Monday, 6:15 pm

"I'm home," Kelly announced as he slid the door to the loft open and slipped his jacket onto the coat rack. He expected a kiss in response and was surprised when he didn't get one. In fact he got no response at all.

"Stella?"

Again, nothing. He checked his phone to see if he missed a text or call from her but he hadn't. He dialed her number but she didn't answer so he left her a voicemail: Stella it's me. Call me back. He switched over to his texts and sent her a text: Where are you? Please call or text me so I know you're okay. Love you.

7:00 pm

Kelly was starting to get worried. Stella didn't call him or text him back and it wasn't like her to not keep in contact with him or at least let him know she would be out. He decided to call Molly's to see if maybe she picked up a shift and was too busy making drinks to reply to his text.

"Molly's Bar, this is Christopher Herrrmann"

"Hey it's me, Severide. Is Stella working tonight?"

"No. She's off all week. Why? Is everything okay?"

Kelly sucked in a breath, "she's not at home and she isn't answering my texts or calls. I was hoping she was with you. Will you let me know if you hear from her?"

"Of course. Let me know if you need anything. You and Stella are family."

Kelly hung up the phone, a pit growing in his stomach. If she wasn't at Molly's and she wasn't at home, where was she? Something was very wrong.

2:00 am

Kelly frantically paced around the loft wondering what to do. It had been over 7 hours since he got home and still no word from Stella. He'd tried to sleep but he couldn't. All he could do was think of his wife. They'd just celebrated their 1 year wedding anniversary over the weekend. She was truly his other half and he felt lost without her. He knew he couldn't file a missing person's report until 48 hours had passed but he wasn't going to wait that long to start looking for her. He stopped pacing and picked up his phone, hands shaking, and dialed Chief Boden's number.

"You better have a damn good reason to be calling me at 2 in the morning, Severide," Boden answered groggily.

"Stella is missing," he said, his eyes welling up with tears.

"What do you mean she's missing"

"She wasn't here when I got home from working overtime and she hasn't answered any of my calls or texts. We have to go look for her, Chief."

Boden took a deep breath "okay...but we'll need to wait until morning."

"Chief, I'm not waiting until morning."

"Kelly, any search we try to do now won't be productive. We can't find Stella if our own safety is compromised. Just hold on a few more hours. I'll call Sergeant Voight and see if Intelligence can help out."

Kelly sniffled, "I'm so scared."

"I know. But we're going to find her. Try to get some sleep. I will be there in a few short hours."

Kelly hung up the phone. He laid back onto his pillow and stared at the ceiling. As long as Stella wasn't with him he wouldn't be able to sleep.

Tuesday, 7 am

"I found her phone" Halstead called out. He had put a ping on Stella's phone and discovered it was outside the loft. He worried it was in the river but he'd found it in the brush just short of the water.

"Does it work?" Voight asked.

"Yeah, it's only got 20% battery left, though."

"Let's get it charged and have Burgess comb through it to see if she can find any information that might lead us to Stella."

8 am, at the 21st District

"Sarge I got something," Burgess called out, " yesterday Stella received several messages from an unregistered number. The first one came in at 12:15 pm: You really thought you were rid of me, huh Stella? Guess again. I know where you live and I am on my way to see you. Stella replied asking who it was and the person responded to her saying that she knows who he is. She didn't reply to that. At 2:00 pm the mystery man texted again saying: I'm outside your door. Let me in. She must not have let him in because at 2:10 pm he wrote again and this was the last text she received from the number: You should've let me in the first time I asked, you dumb bitch. It didn't have to be this way but since you aren't cooperating I will make you. Open the door or the next time your husband sees you will be when he finds your body in a shallow grave. "