Hey guys! Sorry it's been such a long time but I've been super busy. Anyway, I'll be finishing up this story in the next couple of weeks so I hope you're all still interested in reading. This chapter is a little short but I'll add the next one in the next few days.

...

Serena frowned when she got Nate's note. She really didn't have much to say to him but if he needed her then of course she'd be there. She hopped in a cab and headed uptown, unsure of exactly what was happening. All she knew was Nate said he needed to talk to her, she assumed it was something regarding her parents. Everyone in the UES knew they were headed for divorce.

The cab stopped suddenly. "It's still a couple more blocks that way, but that's a pedestrian bridge and it'd take me 20 minutes to go around."

Serena nodded politely and handed him the fare. She hopped out of the cab and walked across the bridge, in the direction the cab driver pointed. She looked around and found it was eerily deserted. She knew Nate liked to take pensive walks through the park but this was more like a forest. She walked for a while and was about to turn back when something caught her eye. There it was, Nate's scarf hanging on the tree branch. She'd been trying his phone and getting no response, seeing his scarf made her cheeks warm.

"Nate? Where are you?" She walked carefully over the mud and reached out for Nate's scarf. "I found your –" Serena felt something pressed over her mouth harshly and she struggled to break free from the headlock. She saw a black hooded figure, the same one that hit Nate with a car all those months ago…and then everything went black.

…

Nate got out of the shower after the gym. He reached for his phone and saw 8 missed calls, all from Serena. He returned the call, voicemail. "Hey Serena…I just saw your calls. I can't say I'm not surprised but I'm glad you decided to talk to me. So just give me a call back and we can…oh you just sent me a text. Bye."

Nate smiled and hung up the phone. He clicked on Serena's text and his heart stopped when he saw a picture. It was Serena and she looked…he couldn't bring himself to finish his thought. He called frantically until someone on the other end picked up. He was desperate. "Please don't hurt her. I'll give you anything. Money, a lot of money. Just tell me how to keep her safe and I'll do it, anything you ask."

Nate heard a distorted reply from the other end. "Wait for directions. Don't call the police."

Nate hung up the phone with trembling hands and sent a text to both Chuck and Blair: 911

Blair burst into the Archibald residence with Chuck in tow. Blair felt the color leave her cheeks when she saw Nate trembling. He looked at them, his expression bordering on insanity. "They have her. They have Serena."

Chuck snatched his phone away and looked at the picture. He tried to keep his expression neutral. He cleared his throat. Blair looked over his shoulder and let out something that sounded like a mixture of a whimper and a gasp.

Chuck paced the room. "G won't hurt."

Nate glared at him. "How do you know!"

"Because the whole point on this is that he…or she likes to play games, right? Serena is a main character. You don't just get rid of the main character, there'd be no game."

Blair shook her head, unconvinced. "But there's four of us. What if they feel like sacrificing one…might…" She gulped.

Chuck shook his head. "No. G knows that whatever happens to one, happens to all of us. Without one of us, there might as well be none of us."

Nate took a deep breath. "I was told to wait for directions."

Chuck nodded. "They're just trying to build up the suspense. G knows your first move would be to call us. G is waiting until we're all playing to make the next move."

Chuck pulled out his phone and texted Serena's, because he knew that it wouldn't be Serena reading his text at all. "We're game. The ball is in your court. Your move."