Chapter 36

Monica stared at her reflection in disgust. Sure it was what she wanted but she still hated it. Her pretty brown hair was cut and dyed black and purple. Her face mold gave her a larger nose and fuller cheeks, which looked almost as bad as the purple lipstick and eyeshadow. She sighed and threw all of her new clothes on her bare floor of her condo. Her furniture still hasn't arrived yet so it was going to be a very long night sleeping on the hard floor.

Monica grabbed her new cell phone and walked to the window, her fingers itching to text Mark to see how he is doing. She missed him so much it hurt. Sighing she sat down on the floor and leaned her head against the wall. Images of Mark kept running through her head.

Banging her head against the wall trying to get rid of the images and memories that plagued her, Monica finally broke down and cried herself to sleep.

When Mark got off of the plane with Steven and Shane, he made a bee line to the exits.

Shields grabbed his arm, "Mark, you can't just run off without your luggage, wandering the streets of New York looking for her. She isn't going to be that easy to find, but we will find her. I promise. I won't rest until we find her. But now is not the time for rash actions. We need to go see Frank before we do anything else, so calm down man."

Mark sighed and nodded. He knew he needed to get his head on straight but ever since he got that cursed letter all he could think about was getting to New York to find Monica. He didn't care if he had to go door to door looking for her; he had to find her.

Shane had their luggage already as Steven and Mark walked over to him. "SO… now what?" Shane asked.

Steven pulled out his cell phone. He punched in Frank's number and held it to his ear. He smiled when he heard the familiar gruff voice come over the ear piece when it was finally answered.

"Who the HELL calls a person up at freakin 3 in the morning! What the hell is wrong with you?! This better be important…"

"Frank, man, chill out." Steven said with a laugh. "This is very important. I was just calling to give you a heads up that I was coming over. I really don't want to relive the nightmare of you answering the door in the nude again."

"Steven? What's up? You got a paying job for me this time?" Frank asked, instantly alert.

"Maybe. But now isn't the time to talk. We will be there in twenty minutes, alright?"

"Yeah man. Great see you then. Later." Frank said as he hung up.

Steven stuck his phone in his pocket and glanced over at Mark. "Alright lets go find our girl."

Forty minutes later, Shane pulls the car into the driveway Steven was pointing to.

"I swear to god, Shane. I will NEVER, EVER let you drive again!!" Steven said as he jumped out of the car.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad. You know how New York traffic is. If you want to get anywhere in this town you got to take chances and use short cuts." Shane said defensively.

Mark stumbled out of the car and collapsed on the ground holding his stomach. "Shane, we are twenty minutes late because of your shortcuts. Also I think I lost 15 years of my life when you decided to play chicken with those semi's. Please please I beg you don't get driving lessons from Trish anymore. Just stick with the family chauffer."

Shane pouted, "But its so fun driving on my own…"

"But safer to the entire country if you don't." Steven interrupted. He took a deep breath to calm his stomach. "All right, lets see if Frank waited for us… and hope to god he isn't naked this time."

Mark pulled himself off the ground as Shane and Steven started for the front door.

Steven started to knock then motioned for Shane, "You do the honors."

Shane hesitated and then knocked only to jump back when the door swung open and a shotgun barrel was suddenly touching his nose.

Frank smiled, "Hey Steven, you usually come by yourself… Can I shoot this one?"

Shane paled as his wide scared eyes darted from the shotgun to the crazy half naked man at the other end.

Steven laughed, "Na not this one.. not unless he gets behind a wheel of a car." He turned serious. "Frank we need to talk. Let us in?"

Frank frowned as he lowered the gun, "Yeah come on"