Urm, unfortunately I do not own Daniel or any of the Ugly Betty characters…
What was there to look forward to today? Endless piles of work, nauseating meetings with Wilhelmina? No, there was nothing. Daniel Meade had nothing and no-one, loneliness was something that engulfed him every day, the artificial work place frustrated him to the core, the only thing that gave him any relief was seeing Betty. Yes Betty. She was always there to give him a sense of hope that possibly today could be a good day.
As he reached his desk Betty came bustling through the door, giving him a pearly smile and setting down a pile of documents.
"Urm these are the papers you wanted on yesterday's issue, the results were good and we got a good response on the article about summer fashion".
Daniel gave her a small smile in response and she returned it, leaving the room in a he watched her go, he leant back giving a sigh. Why couldn't he have that upbeat attitude?
The day passed quickly, a blur of clothes and plastic looking models. It soon became evening, him and Betty were the only ones left in the building. He passed her as she was cramming her notepad into her bag furiously.
"Need some help?" he asked giving a smirk, she looked up embarrassed "No, im fine" on the last word she gave one last push, and the notepad was stuffed in.
"I'll walk you to your car" said Daniel with a laugh as Betty looked up proudly.
"Thanks" she said, as they slowly walked towards the elevator Daniel turned the main lights off, leaving the floor drenched in darkness. When they reached the car park, Daniel followed Betty out and they said their goodbyes, just as they were about to part, there was a loud screech of tyres on tarmac and a banged up van came sliding round the corner. Daniel ran over to Betty protectively as three masked men jumped out the back brandishing guns, their feet thundered across the floor as they closed in on the pair.
"What do you want?" said Daniel, stepping in front of Betty.
The reply was simple but shattering "You."
Daniels eyes met Betty's as he turned around in panic, all her senses closed up and she just saw Daniel mouthing the word "Run!" before the butt of a gun met his head and blood trickled down the side of his face as he fell unconscious to the ground. Betty unfroze; looking at Daniel helplessly she turned on her heel and fled through the door. As she reached the busy street outside she hesitated, turning round to see if anyone had followed her, but no-one was there. They had got what they wanted.
Unknown place where Daniel is
The floor was cold and damp, as Daniel pushed himself up he felt a wave of dizziness rush over him making him close his eyes and take a deep breath, when he opened them a man was standing over him with an evil glint in his uncaring eyes, he had black hair which looked as if it could fall out any moment and a foul stench that made Daniel cough.
"Geddup!" he commanded, kicking Daniel in the stomach causing him to roll over and spit out blood, the man closed in again grabbing him roughly by the collar, then yanking him up and shoving him against the wall. Daniel felt his spine bruise as he came into contact with the hard concrete. Looking faintly up he came into contact with those hard eyes and rasped "What do you want from me?" The man simply smiled.
"Oh, it's nothing from you we want, it's your father. See he owes us a bit of money and you are our bargaining chip" he said proudly.
As this statement sunk in Daniel realised how much trouble he was in, these guys wanted money and they would go to any lengths to get it. The man seemed to find pleasure in his realisation and pushed him against the wall again, leaning towards Daniels ear he whispered "That's right we can do what we want with you, cause you any amount of pain we like and guess what? Your friends at work have first hand viewing; we are connecting to them now". Daniel lurched forward in his chair shaking at the bonds, "Fuck you! Turn it off now!" The man grabbed his head "I don't think you in any position to be making demands, that's my job", roughly he grabbed some tape, and forced it over his mouth. "And now the show begins" he said stepping forward and turning the camera to face a helpless Daniel.