Wasn't planning on doing a double update this week, but in celebration of me being able to write a little, I thought I'd spoil you all with an extra chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 14

Days slipped by, and with them, the miles that Millie was forced to travel taking her further and further away from the home she'd come to think of as her own. Every stride the horse beneath her took was one closer to the life she had tried so desperately hard to escape from and yet here she was being dragged straight back to it. Having had that taste of freedom it made it all so much harder now to have to be subjected to Cade's abuse. For the first few nights she had been filled with fear and despair but the further she was taken from home, the more that fear was morphing into anger and hate.

If she thought that she had hated Cade before, that was nothing compared to the outright loathing that she had for that horrid man now.

All she wanted was to be free of him.

If that meant she had to kill him to do so, that was the price she was willing to pay.

There were only three possible outcomes that would come to fruition from this current situation. One; she'd end up dead which was a very, very real possibility depending upon what Cade had in mind for her. Two; she'd end up killing Cade if the opportunity ever presented itself or three; being able to successfully escape.

Out of them, she felt the third was the best possible outcome and had been carefully biding her time for her to be able to make a run for it. Cade had been keeping a tight rein on her and that, combined with his threats, kept her compliant for now. Every night, he kept her cuffed to something so that she couldn't escape while he left to go satisfy himself at the saloons in the towns they passed through. The second night that he had left her alone in the hotel at Freeman's Gorge, she'd managed to find herself a hairpin left behind by someone. Her efforts to unlock the cuffs hadn't been successful and she'd given up, deciding that her best chance was to continue buying her time.

Five days had now passed since she'd been taken but yet there were still a couple more days of traveling before they would arrive back at Alder. For the first three days Cade had kept up a fast pace, wanting to get as much distance as possible between him and the Barkleys as he could in the event they came after the girl. Now though, confident that they weren't being followed, he'd allowed them to travel a little slower. Millie knew the chance of her being found was slim, she couldn't and wouldn't rely on the Barkleys to come swoop in and save her. She had to get herself out of this situation on her own. Somehow.

She just had to wait, buy her time, pray and hope.

For the Barkleys, the days dragged by slowly as still no word came of Millie's whereabouts. Early Sunday morning, Nick and Heath, along with Jack and the handful of hands they could spare from the ranch, had gone out again to pick the trail up where they lost it. Picking it up here and there, they were able to follow the trail to Pine Flats and arrived there early Monday morning. Stopping by to speak with the sheriff first, the sheriff regretfully informed them that he had nothing for them. He'd received the telegram that Jarrod had Sheriff Madden share around the state but he hadn't noticed anyone fitting the girl's description coming through town. Thanking him for his time, Nick and Heath left to begin questioning around town.

Splitting up in order to cover more ground, the two brothers as well as the hands began to ask folks around if anyone had seen the girl they were searching for. Armed with copies of the only photograph they had of Millie, it was Heath who was the first to have luck asking the folks around the town. Showing the photograph of Millie mounted on Tomahawk after the race at the hotel, the woman at the desk had recognized her instantly. "Yes, she was here. Saturday night." She had told him, flicking through the book to get the name of the man she'd been with. "Kidnapped you say? Oh that poor, poor girl."

"Yes ma'am." Heath had replied soberly. "Anything you can remember about her or the man she was with would be a great help."

"Just a moment…" She had flipped through another page, running her finger down it until she recognized the man's name. "William Bates." She had exclaimed, looking back up at him. "Said the girl was his daughter. Thinking of it now… She did seem to be a little frightened of him but I didn't notice it then. He gave me a four dollar tip."

"Can you tell me anything about him?"

"He was handsome, well dressed. Perhaps a little taller than you. Black hair, brown eyes, wore a mustache. Had a scar on his chin. It did look like he'd been in a bar fight recently though. One side of his face was bruised up."

When he'd heard the description of Millie's kidnapper, Heath's heart had skipped a beat. The man that she described was of the same description as Audra's attacker. He'd thanked her for her help, offering her five dollars for her help which she accepted after a little encouragement and he'd left, catching up with Nick. After relaying what he'd learnt with his brother, they both came to the conclusion that the man they were after was the same one who had tried to harm Audra. Spurred on by that realization they'd continued to further ask around the town, the only other person they found that recognized her being the old ostler at the livery stable.

"Yah, yah, I remember her." The old man had said upon being shown her picture by Nick. "But I'm 'fraid she's already left town, young man. The man travelin' with her seemed in an awful hurry, left yesterday 'fore dawn. Got me outta bed to buy new horses. Paid well for them too."

"Any idea which direction they went?"

"Not a one. Sorry."

Thanking him for his time, Nick finished asking around and went back to wait for Heath outside the Sheriff's office. Heath and the rest of the hands hadn't had any further luck, no one else had seen Millie but a couple men at one of the saloons had told them a man fitting their given description had passed through town Saturday night. It sounded like he'd caused a stir too, having cleaned out quite a few folks at the poker table while he'd been there.

With nothing else to go on and no idea which way they might have headed next, Nick and Heath had a decision to make. Would they continue looking or would they go back? Both of them were loath to return home empty handed but the man Bates (if that even was his real name, which they both highly doubted) had a full day's head start on them. They'd only been able to follow the trail as far as they had because one of the horses they'd been riding had lost a shoe early on but now that they were riding new horses, there was no way of being able to pick up a trail. Pine Flats was the stopping point for a number of roads heading up into the mountains, they could have taken any one of them and the chance of them finding the right one was not likely.

Nick and Heath debated between themselves what they should do. Both of them wanted to continue looking but at the same time, given the lack of anything to go on they knew the chance of finding Millie now was slim. Together they decided that for now, they would have to give up the search.

Followed trail to Pine Flats. Stop. Gone cold. Stop. Millie was here. Stop. Left yesterday morning. Stop. No trail. Stop. We tried our best. Stop. Coming home. Stop. Nick. Stop.

Jarrod looked at the telegram in disbelief, his hands shaking as he'd laid it down on his desk. "Thank you, Miss Becker." He'd told his secretary who'd been waiting in case he needed to send a reply to the telegram. "That is all. You are dismissed."

"News about Millie, sir?"

He nodded. "And not good, I'm afraid. Nick and Heath are coming home."

"I'm so sorry."

"Close the door on your way out. Cancel all appointments until further notice."

"Of course, Mister Barkley."

Jarrod had barely heard her reply or noticed when she'd left, his eyes misting with tears as he read and re-read the telegram laid on his desk. His heart had sank when he'd read the message from his brother. He couldn't help but feel that he'd failed her. Over and over the conversation he'd had with Millie when he'd shown her the newspaper played in his mind. The poor young woman had been terrified. She'd been utterly terrified of being found and he'd promised he'd protect her. That he'd keep her safe and now… Now they had no idea where she was.

It was a sober affair when Nick and Heath returned home Tuesday night, Jarrod having told Victoria and Audra the day before of what had happened. Upon their arrival home, Nick and Heath relayed a watered down version of what they'd been able to find out, only telling the full truth to Victoria and Jarrod once their little sister had gone to bed. With the new information they had learnt, they all agreed that it appeared whoever had taken Millie was also Audra's unknown assailant.

After Nick and Heath had told him about their trip, Jarrod had even more bad news to deliver. The information that Audra had been given by her assailant was a no go, the company that he'd claimed to work for had replied to his telegram stating that no Benjamin Carter had ever worked for them. It was another disheartening dead end. Given that the name he'd used in Pine Flats was different to his alias in Stockton, they could correctly assume that whoever Millie had been taken by was an expert at covering his tracks.

While the rest of the family retired for the night, Jarrod had spent the next hours carefully writing up absolutely everything that Millie had ever mentioned to him about her past, hoping that in doing so, he'd find some small clue he'd missed so far that could provide a lead. Dawn found him still at his desk in the study, Victoria having to force him to go to bed and get some rest.

The atmosphere was tense and sullen in the Barkley household as Wednesday came and went, Thursday coming with still no news of Millie's whereabouts. Despite the efforts of the best investigators the Pinkerton's could offer, they'd turned up nothing so far. All other efforts also hadn't proved fruitful either and they were no closer to finding her now then they were when they'd first started.

Given Millie had been living with them for quite some time now, the entire family had come to care for her and to have her disappear so horribly without a trace was understandably distressing for all of them. With everything that had taken place, the family found themselves walking on shaky ground. Bearing the weight of her family's sorrow, Victoria was trying to hold herself and her family together through this trying time. Each and every one of them had been deeply affected by Millie's abduction, she was no less immune to that being the mother of the family. If she was honest with herself, Millie had become like a second daughter to her and in the quiet, when she was alone at night, she poured out her heart before God, begging him to keep her safe and help them to find her.

Jarrod had been absorbed in going over the notes he'd made, having spent the entire day prior grilling his mother, siblings, Silas and the ranch hands for any little thing they could remember Millie having told them. Any little detail, no matter how seemingly insignificant it was, might hold the key to a clue that could help find Millie. Throwing himself wholeheartedly into his work and despite his best efforts, he still was no closer to finding any clues when he finally retired to bed that night.

Nick on the other hand, having nothing he could do to try and help with finding Millie had returned to working on the ranch. His temper was explosive, the men having the brunt of his frustrations taken out on them and three hands had quit already because of the way he'd treated them. All he could do was wait and that was something he hated with a passion. He had to be doing something. Had to feel useful in some way but this time, there was nothing he could do. The only thing he could do was look after Millie's horse, a task he'd taken up without a second thought. Until she was found, he could at least look after her mustang.

Heath, seeing the downhill spiral his brother was going on was trying his best to stop it from getting worse. The men didn't deserve to have Nick taking out his anger on them and Heath was the only one Nick would pay half a mind to. Though he was trying not to let it show, he, like the others, was extremely worried about Millie. He'd become close to her too and like his older brothers, he felt he'd failed in his duty to protect her.

Audra was understandably distraught over the whole sorry situation, the two of them having become very close in the time that Millie had been living with them. Seeing how upset the rest of her family was over what had happened too only made her feel worse. She'd overheard their suspicions that the man who had attacked her was the man who'd kidnapped Millie and that weighed heavily on her shoulders, feeling that in some way this was her fault.

Eugene knew now too what had happened, having received a telegram from home Wednesday with their mother promising in it that a letter would follow. Upon receiving the news of Millie's disappearance he'd wanted to pack his bags and return home immediately but in the telegram he'd been told to wait; there was nothing he could do at home and they wanted him to continue with his studies and so, all he could do was pray anxiously while he stayed at college.

One other person who was feeling Millie's disappearance greatly was Jack. Though none of the Barkleys would ever know, Duke noticed a change in Jack when he'd come back to the ranch with Nick and Heath, their search for the girl unsuccessful. It was like all the joy in life had gone out of the boy and Duke understood all too well. The boy had fallen for Millie when she'd saved his life the day his horse had been knocked down by that bull and he'd fallen for her hard.

As the days slipped by, Jack kept his ear to the ground in hopes of hearing anything about how they were going finding Millie. Millie was all he could think about these days, ever since she'd swooped into his life like an angel sent from heaven. In the weeks following that mishap he knew Nick would make good on his threat if any of the ranch hands so much as looked at her wrong and not wanting to get his behind kicked by the burly rancher, he'd had to be content to watch her from afar.

In his eyes, Millie was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. When she smiled her smile would light up her entire face and her laugh was the most melodious thing he'd ever heard. He'd been there in the crowd that day when she'd run the race and unbeknownst to anyone, he'd placed every last penny he had on her to win. She hadn't let him down either, she'd won and tucked securely away in the lining of his carpet bag was the starting of his own ranch.

It had taken him weeks to muster up enough courage to speak to her for the first time when he'd asked her out to the dance. Of course he wasn't surprised when she'd declined, he'd learnt enough about her to know that she was as wary as a mustang seeing a human for the first time when it came to her being around other people. She was as fragile as she was strong and he was thankful that his Papa had taken the time to teach him how to treat women right. Millie was a heaven sent treasure but how was he ever going to be good enough for her in the Barkleys eyes?

He just hoped and prayed with all his being that she would be found.