Hi, everyone. It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry for my lack of updates – I hope this chapter makes up for it.

I hope you enjoy. :)

"Kelly, can't you drive any faster?"

"I'm driving as fast as I can without breaking any traffic rules," Kelly said, breathing in sharply through her nose. Beside her, on the passenger seat of her car, Gustavo sat, arms crossed tightly in front of him as he looked out the window at the cars they passed. As the car came to a stop in front of a red light, she heard him let out a groan, followed by the sound of him turning in his seat.

"This traffic is terrible," he mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We're never going to get there."

"We'll be there soon," Kelly told him, doing her best not to sound exasperated. She was clutching the steering wheel tightly with both hands, her knuckles white from the force. "I can't believe this is even happening," she found herself saying a moment later, her eyes locked on the light up ahead. "I can't fathom why someone would do something like this."

Beside her, Gustavo was quiet for a moment, which made her think he hadn't heard her, until she felt his eyes on her.

"They'd never mentioned his dad before," he said quietly, which was so unlike him, since he was always being so loud and constantly yelling. "I just… I never thought…"

"Yeah, me either."

The car started moving again as the light turned green and a silence fell upon them once more, until they reached the Palm Woods. No sooner had she parked the car in the parking lot that they both slipped out and began making their way towards the Palm Woods entrance. Outside, the sun was out and the weather was warm. It seemed like a perfectly normal day – only it wasn't.

They quickly made their way inside the lobby, into an elevator and towards Apartment 2J. Kelly felt her stomach twist up in knots as they stood outside the door, one hand hesitantly raised to knock on it. She turned to Gustavo then, a frown upon her face, and noticed he wore a similar expression to the one she imagined she had on her face.

Here goes nothing, she thought, before knocking on the door three times. It took no time for the door to swing open and for a familiar face to appear on the doorway.

She heard a sob come from the boy standing in front of them, before he threw himself into Kelly's arms, and then into Gustavo's, catching him off-guard. She watched as Gustavo hugged him back awkwardly, and a moment later, the boy stepped back, looking even smaller than he usually did.

"Carlos," she said in a soft voice, reaching with a hand towards him. "Are you okay?"

With a trembling lip, Carlos stepped back, shaking his head from side to side. He opened his mouth, as if to respond, but instead another sob slipped past his lips. He stepped away from the doorway awkwardly, leaving enough room for them to step into the apartment. Inside, Logan was sitting on the couch, looking in their direction. James was nowhere to be seen, but a man that looked to be in his fifties was sitting beside Logan, a hand on the teen's shoulder.

"Hi, nice to meet you," he said as he stood, extending a hand for Kelly to take, and then Gustavo's. "I'm Antonio, Carlos' dad."

"Nice to meet you," Kelly found herself saying as he shook his hand with a gentle grip. "Kelly Wainwright."

"Gustavo Rocque," Gustavo said once it was his turn. "I– uh, what happened exactly?"

With a nod, Antonio motioned towards the couch, where Gustavo and Kelly then proceeded to take a seat. He then walked to where Carlos was standing, motionless, and whispered something in his ear. Carlos gave a small nod at this, and walked out of the living room and towards their bedrooms.

"He's getting James," Antonio said, taking the seat in front of them.

No sooner had he said this that Carlos and James walked into the living room, James trudging behind Carlos, his hair a tousled mess.

Kelly watched them from the corner of her eye.

James sent a small wave in Kelly and Gustavo's direction before taking a seat beside Logan and pulling Carlos along with him.

"As I mentioned before… Kendall's father took him, along with Jennifer and Katie. Jennifer and Katie had supposedly gone out of town, so we weren't aware that he had kidnapped them, until today. As for Kendall… he disappeared this morning, from his bedroom.

"Prior to all of this, Kenneth – Kendall's father – showed up at the apartment, demanding to see Kendall. When he didn't get to, he tried getting a hold of him, and he even tried moving into the Palm Woods, in order to be at a close proximity to him. This morning, however, Kendall disappeared from his bedroom, and—"

"Could he have ran away?" Gustavo said, interrupting Antonio.

Antonio shook his head, handing the phone over to Gustavo. "I wouldn't recommend watching it here," he said, eyeing the three boys huddled together beside him, "but Logan got a text from him– a video and some photos. He has them, and he's asking for a million dollars in exchange to let them go."

"A million dollars?!"

Kelly cringed at the sound of Gustavo's voice. It was the first time he had yelled since they had found out about what had happened.

"Gustavo, calm down," she said, her hand moving to rest on his arm. "Just breathe," she told him, hoping that it would help, somehow.

She was sure Gustavo was about to yell again, when his eyes fell upon Carlos, James and Logan, who were sat, staring directly at him. They looked frozen in their spots, clutching at each other. Her heart tightened at the sight of them.

A frown fell upon his face, but he stood up with a start, one hand rubbing at the back of his neck. "We're gonna go watch the video," he said, turning to Kelly.

She rose with a sigh, offered the boys an apologetic look, and followed Gustavo towards the bathroom in the hallway. It wasn't until they were inside and the door had been closed behind them that he clicked play.

"We could try to escape."

"Escape?" Kendall raised an eyebrow at his sister, who nodded in response.

"We'd just have to get these things off our wrists first," she said, motioning to the ropes bounding her wrists together. "I could probably pick the lock."

"We have nothing to use to pick the lock, though."

"Actually… I should. I think I have a hairpin in my pocket."

"Katie, we can't do that. He'd… I don't even want to think about what he'd do if he were to catch us."

"We can't just sit by and do nothing," Katie said as she attempted to pull at the rope again. "He has Mom, and who knows what he'll do to her."

"I know." Kendall's voice was quiet, his eyes landing on Katie's wrists again. "You shouldn't do that. You're just gonna make them bleed even more. You could catch an infection. Let me try."

With a heavy sigh, Katie moved so that she was now sitting in front of Kendall, her knees bent at a weird angle. She extended her arms forward, gritting her teeth together as Kendall attempted to pull at the ropes without hurting her. It was impossible, though. The ropes were so tight from where she had pulled at them, that there was no way he could untie them without making it worse.

"What if you try untying mine?" Kendall said as he let go of the rope. "That might be easier."

"I could try." Katie looked uncertain, but she grabbed the rope around Kendall's wrists nonetheless and pulled at the knot.

"Just be careful not to make it tighter."

Katie nodded but said nothing, all her attention now on the task at hand.

"It's very tight," she said after about a minute of pulling at them. "I don't think I'll be able to untie it. Not like this."

"We'll have to think of something else," Kendall sighed, letting his hands fall to his lap.

"Just untie mine," Katie told him, pushing her hands towards him again.

"Katie, I don't want to hurt you."

"It's our only way out."

Looking hesitant, Kendall took Katie's hands in between his own, locking his gaze with hers. "Okay, but if it hurts too much you let me know, okay?"

"Okay."

And with that, he started to work on the rope, although getting it to budge was not easy, especially since he could barely move his own hands. He would stop every few seconds to look up at Katie, whose expression remained neutral for the most part, except for when he tugged tightly at the rope and her eyes would scrunch up in pain.

He wanted to stop, wanted to make all of this stop, but he knew they wouldn't be able to get out if he didn't manage to get Katie's wrists untied first.

It seemed like hours later when the rope finally let loose, and they both exhaled, both from surprise and relief. "Oh my God, I actually did it."

Katie grinned up at him and started working on trying to untie Kendall's wrists, which wasn't quite as hard as before, now that her hands were finally free.

Once the rope was loose enough, Kendall wiggled his hands out of the restraints, and then started untying the rope around Katie's ankles.

"We did it!" Katie whisper-shouted a few minutes later, standing up on wobbly feet. Kendall followed suit, and together, they made their way towards the door.

"Wait," Kendall said as he watched Katie stick her hand in her pocket to retrieve her hairpin. He then pressed his ear to the door, wanting to make sure there was no one on the other side. It wasn't until he was sure the coast was clear that he nodded in Katie's direction, and she pulled out her hairpin to stick inside the doorknob.

It was then that Kendall realized with a sinking feeling that they had no plan. He hadn't thought they'd make it this far, and he was sure Katie hadn't either.

"Katie, wait. We need to have some sort of plan."

"We find Mom. That's our plan."

"We can't just go out there, looking for Mom. We don't know where she could be. Not to mention that we don't know where they are." He knew he didn't have to specify who "they" were, as it was obvious the only other two people in the building besides their mother was their father and Trey – at least, to their knowledge.

"We'll figure it out once we find her," Katie said, her eyes widening as the door gave a soft click as it unlocked. She turned to Kendall then, her face looking ashen.

He swallowed hard, his hand on the doorknob. "We better move fast," he said, before opening the door and stepping foot outside, looking one way, and then the other. Outside, the hallway was empty, but he could hear Trey's voice coming from somewhere down the hall, to his left.

Ignoring the way his heart hammered in his chest, he took a hold of Katie's right hand and pulled her along, praying that they wouldn't get caught before they were able to find their mother and escape.

"Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer. Did you think I'd never find you again?"

She squirmed where she sat as his hand came into contact with her cheek and tried to look in the other direction. His hold on her tightened, though, as his fingers wrapped around her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. She felt sick at the sight of him; wanted nothing more than to hurt him for what he had done to Kendall years ago.

"Answer me when I talk to you!" he yelled when he got no response from her, making her flinch.

"How-How did you get out of jail?" she stammered, pulling her lip in between her teeth.

He grinned as his hold on her loosened and stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest. "Behaving well can do wonders."

"You're a monster." The words slipped from her lips almost involuntarily. She didn't even get a chance to move away as he grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking it back. Pain shot through her skull, and she opened her mouth to scream, but the only thing that came out was a gasp of surprise.

"The only monster here is you," he whispered, his face so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath on her ear. "A monster for allowing them to take me away."

His hold on her disappeared after a moment. She went to rub at her head, but as she did, he slapped her hand away and sent a glare in her direction.

"I want you to do something for me."

"I'm not doing anything for you."

"Really now?" He smirked and pulled out his cellphone then, scrolled through it for a few seconds, and then placed it on her lap. "I want you to call those stupid brats and tell them that everything is fine, but that if they don't hurry up with the money, bad things will start to happen."

She opened her mouth to respond, but he spoke before she could, as if having read her mind. "If you don't, Kendall and Katie die."

She swallowed hard, her hand trembling as she grabbed the phone and dialed the number on the screen. She immediately recognized it as Logan's.

She then pressed it to her ear, waiting as it rang, and inhaled sharply once it stopped. The voice that came from the other end was one she immediately recognized.

"Who's this?"

"An-Antonio." She felt tears well up in her eyes, the trembling in her hand intensifying. "It's– It's Jennifer."

"Jennifer, oh my God. Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I-I can't. I—"

The phone was all of a sudden snatched from her hand. She watched, with a sinking feeling, as Kenneth put the phone on speaker, his expression unreadable.

"Jennifer? Jen, is everything alright?"

"Hello, Antonio. It's been quite a while, hasn't it?"

There were a few seconds of silence before Antonio spoke again. "You bastard. What have you done to them?"

"Oh, nothing… yet."

"I don't believe that for a second."

"If you won't believe me, then ask Jennifer." The phone was then extended towards her. She looked at it for a moment, unsure of what to say, until she remembered Kenneth's threat from just a couple of minutes before.

"I'm-I'm fine, Antonio. Just… Please just hurry. If you don't… If you don't, he'll hurt us."

"Jennifer, listen, we're going to get you out of there, one way or another. I promise."

Without giving her a chance to respond, Kenneth took the phone off speaker, pressed it to his ear, and said, "The clock is ticking," before hanging up the phone.

Antonio stared at Logan's phone, feeling his blood begin to boil. He placed the phone back on the kitchen counter, and then turned to the group watching him, expecting him to say something.

"What happened?" Carlos asked, breaking the silence that has settled in the room. "Is Mama Knight okay?"

"I… I don't know." Antonio signed, running a hand through his hair. "She said she was, but I don't believe that. I think he made her say that." He moved to take a seat on the couch, letting his head fall into his hands.

"What did he say?" This time, it was James who had spoken.

"Not much, but we need to try tracking those phones, or else I don't know what we're going to do. Jennifer said that if we don't hurry, he'll hurt them."

"As if he hasn't already," James said with a roll of his eyes.

"Kelly, you said you had a way to track their phones?" Antonio asked, choosing to ignore James' comment.

Kelly nodded from where she sat next to Gustavo on the couch, Katie's laptop open in front of her. "I think so," she said as she started typing. "I can't guarantee it'll work, though. The GPS has to be turned on for us to be able to track it. If it's turned off, we won't be able to. It'll only let me track it up to the point it was turned on."

"I hope this works," Logan said, moving to sit beside Kelly. It was the first thing he had said in a while.

"Me too."

As they waited for Kelly to try to track the phones, Antonio moved to where Carlos was seated, head leaning against the couch's pillows, eyes locked on the ceiling.

"Hey, mijo," he said softly as to not startle him.

"Papi," he choked out, his lip quivering, "I'm scared." Carlos' voice was clogged with emotion, his eyes filling with tears in a matter of seconds.

"We're going to get him back," Antonio said, placing a hand on Carlos' knee to stop his leg from bouncing up and down. It was a nervous habit Carlos had – one he had had since he was very little.

"And if we don't?"

"We can't think like that."

Carlos nodded but looked unconvinced, so Antonio wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him to his side.

"I think I got something," Kelly said, sounding hopeful. She turned the laptop to face them and pointed at the screen. "The GPS in Katie's phone has been turned off, it seems, but the last place where it was turned on was at a place that's about fifteen miles from here."

"That could be where he has them."

"We can't know for sure right now," Kelly said, "but it appears to be an abandoned building, so there's a chance it could be."

"I'll call the police department." Antonio rose to his feet, with Carlos following soon after.

"Can I go with you?"

"Absolutely not," Antonio said, looking at Carlos, and then at James and Logan. "The three of you are staying here."

"But, Papi—"

"I mean it, Carlos. I'll handle this, alright?"

"But—"

"You gotta trust me."

"I do," Carlos said, his gaze moving to the ground.

"Then trust me when I say I'll bring them home," Antonio said, clutching on to Carlos' shoulders.

"Okay." Carlos pressed his lips together, his shoulders relaxing. "But, Papi?"

"Yes?"

"Please be careful," he said, meeting his father's kind, warm brown eyes.

Antonio smiled softly, pulling Carlos into a hug. "I always am."

Well… What do you think will happen now? Do you think Kendall and Katie will get to their mom on time? Or do you think they'll get caught? Do you think the location they tracked Katie's phone to is actually where they're at? And, most importantly, do you think the police will get there before it's too late? So many questions, and yet no answers… yet. ;) Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough.

Would love to hear what you all thought, though!

~ BigTimeRush-BTR :)