A/N: Helloo. I'll get right to it with this BC chapters just because these take forever to get up because the Words chapter have to happen first. I hope you like it!


Katie reached for an extra parfait in the fridge. She didn't eat dinner the night before because she got caught up with homework. When she turned around, the fridge shutting behind her, she was met with the harsh glare of her mother, who was staring at her food.

"Two parfaits today?"

Katie resisted the urge to roll her eyes so hard that they got stuck up there. "Yeah, I didn't eat dinner last night. I'm gonna have this in the car." She reached for her bag on the other side of the counter, and her mother put a hand on hers gently. She shot her mother a look, and her mother raised an eyebrow. Katie sighed. She couldn't help it when her mother was so ridiculous.

"You know that green dress for the gala next month needs you to maintain your figure. There will be a lot of important people at that gala," her mother told her kindly, but there was nothing kind behind her words.

"Yes, Mommie." Katie almost smiled when her mother tried to cover a flinch. She hated when Katie called her that. She said that she wasn't the mother in Mommie Dearest, but Katie sometimes thought otherwise.

"Well, then," Katie's mom said, cracking her neck to push pass through their moment. "Go meet Grant downstairs; he's waiting for you. Don't want to be late for school."

Katie flashed a fake smile at her mother and walked away, shaking her head while she full-on grinned. She stepped out of the elevator when she reached the ground floor, and, as always, Grant was at the front door waiting for her.

"Good morning, Miss Nolan."

"Good morning, Grant," Katie returned. He reached out to hold her backpack for her, and she pulled her arm back. He chuckled and shook his head. "Come on, Katie. You know your mother would throw a fit if I didn't carry your bag."

Katie rolled her eyes freely now. "Oh, God forbid I carry my own."

"Exactly," Grant responded, and she handed it over to him. They walked past the doorman, the car already waiting in the front.

"I got two parfaits today," Katie stated when Grant opened the door.

"Ooo." Katie laughed as she got into the car. "Scandalous Katie Nolan."

"That's me!" She sat down, almost falling over.

"That's definitely you."

Grant smiled to himself as he closed her door, shaking his head and trying his hardest to conceal his smile.


Johnny stared at the front door. For some reason, he could imagine Carter just walking through it. He could hear Carter saying that he left to get away for a night, or that the people that took him just let him go. It might have been one of the stupidest things Johnny imagined. Ever. Because Carter did not just go on a stroll that kept him out all night, making Ms. Alessi cry throughout the night and slap Johnny in the face every few hours because of it. Carter was not going to just be let go.

Carter was taken. And Johnny didn't even know where to start.

Usually he would be on top of it—he would get a search going on, find some information out from the neighborhood. And he would feel in control while doing it. He did not, however, feel that way with Carter's disappearance.

As much as he hated to admit it, Carter meant much more to him than just another in the group. He wasn't just someone he could detach his attachment from. Carter was his brother. Ms. Alessi was his stand-in mom. The Alessis were his family—all because Carter's father took the chance to care about him. When he died, he knew that this family would be as protected as his own.

He would have had Carter do anything else but be their bookie. Carter was meant for more. He knew that; anyone did. That's why he had Carter do the books. That's why he used it as an excuse to get Carter into the elitist school. But, as the years passed, everyone else became suspicious of his favoritism of Carter and saw it as his weakness. So Johnny had to stop. He had to show that everyone meant the same to him, which meant that they all didn't mean anything to him. At least to the eyes of the ones who worked for him.

As much as Johnny could play along with the notion, he knew Carter meant more. Carter was more than all of them combined.

And now he was gone.

Johnny shook his head. He kept trying to shake off the memory from the night before. Ms. Alessi went out to find out what was taking Carter so long. When she screamed out his name, they all rushed out and saw that she was standing in front of the trash. The lid was on the ground—right beside Carter's glasses. Dread filled him to the brim, and even though that may have been the only clue, they all knew. Carter was gone. And they had no idea who could have taken him.


Katie looked around. She checked her watch, and her heart was racing. Carter wasn't at homeroom for the second day in a row, and that was something to worry about. Carter may have been late every day, but he was never absent for homeroom two days in a row. She knew Carter's delicate status at the school. All the other students could fuck up as much as possible, but not Carter. He was helped to get in by Ms. Amoretto, and whatever move he had in school was monitored. If his grades slipped just enough, he could get kicked out. It was if the administration waiting for him to mess up for that sole reason. So being absent from homeroom two days in a row—that worried Katie. Carter would never risk it. Which meant Carter was not okay.

Once the bell rang, Katie shoved her way past the other students and went straight to the front.

"Ms. Amoretto," Katie said, a little breathless. Her heart was going miles per minute, and there was an awful feeling dread in her veins.

Her teacher looked around and stood up when all the kids left. "Katie—"

"Please don't mark Carter down as absent. Please."

Ms. Amoretto looked at her sadly. It was an unspoken goal between them, to keep Carter in school and make sure he did his best. They wanted him there. They saw that he could succeed. They saw that he was worthy, more than many others, to be in this school.

"Carter's gonna be absent the whole day, Katie."

Katie looked down. She couldn't hide her shock at what Ms. Amoretto told her. If Carter wasn't coming in, why didn't he text her? If he ever got sick, he always texted her.

"But he didn't..." She trailed off.

"His mother called in today." Katie looked up. "I think he was sleeping because he's feeling so bad." She still stared. "Maybe food poisoning? I'm not sure, Katie. I just know he won't be in today."

After a moment, Katie looked down. "Right. Right. I'm sure he's just getting all the rest he needs."

"Yes, of course. Let's just hope he will be able to recover and come in tomorrow."

Katie took a few steps back. "Yes, of course. I'll just text him after school or something and see if he's okay."

She wasn't sure if she was just seeing things, but she could've sworn that Ms. Amoretto gulped.

"Yes, let's hope he is."

"Okay," Katie whispered. "Thanks, Ms. Amoretto."

"Of course, Katie. Do you need a late pass?"

She shook her head. "I'll be okay."

With that, Katie turned around and left the room. She looked to her right and left down the empty hallways. She wasn't sure why, even with the knowledge of Carter's mom calling in, she didn't feel the dread leave her. She pulled out her phone and began texting.


Carter hated the smell of Mikey's basement. He hated that he could barely breathe with this bag over his head. He hated the cloth that this bag was made of. He hated that he had to scratch his nose. He hated that his mother was probably freaking out. He hated that he didn't even to finish dinner, because he was starving. And he especially hated that they knocked his glasses off during this kidnap, because he could hear his glasses crunch beneath the weight of someone's foot, and he didn't have the money to get new ones. He hated everything about it.

His body froze when his phone got another text. Was it his mother again? Was it Johnny texting yet another death threat?

"Katie," Mikey said in Carter's darkness.

It was worse.

"Who the hell is Katie?"

He could hear him pick up the phone.

"Should I call Katie? Should I text her back and answer her question with, 'No, I'm not okay, Katie.'"

The thought of it made Carter struggle in his chair. He tried to free his hands, which were bound together behind him, and his ankles, which were tied against the legs of the chair.

"Ooo! A reaction. Is this a girl in your fancy ass school, Carter? The one that made you all better than us in the neighborhood?"

He could hear a chair be placed right in front of him. He could hear the slight squeak of Mikey sitting down.

"Or should I tell her that you were responsible for putting a man in the hospital? Would she like hearing about that?"

"No," Carter spoke before he could stop himself. He hated how desperate he sounded. "Don't do that," he added, trying to show strength in his voice.

Mikey didn't answer when he stood up.

"What do you want, Mikey?" Carter whispered. He was feeling exhausted, and he didn't know how long he had been in the basement. It must have only been a few hours. But Carter's mind whirled whenever he thought about how long he might be down there. Or worse, what they were planning to do with him.

"I want you to suffer," Mikey hissed.

"Johnny will find you," he muttered. His head was hanging low now. "He'll find you, and I don't know what he's gonna do to you."

"Maybe he'll put me in a hospital bed next to my brother," Mikey said, a hint of sadistic amusement in his voice. "And maybe you'll be there with me."


Johnny looked up when Ray came rushing into the restaurant. He walked calmly past the customers, and then almost ran when Johnny opened the green velvet curtain leading to the back for both of them.

"You find anything out?" Johnny asked.

Ray nodded. "Yeah, yeah. There are these kids on the street, probably Carter's age, saying that Mikey, Manny's brother, was pissed, and, well..." Rap gulped. "Well, you know."

"Mikey? Wasn't he friends with Carter? Why would he...I mean, he wouldn't…"

"You telling me Carter wouldn't go after Mikey if anything were to happen to you?"

Silence passed between them.

"I mean, that's credible? Those kids?"

"Apparently Mikey doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut," Ray responded with a shrug.

"Find Joseph." Johnny pointed behind himself with his thumb.

Ray walked past him and then stopped. "Are we gonna go follow up leads?"

Johnny paused and then looked over his shoulder. "I'm coming with you."

Ray turned around. "Johnny, what you planning here? He's Carter's age. He just loves his brother and is looking for a little—"

"Revenge? You alright with the thought of Carter being revenge for what we did to Manny?" Ray gulped. "I didn't think so. Get Joseph. I'll be in the car."

"He's a kid, Johnny," Ray whispered.

Johnny faced forward. "Yeah, well, so is Carter."


By the end of the day, Katie ran through the halls when the last bell rang. She had a lesson immediately after school, but she didn't care that Grant had to wait, or that her mother would reprimand her. She didn't care that she didn't eat and just stared at her phone, waiting for Carter to text her with a response that she never did get.

She ran, pushing through the crowds, and threw the door open to Ms. Amoretto's classroom. She was struggling to catch her breath and find her voice as Ms. Amoretto stared at her, obviously concerned.

"Carter didn't text me back," she confessed. She walked towards her teacher. "He would tell me if he was sick and not coming in. And I can feel something wrong." She dropped her bag, and it fell hard to the floor, stuffed with books.

Her teacher looked down, and Katie knew that the gulp she had seen earlier was real.

"Ms. Amoretto." She took a deep breath and shook her head a little. "Where is Carter?"


A/N: Carter's situation still isn't okay yet, but I hope you guys like the POV from Katie and Johnny. Please please let me know what you guys thought! The new Words chapter should be up soon! Leave some reviews & feedback :)


Shout out to rippingbutterflywings, cfire27 and Guest! Thank you for taking the time to check out this side story, I loved seeing what you guys had to say!

Shout out to rippingbutterflywings for being a wonderful beta & just always being down to beta and support me with my (many) ongoing stories. Got love for ya MS Clary.

cfire27: Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter.

Guest: Sorry this chapter took so long to get up! But thank you so much for your review :) I hope you like this one and can't wait to see what you think.