A/N: Hey guys! So with college being absolutely insane and the last couple weeks extremely hard due to the loss of a good friend in a car accident, I have not had time to get any more ahead of this story, but I did not want to make you guys wait any longer and I know reviews will make me smile. So here you are! And please drive safe, everyone.

There was a gunshot outside the mansion, followed by a piercing scream.

"Fuck!" Troy hissed as he pushed Gabriella away and sprang up, pulling a shirt back on as he paced. He paused and looked hard at Gabriella, causing her to tremble a bit. She watched as his eyes showed the inner argument he was having until he finally came to a conclusion. "Get up," he barked, roughly pulling the cuffs off of her wrists and pulling her to him. "You try to escape, I won't hesitate to kill you." Gabriella swallowed thickly as she let Troy drag her out of the room and down a long flight of stairs. Her eyes explored as she was pulled along, seeing the kitchen and another room branching off the main lounging room.

"What the hell?" Troy's yell snapped her back to reality quickly as they halted just inside the back door. "Kels!"

At his call, Kelsi, and another dark-skinned girl that Gabriella didn't recognize appeared at the door, guns in hand. They both looked at him, confused for a moment until realization dawned and they both looked at each other sheepishly.

"It's not what you think!" the dark-skinned girl said, quickly putting her gun back in the belt loop of her jeans as she gauged the expression on Troy's face.

"You mean it wasn't…" Troy trailed the question and let out a sigh of frustration, pushing Gabriella away so hard she almost fell to the ground as he started to pace.

"No, it wasn't them, her, we promise," the girl continued, her eyes flicking toward Gabriella sympathetically as the Latina crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself.

"Relax, cous," Kelsi said, trying to lighten his mood a bit. "We had an easy warning shot at Lil' S. He's only got three more days to pay up and we thought he was out of town. The scream was some prostitute he was with. Do you really think Tay or I would scream like that?"

"Don't worry, they don't know anything about her," the girl Kelsi referred to as Tay assured Troy, nodding at Gabriella. "Speaking of, care to introduce us to your new friend, Troy?" Troy groaned in response.

Gabriella had been watching the exchange timidly from where she had been pushed to and was so caught up in the mystery of hes, shes, and theys that she failed to notice Troy reaching for her until she was against his chest.

"Behave," he whispered in her ear before looking up at the girls and the other guys who had wandered into the room. "Guys, this is Gabriella. This is Taylor, Jason, Chad, Zeke, and you've already met Kelsi." Gabriella looked at each of them as their name was said, but she could not muster up even a hint of a smile, not that she wanted to. Everyone else but Kelsi acknowledged the introduction The redhead started to walk closer when Troy turned his glare on her.

"Aww, come on, Troy, she's scared. Let her get used to us a little bit," Kelsi pleaded, trying to get through to him. It failed this time, however, when she watched Troy move his mouth to Gabriella's ear and then she scampered up the stairs when he let her go.

"Kels, it's been a day. She needs to learn to behave and not to mess with this or anything," Troy said in a monotone.

"But did you really have to send her back to your room?" Kelsi walked past him toward the couch, but not before punching his shoulder. She shook her head as she sat down in Jason's lap and leaned up to kiss him.

"Really, man? Get a room!" Chad yelled, disgusted but turned on at the same time as he turned toward Taylor hopefully.

"In your dreams, Danforth," she rolled her eyes as she took a bottle of water from Zeke and sat down next to the couple. The playful banter amongst the friends and mobsters ceased abruptly when their leader slammed his fist into the desk against the wall and spun on them.

"Dude, you good?" Jason asked, parting from Kelsi long enough to form a sentence of sorts.

"Of course he's good. He's great!" Kelsi intervened before Troy could utter a word and she winked at her cousin, who cocked his head at her before narrowing her eyes when he realized what she was insinuating.

"No way, no way in hell!" he retorted in a loud voice, his gaze not leaving hers even as Taylor began talking.

"Then look one of us in the eye and tell us that fist in the desk was not about the fact that she could easily use her to get to you, Bolton." She had a smug look on her face once she picked up what her friend was putting in her leader's head. Meanwhile, Jason and Chad were just watching the conversation, having inklings, but still confused. They all watched as Troy paused at each of them, trying to talk each time and failing. Then he turned and slammed his fist into the desk once more.

"That means nothing! She means nothing, she's just a fresh piece of ass that happens to be ten times hotter than all the rest," he explained in a semi-yell.

"Troy, she's different than all the others!" Kelsi yelled back, leaving Jason's lap and moving so she was inches away from her cousin.

"She's not! She's just some whore who had it coming. And she's mine! No one else's!" He lifted his hand as Kelsi challenged him with her eyes before spinning and stalking towards the in-house gym. As the door shut behind him, she turned back to the other three still sitting down.

"Something's definitely up," Chad smirked in the direction of his best friend, finally catching on as Taylor and Kelsi nodded in agreement.

"You mean with Zeke? Because I don't know where Zeke went," Jason commented, half-clueless, but pointing out a fact that the rest of them had failed to notice.

Meanwhile, Gabriella was sitting against the edge of the bed, trying to ignore how high she jumped each time she heard a bang below her. And the yelling. The yelling scared her. Not even because it brought back Troy from the first time he had come in the room, but because it was giving her flashbacks. Terrible, awful flashbacks that she wanted nothing more to forget about. She just wanted it all to go away. She wanted to be out of this house, out of this gang, out of Troy Bolton's clutches. She just wanted everything to go back to how it was before the dreams started plaguing her. Better yet, back to how it was before she met him.

She let out a small shriek as she heard an extra loud bang and brought her knees to her to her chest, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried and failed to stop the tears from leaking out.

"You're just a stupid slut! A stupid slut who is begging me for this, and you know it! Just admit it, Gabi! You want this to happen and there's nothing you can do to stop it!"

"No! Please, p-please I'm begging you n-not to!" Her cries were got louder and louder as sobs wracked her body.

"Shut up!" The sight of the knife glistening in the dim light was enough to shut her mouth, but not enough to stifle her pitiful cries.

She gasped as a strong arm pulled her back down the bed she had just scampered to the back of, trying to get away but knowing it was no use. She wasn't strong enough. Anything could happen. She let out another shriek as her clothes were ripped off and she kicked out before she saw the knife coming closer and closer…

Gabriella shook her head quickly, feeling the cold sweat all over her body from the flashback she had just encountered inside herself. All she wanted to do was run to Martha's room and be comforted, but she knew there was no chance of that. There was no chance of comfort ever again as long as she was here. A prisoner, a possession. She was Troy Bolton's doll, to do with what he pleased whether she liked it or not. She was no longer a person, she was his, and it had been made clear she was his by what he had whispered in her ear earlier before growling at her to get to her room.

"Why don't I know?!" She wailed before clapping a hand over her mouth and praying Bolton didn't hear her. Why don't I know? I'm terrified of what this man could do to me, why don't I know if his eyes are friend or foe yet?! He is the same person as his eyes, what the hell is wrong with me?" Gabriella continued to berate herself as her tears fell faster and harder, to the point where she could feel the energy draining out of her. She was never going to get out of here in one piece. All she could do now was hope that Martha and Lena would be okay without her and hope they Troy wouldn't be coming back to his room any time soon.

EOJEOJEOJEOJEOJ

"What do you mean he already has her?!" a female voice yelled loud enough for anything within a mile radius to hear.

"She's just a girl-" another voice began before the same one cut it off.

"That girl was our ticket to finally bringing Bolton to his knees!" she cried, looking at the people crowded around her.

"We don't know that for sure," a third voice reasoned. "For all we know, she really is just another one of his whore girls. She could mean nothing to him."

"You're right," the upset female conceded after taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. "The question now is, how do we find that out?" Everyone paused to ponder for a moment before she snapped her fingers. "You, you can get close, and I think you know what to do." She winked to one of the guys in front of her as she said this.

"I'm on it, babe. It's a surefire way to know just how much this one means to him," the boy responded.

"The rest of you, get down to the dock! There's a shipment coming in and I want my pick before Bolton gets it under his lock and key. Go!"