Niall’s P.O.V.

The damn police said they didn’t want to deal with our “games” and told us to leave the station. They refused to give us any information on Aria’s mother, declaring it personal. Louis protested at least ten times, and eventually we were lead out by security guards. They just didn’t seem to believe me when I said my girlfriend had been getting threatening messages and was taken at dawn. Stupid people.

It was now the day after, and I was in my room trying to devise a plan. Trying to figure out how to get to Aria.

Harry ran into my room and threw his phone onto my bed.

“Read it!” he exclaimed, meaning the phone.

I looked at him as if he were crazy, but then read the message.

Amber: Harry. You’ve got to trust me. If you already know what I’ve done to Aria, put it aside. You need to find her, and here’s the address of her mother’s house: 1243 Larkstone Ridge Dr. Seattle, Washington, 96783.

“How do you know we can trust her?” I said, looking up at Harry. He looked desperate.

“Look. It’s all we got. We’ve got to trust this. We can have Paul and some of our security guards come, too. I feel really guilty and we need to do something. It’s been almost a three weeks since Aria had gone missing, and if we wait any longer, we might be too late.”

Harry was right. I needed to trust the only piece of information I had, because it was all I had. I had no time to think about things.

“I think that you, Liam and I should go to Washington, while Zayn and Louis start finding guards.”
“Okay.” I nodded. I dialed Liam’s number while Harry went outside to call Zayn and Louis. Liam picked up on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Liam. It’s me.”

“I know. What’s up?”

“We know where Aria is.”

Liam gasped. “What? How?”

“Amber sent us an apology text and the address of Aria’s mothers place.”

“How can you trust her?” Liam asked, doubtfully.

“I don’t know.” I said. “But we don’t have much time left. We were thinking that you, Harry and I could go to Washington and try to find Aria while Zayn and Louis send police and some guards.”

“I’m not sure.” Liam sighed. “How do you know this isn’t a trap or something? All Amber has done had hurt Aria, and now she suddenly wants to help her? It seems wrong.”

“I know.” I said. “But we have to.”

The other side of the call went silent.

Finally Liam sighed. “Fine. When are we leaving?”

“As soon as we can. Maybe tomorrow, or tonight. I’ll see how fast we can get a jet down here.”

“Gotcha.”

“Start packing.” I told him. “And thanks so much, lad.”

“My pleasure.” Liam answered before hanging up.

I exhaled deeply, glad that Liam was in. Only minutes later, Harry walked in with a little smile on his lips.

“Zayn and Louis are going to help. They said they would get Paul and some guards to fly down to Washington as soon as we needed them.”

“Okay.” I nodded. I felt good, knowing I was finally doing something to help Aria. But it wasn’t just me. All the boys had pitched in, and I was grateful to have them. They were my only hope.

We would find Aria.



Aria’s P.O.V.

She was awake. She was breathing slowly, but she was awake.

“M-mom?” I gulped, slowly taking her hand off mine.

And slowly, her eyes opened. They were a dull blue, but were a lot like mine. We had a stare down, until she coughed.

“You-You are my daughter?” she asked. “Is it you?”

I managed a smile, tears welling up in my eyes. “Yeah, it’s me. Your daughter.”

“Aria?”

“Yes.” I nodded, standing up slowly. It still hurt. Every movement hurt, but I hadn’t heard her voice in years. So many years.

“I’m so sorry.” She whispered, gripping my hand. “I’m so sorry.”

I bent down and hugged her tightly.

“You may not be my mom, but you sure are my mother.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t get to be the mother you wanted me to be.”

“I’m sorry too, mom. I really am.”

Suddenly, there was a bang on the door.

Amber and I stood frozen, as the banging continued on the door.

“Open the door you sluts!” my father shouted. Amber pressed her finger to her mouth and held the ladder in front of me. I got what she was saying and quickly began unfolding it, while Amber went over to the window and unlocked it.

“Open the fucking door!”

I was crying silently, tears falling onto the fire escape ladder as I unrolled it. And then, my father broke the door open. I screamed, while my mother just watched in silence. But everything on her face told me she was terrified. I threw the ladder to Amber.

In only seconds, Amber had managed to hook the ladder to the window seal.

“Come on!” she shouted, sobbing more than me. I glanced at my mother, who stared right back at me. And I knew what I was going to do.

“You left me.” I said. “Now I’m leaving you.”

I grabbed my phone from the stool in the corner and started down the ladder.

I didn’t get very far.

A hand grabbed my hair, and I shrieked in pain. Amber was already halfway down the ladder.

My father grabbed me by the head and pulled me up, throwing me back onto the ground of the freezing room.

And then he unhooked the ladder from the window sill.

I heard Amber scream as she fell, and then, silence.

“You think you could escape?” my father laughed, grabbing my phone out of my hand. He threw it out the window, to join Amber.

“I-I-n-noo.” I shook my head vigorously, biting my lip to keep from crying. He raised his hand to slap me, his palm connecting with my cheek with a loud clapping sound. I felt a tooth crack.

Then, he turned to my mother who had been watching us silently, an evil grin spreading across his lips.

“Hello.” He laughed roughly, rubbing his hands together. “Nice to see you’ve finally woken up.”
My mother glared at him.

He then turned back to me, grabbing both my arms with a killer grip, tossing me back into my chair. He grabbed the ropes that Amber had thrown to the ground, and tied knots and my wrists, ankles and waist so tight that it hurt. I could almost feel my bones rubbing against each other.

“Now, don’t try and run again, okay?” he cooed, before punching me in the head.

The last thought I had was of Niall and I in an embrace, before I blacked out.