Hey guys! New chapter today! 30 chapters, that is something. I really appreciate all the attention of the last chapter received. I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I welcome all feedback, questions, and comments for this story. Your comments help me know whether to continue with this story arc. See you next Tuesday for more. Enjoy :)

Chapter 30

Declan clenches his hands into a fist, firmly gripping the steel knuckles tightly. He throws a punch at Dani's jaw, making her head fall back.

"No! Stop! You don't have to do this!" Emily begged. She was fighting against the ropes with all her force, pulling in hopes of the ropes going loose.

"Shut it!" Declan exclaimed.

Dani moved her jaw slowly, feeling the pain and tasting a similar taste of blood. She lifts her gaze to Emily. "Estoy Bien," she told her with a shaky voice. Emily looks at her and immediately feels distressed, having the urgent need in stopping Declan.

"Declan, she did nothing wrong. Let her go! I'm the one you want, not her," the agent told him. "I'm the one you want to harm."

"That was the original plan," he told her. "But when I noticed you took in a kid I just couldn't resist the temptation. You are the one who brought her into this," he said while pointing at Emily. He looks back at Dani, lifting her chin up. "You were better off a stray in the streets."

Dani looks at him with an angered expression. It wasn't the first time someone referred to her as a stray. It belittles and demeans her in every aspect. She hated that word with a passion and she was sure as hell she wasn't going to allow anyone to call her that. She spits out blood directly to his face. "Go fuck yourself," Dani mumbled. Declan quickly backs up and wipes his face while staring at Dani. She felt the full force of his punch landing on her stomach, making her groan in pain.

"Please stop! Just stop!" The agent implored.

Declan turns his head around and looks at Emily. "You failed, Emily. Ian won the bet and now you have to pay it," Declan said in a cold tone.

He turns his attention back to Dani and punches her again at her abdomen. Dani feels the strong impact but the only thing she does is clench her jaw as hard as she can. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing her agonizing in pain. Declan throws three more punches in the same area. He then throws a swing at Dani's shoulder, letting out a maniacal laughter. Dani felt her body throbbing in pain. She was breathing heavily, trying to handle the immense pain she was feeling. She didn't say anything, not a sound came out of her mouth.

Opposite from Emily, who was crying out, pleading for Declan to stop. "Stop! Direct your anger towards me! I'm the one you want to hurt!" The agent said with teary eyes. Her chest was burning but she was trying everything she could in order to not break down. Every punch Dani received would shatter her heart to pieces.

Declan looked at Emily and smirked. "That is exactly what I'm doing. Hurting you through her," he said. He strikes Dani with a final punch, landing at her chest. This punch knocked the air out of Dani, making her gasp for air. She starts to cough, feeling a sting in her rib cage. She whimpers, wanting the torture to end.

"Please stop!" Emily said in a sob. She couldn't control her feelings anymore. Watching her daughter getting hurt made her feel an extreme agony which she couldn't handle. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Is that you got?" Dani said with a shaky breath, looking at Declan with narrow eyes. "I expected something more interesting," she said while trying her best to keep her head up.

Declan looks at the teen and raises his brow in surprise. "You. You are more stubborn than I could have imagined," Declan said with a smirk. "You are either very stupid or brave. Strong-willed and determined. It's a damn shame your life had to be cut off so soon. You would have gone far in life."

"Leave her alone," Emily demanded. "She has been through too much already."

"You heard her. She is fine." Declan said while walking towards Emily. He crouched down eye-level at par with Emily. "You should worry about yourself, Emily," he said while taking out a gun that was tucked in his pants. He points the gun at her head. "Because I will make sure your death will be a painful one."

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The team had searched in four buildings. They had no luck in finding them.

"What if we don't find them," Reid said with worried eyes. Each funeral he went took a toll on him. He already buried Emily once. He didn't want to do it again, especially with Dani.

"Don't worry kid. We will find them even if it's the last thing we do," Rossi told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

They were clearing out the third building, checking out each floor for any sign of them. They didn't find anything. They just hoped the other group had more luck.

Tara, JJ, and Alvez were all stepping out of the second building, feeling slightly defeated knowing that they still haven't found them.

JJ was especially worried about this. She was scared of losing two very close people that she loved. Emily was her best friend and JJ loved Dani with all her heart. Knowing that both of them are in danger makes it a very difficult task.

She was scared of finding them too late.

Just then she received a call from Garcia. She answers and places her phone on speaker so that the rest of the group can hear.

"You're on speaker, Garcia," said the blonde agent.

"Okay, so after a few mental breakdowns on trying to track the location Emily received the call from, I finally pinpointed out the exact location of where the call was made. I sent the location to you all right now," said the tech analyst.

"Thank you," JJ said and hung up.

Alvez checks his phone and reads the location. "It's the building at the end of the street," he said.

"We will head out there first since we are closer," said JJ. "The rest of the team will catch up."

The three agents run down to the end of the street. They were all committed to saving them.

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Declan was holding the gun firmly, pointing at Emily. Emily glances at Dani, seeing her eyes filled with fear. She has never seen that level of fear reflected on Dani's eyes. A wave of guilt hits the agent knowing that the child will be scarred both physically and emotionally.

She then refocused her attention on Declan. Emily just stares at him with narrow eyes. Her heart rate was racing with anxiety but she wanted to look brave for Dani. Emily knew if she cracked, Dani would too.

"You know, agent. I think killing you right now wouldn't give me that much of a satisfaction," he said with a malicious grin. He lowers the gun down, no longer pointing at her. "Killing the kid sounds like a better option."

"No! Take me! I'm the one you want dead!" The brunette implored, using all her force to fight against the ropes she was tied up with. "Let her go!"

Declan kicks Emily at her stomach with a force which makes her groan in pain.

Declan walks standing next to Dani. He points the gun on the side of her head. All of his intention right now was to kill her.

Dani lifts her head up in a slow manner. She tilts her head, seeing the gun pointing directly at her. She feels the cold gun pointing at her. She stares at Declan showing no type of emotion.

"You see what you cause, Agent? This girl is going to die and it's all your fault. I guess it's in your second nature to ruin the lives of children," he said while looking at Emily. He pulls up his sleeve from his arm that is holding the gun, revealing a four clover tattoo. The same tattoo that Ian made a symbol of. "This tattoo represents everything my father built. It represents his power. You should have respected it," he stated while clenching the gun.

"Don't do this! She is just a kid!" Emily cried out.

"No. She isn't just a kid. This girl is something else," he told her. "Look at her. She is facing death itself and she doesn't flinch one bit. Any other kid would be begging for their life. She never fails to impress me."

"Please! Just leave her alone!" The agent begged. "You said it yourself, I am the one who ruined your life! Not her!"

"You dragged her into this mess, not me! If you would have minded your own business, none of this would have happened!" He said with full-blown anger. "You should have left my father alone. He did nothing wrong to you. In fact, he loved you, or at least he loved Lauren Reynolds. That was his mistake, letting his guard down. All because of you."

"He was a dangerous man! He did many horrible things throughout his life. He took away countless lives," she told him. "You are just trying to deny the truth."

"I am not denying shit! You are trying to wipe the dirt out of your hands because you know what I am saying is true," he said to her. Dani was attentively listening while staring at Declan's hand where he was holding the gun. She knew she had to keep him distracted long enough in order to avoid him pulling the trigger. In order to do this she had to know why he was doing this. "You took away my father. The only relative I had left in this world. All because of you," Declan said while biting his words. He directs the gun towards Emily, aiming directly at her.

Emily stares at him while he is pointing the gun at her. It isn't the first time she has had a gun aimed at her but this case was way different. She had her daughter with her. She knows how horrible the scene would look like if Declan pulled the trigger. She sees all the anger and hate Declan has towards her. Was it true? Did Emily really really destroy a young boy's life? She starts to question how she handled everything when it came to Doyle. Maybe her actions were selfish after all?

Dani looks at the scene and starts to panic. Shit! She thought to herself. She had to think of something and she had to think of something quick. Then something came to mind.

"You are right," the teen told Declan while looking at him. She tried her best in talking without a shaky voice. The fear mixed with the pain she was feeling made it hard to talk normally but she managed to sound convincing enough that she was confident. "Your life was all ruined because of her. She had no right in deciding what was best for you. If she really cared she would have left you with your father," she told him. "Every kid has a right to stay with their parents. No one else should determine that except them."

Declan looks at Dani and frowns. "How the hell would you know about this?" He questioned her.

"Well I guess since I know your story you should know mine. It is only fair," Dani replied. "I also had a pretty fucked up childhood. Hell, I'm technically still a child. After I lost my brother in a drive-by shooting, I only had my mom left. She was the only person in the whole world left for me. I loved her with all my heart but that didn't matter to CPS. They didn't give two shits about who I cared about. They decided to take me away from her. They never cared about what I wanted, only what they thought to be the best thing to do. Thanks to them I couldn't be with the person I loved the most. And now she is gone," Dani told him, sounding a bit hurt. She glanced at Emily who looked at her with sorry eyes. Dani bites her lip and looks back at Declan. "That's why I know what you feel. Our lives were ruined because of adults who think they know better."

"My father was the only person who I had left," Declan said while lowering the gun.

"And so was my mother," Dani told him, hoping he would lower the gun all the way. "That is why I understand your pain. It hurts… it hurts like a bitch knowing the person you love is gone."

"If you know how it feels then you know why I want to kill her," Declan told her. He raises the gun back up and points at Emily.

"Wait! Don't do that!" Dani exclaimed with her eyes wide open." Her plan wasn't working and she was running out of time. "You said it yourself, you want to make her suffer as much as possible. You will not accomplish that if you kill her right now."

"You are right about that," Declan said with a nod. "The only way to make her truly suffer is if I kill you first," he said while shifting the gun at the girl.

"No! Declan Don't do this!" Emily cried out.

"I saw my father die in front of me without being able to do anything to help him. I think it's fair to return the favor," Declan said.

"Don't!" Emily cried with tears streaming down her face.

Dani looked up at Emily one last time and managed to give her a small smile. She then closed her eyes and clenched her jaw when hearing the gun click.

"FBI! Don't move!"

Dani recognized the male voice. She opened her eyes and saw Luke, JJ, and Tara standing a few feet away from her. All three of them pointing their guns at Declan.

Emily has never felt so relieved when seeing her team arrive. She knew they were going to find them in order to free them. Part of her wanted to smile at all the joy she was feeling when seeing them.

But Declan still had Dani.

Declan takes a small step closer to Dani.

"You move one more inch and I swear I will blow your head off," Luke snapped, aiming his gun at Declan's head.

"Drop the gun now!" JJ states.

Declan glances at Emily. "Don't think you have won this, Emily," he told her.

"Drop it! You dare try anything else and you won't see what hit you!" Luke said while holding his gun with a firm grip.

"I think I'll take my chances," Declan said with a smirk. He looks at Dani and clenches his hand.

Pow!