Miranda began to pace. In the dim light she was able to see a few reasons why her body ached. She had bruises on her arms and legs. Her head still heart, and it was tender on her forehead, it felt like there had been a cut or something, but there weren't any mirrors for her to look in. Her wrist ached and throbbed, moving her fingers hurt. Her neck ached…and it was tender to the touch.

As she paced she began to worry. Pacing hurt, but it made her feel a little better. She thought about her life as a whole. From as far back as she could remember, she thought about school, boyfriends, Randy and her marriage. Then the falling apart of their marriage. She thought about what would have happened if she would have stayed. Although, if what he was saying is true, the divorce finalizing is what really kicked him into gear in wanting to get better. He wanted to go back to being the guy he used to be…and he was succeeding. Miranda began to think about Christopher. There were many red flags, but none that she paid attention to. She was bound and determined to pave her own way in life, and she stuck to her guns and look where it got her. Now she was kicking herself for not saying anything to Randy about Christopher's messages. There was no doubt in her mind that it was him. He had the only other key to her place, and the door looked fine when she got there. She was faintly recalling a slight argument before blacking out, but maybe it was only her imagination.

Maybe running into Randy at the restaurant that night was a sign of sorts, showing her that she belonged with Randy? Maybe the only way either of them would ever truly appreciate what they had was to be apart for those few years? Then it hit her…Liz's wedding! Would she be found in time to still be there? Would she still be alive by then? There weren't any sounds coming from anywhere…was she all alone? Would she get water? She knew from being a girl scout that you could go for longer without food then you could water, how long had she been there?

She couldn't help but slink to the ground and sob. She began to think about what she wanted out of life…if she was chosen to still have one. She thought about what her funeral would be like. How would her parents handle it if they lost their only child? Miranda prayed. Then she got mad. She got to her feet and began to kick and pound on the doorway as hard as she could and she screamed like hell. Somewhere, somebody would have to hear her….right?

Randy's entire family had come out to the apartment complex by mid-morning. Kim and her boyfriend Neil along with Randy and his family and Miranda's family were all joining a search party. There was such a good turnout of volunteers.

Kim grabbed Randy, "Ok, I seriously think Christopher is completely behind this. We have to think about places that he and his family either own, manage or anything on or around."

"Liz was saying something when we were all out that he lives at the country club." Randy suggested.

Kim nodded, "He does. But the police are already searching there."

They began to compile a listing of places, but with the federal agents doing their search and seizure, it was hard to find places that they would be allowed to go to. Plus if it was anywhere business-related, they would have to get permission. So they decided to go along with the search and rescue teams.

The day dragged on slowly, they weren't finding anything. Randy was beside himself. All he wanted to do was to pummel Chris into talking. His temper was flaring, he was getting a bit testy. Miranda's family was completely devastated. Kim's hope was beginning to fade. It had been over 24 hours. That was NEVER a good sign.

Chris's brother Joe arrived to the jail around dinner time, where Christopher was being held. The federal agents had been working with Joe for almost six months to bring him down. Joe had been the one to blow the whistle on Christopher's whole Ponzi scheme. Until Christopher went to trial, they promised Joe that he would not find out the truth. Now he knew he needed to try and talk to Chris to see if he could get him to say anything about Miranda.

He walked into the interrogation room and sat down at the table with Chris.

"What are you doing here?" Christopher asked Joe. "I thought you wanted nothing to do with me, remember?"

"You know why I'm here. We might not always see eye-to-eye, but we're brothers. Now what happened? What's going on?" Joe asked innocently.

Chris shook his head, "Shit got out of hand. I got greedy, I made some bad business deals and it caught up with me. Had the stupid bitch given me her information I would have been able to get rid of the bulk of the money."

"Miranda? She's in on your business?" Joe asked.

"Fuck no. I didn't want her anywhere near it. She's too much of a goody-goody. There's no business sense in that woman's head. I just wanted her information so I could transfer the money and she wouldn't do it."

"So you got upset?" Joe prodded.

"What are you trying to say?" Chris angrily retorted.

"Look, all I'm saying is that right now, you're facing a lot of charges, but they're mainly white collar charges. Minimum-security prison is what you're looking at. But if you add kidnapping and murder charges, you'll never see the light of day." Joe tried to reason with him.

"So you think I did it?" Chris asked.

"I'm just saying that you made the threatening phone calls and left the threatening messages…"

"Why the fuck would you say that? Where would you get such stupid ideas? Why would I threaten her, she was cheating on me, remember?" Chris yelled at Joe.

"Because Kim told the police that Miranda called her after listening to the messages and she didn't know what to do next." Joe replied. "And Kim has no reason to lie."

"Kim's another bitch that Miranda should have severed ties with long ago. But no, she insisted on running around with them. Your stupid group from high school…And now look where it got her."

"Where did it get her Chris?" Joe prodded.

The two brothers went round and round about the messages and the threats. Just as Joe and Chris were screaming at each other, finally Chris slammed his hand down on the table. "That stupid bitch got what she deserved. She fucked up. I snapped and I lost it and now she'll never forget what happens when you fuck with me."

Joe snapped to attention, "What did you say?"

Chris broke down crying, "I snapped. I knew I was going to get busted, something was off. People were acting funny. They knew. So I called Miranda, and we got into a huge fight and she broke up with me. I had a feeling she was running around with Orton. When she told me they had dinner, I knew it would be over. I never thought she'd be the one to cheat though. So I lost it. I kept calling and calling. I figured if I was going down, she was going to go down with me. SO I flew home and I went to her apartment. I was going to set the place on fire, but she came home for lunch. I wasn't prepared for that. I panicked; I didn't know what to do. She came inside and I was trying to hide, but she found me. We started to fight, but she tried to fight back and I started to hit and kick her. Finally I kicked her in the head and she blacked out. Then I grabbed the chlorophyll and the rag I had brought and I put it over her nose and mouth. I had already trashed the place and I took her computers so they would think it was a robbery. I…I…just snapped. I don't know. Once I felt like she was knocked out from the stuff, I strangled her. Then I rolled her up in a carpet and carried it out to the van."

Joe's heart sunk, "Where is her body?"

Chris wouldn't answer, he just kept crying. He never did apologize, he just cried. Finally Joe screamed at him, "WHERE'S HER BODY?"

"I dumped it in the basement cellar. I was trying to carry her down the stairs, and I dropped her…Her lifeless body tumbled down the stairs and fell out of the carpet. So I pushed her into the room and slammed and locked the door. I threw the key aside and left."

"What basement cellar? Which one? Where is she?" Joe kept prying.

Finally Chris looked up at him, "Out at the old house. There's a little room in the basement we used for a cellar. I brought her body there."

"You and Diana's old house? The one that hasn't sold yet?"

Chris nodded, "Yeah…she's there."

The police came busting through the door of the room. They instantly began to read him his rights and handcuff him. Joe got out of the way and was pulled aside by an agent for the address to the house. They began to dispatch units there. And they also sent someone to advise her family of the confession to their daughters' possible murder.

Miranda laid down on the cold concrete floor. She ached so bad, she was so thirsty, her lips were chapped, and her head was killing her. "This was it." She thought to herself. "This was how she was going to die. Alone in a room." She drifted off to sleep.

The police arrived at the house. There was a van parked in the driveway. They broke the window and found the chlorophyll and rag in the backseat; along with a desktop computer and a laptop computer. They broke the front door down and ran throughout the house. They made their way to the basement. Still lying on the stairs was the carpet Christopher had said her body had been rolled in. At the far end of the basement was the room he had described.

They called out to her, but there was no response. They cut the padlock off since they didn't know where on the other side of the door her body was, and opened the door.

There she was curled into a ball on the floor unconscious. They checked and she had a fast pulse and her breathing was rapid. The paramedics came in and began to work on her. They started her on an iv and noted the various bruises and cuts on her body. She began to wake up and looked around, "Where am I?"

"We're getting you to the hospital. Do you know who you are?" The male paramedic asked.

"Miranda" She replied faintly. "I'm so thirsty."

"We'll get you something to drink."

They wheeled her out to the ambulance and took off to the hospital.

At the hospital…

A doctor walked out to the waiting room and walked over to the group gathered for Miranda. Randy and his parents were there, his sister Becky and he husband were there, Kim and Neil were there, Miranda's parents were there along with some other various family members. "Who are Miranda's parents?" He asked.

Carol and Greg stood up anxiously. "We are."

"I'm Doctor Martin. Miranda's doing fine. She's resting now. She was dehydrated and she has a concussion. Her wrist is sprained and she has a lot of bruises. But she's going to be ok. We need to keep her overnight for sure for fluids and observation. We'll see how she does with solid food tomorrow before we can let her go home." The doctor advised.

"Can we go see her? Please?" Carol asked.

The doctor smiled, "Just make sure you take it easy on her, she's been through a lot. If she's tired, let her rest. She's being moved up to room 315 right now, you can go up and see her."

Everyone hugged and cried. The group made their way up to third floor. Carol and Greg walked into the room quietly.

Kim leaned over and hugged Randy, "Our girl's going to be ok."

He hugged her back, "She's a fighter. She wasn't going to give up."

About fifteen minutes later they walked out with a smile. "Randy, she wants to see you." Carol said.

Greg shook his head, "She looks rough though."

Randy stood up and nodded, "Ok. Thank you." And he walked in the room.

There she was…his angel. Lying in the hospital bed she looked so pale. She had a bandage on her forehead, her eyes had dark circles under them. She was hooked up to a few different IVs and her wrist was wrapped up. On her throat you could faintly see where he had tried to strangle her. She had the oxygen tubing in her nose. When she opened her eyes and saw him standing there, she smiled. "Hey stud."

Randy's eyes filled with tears as he went to her bedside. He leaned down and kissed her softly and sat down in the chair beside the bed. "Carebear…I'm so glad you're ok."

"There's so many things I want to tell you…I should have told you." She began to say as she got choked up.

"Shh….right now just rest. Work on getting better." Randy replied as he rubbed her hand.

"Did I worry everyone?" She asked.

"We had search parties out looking for you. Chris confessed and told the cops he killed you." Randy said softly. "Then we found out that they found you alive."

"That's what the doctor said. I can't believe it, he's never been violent like that. EVER. When I broke up with him Sunday night, he snapped." She replied.

"You broke up with him on the phone at your parent's house, didn't you?"

She nodded. "I just didn't want to say anything yet. The next morning, he had left threatening messages on my answering machine, and I deleted them. I figured he was just pissed off and blowing steam. I never thought he'd do something like this."

"Why don't you get some rest. I'm not going anywhere. I'm here for the next six weeks." Randy replied.

"Go eat something, tell everyone I'm ok. I'm going to take a nap." She said as she began to doze off.

He got up and kissed her cheek and walked out of the room to relay her message. He silently thanked God for letting her be ok. Randy didn't know what he would have done had she not been.