I do not own the Mortal Instruments or any characters/references.

He stood behind Jordan, staring over his shoulder at the computer monitor where the phone records were pulled up.

"The only incoming call from the past few days is from a Jocelyn Fray," Jordan said.

Jace's brow furrowed. Clary's mom couldn't have gotten her to leave. There had to be someone else. "What about outgoing calls?" he asked.

Jordan shook his head. "There weren't any."

Sighing, Jace racked his brain. "What about Clary's cellphone records? Can you access those?"

Jordan clicked a few buttons and typed a few codes in before the screen switched to a different list of calls. "Only a bunch of incoming calls from Verlac. But none of them were answered."

Jace felt the urge to give up. All the evidence pointed to Clary leaving on her own free will. But there was something off, something that he was missing. He just couldn't place his finger on it.

Clary examined herself in the mirror. Her bruises had returned, but this time they were worse. Sebastian had increased the force and frequency of his beatings. It was like she couldn't do anything right anymore; every little thing set him off. She didn't show enough gratitude or love. She didn't speak in the right tone of voice. She didn't wear appropriate clothing. He had also placed more restrictions on her. She was no longer allowed to have a job. She wasn't allowed to leave the apartment or have people over without him present. She wasn't even allowed to make phone calls or write emails without his permission.

She glanced at the clock. Sebastian would be home soon, which meant she needed to start dinner for him. She walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen right as the phone next to the sink began to ring. She stared at it, debating on whether or not to answer. Sebastian wouldn't allow her to make phone calls, but he never said anything about answering them.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Clary?" Luke's voice came through the speaker. "Glad you answered."

"Oh. Hey, Luke. What's up?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Not a lot, kiddo. Just wanted to check up on you. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Everything's perfect," she lied.

"Clary, don't lie to me. Why are you back with Sebastian? Did he threaten you if you didn't come back?"

She sighed heavily. "No, Luke. I came back to him because I missed him. He didn't threaten me. Besides, he's changed. He's not how he used to be."

"You're lying, Clary."

"No, I'm not, Luke." She sounded to defensive even to her own ears.

"Oh, really? Then why hasn't anybody heard from you in the past two weeks? How come nobody's seen you around like they normally do? Clary, I know something's wrong. Why won't you just tell me?"

She scrambled to think of an excuse. "I- I've just been really busy with planning the wedding and everything. I haven't had much time for socializing." The sound of the front door being thrown open and slammed closed echoed through the apartment causing Clary to almost drop the phone. "I have to go now, but I'll try to talk to you soon. Bye, Luke," she rushed out.

She hung up the phone and turned around right as Sebastian entered the kitchen. He looked at her with angry eyes. "Who were you talking to?" he demanded.

"Nobody," she said, trying to feign innocence.

"My dearest Clarissa, I heard you talking to someone and you're standing right next to the phone. I'm going to ask you again, who were you talking to?" he questioned in an eerily calm voice.

"Nobody. You're getting worked up over nothing," she said, hoping he would believe her.

His hand shot out and slapped her. She stared at the ground as he yelled at her. "How dare you lie to me, Clarissa! I'm not fucking stupid. You were talking to someone! Who the fuck was it?"

She replied, still staring at the ground. "I was talki-"

Sebastian grabbed her face, his fingers digging into her cheeks. "Look at me when you are talking to me, Clarissa."

"I was talking to Luke," she said, staring into his fury-filled eyes. "But he called me, I swear."

He shoved her aside and she fell to the floor. He looked down at her, his face full of disgust. "What gave you the right to answer the phone? Didn't I tell you that you aren't allowed to make phone calls, Clarissa?"

"Yes, but-"

"But? Are you really going to argue with me?" He took a menacing step toward her.

"N- No, sir."

He grinned at her. "Good girl. Now, I'm going to let this little phone call slide. But if it happens again, you're going to wish you were never born." He started to walk away. "I'll be in my study. Come get me when dinner is ready."

Jace sat behind his desk, his head in his hands. As much as he tried, he couldn't get Clary out of his head. He missed her and couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed by the fact that she had gone back to Verlac.

The door to his office opened and Jordan walked in carrying two cups of coffee. "You look like you could use a pick-me-up," he stated, handing a cup to Jace.

Jace took it graciously and looked at Jordan. "Aren't you supposed to be with Maia right now?"

He shrugged. "She's off with Luke. I think they're calling Clary or something. I dunno."

Jace stiffened at the mention of the tiny redhead. "Clary? No use calling her now that she's back with Verlac."

"You're not worried about her?" Jordan asked.

"Why should I be? She went back on her own will. I mean, you saw the phone records. Nothing pointed towards her being coaxed back."

There was a brief silence before Jordan finally spoke with wide eyes. "I remember the phone records and there's something you aren't considering." Jace gave him a look that told him to continue. "There weren't any outgoing calls and the only incoming call was from Jocelyn. How would Clary have gotten out of the farmhouse and back into the city? She sure as hell didn't walk. She obviously didn't call anybody to pick her up. Her mother lives across the country. I think there's a lot more to that phone call from Jocelyn than we think."

Jace just stared at him for a few seconds before replying. "I guess there's only one way to find out. You can get Jocelyn's number, right?" Jordan nodded. "Well, I think we have a few phone calls to make."

Yeah. I know I suck. And I feel terrible for not updating in like 3 months even though I said I would start updating regularly. But my life kinda started to fall apart and I lost the motivation to write. And I'm sorry if this chapter sucked. I just wanted to update to try and get back on track. I'm not making any promises, but I'll try my best to update again soon. Thanks for the awesome reviews.

By the way, if anybody has a tumblr, you should follow me. My url is the same as my pen name.