Chapter 31Ella:Picking myself up off the floor, scrubbing away my tears, I gaze blankly at Olivia with only one thing on my mind. "I'm going to Declan's apartment," I state, my voice hollowed out. Every single emotion weaving around my brain is pushed back the moment I'm standing. Crying isn't going to help Declan or my mother. Self-loathing isn't going to get me any closer to finding them. They need me, not the weak pity party me, they need the put-together me. I'm done crying. I will not cry again, not until they're found. I vow it to myself and them.I'm done waiting, I'm done being helpless. Every second that passes could be another second of them being harmed. I will not waste any more time, too much time has passed already. Who knows what condition they're in? I'm g

Ella: Two hours later I'm in the back seat of an undercover police car with Olivia and Declan's mom driving to an ordinary neighborhood just fifteen minutes away with strict directions to not leave the car. Declan's location has been confirmed by the spies sent out an hour earlier to watch the house that was a suspected location. They've taken pictures, showing four people who stand on watch outside the house, two in front and two in back. Which is enough evidence to know the house isn't an ordinary house. Normal people don't have bodyguards outside their doors. And normal people don't talk about who they are torturing in their basement. Torture. Declan was being tortured, has been being tortured for just over a week. Hearing it crushed me, it nearly had me on the edge of a meltdown bu

My mouth drops open at the condition of the person, and my heart hurts for them. What kind of present is this? Until he lifts his head and my whole world goes spiraling. And I'm choking, tears spilling, as I go to get up and sprint to him only to be shoved back down by my shoulders. He's almost unrecognizable. My Declan. I try to get back up again, lashing out at the guy keeping me from my Declan. But the man twists my arms behind my back and steps down on my heels immobilizing me. Declan wrestles too, even in his condition he tries to fight the guys holding him but he's as skinny as I've ever seen him, his forest eyes sunken in, and his cheeks hollow. He's so weak he almost looks sick. "Ellie." He yells, his voice is a brittle rasp as if he's been deprived of water for days. And the very sound of his voice makes my heart sing and crack and