A/N: It's been way too long. Forgive me, please?

As Chuck was led through the police station in Paris, he felt a new surge of adrenaline run through him. It was the first time he felt any sort of control since he found out about the girls' kidnapping. In New York, he had felt helpless and out of the loop. Being in Paris, he knew he could scour the city with his own men and kill the bastards who took his girlfriend and step-sister with his own bare hands.

"Charles Bass?"

Chuck snapped out of his angry thoughts when a man, who looked to be in his early thirties, stood in front of him and stuck his hand out to shake in greeting. Chuck took the man's hand and confirmed his name with a nod.

"Adrien Claude: Chief of the force. I'm sorry we could not meet under better circumstances."

"Do you have any leads yet?"

Adrien looked startled for a moment, caught off guard at Chuck's abruptness. "Well, maybe. We're processing the surveillance videos from the airport and the hotel Ms. Van der Woodsen and Ms. Waldorf were staying at, which we tracked down from the taxi driver who had given them the ride. They were staying at the Hotel George in the top floor penthouse."

"And?"

"And we're trying to get an identity on the male who accompanied them on their taxi ride. He helped the ladies with their luggage. He was caught on camera walking into the hotel with them, but he came back out alone a minute or so later."

Chuck's agitation grew at what seemed like a dead end. "Well, where the hell does that lead us?"

"About twenty minutes later, two large men entered the hotel. We're waiting for surveillance videos from the hotel to see if they took the elevator up to the girls' penthouse. We believe the men are affiliated with the man who took the taxi ride with the girls since he was the only one to have come in close contact with the girls before then. He must have gotten their room info somehow and fed the information to the two other guys."

"If it were up to Serena, I wouldn't doubt it, but Blair would never give out that info to a person she just met."

"Well, it's not as impossible as it may seem. If he was helping them with their luggage, he could have been there when a bell boy approached the girls and overheard them giving their room number."

Chuck pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to take in all this new evidence. "Okay, so you think he gave that info to the two guys?"

"I think it's very possible. In order for two people to be kidnapped, it requires more than one guy in the effort. We need to see the hotel elevator video to see if they did indeed go to the penthouse. Once that is established, we'll need to have our software match the video scans to our identity database. Then we'll be able to find out who these guys are and that might give us a lead on tracking them down."

"What about when they left the building? There's no tape of that?"

"No, they must have taken a hidden exit of some sort."

"Damn it. I need to find them now. Who knows what they could be doing to Blair and Serena. The girls could be hurt or...God. And you guys are taking your sweet time waiting for videos and scans."

"Mr. Bass, we're working as fast as we can. The hotel-"

Chuck leaned in towards Adrien with an angry glare, intense enough to cause Adrien to move his head back in fear. "The hotel, like any business, needs to be given a monetary bribe in order to comply faster. I told you to do whatever it takes to find the girls. No matter what the cost."

"I-I understand, Mr. Bass, but-"

"There are no but's when it comes to my girlfriend's safety. Have your men fax over all the evidence you've gathered to my team. If it weren't for the fact that you can obtain search warrants faster that we can, I wouldn't have even bothered with your force." Chuck slammed the door on his way out, fuming, but more so, scared over the fact that this kidnapping was becoming all the more real with all the information that was just presented to him.

Blair had stopped crying a little while ago, finding her eyes too dry and tired for any more. Her stomach was growling so loud, she was sure one of the men were going to walk right in and finally rid themselves of her. Just as she started thinking about what she would do in that situation, she heard the door open and some footsteps come in.

The light was turned on and Blair was faced with the same man who had come in earlier and tied her to the headboard. She looked up at him with wide eyes, waiting for his next move. He leaned over her and untied the rope around her waist. He pulled a chair from the corner of the room, then picked Blair up off the bed and placed her on the chair. He tied her to the chair before looking over his shoulder and calling out, "Hey, boss!"

The other man that had held onto Serena earlier walked through the door and looked at Blair.

"She's ready."

The boss nodded and took out his phone. The man who tied her to the chair pulled out a gun and placed it to the side of her head.

Blair whimpered in fear and closed her eyes, willing it all to be just a nightmare. Any minute now and she'd be woken up by Chuck and his tender, morning kisses.

She was startled out of her thoughts when the boss brought his face close to hers and spoke harshly, "You're not going to talk until I tell you to, get it? Or else, I'll make sure you're never able to talk again."

His breath smelled like cheap cigarettes and bad liquor, nothing like Chuck's expensive scotch and imported cigars. Blair grimaced as the man continued breathing in her face.

The man holding the gun hit the back of her head with it and yelled, "Hey! He's talking to you, bitch!"

She didn't think she had any more tears left to cry, but the pain from being banged in the head with the gun was so sudden that she felt a new batch of tears make their way down her cheeks. She forced herself to nod to avoid any more abuse.

The boss held the phone to his ear, waiting for the person to pick up. "Bass."

Blair quickly looked up at the mention of Chuck's name, but her head was shoved down just as quickly by the man with the gun.

"It's not of your concern as to who this is. All you need to do is sign the papers and you can get your girlfriend back."

What papers? Blair's mind was racing, trying to figure out which papers the man was referring to. She couldn't think of anything, at least not very clearly with the gun shoved onto the side of her head.

"The girl is lucky she's not dead yet. Those papers were sent to you for some time now. In fact, there's been ample time for you to sign them and make the deal...Don't play dumb, Bass. How many contracts have you received in the last few days that have been filled out for you and dropped off at your door...Your girl won't get hurt as long as you sign the papers...She's still alive, that's all you need to know...Be careful, Bass. The more you threaten me, the less apathetic I feel towards your girl and the more inclined to just go ahead and dispose ourselves of her...fine."

The boss moved the phone away from his ear and stuck it next to Blair's ear. She heard Chuck's voice on the line, "Blair? Blair, are you there?"

She tried to say yes, but her throat was still raw from all the screaming and crying she had done.

"Oh, God. Blair, are you okay? Have they hurt you? Where are you?"

Blair closed her eyes and prayed that she wouldn't burst into tears in front of these men. They had already seen her weak and crying enough as it was. She felt overwhelmed by relief just from the sound of Chuck's voice even though he was nowhere in sight and her safety was still undetermined.

She finally managed to say, "Chuck, please come."

The boss yanked the phone away from her ear and put it back next to his own. "You have until nine o'clock tonight to sign the papers and deliver them to the Port de Suffren. If you're not there, you can forget ever seeing your girlfriend again."

He ended the call and motioned for his partner to follow him out. The man holding the gun turned off the light and followed his boss out the door, locking it shut.