Hey, guys. I apologize for how long it's taken me to get this chapter up. I know I keep saying that, but I really did mean to have it up sooner. I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Thank you so much for all the support you all have given this story, and for being patient, even when it takes me months to update. It's really appreciated.

Even after Kendall's father had been locked behind bars, there had been countless nights in which he had awakened screaming, in a cold sweat, and unaware of his surroundings. These nights were the worst. They were the nights in which he would relive the nightmare his father had put him through – the beatings and the pain that seemed to be never-ending.

These nights were the ones in which his mother would run into his room, frantic and scared, with Katie walking slowly behind her, her eyes wide with fear. She would then sit on the edge of his bed and try to coax him out of his panic-filled state, out of the darkness that seemed to grab onto him with an iron grip.

It never really worked.

After a while, he would calm down. Sometimes it would take a few minutes, perhaps even close to an hour, but eventually, his sobs would quiet down to whimpers and his breathing would even out.

But the pain never truly stopped.

It lingered in the back of his mind and would creep up on him from time to time. Most of the time it would happen in the middle of the night, but other times it would happen when he didn't expect it to – like when him and his friends were playing and would throw playful banter at each other, or when his mom would get upset and speak a little too loudly, causing him to cower back in fear. It was little things like that that would set him off and cause him to feel ashamed, even though he had been told before that it was normal for him to feel that way.

Then there were the nightmares that didn't involve him getting hurt, but rather his loved ones. His best friends, his mom and little sister getting hurt, especially. Those were the ones that truly struck him to the core.

The fear of his loved ones getting hurt was what had kept him quiet for so long. It was the reason he could not, under any circumstance, be honest about the fact that his father was abusing him for years.

Now, as he stared at the picture that was being displayed to him through his father's cellphone screen, his heart plummeted to his stomach. He felt as if everything around him had come to a complete stop. He stared at the picture, blinking several times, hoping that if he did that, the picture would eventually vanish from his sight. But it was still there, every single time.

He gulped, his throat feeling as if someone had forced him to swallow sand, as he stared up at the man standing in front of him. Anger boiled in his veins as he bit hard on his bottom lip, his hands forming into fists on either side of him.

"Where are they?" he asked, his voice wavering as he stared up at his father. As the man's lips tugged upwards into a smile, Kendall's blood boiled. "Where. Are. They?" he asked once more, this time his tone harsher than the first time he had spoken the words out loud. The fear that he had been feeling for himself just minutes before had now turned into fear for his little sister and his mother, as well as anger. Anger over the fact that this man had now gone after his family – after two of the most important people in his life. Anger because he was now smiling, as if this was all just some silly game to him, while it was tearing Kendall up on the inside.

The smile on his father's face vanished as he stood, locking his phone and stuffing it back into his pocket. He shrugged as he started rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet. "That's none of your business," he said angrily.

"It is my business!" Kendall yelled, no longer being able to hide the anger in his voice or caring about what would happen if he talked back to his father. "They're my family!"

"So am I."

Kendall scoffed, his nails digging into the heels of his hands as he tightened his fists. "No you're not," he said angrily. "You never have been. You never will be."

Pain enveloped him only a second after the words had slipped past his lips. He closed his eyes tightly, biting hard on his bottom lip in an attempt to not cry out loud. It took him a moment to realize that his father had kicked him in the stomach, succeeding in knocking the air right out of him. He could feel the tears gathering in his eyes, but he held them back. He wasn't about to give his father the satisfaction of seeing him cry because of him.

"Never speak to me like that again. Do you hear me?"

Kendall nodded through the pain. His eyes were still closed tightly. He had a feeling that if he opened them the tears would come pouring out immediately, so doing that was definitely not a good idea.

"Now..." His father paused. Even with his eyes closed, Kendall could tell that he was smiling. "I have a proposal for you."

Hearing this, Kendall's eyes snapped open, though they remained glued to the floor as his father continued to speak. "I'll let them go if you do what I tell you."

Even though Kendall already had a feeling that he wasn't going to like whatever it was that he was going to have to do, he looked up, his full attention now on the man before him. "I'll do anything," he said, his stomach churning at his own words. "Just please let them go."

He didn't care if he was begging anymore. He didn't care about what he was going to have to do. All he wanted was for Katie and his mom to be home. He wanted them to be safe and away from harm's way.

"I want to take a video of you," his father said as he started pacing around the room, "which I am going to send to your little friends. In it, I want you to tell them that I won't let you go unless they give me a million dollars."

"Will you?"

"What?"

"Will you let me go?" Kendall asked, slumping in his seat.

His father grinned as he came to a stop in front of him, causing Kendall to lean as far back into his seat as he possibly could. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Kendall blinked up at him, his mouth shut tightly in a line. He watched as his father turned in his heels and walked back in the direction of the door.

"Wait," he said as his father stood near the door that led into the room, his hand on the door handle. "How do I know you'll let my mom and Katie go? For all I know, you could just be saying that without actually meaning it."

"I guess you'll just have to trust me."

Not even five seconds later, he was alone again, which he was glad about because being in the presence of his father made him want to throw up. His head slumped forward as a sob managed to make its way up his throat. He blinked rapidly, but his eyes were soon stinging, and no later than that, his cheeks had grown damp.

This was all his fault. If it wasn't for him, his mother and sister would not have gotten kidnapped. If it wasn't for him, none of this would have happened. He hated himself. He hated that this was his life – that for whatever reason, his father hated him so much that he wanted to make his life hell, and he had succeeded.

He didn't understand why this was happening, or why any of this had happened to begin with. He knew his father hated him – he had made it very clear to him on countless occasions. Whether it was through verbally telling him that he'd never wanted him, or through physically harming him, he had made the message loud and clear for Kendall.

He wasn't wanted.

He wasn't loved.

He was nothing.

Logan was pacing back and forth again, so much so that James wouldn't have been surprised if he were to create a hole into the wooden floor because of it. He watched him from where he sat on Logan's bed, his legs pulled up to his chest, back leaning against the headboard.

Carlos was sitting beside him, with his phone still pressed against his ear. James' gaze would move from Logan to Carlos, and then back to Logan, as he awaited to hear what Carlos' dad had to say about what had happened. He could only hope and pray that they would find Kendall soon, alive and unharmed, though he had a feeling that was too much to ask for.

"What did he say?" he asked as soon as he saw Carlos lower his phone onto his lap.

"They'll be here in a few minutes," Carlos said in a soft tone, turning his head towards him, "to see if there's any kind of evidence that will lead them to find Kendall."

James nodded, pulling his bottom lip in between his teeth. He had a feeling they wouldn't find Kendall as soon as he was hoping for.

"I hate this."

It was Logan who had spoken this time as he plopped down on his bed in between the two of them.

"They'll find him," James said, reaching over and placing a hand on Logan's shoulder.

Logan turned towards him then, eyes red and puffy, mouth slightly open as he tried to speak, but it was as if the words got caught in his throat, leaving him unable to say them out loud.

"They will," James insisted, already knowing what it was that Logan had been wanting to say. You don't know that. He could practically hear the words in Logan's voice echoing in his head. And it was true — he didn't know that. He didn't know anything, none of them did.

"I should've never left him alone."

"Logan, no." Carlos scooted closer towards Logan, bringing one arm to wrap around his shoulders. "This is not your fault."

"But it is!" Logan shouted as he shrugged Carlos' arm away and stood back on both feet. "If I hadn't left him alone, he'd probably still be here."

"If you hadn't left Kendall alone, he probably would've taken you, too," James pointed out.

"But maybe I could have done something! Maybe I could have stopped him!"

"Logan..."

"No!" By now, Logan was pulling at his hair and he looked as if he was ready to burst into tears. "I promised him I'd never leave him," he whispered, blinking rapidly. "I... I broke that promise."

Carlos opened his mouth to speak, but as he did so, the doorbell rang. He looked back towards the bedroom's entrance, and then to James and Logan. "That must be my dad," he said quietly as he stood. "It's not your fault," he told Logan, looking him in the eye, before walking out of the room.

Logan stared after him, and then lowered himself onto his bed slowly, moving so that he was sitting beside James.

"It's not," James whispered, even though he knew that their words probably did little to convince Logan.

"I just hate this whole thing," Logan said quietly. "I just want him to be home. I just want him to be safe."

"I know," James said as he pulled Logan closer with one arm. "He will be soon."

James and Logan both looked up as Carlos walked back into the room, followed closely behind by his dad and an officer from the LA police department.

"I'm so sorry, boys," Officer Garcia said as he stood in front of them. His voice was soft and filled with sorrow. "I promise, we will do everything we can to find him." He looked at all three of them as he said this.

"If anyone can find him, it's you, Papi," Carlos said as he stared up at his dad.

Officer Garcia smiled softly, but the smile on his face was gone almost instantly. "I'm gonna have to ask you guys a few questions, though, regarding what happened."

"Okay."

They all watched as Officer Garcia pulled a small notepad from his pocket, along with a pen.

"Alright, so what happened exactly?"

Logan let out a shuddery breath, realizing he was the one who would have to do most of the talking, since he was the last one to be with Kendall.

"We're not really sure," he said. "He had nightmares most of the night, so neither of us really managed to get much sleep. It was around seven when Carlos and James came into the room, so I... I walked out of the room to talk to them and shut the door behind me."

"Then we came into the room," Carlos said, gesturing towards himself and James, "but he was gone."

"Did you notice anything odd?" Officer Garcia asked as he wrote something down on his notepad.

"The window was open," Carlos responded. "That's when I knew something was off, because Logan and Kendall never open the window. Logan hates it."

"Is that the only thing that was off?"

"As far as we could tell," James said.

"Do you think it's possible Kendall could've left on his own?"

"I thought that at first," Logan said, "but I'm not so sure anymore. Carlos said he would've at least left us a note, and I think he would have. Kendall's not careless. He would've thought about doing that."

Officer Garcia nodded, understanding where the boys were coming from. "We need to search the room. Would you boys mind stepping out for a bit?"

James, Carlos and Logan looked at each other, before the three of them got up one by one.

"We'll find him," Carlos' dad promised as he noticed the worried expression displayed on the boys' faces.

Logan was pulled into a hug by Officer Garcia just as James and Carlos walked towards the bedroom doorway. "Please do," he whispered with tears in his eyes. "Please bring him home."

"Are you ready?"

Kendall swallowed thickly as his father walked back into the room, his shoes echoing in the otherwise quiet room. He watched with tired eyes as the other man flicked a switch that was near the door, filling the room in dim lighting, and shut the door behind him. In his hand was a camera, which Kendall assumed he was going to use to record him.

He nodded slowly, even though he was anything but ready.

"Alright, so this is how this is gonna go." His father smiled down at him, causing Kendall's stomach to churn. "You're going to look into the camera and explain what I told you. You're going to tell them that I want a million dollars in cash, by Sunday, or I'm not letting you go, ever."

"But Sunday's only two days away," Kendall pointed out. "There's no way—"

"That's not my problem."

There was no way James, Carlos and Logan would be able to get a million dollars in two days. No way. It was too much money and he knew it, and his father probably did, too.

"Why..." Kendall blinked back tears, turning his gaze to the floor. "Why are you doing this?"

"I already told you why."

"Mom and Katie did nothing to you! I don't... I don't understand why you're doing this to them. You could've taken me, only me. You didn't have to bring them into this!"

His father only continued to smile as he lifted the camera, aiming it in Kendall's direction. "If you don't stop talking back to me, I will never let any of you go," he said through gritted teeth. "Now do as I say, before I change my mind."

Kendall bit on his bottom lip, hard, until he tasted copper. He looked up at the camera, his eyes suddenly filling with tears of anger.

He watched as his father turned the camera on, and it wasn't until then that he spoke again, his voice shaky, eyes teary, and heart heavy.

Once it was all over, his father left once again, only this time, he left the light on. For a moment, Kendall sat hunched over, his head hanging forward, expecting him to return. But after a few minutes passed and that didn't happen, he lifted his head to look around the room. The room wasn't that big, maybe only a bit bigger than his bedroom at home. On the walls on either side of him were boxes stacked up together. He searched the walls for a window or any other kind of opening that he could escape from, but there was none. As far as he could tell, there was only the door in front of him, which he could not escape from, since his father would lock it every time he walked out of the room. Not to mention that his legs were tied to the chairs' legs, and his wrists were locked in place to the arms of the chair. There was no way he'd be able to leave on his own.

Then there was the issue with his mother and sister. He didn't know what would happen if he were to somehow escape. He had no idea where they were, so finding them would surely be a struggle, unless they were in the same place he was. But he didn't know that for sure, and he wasn't about to risk them getting hurt because of him.

Not again. Not if he could help it.

I hope you guys enjoyed. Let me know what you guys thought of the chapter. :) And thank you for reading. :)

~ BigTimeRush-BTR :)