"Doug, what are you doing? Who's behind this?" Melony banged her fist harder on the door. "Damn it what the fuck are you doing?" Anger fueled her rage and she rammed her shoulder against the door. But it wasn't budging and her hand was hurting and starting to bruise. She was sure it was Doug's voice she had heard but she couldn't help but question her sanity at this point. There was no reason for Doug to kidnap her. Surely she was just imagining things and she started to calm down.

Mel grabbed some ice out of the freezer and wrapped it in a towel that was lying nearby. She pressed the cubes against her hand and closed her eyes. All she could think of was Chris and how much she needed him now. If she made it out of this in one piece she would never leave his side not for one second. Sure it sounded stupid but at this moment she couldn't imagine ever being out of his arms again and she didn't want to. Her life with Chris was her own personal fairy tale and she wouldn't mind giving everything up to keep it all.

A knock on the door startled her and before she could sit up on the bed, the door flew open and two men with ski masks grabbed her and covered her mouth. She kicked and struggled but it was useless.

She was blindfolded and gagged before being thrown into a chair. And she could hear muffled voices seemingly arguing over how to handle the situation.

"She knows who I am. What do we do now?" Doug glanced between the other two men in the room.

Her heart sank as her worst fear came true. It was Doug and she had no way to warn her sister or Chris. Someone walked closer to her, so close she could feel his breath on her neck.

"We don't have a problem do we Melony? I mean after all, we go way back." He sneered through his teeth.

That voice. Cold, calm and smooth like silk. She struggled in the chair and tried to free herself from the grips that held her. But her hands were bound to the chair and she couldn't move.

"Bet you never thought it would come to this huh? Never thought you would be paying the price for ya boy did ya?"

She struggled against the gag. And he laughed in her face before stroking her hair. "I'll remove the gag if you promise you won't scream... not that anyone will hear you…"

She nodded her head. And slowly he removed the gag. "What do you want from us Montel?"

-- -- --

Chris impatiently paced the floor of the private investigators office and slammed his fists on the desk. "You said you had a lead. You said you were already on top of this shit. These bastards have my wife! Now you get your shit together or get off the case all together!"

"Mr. Benoit, I have reason to believe that your wife is being held by someone very close to you. How well do you know your sister-in-law?"

Chris couldn't help but laugh. "As well as I know my wife. Why?"

"Well, I have reason to believe that her long time boyfriend, Doug Basham is involved in your wife's kidnapping."

Chris shook his head. "You can't be serious! There's no way he is behind this."

The private investigator pushed a folder toward him. "I didn't say he was behind it, only involved."

Chris opened the folder and was surprised, to say the least. It was full of photos of Melony and Doug, Danny, MVP taken the day she was kidnapped. So it was pretty safe to assume that the private investigator was accurate. But why would Doug want to hurt any of them? That was a question he intended to ask Autumn.

-- -- --

Autumn sat on the front porch of the Benoit home waiting for Doug and thinking of Shannon. She knew he was hurt and she couldn't blame him but he could have given her a second to explain. Autumn needed her car and she needed to tell Doug that it was over between them. She did owe him that much.

She immediately spotted her car turning into the long driveway and she nervously chewed her lip. Autumn found herself feeling nervous and a bit scared of breaking up with Doug. She just didn't do well with hurting people.

"Hey baby! I'm so sorry. You know how Danny is though, He was having all sorts of issues with his car, the airline cancelled his flight three times and the bank "misplaced" his new debit card." Doug pulled her close and she pulled away as he tried to kiss her lips. But she turned her head so that he ended up kissing her cheek. "What's wrong?"

Autumn fought hard not to show how much she was hurting inside but it was no use. "Everything! First you leave, then my sister is kidnapped and I ... I just don't know..."

"Melony's been kidnapped? Is this some sort of joke?"

She jumped up from her spot on the steps. "No it's not a joke Doug! My sister is missing and I feel so helpless and I haven't had anyone that I can turn to. I'm trying to be strong for every one else and it's too much."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here. Baby what can I do?"

She turned her back to him. "It's too late Doug. It's over between us."

"What do you mean over?"

Autumn spun on her heel, anger taking over the hurt. "I mean it's over as in I never want to see you again. My fucking sister has been kidnapped and you've been too worried about taking care of your grown ass brother's problems to even call me."

Doug stepped forward and grabbed her arm. "You don't know a fucking thing. Everything I've ever done I've done for you."

"Bullshit! Now let me go."

He pulled her closer. "I'll never let you go!"

Autumn jerked her arm but he wouldn't let go and she started to worry. "Look Doug either you let me go or I'm going to yell for Chris."

"Go ahead, but we both know he's not here."

"Maybe not but someone will hear me, now let me go." She struggled to free herself from his grip and he grabbed her other arm.

"Don't try to fight me on this. I've put too much onto this, into us to just let you walk away."

"You're crazy!"

He shrugged. "Crazy about you."

Doug started to pull her toward the car and she struggled and fought against him but it was no use. Tears started to fill her eyes when she saw Shannon's truck pull in behind her car. He jumped out and before she could say a word he decked Doug knocking him to the ground and she stumbled backwards. Shannon pounded him with a few more rights until he was satisfied that Doug was out for at least a few minutes.

Shannon walked over to Autumn and pulled her into his arms. "Are you ok?"

She was shaking and tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Yeah. Thank you."

"I'm sorry I left you. I never should have acted like such a baby."

She clutched at his shirt. "No, I'm sorry. I was trying to tell you that I was going to end it with Doug."

"And I just left, like an idiot."

She couldn't help but smile. "No, I'm the idiot. Shannon you've always been there for me and I've been completely blind..."

He stopped her from saying anything more. "Let's make a deal. The past is the past and we're going to move beyond that. Sound good?"

She nodded. "Deal."

Shannon leaned down and and placed a kiss on her lips so passionate she felt weak. He felt her go heavy in his arms and tightened his arm around her waist. "Let's get inside."

-- -- --