Missing

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: I realize that while Tori and Jade investigate, there's still a lot that we probably need to see of the villains to get a sense of their personality. Even in Trina's perspective there are interactions that she can't see, so I will give you someone else. First off…

Chapter 12 (The Guard Dog)

"Will you shut up?" Andre slammed Robbie hard against the wall, digging his knee into the man's lower back and pressing his shoulders down. It was yet another argument and an attempt at his life, and he was getting fed up with it. "Do you think I wanted to kill them? If I didn't, it could have been you, me, or Cat out there. Even Trina, though they want to keep her alive for whatever sick reason."

He cupped his fingers around Andre's neck and yanked him back, releasing his hold midway through the pull to let him fall onto the bed. Robbie wiped his bloody mouth and bared his teeth at Andre. "You still killed my sister and my niece! Not only that, I know you slept with my girl."

"Your girl? Wha-" His eyebrow rose as Robbie sat up, his face red as a tomato and his shoulders were rising and falling rapidly. "You mean Cat? How in the fuck is she your 'girl'? You never approached her with whether or not you actually cared about her, and she stopped liking you nine years ago when you grabbed Trina off the street!"

"Fuck you man!" Robbie lunged forward, throwing his fist in the air. Thinking fast, he ducked to the side and grabbed the man's wrist. He watched Robbie's eyes widen in terror as his arm locked behind his wrist. Next, Andre rushed him forward, slamming him once more into the wall with as much force as he could.

The man's glasses flew off his face and he fell to the ground with a violent scream. "Grow the hell up, Robbie." Andre stepped back and ran his hand along his face. His chest heaved and he shook his head, growling angrily. "Stop acting like you're the only one with problems."

He was sick of the guy's constant complaining and hypocrisy. Robbie may have been too much of a coward and didn't want to abduct Trina, but for the first few weeks, if not months, Robbie was the one that actually got a thrill out of seeing Trina in the shape she was in. Andre and Cat found it revolting from the get-go.

"Also, next time?" Robbie collapsed onto his chest, his body trembled with pain as his sniveling whimpers drifted to the air. Andre slowly picked up the Swiss army knife, then slammed the blade down in front of Robbie's face, causing the man to flinch and scream out in terror. "Don't try to stab me from behind when I can hear your nervous whimpers from all the way down the hall. Asshole."

The man's anger could be put to better use than this. How easy could it be for Robbie to kill Holly and Gary in their sleep? Andre fantasized about this for nine years, but then, he knew it was far too dangerous of a task. For the last decade, the couple slept with their doors locked, and often locked the trio in their bedrooms at night as well, so it wasn't as easy as he dreamed it would be.

He made his way downstairs and stopped at the kitchen table. With a defeated huff, he fell onto the chair and brought his hands to his tired face. His fingers slid down his coarse skin and dropped down to his knees as he shook his head.

"Damn." His chest stung from the memories of the murder he'd been made to commit, and the horrors he'd seen that were far too numerous.

"Meg. I'm sorry." The woman whimpered as he pushed the gun up to the back of her skull. He turned his head away and felt the earth shatter as blood splattered out. Turning around, he saw Holly watching, and dropped his arm. "How long have you been there?"

"You know we watch whatever you do." Holly picked up the casing and motioned her head outside. "I've taken care of the kid in the next room. Your little kitten's outside with Victoria by the creek. Let's go."

They weren't planning on tying Victoria to the tree, they just wanted to leave her and let the child run for safety. It was Holly who said it might be entertaining to tie her up, then she was going to gloat to Trina when the child was found dead in the most excruciating way.

He pressed his hands together and turned his eyes toward the ceiling, unable to contain the grief that was haunting him. "I have no proof that kid's even alive. No child's body has been found in that area…" But the tree broke, that was the problem. When Gary allowed him to drive out there with the thought of discovering whether or not the girl perished on the tree, they found nothing.

Andre looked to the door of the basement and closed his mouth tight. The guilt of all that he'd done over the years was too much, and he knew the only way he wanted out if they survived was death. There was no other way to atone for his involvement in what happened to Trina.

"How the fuck can they say I'm the strong one?" If anything, the strong one here was Cat. He rose to his feet and walked over to the counters, studying each locked drawer carefully. When his eyes drifted to the countertop, he saw a stray knife and drew a cocky smirk. "They forgot to put their knife up. Holly's too busy going into town, and Gary is…"

His hand hovered over the blade and he casually glanced in the direction of the living room. For a split second he pictured his own body lying in a bloodied heap on the ground, the knife plunged carefully beneath his ribcage as though self-inflicted.

Desire dared him to do it. His hand grew hot from the blood pumping heavily from his heart. "No." How easy could it be to do it? His fingers started to tremble and he closed his eyes. "No, not yet. Cat-"

"Andre?" Shock hit him like lighting and he pulled his hand away, then spun around with fire at his heels. Cat was standing now outside the basement door, her lower lip was under her corner teeth and her hands were behind her, pressed up against the door. "What are you doing?"

"I-nothing." He started to smile at her, her gentle gaze was soothing to him. "You were talking to Trina?"

"I didn't have anyone to talk to, and Holly went in to be questioned, so…yeah." She walked towards him and pressed herself up against his body. Her arms wrapped around his waist and her chin perched on his shoulder. "Andre? I, Trina and I need you." His eyes widened and he turned his head.

She was looking directly at the knife.

His shoulders sank and she pulled her head back, looking sincerely in his eyes. "I don't want to think about how bad things could be if you weren't here."

"I don't affect things that much."

"You affect them more than you think…" She took a deep breath and turned around, leaning back against his chest and hugging her abdomen. With a slow breath, Andre moved his arms around her and placed a hand over hers. His heart pounded heavily as he watched over her with a strong protective gaze.

"I…would love to kill them." His nostrils flared as Cat looked up to him. His eyes shifted to the living room and fixated on the couch where Gary was busy watching a football game. "They don't leave weapons lying around for that reason, but two old buzzards? I could snap them in half."

"But you're better than them, Andre. Besides, you know what retaliation would cause."

"Yeah, assuming I didn't kill both of them." As far as he knew, his grandmother as well as mom and twin sister were still alive. Or they were nine years ago. His father and two brothers died in New Orleans when a hurricane struck in the early 2000s. Of course, this was after the divorce and after the mom took him and Olivia to California and took back her maiden name. "I'm sick of them holding my family over my head."

Cat's eyelids slid down and her chest expanded slowly. "My point is, you're the only thing keeping me from going insane. Trina hasn't completely lost it yet because of those trips to the café." She pulled away from him and reached for the knife. His lips parted and he watched her carry it over to the sink. "Don't do anything to make us lose that connection, please." She put her hand up to her chest and her eyebrows curled together. When her words trembled from her mouth, they broke him. "I need you."

"The things I've done, the things I've allowed. I can't live with that guilt on my mind."

"Then live until we can at least get out of here." He let out a sad chuckle and looked back to the living room. Gary was up from the couch and walking towards them. He was compelled to ask the man to drive him out to where they left Victoria, and maybe if she was safe, the burning inside of him would finally cease.

"Okay Cat-until then, I'll do what I can…I don't know what I can do though." He looked back to the knife and visualized grabbing it and shoving it into Gary's abdomen as fast as he could. When the man got closer, he cleared away the lump in his throat and pointed to the knife. "You or Holly forgot to put that knife up, by the way." No matter what, he still needed the two to trust him, that way they'd never suspect him of anything other than loyalty.

But as long as his family was still out there and they were still in danger, he had no choice but to be loyal. Even taking his own life could mean Gary or Holly going out to kill them. "No choice…"

At the scene where they left Victoria, Gary pulled the car to a halt and twisted towards him. "Make it fast, kid." The man's voice was filled with the same hatred and bitterness that was always present, but his eyes were filled with a feeling that surprised him.

"Do I detect remorse, Gary?" He knew that Gary, like himself, couldn't bring himself to kill a small child. It was Gary that convinced Holly to let Trina go full term into her pregnancy. So for nine months, Trina suffered little abuse because of him.

"Just get whatever it is done that you want done. I'll be watching you, so don't try and run." Gary's hands tightened around the steering wheel and his mouth slid into a sneer.

Andre grabbed the door handle and turned his head back to the elder. "Nine years under that woman's thumb, watching her destroy that woman and all our lives. You'd have to get tired of it eventually." Gary's shoulders inclined and his lips curled away from his clenched teeth. "How far you've fallen, once a great police officer getting caught in an affair with the wrong woman."

"Shut the fuck up."

It was easy to push this man's buttons, so Andre was well aware of how easily Holly would have manipulated him. Gary was still somewhat soft, which was the only reason Andre could convince him to give Trina certain amenities that Holly would otherwise refuse.

"Such a shame isn't it? Having to, eight years later, watch Holly kill the one person you had the power to save." He pushed the door open with great force and walked towards the creek.

He needed this moment. There was no certainty that Victoria survived, and with as much guilt that was destroying him right now, he knew it might kill him if the girl died.

"Okay what am I looking for?" He took a deep breath and clenched his eyes as Victoria's loud cries haunted him like thunder in the sky.

The broken tree frightened him, but something was off. In the clear day, he saw the ground on the other side of the creek had been disturbed. Thick grass surrounded he area, but one portion looked as though something heavy crushed the tall grass.

The only other time they visited was at night, and this was not visible before. With his heartbeat steadily increasing, he jumped to the other side and crouched near the smashed area.

"A small girl, breaking from a tree branch-she couldn't have swung herself to safety." His eyes slanted and he turned his head along the area. It appeared human-like in form. Andre extended his arm and flattened his palm just above the surface of the grass.

Pushing his fingers forward into the thicker portion, he felt something rough and out of place. His jaw tightened and he wrapped his finger around this object, then yanked it from the ground.

To his amazement, it was a portion of rope that Holly tied around the girl. "Holy shit." His free hand moved to his hand and his eyes darted upwards to Gary's car in the distance. "Somebody found her."

Relief fell over his shoulders and he almost fell to the floor. Still his body was weightless and he felt a great sense of pleasure in the fact that somebody likely saved Victoria's life.

"It's the only way. That girl could not of untied those ropes herself." He looked over his shoulder at the creek and narrowed his eyes. "The only question is…who found her?" In his heart he could feel it was Tori that found the child.

All his life he'd been a spiritual person without being religious, and he always followed instinct. It was due to his mother and grandmother, they believed in all of that, and so he did as well. When his father and brothers passed in the hurricane, he believed heavily that they were always around somewhere, guiding him.

Even now, he felt his father in the back of his mind. Ray Preston was the man, and the brothers were Miles and Louie, both had been older than he and Olivia. He often felt if Ray and his mom, Denise, never got a divorce they might not have stayed in New Orleans when they died.

He had to take care of his grandmother and Olivia when Denise put herself in the hospital. All of the stress and grief over losing her sons had been far too much.

Now as he thought on his family, he didn't know why, but he felt his father guiding him to a cemetery. So as he rose, he studied Gary in the car and tightened his hands. "Looks like we're going for another drive."

The Rivers Cemetery was a small and quiet place. It was where his grandmother wanted to be buried when she died, and he'd heard mentioned that his mom wanted a plot here.

As he stood before a line of graves, his shoulders and back were hunched forward and his face had grown long. As the skies darkened above him, he could feel himself being swallowed by a violent anger and grief.

Tears poured down his face as his eyes turned towards the skies. His grandmother's plaque joined that of her husband that died in the late 1950s. Her death was in 2015, ten months after he'd been pulled out by Holly and Gary. His gut told him it was just illness that claimed her life, but he couldn't be sure.

His mother was mentally ill as well, so her death did not surprise him. After he vanished, it was likely she'd been overcome with grief and took her own life, and her death was in 2016-the anniversary of his disappearance.

The most startling tomb was his sister's. She shouldn't have died so early, in the prime of her life. "Olivia." Her name fell from his lips like it was a breath of air. Andre sucked in his lips and fell to his knees, his hand clutched his trembling chest.

"Come on!" Gary shouted from afar, "Let's get moving before Holly gets back. Do you want her jumping on your ass for this?" His eyes shot up and he sucked in the air through his teeth. A violent growl joined his exhale and the line of tears around his eyelids spilled down his teeth with greater fury.

"Alright asshole," he breathed, "I'll play your fucking game for now." He needed to know how his sister died, but he had his suspicions. If they killed her, and if they killed his mother, then he would not know what he'd do.

His nostrils flared and his shoulders rose while inhaling very deeply. Gary may or may not realize what it was that he found. He'd have to tell Cat, but one thing was certain.

Dogs may never pose a threat, but abused dogs will turn upon their owner once they have suffered terrible abuse and the owner best pray that the leash that controls that dog never unravels.

For a moment he thought to picture his father, looking over him with the proudest smirk.

"I'll make you proud, somehow. Keep guiding me, let me get those girls out of there somehow…Their leash is no longer around my throat-Grandma, Mom and Olivia, all gone. My business isn't done here, dad, but I'll be with you soon."

So Andre's discovered some good he's discovered some bad. Some of that bad might potentially be good. What are your thoughts on everything?