"Zack, are you sure about this?" Damien asked Zack about our kidnapping plan.
I was standing right behind Zack while Damien and Liam were sitting on the couch. Max had gone out for sometime.
"Can I ask whose idea this was?" Liam asked.
"Mine!" I peeked over Zack's shoulder to see them and grinned.
"I don't think we should do this." Liam said to Damien who was looking at Zack.
"Why not? We've done this before." Zack said glancing over his shoulder to look at me.
"Yeah, but-" Liam started but I cut him off. "Don't tell me that kidnapping me was a mistake!" I glared at him in warning. He chuckled and shook his head.
***
After a lot of convincing and debating by Zack and I, Damien and Liam finally gave in.
"Where's Max? It's been so long since he went out." I asked to no one in particular.
"Relax, he often goes missing for hours. He'll come back soon." Liam dismissed.
.
.
.
"See, already found the prey!" Zack smirked.
We all looked over at where Zack was looking and saw a young girl, around our age, sitting alone on the pavement.
"Look at her clothes and that bracelet, she seems rich." Zack observed.
"Why is she sitting all alone on a pavement this late at night?" I wondered.
"Isn't it good? This makes our work easy." Zack swung his arm around my neck, smirking.
I looked at Damien who didn't look much interested in this, just like he had been during my kidnapping.
"So, how are we doing this?" Liam asked Zack.
"Let me go and talk to her to distract her while you guys can attack her from behind." I suggested.
Zack, Liam and Damien all stared at me in amusement.
"I guess watching a lot of crime movies does things to your brain." I shrugged.
***
I quietly walked up to the girl to notice that she was crying.
Why is she crying?
How do I know?
Ask her.
"Hey. Are you alright?" I asked her in a soft voice.
She looked at me and I smiled.
"No, I am not." Her voice broke.
"May I ask why you are sitting all alone here this late at night?"
"Why are you talking to me?" She stared up at me through her glossy eyes.
"I didn't like seeing you sitting here all alone. I know how bad loneliness is, trust me." I smiled at her again and this time, she gave me a sad smile back.
Before she could open her mouth to reply, Zack immediately covered her mouth from behind and started dragging her towards our car with Liam's help.
The girl looked at me with teary eyes. She looked betrayed and I immediately looked away from her in guilt.
Zack injected something in her neck just like he had done to me and she slowly started getting unconscious.
***
"I don't think we should do this." We were all standing in front of that girl who was tied to the chair in the basement.
"What do you mean? It was your idea." Zack gave me a blank look.
"Yes, it was but-"
"Jennifer, there's no going back now."
The girl started moving and mumbled something. She looked at the four of us and glared at me.
I looked away again.
"Why am I tied here and who are you all?!" She yelled.
"Relax. We have kidnapped you and you look smart enough to know that we have kidnapped you for money." Zack said in his best intimidating tone.
"Great. I ran away from my house to get kidnapped." She muttered to herself but we all heard it.
"Why did you run away from your house?" I couldn't help but ask.
She glared at me."Why do you care?!" She yelled.
"Please, don't worry. We won't hurt you. What's your name?" Liam softly asked her with a gentle look on his face.
I saw that the way he was looking at her was the same as how dad used to look at mom. With admiration.
"Ruth." The girl answered in a cold tone.
"What a pretty name." Liam said, causing all of us to stare at him. He fake coughed and looked away.
"What do you all want from me?!" Ruth snapped, looking specifically at Zack who bent down closer to her.
"4 million dollars. That's it." His smooth voice said.
"Why?" She asked with a fierce look in her eyes.
"That's none of your business." Zack replied back in a bitter tone.
"So why should I get you the money if it's not my business." She scoffed.
"We aren't doing a deal with you. We have kidnapped you and we'll get the money from your parents." Zack kept a hand on the back of the chair over Ruth's shoulder as he leaned even closer to her.
Ruth suddenly looked scared. "No! Please don't call my father!" She cried.
"We can call your mother then." Liam suggested, pulling Zack back and away from her.
"I don't have a mother."
Silence. We all stared at each other.
"I am so sorry, I didn't know it." Liam apologised.
Ruth looked away with a hurt look. It clenched my heart to see her like this.
"So, we have no choice but to call your father then." Zack concluded.
"No! Please! I ran away because of him. If he knew about my kidnapping he'll pay you the money and take me back." She pleaded.
"We want the money. You might wanna go back ho-"
"No, I don't! Why don't you all understand?!"
"Why did you runaway?" I tried asking her.
She glared at me again and I pursed my lips.
"My father doesn't support my dreams and controls my life the way he wants. He wants me to marry his business partner's son who is the biggest jerk I have known. So, I ran away from my house...It was never a home for me ever since mom left."
Ruth looked down while the four of us shared looks with each other. Liam bent down to comfort her while Zack and Damien were communicating with each other with their eyes.
Suddenly, I felt a bit uneasy. Max still hadn't returned and I was getting worried. Something was making me really uncomfortable and I couldn't help but think about Max. I felt as if he was in danger.
"Guys!" All of them including Ruth looked at me.
"I think Max is in danger."
"Why? Why do you think that?"
"I don't know. I feel uneasy. I feel as if he needs us." I looked at them with a worried face.
"How can you feel as if he's in danger? I don't feel anything." Zack said and looked at Damien and Liam.
"Maybe it's a twin thing? Wait- are you guys actually lost twins?!" Liam asked with wide shocked eyes.
Are we?
I don't know.
"I mean, I have heard that twins can feel if something is wrong with the other twin. Wow, this is so cool." Liam continued, still looking impressed.
"I am going to look for Max." I told them and walked out of the basement.
"Wait, I am coming with you." Zack yelled and joined me.
I quickly got seated in the driver's seat and started the engine.
"You're driving?"
"Can't I?"
"Of course, you can.. It's just-"
"Zack, we don't have time."
I impatiently pulled him inside the car and drove off at the highest speed possible.
"Wow, I haven't seen you this serious before." Zack commented but I ignored him. My only focus was on Max.
"Where do you think he might be?" I asked Zack interuppting his rant about how I suddenly became so serious and he preferred the calmer me.
"I think that lake he often goes to." He gave me the directions and I was basically flying the car.
"Geez, Jennifer, slow down."
***
"Max!" I called out for him but there was no one around. Zack was yelling for him too.
"Max, are you h-"
"Jennifer?" I heard a low voice coming from somewhere near us.
I looked at Zack and he seemed to have heard it too.
"Max?" Zack called out for him.
"Zack! Jennifer! I am here." We followed the direction of the voice and what I saw in front of me, left me paralysed in shock. My blood seemed to have frozen in my veins as I took in the broken form of the mercilessly injured boy.
Max was lying on the ground, covered in sweat and blood. His nose was bleeding and he looked as if he'd been brutally beaten up. My eyes widened in horror and my throat suddenly felt dry.
"Oh fuck!" Zack whispered and went near Max to help him up.
After I came out of my shock, I helped Zack in taking Max to the car.
Without wasting a second, Zack got in the driver's seat and we drove off to the hospital.
Zack was honking at all the cars coming in our way like crazy while I was sitting with Max in the backseat trying to keep him calm and conscious.
"Who did this?!" Zack asked Max through gritted teeth. He looked furious but somehow managed to control himself.
"The gang. They saw me sitting on the bench near the lake and started threatening to kill Celine if we didn't give them the money soon. I got pissed off and punched one of the guys and they all started beating me up. Yay."
"I wish I could just kill them with my bare hands!"
While Zack continued cursing at those guys, I was crying. I could almost feel the pain Max was suffering.
"Don't cry, Jen. Your brother is strong." Max cupped my cheek and smiled at me. I carefully hugged him and cried on his chest.
***
"We need a damn doctor, now!" Zack yelled as soon as we entered the hospital.
While Max was being treated, I couldn't stop crying. The picture of him lying on the ground, covered in blood kept popping in my mind.
I was constantly wiping my tears and trying to stay calm, but I was failing miserably.
Zack stopped pacing around and came towards me, immediately pulling me in his tight embrace. He kept rubbing my back, trying to calm me down.
"Jennifer, relax. Nothing will happen to Max. Okay?" I weakly nodded to his words.
Zack didn't pull away from me until the doctor came and told us that Max was fine and he just needed some rest.
I slowed down my crying when he assured us that he's going to be okay.
"I'll call Damien and tell him about Max." Zack said and I nodded.
The doctor said that Max was sleeping but I could still see him. So I went inside his room and sat down on a chair beside his bed, holding his hand in mine.
Seeing him covered up in bandages made my heart ache.
What would have happened if we hadn't reached in time?!
I don't even want to think about that.
***
"I told you guys already, I am fine!" Max whined.
Everyone, including Ruth was here.
She seemed sad to see Max's condition but was quiet.
"You are far from being fine." Liam said trying to sound stern but his voice cracked at the end of his sentence.
His hazel eyes were shining due to the tears that he'd somehow controlled from falling. Liam then came towards me and looked directly into my eyes.
"I don't even know how to thank you, Jennifer. You saved my best friend's life."
"Don't thank me, Liam." I tried to smile but my tears returned.
"Why did they do this to him?" Ruth asked. She genuinely looked concerned.
Zack decided to reply to her question- "We need 10 million dollars to pay the mafia in order to get our friend, Celine back. They have kidnapped her. We have managed to get 6 million dollars but we still need 4 million more."
Damien went over to Max and patted his head causing him to grin at him, showing off his perfectly white teeth.
He was trying to show us that he wasn't in pain, but we all knew that he was acting.
Damien looked hurt and pissed but was quiet the whole time.
Ruth suddenly said something that made all our heads to turn towards her.
"I will get you guys the 4 million dollars."