A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! Hopefully you guys like the next chapter! =]

Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anybody...but a girl can dream right? Do you think if I asked Jessica Szohr really nicely if I could have Ed, she'd hand him over? Or will there have to be illegal substances involved?

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Chuck made his way up to the Van der Bass home for breakfast the next day. He wasn't really fond of any of the people living in the penthouse right now other than Lily, therefore, he tried to visit the place as scarcely as he could without hurting Lily's feelings.

"Charles!" Lily exclaimed, embracing him in a hug as he stepped off the elevator.

"Lily", Chuck looked around, spotting the Humphrey family sitting in their pajamas in front of the TV. How...Brooklyn of them. Chuck bit back an unpleasant remark for the sake of Lily as he walked over to the kitchen with her. Eric was pouring pancake batter onto the griddle, but looked up once Chuck reached the kitchen counter.

"Chuck," the boy grinned at his step-brother as he flipped some of the golden pancakes over with his spatula.

"Eric. You realized athletics weren't your thing and decided to impress your little boyfriend by improving your domestic side?"

"Ha ha," replied Eric, sarcastically. "You're so funny, Chuck."

"Yes, well, a cold bedside pillow these last couple nights has allowed me to make great use of late night comedy TV."

Lily smiled, "Are you missing Blair, dear?"

"More like she's the one missing. I've tried calling her and Serena, but neither of them have picked up. I finally got your sister's number and called her, but it said her number wasn't in service."

Lily cringed and spoke in a tone of distaste, "Yes, well, apparently she had some man stalking her last month so she disconnected her service and has yet to resume it or get a new one. I think it was drug-related, but who knows with her. She left her old place and is supposedly 'under the radar,' well if you can be such thing after you reveal to someone where you're moving to. Ugh, I really don't understand what she sees in Florida."

Chuck scowled, "Yes, I prefer less Humphrey-like destinations myself."

"Chuck..." Lily admonished.

"Sorry, Lily. But it truly can't be helped."

Lily rolled her eyes at Chuck before speaking again, "Well, I don't know why the girls wanted to visit her anyway. I know Blair isn't much of a wild party girl, but I know my daughter and hanging out with the elderly population in Orlando isn't really her idea of a fun vacation."

Chuck frowned, "Orlando?"

"Well, yes. That's where Carol moved to."

"But they said they were going to Miami."

Lily frowned in confusion, shaking her head. "No, Serena told me she's staying with Carol and I know for a fact that Carol lives in Orlando now. I just spoke with her last week. You don't think the girls lied and went to Miami instead? Why would they do that? It's not like I haven't let Serena go to other places before. I mean she flew off to Spain on her own earlier this year and didn't tell anyone. I don't think she'd lie to me about a 3 hour difference in destinations."

"Maybe they're real destination isn't 3 hours away."

Lily looked confused. "What do you mean, Chuck?"

Chuck narrowed his eyes, "What I mean, Lily, is that the girls are probably not in Florida at all."

Chuck's fists clenched at his sides as his mind began working in overdrive, trying to figure out what the girls were up to.

"Well, where would they have gone?" Lily looked at Chuck in astonishment.

Chuck took out his phone and was about to call his P.I. before Eric interrupted him, "Chuck. Don't do what I think you're doing. No, wait. Don't do what I know you're doing."

Chuck ignored Eric as he pressed the call button.

"Chuck, I'm serious. Do you know how pissed Blair is going to be when she finds out you've gone spying on her? You told me she made you promise not to have her and Serena followed."

Lily looked back and forth between the boys, frowning since she was clearly out of the loop. "Boys, what is going on? Why would Chuck have Blair and Serena followed?"

Eric ignored his mother and said warningly, "Chuck..."

Chuck sighed just as his P.I. answered and replied, "Never mind," hanging up the line.

"Eric, explain what's going on," demanded Lily.

Eric opened his mouth to speak, but Chuck beat him to it. "It appears as though Romy and Michelle have lied to us by telling us they were visiting your lovely sister when in fact, they went to a destination that I have a pretty good idea of."

"Which is?" Lily asked, she too frustrated by this turn of events.

Eric cut in, "Chuck, you don't know that for sure. They could very well be in Florida with Aunt Carol. Maybe they thought Aunt Carol was still in Miami and figured they'd get her address once they got there. They probably didn't know she moved. You know how Serena is."

Chuck pursed his lips and practically growled, "Yes, Eric. But I know what Blair's like as well and Blair would never go anywhere without that kind of information beforehand, especially if she'd be taking a commercial flight. And I also know exactly what my irresponsible step-sister is like, which is why I know they're not in Florida right now."

Eric sighed, defeated and feeling nervous about what Chuck was going to do if the girls really weren't staying with his aunt Carol.

"Charles, where are the girls?" Lily crossed her arms, waiting expectantly for an answer.

"Europe."

Lily sighed, closing her eyes before opening them again and asking, "Where in Europe? It's a pretty big continent..."

Chuck clenched his jaw, "I know, Lily, which is why I wanted to call my P.I.," Chuck paused to look pointedly at Eric before facing Lily again, "and have him get me their location."

Eric placed his pancakes on a plate, making his way towards the dining table. He set the food down and suggested, "Chuck, maybe you should just wait a few more hours to see if Blair calls. That way if she does call, you will have avoided using your P.I. and, therefore, avoided an argument with Blair over how you don't trust her."

Chuck let out a grunt of disapproval, but said, "Fine," anyways.

Lily nodded, "I think that's a good idea. Plus I'm sure the girls are fine wherever they are."

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Chuck sat down behind his desk staring at the documents he had received last night. He groaned in frustration and threw them against the office door. Simultaneously, Eugenia, Chuck's secretary opened his office door, gasping as she dodged the flying papers.

Chuck stood up in shock and hurried towards the woman. "Oh..uh, sorry, Eugenia. I didn't mean to...ahem...do that."

Eugenia smoothed down her hair and nodded. "Yes, well, I know you're stressed out, Mr. Bass. I just came to give you this," she responded, handing Chuck a big envelope. She bent down and started collecting the previous documents off the floor.

Chuck felt anxious as he tore open the envelope. "Let me guess, the person didn't tell you their name?"

Eugenia confirmed this, nodding her head. "He looked like a normal looking guy, nothing suspicious about him. When I asked him who it was from, he said everything you needed to know was in the envelope."

Chuck pulled out the contents only to find real estate contracts partially filled out. Bass Inc. was filled out in the appropriate spots for the seller, but the buyer's name remained unknown. Each contract was for a different building Bass Inc. owned. Chuck walked over to his desk with Eugenia eagerly looking over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the documents.

Finally she asked, "What is it, Mr. Bass?"

Chuck lined up the contracts with the documents from the previous night and found that the buildings matched.

"I have no idea, but I'm going to get to the bottom of this cryptic bullshit. If someone wanted to buy a building from us, they could have just met with us using standard business procedures. Whoever wants to purchase these buildings is clearly in over their heads. Not only have they not specified who the hell they are, but look, they want the company's most valuable establishments."

Eugenia looked over the documents, shaking her head in bewilderment. "Maybe they already met with you and after you denied the desired transaction, they decided to demand it from you."

Chuck frowned looking over the papers then at Eugenia. "But they haven't offered me any incentive to sell them the buildings. I'm not going to do it just because they demand me to."

Eugenia scrunched her forehead in thought. "No one's blackmailed you yet?"

Chuck paused to ponder the idea. "No, I've just gotten these documents from a nameless delivery guy. Faceless too since I've never seen him."

"Well, if I'm right and you've met this person before, you would recognize who has wanted these exact buildings before, correct?"

Chuck looked down at the papers and the names of the buildings, slowly shaking his head. "A lot of people have come in asking for some of these buildings. Everyone wants them. They're in the most profitable parts of the city."

Eugenia nodded and looked at her boss, waiting for him to give her an order.

"Unless..." Chuck began, "No, never mind."

"What is it, Mr. Bass?"

"I just thought maybe...well, I remember one of the Vanderbuilt associates came and I had Peter meet with him. I was supposed to have the meeting, but I had Peter cover for me because something came up. You remember that, about a week or so ago?"

Eugenia gave a look of concentration before replying, "Yes, yes. It was with Mr. Vanderbuilt's executive assistant actually. Last Tuesday, I believe."

"Yeah, well, Peter had said that the Vanderbuilts had a ridiculous offer and I had asked him what it was, but he gave me a vague description of how the meeting went. He said the Vanderbuilts wanted to purchase a huge chunk of our real estate and that of course, he denied the offer, but that the Vanderbuilt rep had walked out of the meeting angrily. Apparently when Senior Vanderbuilt got the message, he wasn't too happy about our refusal to sell the properties. I don't know if these are the same properties that he wanted, though. Plus, I've known his family forever. It seems doubtful that they'd start all this mysterious nonsense with the company. My father and Mr. Vanderbuilt were never at odds."

"Well these are our most desirable properties and it seems like the Vanderbuilts didn't handle the rejection well. They might just want it that bad."

Chuck rubbed his chin, thinking. "But what are they exactly proposing? I mean obviously we denied selling them the properties before and now they're sending me contracts to do so anyways? I mean, they haven't even sent a bottle of scotch over with the deliveries. Where's the incentive here?"

Eugenia shook her head, "I don't know, Sir. I'll let you know if anything else is delivered, though. I'll ask Peter to give me a copy of the list of properties they wanted to purchase and we'll be able to confirm whether this is them or not."

Chuck nodded, "Thanks. I'm going to head home, finish up my paperwork there. Don't stay at the office too late."

"Of course, Mr. Bass. Have a good night."

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Chuck rolled his neck side to side to relieve the neck cramp he had from sitting all day, hunching over paperwork. He walked down the hallway towards his suite only to find the door open. He slowed his pace down and when he reached the doorway, he hesitantly walked in.

He sighed in relief when he saw it was only the cleaning lady tidying up the place. The lady vacuuming the living room looked up at him and turned off the machine. She bowed her head a little, smiling as she greeted her boss.

"Mr. Bass, good evening. I'll be out of your hair in just a minute."

Chuck nodded and gave a slight smile back. He headed towards the bar and poured himself a glass of scotch. He took a sip and instantly felt himself relaxing. He looked around surveying the now clean suite before his eyes landed on the black gadget that sat upon the counter in front of him. He leaned over and recognized it as his old Blackberry.

"Hey, Mary. Where'd you find this?"

Mary looked up at the phone in his hand and shook her head, giving him an amused smile. "Oddly enough, it was in the bar drawer. I was putting your beer bottle opener back in its spot and I found your phone sitting in there."

Chuck looked confused, but he figured he did a lot of stupid stuff last night and this was probably just one of them. "Hmm...well, thanks, I was looking for it."

Mary nodded and bid good night as she left the suite and closed the door behind her.

Chuck looked down at the phone and unlocked the screen.

One missed call and one voice message.

Chuck clicked on the missed call bubble and smiled when he saw Blair's name show up. He anxiously hit the number to his voicemail, eager to hear her voice.

"Chuck! Oh God! Please don't hate me, but I'm not really in Miami. I'm in Paris."

Chuck immediately felt his stomach drop and his blood run cold. Just from the first word she said, he could tell she was panicking and most definitely scared. As he listened to the message further, he felt more and more nauseous. Chuck gripped onto the counter for support as he heard her start crying in the message.

When her voice was cut off and the line went static, he looked down at his phone to see if the message had ended. He saw the message was still running and placed the phone by his ear.

Just when he really thought the message was over and it couldn't have gotten any worse, he heard:

"Bass, you should have known better."

And then the call abruptly ended.

Chuck thought he was having a heart attack with the way his heart was frantically beating inside his chest.

Oh, God. Blair.

He knew. He should have never let her out of his sight. The man in the message was right. He really should have known better.