Clarisse woke up and was sort of shocked to see the dreadful looking room she was in. She had expected to wake up in a nice warm bed, to the sound of birds chirping and the sun shining brightly outside. She also expected to see Joseph lying next to her, holding her close as he slept. But when she turned onto her side this morning, all she saw was a grey wall. "Oh no, that nightmare was real?!" She thought to herself. She tried to get up, but her back hurt so much from the horrible mattress she spent the night on. She also realized that her hands were still tied behind her back. "Why are they keeping me here? It's not like I'm any use to them." Just then Arthur came into the room and closed the door. "Uh oh." Clarisse thought. She sat down on the bed. "Why are you keeping me here?" Clarisse asked.
"I just came in to tell you that if you try escaping, you'll regret it, and that you must do everything we tell you, or you'll never see Joseph, Mia, and all of your employees again." Arthur said, never bothering to answer her question.
Clarisse just looked at him in bewilderment. Was he serious? And surely someone would find her sooner or later…right?
"You see, if anything goes wrong, you, Doug and I are taking a secret plane to Australia. There, Doug and I have a small hideaway, and no one knows who the queen of Genovia is. Or should I say former Queen?"
Clarisse just sat there in silence. Right now all she could think about was the thought of never seeing her family again. Especially Joseph. They had been apart for so many years, and now when they were finally allowed to be together, they get pulled apart by the Viscount. Clarisse looked down. A tear slid down her cheek.
The Viscount cleared his throat. "Well, I just wanted you to know that." Arthur said. As he was about to leave, he turned around and said "Breakfast is ready in the other room." He held open the door for her. Clarisse had no intention of eating with the two of them, so she just looked away. Arthur closed the door and walked right up to Clarisse. She didn't look at him. So he turned her head to face him, a little more forceful than necessary. "Listen, you'll do everything we say. Got that?" He yelled. Clarisse tried to look away. He was right in front of her face, and had horrible breath, but he held her head firmly. She was afraid to say anything, but he was hurting her. She was getting a really bad headache from his grip.
Finally she managed to say "Yes." And he stepped back.
"Now, get up and join us for breakfast." He growled.
"And how am I supposed to do that with my hands tied behind my back?" She asked.
He almost burst into another rage, but stayed calm and untied her wrists.
The breakfast was horrible compared to the palace's gourmet food. All they had at the old hideout was some cereal. Clarisse managed to eat it though, just so Arthur wouldn't have another reason to get mad at her.
Joseph woke up and went downstairs to the kitchen. When he entered he found Mia sitting at the table and picking at a large plate of delicious looking food. But it didn't look like she had eaten any of it. When Joseph came in, she looked up at him. She had never seen him look so tired and upset. But she felt the exact same way.
"Do you think Grandma's alright Joe?" Mia said quietly.
"All we can do is hope. I am not sure of anything right now. But one thing I do know is that Nicholas's uncle is behind it." Joseph answered.
"Ever since I met him, he's done nothing but ruin our lives." Mia said angrily. There was a long silence before Mia continued. "I can't have my wedding without Grandma. We need to postpone it... I need her!" Mia said, and started to cry. Joseph said he would tell Charlotte to call the wedding off so Mia wouldn't have to, and then hugged Mia to try to make her feel better. But then he started to cry too, which was the first time in years. "I miss her too." He said.
It had only been a few hours before the whole Country found out about the kidnapping. Although no one could figure out how. It must have been the maids. But the press was going wild and wouldn't leave the palace alone. Which made it hard for Joseph and the security guards to find information on Clarisse's whereabouts.
A day had gone by with no luck. But then suddenly there was a call for Joseph.
"My name is John and I used to be in a gang with Arthur Mabrey. I left it because he was getting way out of hand with everything we did. I won't go into detail. But anyways, we had a little hideout that we stayed in if the police were after us. Maybe they are there?"
Joseph didn't know whether to believe this man or not, but he thought it was worth a try.
"Can you show me where this place is?" He asked eagerly.
"I don't dare get involved with things like this anymore. But I can give you directions."
Joseph listened carefully and wrote down everything. Then later he gave the notes to Shades. Shades shared it with a few bodyguards. They got ready and left. Mia wanted to come with them, but Joseph and Nicholas wouldn't let her. So Nicholas stayed at the palace with her, along with Charlotte.
Joseph and the security guards eventually found there way to the old hideout.
"It seems too easy doesn't it? What if that guy made it up?" Joseph asked.
"Well first of all, the guy said he wasn't sure, but it might help us. So let's just try it out." Shades said.
"Anything to get Clarisse back." Joseph said quietly.
After about a minute, they realized that they had found the right place. Joseph could swear he heard Clarisse's voice. But she didn't sound happy. She was screaming! And then, all of a sudden, the screaming stopped. "Oh my god. We have to find a way to get in there!" Joseph said. The guards started looking for a way in.
After breakfast, Clarisse had kept getting more and more depressed, and angrier at Arthur. She complained non-stop. She was also getting on Arthur's last nerves.
"If you don't shut-up in the next minute you'll be sorry!" He screamed at her.
"Oh and what are you going to do hmm?" Clarisse knew she would regret this, but she couldn't hold it in anymore. "You've done nothing but sit around all day! I bet there is no plane is there? I'm sure I would have crossed the line already and we'd be on it!"
"I am giving you more chances to stop, so we won't have to go to Australia!" He shouted.
She kept on yelling at him until finally he slapped her across the face. "I'm warning you now. Please, shut. up." He said as he gritted his teeth.
Clarisse looked at him angrily as she raised her hand up to feel where he had hit her. He hit her pretty hard, but she wasn't giving up yet.
"Make me." She said finally.
Just then Doug came in to help Arthur.
Clarisse started yelling again, and Arthur knew that someone was bound to hear her from outside.
"Doug," Arthur yelled over Clarisse's shouting. "Hold her down, I'll be right back."
Clarisse tried to get away as Doug held her against the nearest wall.
"Maybe shouting wasn't the best idea in the world…" Clarisse thought to herself. She kept trying to get away from the man's strong grip but he was much stronger than she was, so she was stuck against the wall. At that moment Arthur came in with a gag and a rope.
"Oh not again!" Clarisse thought to herself when she saw the items. Once again she couldn't speak, and couldn't use her arms. "Great." She thought.
"Finally, some peace and quiet." Arthur said, and he sat down on the old, dirty couch across from Clarisse. He got out a newspaper and started to read it.
Clarisse jumped when she heard a loud bang. She looked around to see where it was coming from, but didn't see anything. Arthur and Doug looked around too. So obviously it wasn't them. They heard the bang again.
"What the hell is that?" Arthur said as he got off the couch. All three of them realised very quickly that it was coming from the door.
"Maybe it is the police!" Clarisse thought hopefully. But then when the door finally flew open, she felt like all her worries had gone away. Atleast for a split second they did. It wasn't the police. It was Joseph! She smiled as wide as she could with that gag in her mouth. She would finally be able to go home.
"Damn door! Open!" Joseph thought to himself. "What happened to all those bodyguard skills?"
Shades and the others were waiting around the block. For backup. Because Joseph insisted they should.
Finally, he got the door the open and the first thing he saw was Clarisse. A huge rush of relief went through him. He had found her at last. Now all he had to do was get past Arthur Mabrey. Which shouldn't be hard since he used to be the "Queen's head of security".
He walked up to Arthur, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Arthur pull out a gun and point it straight at Clarisse. He didn't know what to do. "If he hurts her I swear I'll kill him." Joseph thought to himself.
Clarisse tensed and looked away when she saw Arthur point the gun at her. She was just waiting for the gun to go off, but it never did. So she looked back to see what happened. Arthur was still pointing it at her.
"Don't take another step." Arthur warned. "Or say goodbye to your wife."
I had a really hard time with this chapter, and the next one after this one...which isn't finished yet. Tell me what you think about it!! 3 Please review!!