Elizabeth had been kidnapped. Again. She couldn't believe this kept happening to her. 'How stupid am I?' She asked herself, shaking her head ruefully.

She winced at the movement, belatedly remembering her head wound.

Elizabeth had followed the last man she ever expected would betray her to his car. As soon as they reached it, Elizabeth felt something hard and metallic

connect with her skull. She'd woken up and found herself bound, hand and foot and a gag in her mouth.

She could feel a large soft object directly to her right and another slightly harder object to her left. She felt movement and heard an engine growling quietly not far

from where her head rested. She groggily opened her eyes and confirmed that she was laying face down in the back floor of a car. The driver hit a bump, sending multiple

waves of pain shooting through her head that radiated to the rest of her body.

Elizabeth's hands and feet were bound tightly, cutting the circulation off and making them numb. The rag that was tied tightly around her mouth was rancid and made vomit rise in her throat.

When he hit another bump and sharp pain emitted from every part of her body, Elizabeth was unable to stop the moan of pain.

Elizabeth froze when his voice floated to her ears. "How are you feeling Elizabeth?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at her quickly before returning his eyes to the road.

His voice was both playful and sadistic in one breath. He laughed contemptuously when he heard only silence in response to his question. "You must think I'm a monster.

But the truth is it's your boyfriend who's the monster. Him and that bastard he's working for. They destroy people's lives so casually." He clucked his tongue disapprovingly.

"I really thought you had better taste in men." There was silence for a moment, and when he spoke his voice took on a soft quality. "I just want you to know that this wasn't the plan.

I had everything planned out perfectly." He was speaking more to himself than to Elizabeth. "Then everything went so wrong, so quickly. First that idiot Taggert let it get too personal, he nearly ruined everything.

And then that bastard Lansing tried to double cross me. Me! I tell you, it really is hard to find good help these days." He chuckled faintly.

All the years that Elizabeth had known him, she never would have expected this. He had gone off the deep end, and her heart almost went out to him.

Then she thought of her present state and angrily pushed the sympathy away. She didn't know what his reasons were and she didn't particularly care.

He was a monster, and she mentally kicked herself for not seeing the warning signs sooner.

Then realization hit her with a cold hard slap to the face. Elizabeth's heart pounded in her chest. 'It can't be.' She tried to tell herself. But deep inside she knew the truth.

This was the man behind everything. He had controlled Taggert, he had threatened her life and the people that she cared most about. Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut tightly, tears escaping and rolling lazily down her cheeks.

The man in the drivers seat let out a mock weary sigh. "I guess it's time to go see just how much Jason Morgan actually loves you."

The car turned a corner quickly, tires screeching, and Elizabeth was tossed by the momentum of the car so that she was half sitting half kneeling in the floorboard.

"I'll give him a choice, his life or yours." He said in a sing-song voice, either not noticing or not caring that Elizabeth was sitting on her heels looking at him with murder in her eyes.

Elizabeth knew exactly what choice Jason would make. And there was no way in hell that she was going to let him. She struggled against the pain that coursed through every part of her, the effort taking all the strength and courage that she had left.

She half stood, half crouched in the moving car and launched herself at the man she had trusted more than anyone else in her life. His head connected with the drivers side window with a sickening crunch.

Elizabeth could see blood spraying from a nasty looking gash on his temple. The blow knocked him unconscious and the car swerved out of control.

After that everything went in slow motion. Elizabeth's hands and feet were still bound tightly so there was little more she could do than brace herself for the impact she saw coming.

She tried to crawl back over the seat to safety but something caught her shirt, holding her in place. She tried frantically to rip the shirt and free herself as the car lunged wildly out of control.

Elizabeth vaguely heard the screams of the motorists and pedestrians that had taken notice of the wildly flailing car. The car crashed through a fence and into the thick brick wall of a building.

Elizabeth flew forward with such force that she felt herself thrown through the windshield of the car and onto the pavement. Pain racked every part of her body.

She felt the world spin crazily as darkness began to claim her. A flood of thoughts clogged her head. Thoughts about the man she loved, did he know how much she loved him?

About the life she might never lead, her friends ... Oh God, her friends. But what she wanted to know most of all was why?

Why Nicholas?