Samantha was surprised how quickly she got the letter from her sister. She was even more surprised when she saw the amount on the gift card, and the note saying "If you need more, let me know." This was it. She was going to make a life changing decision, and once she did she couldn't turn back.

Seth had been trying to call her all day and no one answered. He could understand missing one call if she was in the shower or out getting the mail, but he had called multiple times throughout the day and she never picked up. He called his next door neighbor to see if maybe she had seen her. Maybe she was out back with Megan or they went out to the store and she hadn't been home, but Megan told him that she hadn't seen Samantha all day. She offered to go over and check on her, but Seth said it wasn't necessary. He came up with some excuse how he probably just kept missing her and said that he had only called three times, which was about ten times less than he actually called. He kept checking everything to see if he could find some kind of activity on any of his accounts, but he found nothing. By the early evening, he finally caved in and called Sarah to see if she had heard from her sister.

Sarah said she hadn't talked to Samantha in a few days and was immediately worried. She suggested calling the police to go and check on the house since neither of them were close enough to. He tried calming her down telling her that his next door neighbor already offered to do that, and that if she hadn't heard from Samantha he'd call his neighbor back and ask her to run over. He said he would call her back when he heard.

As soon as Sarah hung up the phone, she felt like something was wrong. Samantha would never just go missing for that long and not be heard from by anyone. Someone would have to know where she was, She started pacing back and forth in her living room staring at her phone waiting for Seth to call back when there was a knock at her front door.

This was it. Today was the day. Samantha had gone around the house gathering up the things that were hers, which wasn't much. She packed away her clothes into a suitcase, the ones that she brought with her, not the ones that Seth bought. She took the diamond ring and left it on the coffee table with a note that simply read "Goodbye" along with his house key. She grabbed her suitcase and backpack and started her walk into town. Once she got there, she went into a store to use their phone to call a cab to take her to the airport. She didn't by a ticket ahead of time because she didn't want to risk anything being tracked, so when she arrived she bought a ticket for the first available flight to Colorado. She kept her head down as she waited to board the plane hoping that no one would happen to recognize her. It wasn't until she was on the plane and it was up in the air she finally felt like she could breathe.

Once the plane landed, she grabbed her bag and found a phone where she could call for a cab to take her to her sister's apartment.

Sarah opened the door and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Sam! Thank God! What are you doing here? Seth called and said he hasn't been able to get a hold of you!" She said throwing her arms around her sister.

"Don't tell him I'm here, please." Samantha begged looking up at her sister. "Don't tell anyone I'm here. Not yet."
"Sam, what's going on?"

"I left him." Samantha replied walking passed her sister into her apartment.

"What? Why?" Sarah asked confused as she closed her door and followed Samantha.

"It's a long story. Just please promise me you won't tell anyone I'm here. I don't want mom and dad to know in case he calls them. I don't want anyone to know until I can figure things out." Samantha pleaded as she sat down on the couch.

Samantha was actually afraid to tell her sister. She was afraid that Sarah wouldn't believe her after how she had always talked to highly of Seth and because she had never seen the bad side of him. She was afraid she'd lose her sister because her Sarah would think she's lying. Or that Sarah would call Seth and tell her where she was and he'd take her back with him. She couldn't risk that right now. She wasn't sure what her next step was going to be, she was just so happy she had managed to get away.

"Can we talk about it tomorrow? I would just really like to get a shower after the flight and get some rest." Samantha asked. The whole "I'm tired" excuse had seemed to work on people lately.

"Sure. We can talk tomorrow." Sarah agreed not wanting to push her sister too hard. She could tell Samantha was really upset. "I'll go get you some towels."

"Would you mind grabbing me a blanket too? I'll just crash on the couch." Samantha asked.

"You don't have to sleep on the couch Sam."

"Its fine. It's late, and you didn't expect me to be here so I don't want to put you out anymore than I already have."

Sarah didn't argue, but she knew that something was wrong. They had shared a room growing up together, they had shared a bed together many times, tonight wouldn't have been any different. And she never put her sister out, they were always there for each other, whenever they needed it, and she knew that.

Samantha disappeared into the bathroom to take a long hot shower. When she got out, she was surprised to see Sarah sitting on the couch. She thought she would have gone to bed by now.

"Sam, we need to talk." Sarah said to her as she was holding a piece of paper in her hand. "This fell out of your backpack when you pulled some clothes out."

It was a note that Samantha had written before she left and stuck it in there before she left Seth's house. "If this is found and I am not, check the 9 acres. - Samantha Dennison"

Sleep wasn't something that happened that night. After that note was found, Samantha had to come clean. They had talked and cried into the early hours of the morning. Sarah wasn't sure why Samantha thought she wouldn't believe her. Samantha told her stories, showed her the bruises that she currently had, told her about how he was planning to move and she had no idea.

"He didn't even actually ask me to marry him. I woke up and the ring was there and he had posted it all over social media. You were the one who actually told me I was engaged." Samantha explained.

"What'd you do with it?" Sarah asked.

"I left it there."

"You didn't pawn it? You probably could have gotten some serious money for that thing!"

"And risk him being petty and dragging me to court over it just to find out where I am? No thanks."

Sarah's cell phone started to ring. It was very early in the morning, too early for any kind of friend to call. Both of their hearts sank to their stomach as they looked in the direction of the phone. Sarah picked it up and looked at it.

"I don't know this number." She said.

Samantha looked over at it. "It's Finn." She stated.

"Hello." Sarah answered shakily.

"Hello. I'm sorry, I know it's early, and you don't actually know me, but I'm a friend of your sister's. She called me from this number a few weeks ago, and I didn't know who else to call." Finn explained rapidly. "I'm worried about Sam. Her boyfriend took off last night seeming pretty upset claiming it was another family emergency. I've been trying to call Sam and see if everything was okay but she hasn't answered the phone. It's the second family emergency he's had in a short time period."

"I, I haven't heard from her." Was all Sarah could think to say.

"Do you think we should call the police or something? It's not like her to not answer, what if the emergency is about her?" Finn suggester.

"I'm sure if Seth left he knows what's going on and is with her." Sarah tried lying like Samantha asked her to.

"I'm not sure. He's been acting really weird since they got engaged." Finn stated.

Samantha too the phone from her sister. She appreciated very much her lying for her, but she was worried that Finn actually would call the police no matter what Sarah said.

"Finn, it's Sam. I'm okay. Don't call the police."

"Oh thank God." He sighed.

"Please don't call anybody. Don't tell anyone you talked to me. You haven't heard from me. I'll call you as soon as I can. And thank you."

She hung up the phone and put it down between them on the couch.

"Is that why you wanted to borrow money?" Sarah asked,

Samantha nodded. "After I found out about him buying the land, and how bad he beat me that one night, I knew I needed to leave. But I didn't have anything. I had gone through my savings helping out after I moved there. Then after that he just put me on his accounts so he could see everything I bought and did. I needed to get out. And I didn't want an interrogation from you or mom. I was desperate." Samantha explained.

A few hours had gone by. Sarah called out of work that day. Samantha finally fell asleep in Sarah's bed after the exhaustion of everything. Sarah on the other hand wasn't able to sleep. She was too angry and upset. She was also scared for her sister. She didn't know what the plan was from here, but she had to start talking to people soon before someone reported her missing. She was sitting on the couch by herself thinking when there was a knock at her front door.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she cracked open the door.

"I know she's here."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sarah lied.

"Really?" Seth asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Then why no "have you heard from her" or "did you find her"? She left my house and she has no other place to go. And you don't seem too worried about her missing anymore. I don't know how she got here, but I know she's here."

Sarah had never seen Seth like this. His friendly eyes were so cold and the way he spoke was so demanding.

"I don't know what to tell you. Whatever issues you two have that made her leave need to be worked out by you two. She doesn't tell me about that stuff." Sarah tried to convince him.

"If she's not here, then she's at your parents. Do you really want me to go over there and bring them into this?" He asked, almost as if he was threatening her.

Sarah just shrugged. "If you feel like that's what you need to do. But since no one has called me, I doubt she's there either." She said calling his bluff.

Seth leaned in close to her. "You know where she is. And at some point, one of you need to leave the apartment, and when you do, I'm coming in and taking her with me."

Sarah had tried to play dumb long enough, and she just couldn't stomach the man that was standing in front of her anymore.

"Look, if she left you, she obviously had a reason. If she doesn't want to go back with you, then she doesn't have to."

"Like hell she doesn't."

"She's leaving this apartment over my dead body." She tried to say as stern as she possibly could.

His eyes narrowed and he smiled at her. "If that's how you feel." He said, then turned to walk away.

Sarah quickly shut the door and locked it. She walked a little bit back into her apartment and saw Samantha sitting up in the bed.

"Thanks for trying." She said.

"Don't worry. He doesn't know for sure you're here because he didn't see you. Do you want to call the cops now?" Sarah asked joining her sister on the bed.

"If I do, it'll just be my word against his. And I think we both know how that will play out. I really just want him to go back home and let me live my life."

"It doesn't look like he wants to do that Sam."

Samantha sighed. "I know."