Annie had been left waiting in a dining hall by Grace. The dining hall a long table running down the middle, the high celing was painted in gold and an archway sparkled as light bounced off. Annie stood still as she waited, almost afraid to move. Annie's dress made her feel wildly uncomfortable. Annie realised the dress was one size too small, something Annie hoped wasn't done on purpose but judging by the large wardrob that seemed to be filled with clothes tha fit her, Annie suspected this was a dig. A show of power and control. Annie knew not to show her discomfort. She wouldn't let Xavier feel that he had won. It was minutes until Xavier showed himself. The minutes dragged on, and Annie could swear the material clung harder to her with every passing second. The dress itself was punishing her. Xavier appeared with a smug smile that Annie immediately wanted to smack off his face. He had taken away her freedom and she was sure countless other's freedom and most probably their lives,
Cindy still hadn't gotten over Alexander deciding to let Annie go. While Cindy loved that he seemed to have a conscience now, she wondered why Alexander wouldn't at least warn her. Cindy and Alexander had spent the last three days arguing but Cindy was done now. Now Annie had her freedom she would go and talk to Annie, they could have a normal friendship. Cindy had multiple normal friendships that were not involved in the family business she had been dragged into. Cindy knew her friendship with Annie would need to be different, Cindy and Annie may have made up while Annie was held captive, however that was while Annie was held captive by Cindy's cousin. There was always a hint of fear around Annie, she had never seemed to relax. Cindy hoped that on the outside, now Annie finally could relax. Plus Cindy wanted to be able to keep Annie safe, seeing how innocent she still was it made Cindy want to protect Annie even more. Cindy wasn't the only one upset with Alexander's decison to just
Chris and Cindy stare at Rebecca in utter shock as she falls to the floor. "What did you do?" Cindy demands, moving over to help the woman that lay only partically concious on Alexander's office floor. "Nothing!" Chris defends, stepping backwards with his hands up in surrender. Cindy brushes him off, choosing instead to tend to Rebecca. Chris turned to Alexander, his eyes once again blazing. "This is what you are doing to innocent people Alexander, if you know where Annie is bring her back. If you don't, please, help us find her." Chris' voice is strong, but his plea is not unnoticed. Cindy gently lifts her head to look up at him. "You really think this is because of Annie's disapperance?" Cindy asks, gesturing to Rebecca who still lay helplessly at her feet. Cindy had never experianced anything like a loved one gone missing. Friends killed in the name of Alexander or her uncle, sure. She had felt worried for her friends or family members when a mission took longer than it should ha
Annie woke up in her new room, she had become acustomed to staring at walls over the past months. Each room a new prison for her to be kept in. Annie felt like a caged animal when she was with Alexander. She could always tells she was a captive, not an equal like Cindy who could come and go as they pleased. Now though, Annie knew what true imprisonment felt like. Stuck in a room, waiting to care to the wims of her new catpture.Xavier is a cruel man, Annie could tell, his heart was black all the way through. He has left no room for Annie to escape, there was no route for Annie to take, no window to climb from, no door to go through, even if she had gotten out there was no where for her to go. No safe haven anywhere in sight so for the time being Annie decided she would stay put, play along for as long as possible until finally Xavier would slip up, perhapse give her too much freedom one day and she could finally find a way out and back to her life that was hopefully waiting for her. A
Jason was on edge, it had been only twenty four hours since he met with Alexander and he knew that his time was running out. He wasn't sure his act had been enough to convince Alexander that he was innocent, he knew taking Annie was a big risk, the biggest he had taken. It was for sure going to get him caught. Xavier hasn't been answering his calls, he hoped that his message had gotten read and somebody would be meeting him here, the usual place for their information swaps. Jason needed to run, and soon. Perhapse if things had been different, than Jason could've told him about everything before he had gotten this deep. He was in too far to turn back now, much like the night Jason took Annie, there was no turning back for him now. "What do you want? Do you have anything for me?" Xavier asked, appearing from behind a dark corner. It was one of the rare times he had come himself. Usually he would send someone in his place. "I wasn't expecting results, expecially after your recent betray
Annie had been locked in the room alone forr hours, she had watched the sunset long ago, she assumed the sunrise was fast approaching. Her stomach ached, she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Xavier had been true to his word, keeping her locked in the room with no food brought to her. Annie didn't consider herself starved, but her grumbling stomach would disagree. Xavier had made her wait at least an hour for him, she couldn't help but think he wanted this. She was only glad she hadn't been caught too far from the hall she had been left in, she couldn't imagine the consiquences for attempting to escape. Previously she had been confident in her plan of gaining his trust, now she wondered if that would even be possible. What he would do to her if he ever found out Annie couldn't imagine. Facing Xavier's wrath was not something Annie ever wanted to do, her hopes of ever being free were quickly diminishing. Annie lay silently on her pillow, the bed a hard lump bellow her, the windo
Rebecca woke up after almost twelve straight hours of sleep, it had been a long time since she had managed to fall asleep, her body had clearly needed to regenerate. The last month of Rebecca's life had been spent searching for Annie, they had been best friends. The police hadn't wanted anythin to do with the case, claiming she was an adult or she would come home when she was ready. Rebecca knew Annie better than that, she knew Annie was unhappy with her job, her parents stressed her out and seeing Jack, her brother, was a shock to her that day but nothing would've made her run away. Annie had being doing a snack run for them both, Rebecca wished she could go back and do that day all over again. She wouldn't let Annie go, ever again, at the very least Rebecca would insist Annie drove rather than watched. Heignsight is always 20/20. This was the first time Rebecca had ever expeciaced anything like this. She hated going to work and wasting those precious hours that could be used searchi
Alexander's body shook in anger, he couldn't believe how nieve he had been, the warning signs were obvious now. Jason at times would seem so nervous around him, dispappear for a few hours with no explination, it was obvious now, someone knew more than they should. None of the lower ranks could have gotten all the information that his new rivals had. "What are we going to do with him, Boss?" Chris asked, they stood together outside of Jason's new cell. The cell was much smaller than the one they had kept Annie in. Jason was tied to a chair, waiting for Alexander to decide what to do with him. "We're going to find out who he's been reporting to, then kill him." Alexander's voice was cold and unwavering. "Our top priority is finding out who has Annie.""We've been questioning him for hours, he won't talk." Chris informed Alexander as if he didn't know. "I know!" Alexander yelled, slamming his fist against the wall in front of him. "He might talk to me," Mason almost whispered, his vo
Annie woke up alone in her bed, just as she had fallen asleep. Last night as Annie and Alexander went their separate ways Annie couldn’t help but wish they had been going to bed together. She could only imagine how wonderful it would be to wake up next to him, but she knew that would send him the wrong message. Annie wasn’t going to jump into this relationship, she wanted them to last and be a happy couple. She wanted others to look at Annie and Alexander and be jealous, or think that that’s what they aspire to be with their partners. Annie had always dreamed of being apart of an ‘it’ couple and soon she hopefully would be, she knew that would only happen with time. Annie rolled over in her bed and sent a text to all her friends. The time difference meant it was unlikely that anybody would be up, but she hoped they’d reply when they woke up. She did miss her friends from back home, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t like the break this allowed her to have. She liked that i
Alexander stood breathless as a nervous Annie walked down the stairs. Alexander had only been a few minutes before Annie, but he was glad he got to see her like this. Part of him waished he had suggested that they had stayed in tonight rather than go out, another larger part of him was glad he got to show Annie off. He was amazed that he would get such a beautiful woman on his arm. The part of him that wished to keep Annie locked up was ignored as he took Annie's hand. "You look stunning," Alexander almost gasped. Annie's cheeks turned the colour of blood when she blushed at Alexander's comment. "Absolutely georgous." Alexander smiled oh so charmingly at Annie and her heart couldn't help but skip. "Thank you." Annie hestitated, feeling awkward and unsure how to continue. "You look incredible." Alexander ssmiled towards Annie, his eyes seeming to twinkle with the love and joy he felt as he gazed at her. The two stood, silently admiring each other. The two had no idea how their night
Annie and Alexander slowly settled into their seprate rooms at the villa. Alexander had offered to share a room with Annie, he even had hpoped that she would want to, but she of course said no. Annie spent hours unpcking and praying that she would have anything she needed. Annie had never been on a holiday abrord before and felt like no matter what she did, she would always be underprepared. Annie had finally unpacked hours later and decided to call Kaylee back at home before she went to dinner with Alexander. Annie and Alexander decided they would have a real conversation that night at dinner. They both hoped that their conversation would bring them closer together and that it would mean that they could finally begin a relationship together. "Kaylee!" Annie squeeled when Kaylee answered the call. It was just an ordanary call which Kaylee was glad about. She knew it was late back home where Kaylee had been waiting for her call. Kaylee would never admit it to Annie, but she didn't mi
Back at home Kaylee was waiting for Annie’s call to tell her everything about just how terrible the flight was. As Kaylee waited she decided she would need to do some damage control with those around her, especially Mason as he was the only one she believed would ever really be on her side. Luckily, living with him gave her the best opportunity to talk to him. He was still out while Kaylee waited for Annie’s call, but she knew he would be back soon. It was hours before Mason came home, when he came home Kaylee had yet to receive a call from Annie. She was beginning to worry that maybe Annie didn’t consider them as close as she thought. She quickly washed that thought away because there were ways to fix that and Kaylee would do whatever it took. Kaylee didn’t want Annie to have anyone left and it was important to her plan that Annie felt isolated. For now Kaylee would work on her friendship with Mason. “Hey Kay,” Mason smiled at her as he walked into the living rooms where Kaylee was
Annie and Alexander'd car ride was tense and awkward. Annie had barely managed to pack before Alexander appeared telling her it was time to leave. Annie was immediately infuriated, he was always telling her what to do, always the one in control, making plans for her rather than with her. The very fact that he assumed he could order her about frustrated her even more. She hated that everybody else seemed tio be on his side, always backing him up. Annie tried to call Rebecca before she left, she was one of the only ones that would maybe support her rather than blindly following Alexander's lead, but she didn't pick up. Annie was starting to feel pretty helpless. She realised that there was no where she could really go to get away from Alexander if she ever wanted to. Everyone lived in his back pockets. The thoughts depressed her just as much as they scared her. Annie spent the whole drive slowly stewing and thinking of a way that she could confront Alexander with her thoughts and feelin
Annie guided Kaylee towards her room even though the effort was unnecessary. Kaylee had been to Annie’s room before and so the girls quickly found their way there. When the door was safely shut Kaylee let out a sigh of relief. “My god they hate me!” Kaylee cried. Annie shook her head. “They are definitely on edge, I can’t believe they thought that I would do anything!” Kaylee was outraged at their implications. She hated being suspected and if anything that would make it much harder to complete her end goal. It seemed the universe wasn’t on her side. She knew she would need to isolate Annie from her friends but now it was more vital than ever. “I mean I can’t blame them,” Annie defended. With what had happened she couldn’t imagine her friends being laid back about the whole situation. Annie knew that this was a huge problem, it meant somebody knew where Alexander lived. She wasn’t sure it was a targeted attack, but it was certainly cause for concern. Annie assumed that nothing like
Everybody was surprised to see Kaylee arrive at Alexander’s house. They were all on high alert and Kaylee’s unexpected arrival made her instantly a suspect. Kaylee had been expecting this, but the accusation on their faces made her feel hurt. Even though she was the culprit she was hurt to find they really would suspect her if she gave them any small reason to. Only Mason seemed understanding and happy to see her. Their friendship was something she knew she wanted to nurture and she hoped that it would become a real friendship, it already felt like one. She hated lying to him but after their conversation earlier she realised it would be a mistake to tell him the true. “What are you doing here?” Cindy demanded, standing between Kaylee and the stairs. Kaylee frowned, Annie wasn’t downstairs which would have been the most helpful thing right now. Kaylee already had her answers ready but she made sure she looked truly shocked and slightly scared, she hoped she had pulled it off before sh
Annie immediately rushed to her bedroom under the pretence of excitement. Instead she was rushing to call Kaylee and get some answers. Everybody would not look so grave and secretive over some silly holiday, she wondered how Alexander thought it would be an appropriate time to take a holiday. For weeks it had seemed that Alexander could not spare a few minutes of the day, he had barely even slept, and now he was proposing a holiday. Annie wanted some answers but it seemed that nobody was willing to give her any. Annie had hope that Kaylee would be different, so far Kaylee had been open and honest in Annie’s mind. They had started to grow a friendship and Annie hoped that would mean Kaylee would tell her what the hell was going on. Kaylee had less loyalty to Alexander is what Annie assumed, it’s one of the things that made Kaylee so easy to talk to. Kaylee hadn’t been working for him for years and so Annie hoped this would make Kaylee even more likely to spill the beans. As soon as An
Annie woke up to Kaylee’s phone call and was instantly on edge. Kaylee refused to tell her what was going on, it was the second call in under a month that left her feeling uneasy and on edge. The last one had made no sense but at least this time she knew who had been calling her. Annie had never been great at waiting, nor being in the dark. Annie had lived a sheltered life which meant she knew very little about the world around her. Annie knew even less about the darkness of Alexander’s world and so this new feeling of fear was unknown to her. In her head everything was safe until now when it seemed everything fell apart. Annie stormed to Alexander’s office only to see everybody there. Instantly she knew something was wrong. She had yet to go downstairs to discover the artwork that somebody had thought the walls needed to be complete. “What is going on?” Annie demanded, she was sick of being treated like a child who needed to be protected from everything. “Nothing.” Everyone said.