"We've tried to locate Mr. Phim, but it seems he disappeared from the face of the earth." Pedro was saying to William, who sat hunched in the steel chair in the police station. "Few people said they saw him exiting the restaurant with a guy, but we couldn't get his face because he was wearing a face cap."

William clenched his fist in his lap. "It seems you people don't realise how bad things are with each passing day. My family is falling apart and if my sister is not found soon, I don't know what would happen."

"We're trying our-" Pedro was cut off by the ringing of her office phone. She held up a finger and mouthed 'just a sec' as she picked the receiver.

William tuned her out as he let his mind wander over what had been happening at home. Ella had stopped talking to him entirely and even went as far as keeping the children away from him. Cassie and Kaden were tensed too. Their father was always drunk whenever he came back from work and Arabella wasn't happy either.

Things took a turn for the worse when they found out that Jovon Phim was missing for two days now. The hotel had confirmed that he hadn't checked out of his room and a quick search of his room conformed it. And to make it worse, Luka was also missing. Everything seemed connected, but he just couldn't piece the puzzle together.

"Okay. I'm on my way." Pedro was saying when he finally became aware of his surroundings. She dropped the receiver and pushed her chair back. "Mr. Mckade, D.I Schneider just called to inform me that we have gotten a few leads on who kidnapped your sister and Mr. Phim. Someone claimed to have seen a masked man dragging an unconscious man into a building."

"Has he checked the place out?" William got to his feet too.

"We're heading there now." Pedro opened her desk drawer and withdrew her 9.mm. She checked stowed it in her arm hostler, then stocked her pants pocket with bullets.

"I'm coming with you and don't even say I can't." William was already dialing Kaden's mobile by the time they made it outside the station where several police cars were already pulled up.

Several officers were clad in their white and black uniforms and were either talking into their walkie-talkie or getting into the car. By the time William finish making the call, most of the cars were already pulling onto the main road.

Pedro shrugged on a bulletproof vest and gave him one too, since they didn't know what was going to happen. They piled into another police car with two other officers and the chief police who was busy yelling out orders into his walkie-talkie.

The house they pulled up to was outside of Philadelphia and looked high scale. William's heart became lodged in his throat. What if Annie wasn't there? What if it had been a setup to lure them away from the main city? What if Annie was there but wasn't alive?

William's heart constricted at the thought of Annie laying in her own blood looking lifeless. He wasn't sure if he would be able to go on if Annie died. What would the family be like after Annie's death?

The sun was already setting by the time the police got into position, surrounding the skyscraper with their weapons drawn. Pedro, Schneider and William stood back behind one of the police vehicle and waited. They couldn't rush into the building for the risk of the kidnappers harming their hostages.

"Is that smoke?" One of the police men was pointing at the highest point of the building, and sure, thick black smoke was curling into the sky making it more darker than it was.

"Shit!" The chief police curse. "Someone call the fire truck services,  Alpha one move in. Take oxygen masks with you just in case the hostages are in danger. Alpha two, block all possible exit. Schneider, you're coming with me."

Pedro stepped forward. "What about me, Sir?"

The chief police paused in the process of pulling the oxygen mask over his head. "Stay here with Mr. Mckade and keep an eye out."

And with that they disappeared into the building.

William's eyes remained on the smoke that was getting thicker by the minute. "Now what?"

"We wait."

*                           *                             *

Twenty-four Hours earlier.

Jovon opened his eyes groggily. His head and temple felt like hundreds of dancers were doing tap dance in it. He rubbed his temple with his hands as he sat up and took in his surroundings.

The room he was in was bare of any furniture. He was still in his clothes but his feet were bare. The room had no window either and the only form of escape was a steel door. He got to his feet, swaying lightly when dark spots made it's presence known in his vision. By the time he finally got his bearings, sweat made a steady trickle down his spine.

Jovon braced himself against the wall and made his way to the door. Just when he was about to reach for the knob, the door jerked open to reveal Lukas. He was holding a silver coloured pistol and it pointed at Jovon's forehead.

"How nice of you to join us." He grinned as he stepped fully into the room. "Take a step back or I will blow your brains off."

Jovon did as instructed, while calculating the distance if he were to tackle him. Another person appeared behind Lukas, and Jovon's fist clenched when he saw who it was.

Skylar flashed him a grin as she came to stand beside Lukas. "You poor thing." She tutted. "I was wondering when you'll wake up. Lukey did a number on you yesterday."

Yesterday.

He had been taken over twenty-four hours. He wondered if the detectives would have noticed his absence by now.

"Where i-is Annie?" He rasped out as he braced his palms against the white wall.

"You'll see her after you sign this." Lukas tossed a file at Jovon's feet along with a pen. "That file states that you are transferring everything you own to me. Everything that was rightfully mine before you stole it from me."

"I didn't still anything from you." He growled. "Everything belonged to my parents and they transfered it to me as their legal son and heir."

Lukas' thumb pulled the cork back. "Shut the fuck up!" He roared. "It belonged to me. You stole it with your stupid handsomeness and sweet talk. You fucking pussy!"

"Is that why you killed Americus?"

"You figured that out by now." The right corner of his lips lifted up. "I always thought you were so smart. Looked up to you and respected you back when I was stupid. But you took everything away from me. My mother's love. My father's approval. You even took away grandmother's attention and affection from me.

"I loved Americus deeply after I met her. She was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen and she was smart too. It didn't take much conviction on my part for her to agree to help me. And you played right into her hands. Do you think that her meeting you that day was a coincidence?"

Jovon took another step back. "You're a liar. Americus would never do such a thing."

Skylar threw her head back and laughed. "You're easily fooled."

"Go and wait for me outside." Lukas told her. He waited until she was out of the room before picking up from where he left off. "We had everything planned. She would make you fall in love with her, marry you and have a child with you then kill you. It was going as we planned. But that bitch had to ruin it all by falling in love with you. She was even willing to tell you everything, but I got there on time
I made her lie about having that stupid headache."

"And then you killed her." Jovon said through gritted teeth. "You killed my baby too."

Lukas threw his head back and laughed. "How did you ever graduate from school? You're dumb as fuck." He pretended to wipe tears from the corner of his eyes. "Genesis is my daughter and even the baby that died with that bitch was mine. It felt so good hitting her. But setting her on fire was the highlight of my day. Hearing her beg for her life, watching her struggle made my day. But you had to come charging in there like the fucking saviour you were. I'm sorry you didn't die. It would have saved so many people from dying."

"You bastard! Americus would never do such a thing to me. She loved me so much."

"Believe what you will, I don't care. But you aren't the one to talk about me hurting people. You were the reason why I killed Demetria and Meredith. Why couldn't you accept that Americus died as a result of her carelessness? You had to go and dig deeper, and that Russian bitch almost outed me." Lukas smiled faintly at the memory of that day. "She begged too. She asked me to spare her, but I couldn't loose my chance after all what I planned. Killing her was easy, and Meredith just happened to be a casualty. How else are we supposed to catch Annie Mckade if we didn't do that."

Jovon sank onto the floor with his shoulders slumped. Everything he thought he knew- his life, his wife and child- was a sham. He had been played by Lukas all of his life. How had he failed to see that Americus was using him all those times? She had given him another man's baby just like Annie did to him.

Annie!

"Where's she?" He scrambled to his knees, gritting his teeth against the temporary dizziness that swept through him. "Where is Annie?"

"I can't say." Lukas shrugged. "The last time I saw her. . . But I do know one thing for sure, and that thing is that she wouldn't want to see you after the way you treated her. It was easy to trap you into believing that she was cheating on you. The baby was always yours. But thank you for doubting her because you made kidnapping her easy."

Jovon surged to his feet with the energy he didn't know he possessed. He really shouldn't believe what Lukas said because he was the master of all liar, but deep down within him, he knew he was telling the truth. All those messages Annie sent him, the hurt in her eyes when he called her a whore and. . . Christ.

"Where is Annie?"

"Sign the papers first." He gestured at the laminated papers with his gun. "Make it quick."

Jovon snatched the papers and the pen from where it rested at his feet. He flipped to the last page and scribbled his signature on it. He signed on each page just for emphasis and tossed it back at Lukas.

"Take me to her."

"Sky." He called out and almost immediately, she walked into the room with an irritated look on her face. "Pick that file up and take it to my office. Afterwards, come and join us in the basement." He waved the gun at Jovon. "And don't try any funny business or you'd never see Annie again."

Jovon nodded. He walked out of the room with Lukas behind him with the gun nozzle pressing at the back of his head. They came to a stop by a door and Lukas gave him the key to unlock it. Jovon's stomach became filled with dread when he was greeted by silence after he opened the door.

He slowly descended the stairs one step after the other. The temperature of the room dropped gradually with each step he took. It was so cold that goose pimples littered his exposed arms.  Jovon came to a halt at the bottom of the stairs and swallowed hard before looking around the room.

His eyes fell on a lump- covered by a thin blanket and shivering- on the thin bed.

"Annie. . ." He whispered, his voice trailing off.

Not caring if he was shot, he rushed over to the bed and leaned over her shaking form.

"Annie. . . Annie." His words were like a prayer as he gently touched her shoulder with a shaky hand. "Annie. . . please answer me."

"No, please!" Annie cried out. "Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry. Please no more. No more."

She obviously thought he was Lukas. Jovon knelt beside the bed not wanting to think of what she suffered in their hands. He wanted. No. Needed, to know she was alright.

"No, Annie. It's Jovon. Please look at me." He begged in the softest voice he could muster so as not to spook her.

Annie's head slowly pulled from underneath the covers and her eyes came into view first, then her whole face became visible. Jovon looked at her face- horrified beyond reason. One of her eyes was swollen shut, her lips were swollen and had blood all over them. Her cheeks were sunken and her eyes looked hollow, empty with no sign of warmth in them. Her nose was bent slightly to the left and also had a cut on it. Dirt mixed in with the fading and new bruises all over her face.

"Jovon?" She whispered.

Even her voice sounded hoarse, as if she had been screaming for hours.

Tears blurred his eyes. "Yes. Yes. It's me, Annie. It's me."

"Jovon. . ." She whimpered as she pushed the covers back.

Jovon pulled her off the bed so that she sat on his lap with his arms around her. He cradled her as best as he could with her protruding belly. He blinked down at the frail body in his arms. Annie was nothing like he remembered all those times they made love. Her once soft lightly tanned skin was now pale and rough with bruises and cuts. Her ribs were showing despite her big belly and her body felt smaller than before. She looked like she had barely eaten anything since she had been kidnapped. It was a wonder how the baby was still alive.

Annie began to cry harder than before, and he realized that it wasn't one of relief but pain. Her thighs and upper body were covered with welt and bruises that he couldn't even begin to wonder what he back looked like. Jovon's hand twitched manically with the need to kill who did this to her, but  Annie's shivering body reeled him in. He pressed her closer to his body to offer his body warmth.

"Hush baby. I'm here. Right here with you." He pressed her closer to his body as he dared not knowing the extent of her injuries. He wished to God that there was anything he could to take her away from here and straight to the hospital to ease her pain.

"Jo-jovon. . ." Annie sobbed weakly into his chest.

"I've got you, baby." Jovon rocked her slowly. "I won't let anything happen to you anymore. No one's ever going to hurt you again."

Jovon pressed kisses into her greasy hair and dirty face not caring about the loud snicker from Lukas. He couldn't care less as he held her body closer to him. It felt so wonderful to hold Annie in his arms again after five months of not knowing where she was, if she was alive or dead. His heart warmed up and was beating again. Jovon felt more alive after those five months of pain and bleakness as he pressed a tender kiss to her forehead.

And it hit him so hard that he saw stars. He was finally able to understand why he felt hollow inside after he left Annie. Why he was so happy whenever she smiled. Why he was willing to do anything for her. Why he changed his mind that fateful night.

Jovon managed to get it out just before Annie's body went limp in his arms- still breathing but unconscious.

"I love you."

A/N: I apologize for late update. But my phone which I use to write broke and I had to wait until it was repaired before writing again.

I hope this chapter made up for the lost time. Also, don't worry. Annie would be rescued very soon.