. I watch through the peephole to make sure it's really Oliver.

He's in front of the door, impatiently tapping his foot, carrying a bag that probably holds his laptop.

"Hey, come on in." I frown while he passes me, because he hardly greets me. "Are you still pissed because of Friday?"

"I still regret missing Noah's face with that stapler." His voice is flat, his eyes are cold. Overall, he seems annoyed.

"I was kinda trying to figure out if you're still annoyed by me."

"I didn't really appreciate you picking his side." He walks into the living room, not even sparing the mess a second glance, putting his bag on the dinner table. "I do everything I can to help you, to settle you nerves and to find Finn..."

"I know, Oliver." I take in a deep breath. "And I really appreciate it. But you don't really let me help and Noah at least gave me something to do."

"Well, Noah was right in one thing..." Oliver rolls his eyes, like it's the worst thing ever to admit Noah was right in something. "Every piece of information is useful in some way and the profile seemed more complete than I expected it to be."

"Did it help you to find new information?"

"Not really, but I was keeping an eye out for any activity coming from the same nickname on that website..." He drawls, seemingly awkward. "And I was just checking out again, to see if there had been any activity."

"And you found something?" My eyes widen a bit, I feel a little hopeful he found something that is going to help us to find Finnley.

"That's why I am here, without notifying you I was coming. You need to see this." He opens his laptop, starting up the usual programs and the anonymous browser that I start to consider normal just because I've seen him use it so many times in the past two weeks.

I silently wait for him to open whatever he's planning to show me. I don't want to act impatient, even though he always acts like that whenever he's waiting for me. I better not push my luck with him, now that I know he's capable of throwing staplers at his own brother. Let alone what he's capable of doing to me whenever I mess with him.

"Promise me you won't freak out." Oliver sighs again, causing me to notice he seems stressed and tired.

"I promise I won't freak out." I promise while frowning at him.

He turns the laptop towards me, showing me a picture with none other than me on it.

By the looks of what I'm wearing, it was taken on Saturday. I can't help but feeling at least a bit scared, because Jeff took a picture of me without me noticing him being present at all.

I thought I always scanned my surroundings and paid attention to the details. But I guess I don't.

The worst part? It's a picture with some basic information about me, and there's a bidding going on. I slump down on the chair, feeling confused as to why he would open a bidding for me, while I'm still safe and sound. I know he probably doesn't realize Oliver is tracking his activity with the little information he has about Jeff. But what happens if someone bids an amount that he agrees to? Is he going to come after me whenever he is happy about the highest bid?

Oliver looks at me worried. "You're not on here alone, Cris." He scrolls, showing pictures of Jason, Liam and Alex too.

"What's this supposed to mean?" I mutter shocked. "We're all still safe, right?"

"I think he's just curious who's going to earn him the most money." Oliver looks back as soon as Nathan stands behind him, frowning at the screen.

"Did you send it to the cops?"

"Yeah, as soon as I saw the adds, I send all of the info to them. But I felt like I needed to warn you guys. Right now, the highest bid is for Alex and I already called Sam to make sure Alex is extra careful."

"Can you track the activity to a certain location?" I ask curiously. "You said you wished you knew when he sold Finn, because you could've tracked the activity."

"I can't track it to a certain location, but I can see who is bidding. Maybe it gets us clues about the buyers and who knows? Maybe it's the same that took Finn."

"But you can't know where they are."

"Nope. But I hope the cops can do more with the information. I'm keeping a low profile, since I'm active on the sites that I send to the cops. I don't want them to track any of this back to me."

"But at least you can follow these ads, right?"

"Yes." He nods, turning towards Nathan. "And I suggest for you and Stan to pay close attention to your surroundings. Emma warned you guys would become a target, so he might be planning to do the same with you guys."

- Saturday, December 9th -

It didn't take the cops long to stop by, checking in on all of us, one by one. They came by to make sure we're still careful, they asked a couple of questions about our daily lives to see if there are certain places in which we all seem to come. They are searching for links and are trying to figure out how on earth Jeff is able to follow us without being noticed by anyone.

And the answer to that question might be scarier than the fact he posted ads about us. Because Oliver saved the pictures used in the ads and after figuring out when it had to be taken, using our information about the location we think it is taken, the time we were there on what specific day, more or less proves that Jeff is probably not alone in this. He simply couldn't have taken the picture he took from Alex, and the one from me, without time traveling.

Alex' picture is from when he went out with his parents to the supermarket on Saturday, my picture is taken in the half hour I spend watching the soccer game of the team I supposed to be a part of. I left after half an hour because it was too cold to stay out any longer and I was getting a headache.

The pictures have been taken at practically the same time.

Long story short, either someone in my near surroundings, or in Alex' surroundings, is helping Jeff. Which would also explain the fact I haven't seen him, even though I scanned every face that was supporting the team.

Off course, since the cops showed us the pictures and wrote down the locations and the time it had to be taken, they concluded the same thing.

And just like the first time, I feel like I can't trust a lot of people. The first time, I suspected Nathan, this time I'm starting to have trouble to trust anyone besides Alex, Nathan, Stan, Liam, Jason and Oliver. The latter, simply because he seems to search the dark web 24/7, trying to find any useful information that could lead to Finnley's location.

He seems obsessed by it.

"Maybe you should take a short break." I frown, staring at Oliver, after Noah led me to the office. I found Oliver behind his computer and by the looks of it, he has been behind it for a while now. Cans of Red Bull are littering the desk, there's two plates of left-over food next to him. There's also no reaction from his side.

I notice he's wearing the famous green sweater that Nathan gave me last time Finnley was missing, because Finnley liked to wear it. Finnley stole it from me somewhere in the three weeks before he went missing this time, but I let him take it because he looks hella cute in it.

And now Oliver is wearing it.

"You do realize the sweater you're wearing is kind of a slut, huh?" I try to lighten the mood, and it is at least causing Oliver to turn around with a confused look on his face. "It belonged to Nathan, who gave it to me because I kinda realized Finn looked like a god whenever he was wearing it and I wanted to have it. And Finn stole it back last month," I drawl, sliding down in the desk chair next to Oliver.

Oliver first frowns, but then he chuckles, looking down at the sweater. "Slutty sweaters fit me, believe me."

That causes me to frown in return, wondering what he's talking about. Is he referring to himself as a slut? "Because...?"I cock my head, sending him a curious look. "You are one?"

"Was." He smiles, a bit forced, but it's a smile. "I'm not ashamed because seventeen-year-old me liked to sleep around."

"I can't imagine you sleeping around."

"Can you imagine me being a bullied outcast?" He smirks again.

"No, I kind of figured you're one of those popular type of guys."

"Still, it's a fitting description of seventeen-year-old Oliver. Or even still, to be honest. I have one real friend outside of this family."

"One?" My frown increases.

"Finn." He chuckles. "Finn is my friend."

"I'm not gonna mention all the people you hang out with when going out, because I don't know what's your relationship with them. But I'm your friend too," I tell him calmly. "I know you don't really like me, but I consider you as my friend."

"You do?" He genuinely seems surprised. "I thought you think of me as a jerk."

"Yeah, but you're nice, in your own weird way." I shrug and chuckle. "I don't think I ever really hated you. I hated the fact you seemed to stand in between me and Finn. I was simply jealous..."

"Wow." He laughs sincerely. "That's really grown-up of you to admit that it was jealousy." Then he smiles at me. "Thanks, though."

"For what? Being nice?"

"Telling me I have another friend."

"Well, you do."

"God, this is cheesy..." Oliver mutters. "It's really unlike me to even tell you something like that. But now I'm glad I did."

"To tell me what? That you're not the popular guy I thought you were?"

"To show any of the things I dislike about my life." He sighs deeply. "I hate being pitied on."

"I get that." I nod, swinging the chair from left to right a bit. We both look down awkwardly. "But it makes you... human?" I chuckle over my choice of words and soon Oliver smiles again.

"Thanks, Cris. Means a lot to hear you say these things."

"You're welcome." I smile back at him, realizing this was probably the first actual conversation I had with him. It was probably also the first conversation in which he didn't insult me in any way. "How about we go out for some food, so that you get away from the computer for a while. Take a step back, reorganize your thoughts and we'll restart our search fresh in the morning."

He opens his mouth to respond, but then he changes his mind, closing it back again, before simply smiling at me. "Sounds good to me." He eventually answers, getting up from his seat. "Let's eat sushi. I haven't eaten it in weeks."