*WARNING: This chapter does contain a bit of abuse. I do not like writing about these subjects, so for the most part I skip over it, but it does contain a bit of abuse. If you are not comfortable reading these type of things, I advice that you do not read this chapter.

  Thanks so much!

  Avery Holmes

  Three days.

  We had been gone for three days. First, we had gotten on a plane and landed New York. After that, we drove for a few hours, and I learned that Marcus would be taking me back to Jake's house. How stupid were they?

  "Don't try anything funny." Marcus ordered me, grabbing my arm roughly as he pulled me toward the dirty apartment complex. It was exactly how I remembered it- the walls looked like they needed a good wash, the building was the same disgusting shade of brown, and there were some sketchy people hanging around their porches.

  Home sweet home, I thought bitterly.

  In all honesty, I wasn't as terrified as I was three days ago. Three days ago, I was weak and scared, but today I wanted to show Jake that I wasn't the same petrified little girl that he could push around. I had to show that I was stronger than him.

  "It's this way." Marcus huffed. I rolled my eyes, snorting.

  "I know where it is, I lived there for years." I retorted.

  "Now isn't the time to get smart with me." Marcus warned. I shot him a look when he wasn't facing my direction, hiking my backpack up further on my shoulders, gritting my teeth together.

  "217, here we are." Marcus said, not hesitating to knock loudly on the door. I remember hearing that booming knock at two in the morning all the way from Aimee's bedroom. Sometimes, she'd still be awake and start to cry. I'd comfort her and take whatever came from Jake.

  The door swung open, and I immediately was terrified. But, instead of being greeted by Jake, I was greeted by a girl with blonde hair that looked like it was just in a braid by all the waves. She smirked at Marcus and then shifted her gaze towards me.

  "All this trouble for one girl? And she looks like this?" She chuckled, shaking her head. I clenched my teeth and my fists, but didn't say a word. I was too afraid to say a word.

  "I think she's hot." Marcus shrugged. I hated how they talked about me so rudely as if I wasn't in the room. You'd think that they'd have the decency to at least talk about me elsewhere, but then again, they were lowlife criminals and probably had no decency to spare.

  I followed Marcus into the room and immediately stopped in my tracks. It looked exactly how I left it, except much dirtier. It even smelled the same, like a mix of weed and dust. There were barely any lights on, just like we used to have it, because we barely made it by when it came time to pay for our electricity bills.

  The table was stacked with bills. I remember slaving over taxes at that table and all the curse words I would mumble under my breath when I realized that we were running out of money. The same couch from a 'gently used' store still sat in front of a small, plain box of a t.v that was resting on a shelf.

  The kitchen could be seen from the entryway, and I could even still see the Advil I set out for him the night that I left. There were dishes piled up in the sink, so much that I doubted that there were any clean dishes left.

  "There she is!" A hoarse voice chuckled. I froze and looked up to see Jake, looking the same, except for now he had grown some stubble. "Finally decided to come back, eh?"

  "More like forced." I smiled sweetly, feeling bitter. I honestly didn't care if I got hurt, because there wasn't much of a reason to live anymore. I was taken from my family and forced to be in this awful place, why would I want to stick around?

  "That's not the spirit, honey." He gripped my side and pulled me into him, kissing my forehead. I immediately felt prickles on my sweaty forehead. It would have reminded me how Niall kissed my forehead, only his lips were chapped and he stank.

  "Don't call me honey." I talked back. "I'm not your honey."

  "Seems like you've picked up an attitude when you were gone. What happened to little Avery? Not so sweet anymore, huh?"

  "That's right." I shrugged.

  "Well, I don't like it." I heard something ringing as I was jerked backwards, and after a few seconds I realized that ringing was coming from my ears. The stinging in my cheek started to settle in and I could have screamed, I was so angry.

  "You're not going to talk back. Understood?" He squinted his eyes at me. I nodded and decided not to push it with him, I would only regret it. "You didn't bring the kid, did you?" Jake turned to Marcus, who shook his head. 

  "No, left her with the boyfriend." Marcus assured him. Jake laughed and shook his head, turning around. He placed his hands on his head, not facing us. At first, I was confused what he was doing, and then suddenly he knocked a nearby lamp and it fell onto the ugly blue carpet.

  "Boyfriend, huh?" Jake asked me. "You really thought you could have another man after me?"

  "Yes." I said with confidence.

  "Well, your mistake. Because now, he may just have to pay." He said simply. I gasped and turned to Marcus, who stood there clueless.

  "Marcus told me if I came then nobody else would get hurt." I said, tears pricking my eyes. "Please, don't hurt him. Don't hurt anyone, okay? You have me now, you have what you want."

  "But it's never good enough." Jake shrugged. "You should know that by now."

  I felt sick. I felt betrayed. But what else was I expecting from three slime balls? Of course they were going to trick me into thinking that if I went through with this then my family would be okay. What would happen to them now?

  "What do you want me to do?" I asked. "I'll do anything, I think you know that."

  Jake scratched the back of his neck, lazily walking over to the kitchen counter across the room and grabbing an already-opened beer. It wasn't even the good kind, just cheap stuff like himself. I found it incredibly annoying that he took his time with his answer, as to antagonize me.

  "I'll have to think about it." He finally decided. 

  "No." I said, growing impatient. "No, you're going to tell me what you want me to do now."

  I saw the anger in his face with my words and immediately knew that I had said the wrong thing. 

  Niall Horan

  "Niall, we're having a meeting." Harry said, looking at me with dead eyes. I nodded, still holding onto Aimee, who was asleep in my lap. At least she was able to sleep, because I sure wasn't.

  "Where at?"

  "Uh, in the living room I think. Aimee can come, she already knows anyways." Harry shrugged, spinning around and leaving me. I closed my eyes and hoped that Sam had new leads on where Avery was, and then carried my sleeping daughter to the living room.

  Everyone sat around in silence. I hated it so much.

  "I haven't been able to get any sleep." Louis shook his head. "Have any of you?"

  "I actually have." Zayn said. "Sleeping comes natural to me, though." He smiled slightly, but nobody laughed. We all just sort of gave a nod and dismissed his comment.

  "Who's hosting this meeting?" Liam asked, looking around. "Someone called for it, didn't they?"

  "I did." Ollie said, emerging from the kitchen. He had little sandwiches on a tray for us and a sympathetic smile on his face. I was glad for Ollie, because he really was trying to lift our spirits, despite the situation. "I have some good news."

  My heart nearly burst out of my chest.

  "What is it?" I almost shouted.

  "Don't get too excited, we still didn't find her." Ollie said, putting a damper on my happiness. "But, we're getting closer. Much closer, actually."

  "What does that mean?" Darcy asked.

  "It means that an airport has actually found that Marcus and Avery boarded an American Airlines flight three days ago to New York. And why else would they be in New York other than to go to Jake's house?"

  "If he lays one hand on here, I swear that I'll-" I started.

  "Niall." Harry stopped. "We're all going to beat him up, lad. Don't worry."

  "Thanks, man." I smiled. This new information did make me feel better, but I was also scared. What was going to happen to Avery while she was at Jake's? I prayed that he wouldn't hurt her.

  Aimee stirred in my arms and I quickly cradled her. I learned that she liked to be rocked like a baby and that it soothed her, so that's basically been the number one thing I've been doing lately. All that she does now when she's awake is cry and pout.

  "Do we have someone going to Jake's house?" I asked.

  "Yes, but we aren't sure if they are there. Or, if they are, odds are they might not stay for long. I'm hoping that we can catch them. Surprised if they'd even go there, though. Seems like a dumb move."

  "Yeah, well Jake is a dumb guy. And I can't believe we trusted Marcus." Zayn said, shaking his head.

  "Can I say something?" Darcy cleared her throat. "I honestly think we should get the fans in this. They adore you, Niall, they would never want to see you hurting. If they find out that your girlfriend is missing, they'll go insane looking for her. Make a twitcam, something."

  "Yeah." Harry said. "You're full of great ideas, babe." He pecked her cheek and she blushed a light pink. Immediately I envied them and how they didn't have to worry about being away from each other.

  "Alright, yeah." Liam nodded. "I'll get my computer and we can set one up, and then we can all post links for different websites her case has been on. I've seen a few already with pictures of her and a description."

  Aimee rolled over on me and opened her eyes, looking around sleepily.

  "Hi, baby." I cooed. "We're gonna make a video and ask people to help find mummy, okay? They're going to find her real soon." I promised, kissing her cheek and wiping some of the drool from her mouth.

  "She still gone?" Aimee's shoulders dropped.

  "Yeah, but Ollie said they might have found her. How does that sound?"

  Aimee just shrugged and lied back down on my chest. I wasn't sure if she was just upset about her mum, or maybe tired. Either way, I patted her back as Liam brought out his laptop and signed onto twitter. The fans would go ballistic because we haven't made a twitcam in a while, but this wasn't exactly a fun video for them, this was serious.

  "Coudn't Kate and Jake track us by this?" Louis asked.

  "I don't care." Harry said. "They already have Avery, and we've got to help her out."

  I stiffened and looked down at Aimee, who had her eyes closed again. I wondered if she heard this conversation and hoped that she didn't. I felt absolutely terrible for her, such a tiny little thing should never have to go through this much.

  "Alright, can everyone see me?" Liam said. I looked and saw the red light blinking at the top of the screen, and then a camera facing me and the boys. Darcy decided to be behind the camera with Ollie.

  "Okay, so it seems that this is working." He said, turning back to us. Harry came onto the couch and plopped down next to me, smiling a little and giving a wave. I could tell that his heart wasn't really in it, though.

  "For those who don't know, a lovely woman by the name of Avery Holmes has gone missing. We wanted to make this twitcam to make you all aware and we really would love for your support in this case. She went missing three days ago and we've been running endless search parties, but we need your help to find her. If you want to see a picture of her... Niall, do you have one?"

  "Yeah." I took my wallet out from my back pocket and took out a small picture of her. I had printed it out from the computer a few days ago. "Guys, this is my beautiful girlfriend Avery." I stopped, tears falling down my cheeks. I felt someone rub my back and turned around to see Louis.

  "Please contact police if you have seen her. The boys miss her, I miss her, and her daughter, Aimee misses her." I looked down at Aimee, who was frowning at the camera.

  "Daddy, who you talking to?" She asked, turning to me. I smiled and fixed the clip in her hair, seeing the comments blow up in our feed.

  "Say hi, Aimee." I smiled a bit, but still sounded dull and lifeless. Aimee frowned and slid off of my lap, putting her finger over the red part that people could see us through. Despite having my girlfriend missing, I found myself laughing a little as I pulled her back.

  "She's bein' a bit shy right now." I said to the camera. "But Avery and I-" My throat became try and I breathed in slowly. "We've been seeing each other for a while now and I really want her back. If you know anything or have seen her, please contact police immediately."

  "And, I think if you want more information I'll be posting a link to the story of my twitter. Thanks so much for watching, please keep her in your prayers."

  And with that, we signed off, trying to cling to what little hope we had left.

  A/N:

  I HOPE THEY FIND HER SOON IEOMRRF WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN

  vote/comment/fan

  - x Delilah