Chapter Twenty Six - "I Am Right Here, People."
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Avery's P.O.V

After getting off the bike and walking up to the large wooden door that keeps intruders like us from heading inside, I look at Logan with a hint of worry in my eyes.

"Logan, I don't want to do this." I say and Logan grabs my hand.

"Its okay, I'm here." Logan says and I let out a sigh when he steps in front of me and rings the doorbell. I hold my breath, trying to calm myself down but the noise of the shouting that I can hear from inside makes me nervous.

The door opens, revealing a big guy who is dressed in full black, his grey eyes looking into mine and Logan's suspiciously.

"Who are you?" The guy asks and I grip at Logan's hand to stop my hand from shaking. Logan rubs my hand but doesn't look back at me. Instead, his gaze is on the guy in front of us.

"I'm here to see Patrick. I'm his cousin." Logan says and the guy narrows his eyes at me.

"Who is she?" The guy asks and I gulp, trying not to run away like the scared girl I am.

Oh my god, what the hell have I turned into? I am confident...

Before I can say anything, Logan looks back up at the guy after sending me a reassuring smile. "She is with me." Logan says and the guy nods before stepping to the side, allowing us to come in. My hand still holds onto Logan's as we walk through the house. We stop at a door and Logan turns to me.

"You okay?" He asks and I nod.

"I'll get over it. I just have to keep thinking about River." I say and Logan nods before pushing the door open, dragging me into the room.

"Logan and Avery... last time I heard, you two broke up?" Patrick's voice rings in my ears and Logan sits in front of the table, gesturing me to come and sit in the chair next to him.

River. We are doing this for River.

I walk over to the seat and sit down, looking up at Patrick. As my eyes scan his face, I can tell he hasn't changed a bit. His black hair is just a little longer and his green eyes are still as bright as ever. His skin is a little tanner from the last time I saw him but other than that, he still looks the same from the day I met him.

"We did break up." Logan says and I can hear the hurt in his tone. I push away my thoughts and nod.

"Yeah," I say, looking up at the two guys that are staring at both Logan and I. Patrick notices me staring at the two guys behind him and he grins at me.

"They are only here for my protection." Patrick says and I hold myself back from rolling my eyes and I just nod.

Protection? Does he think Logan or I are going to hit him or something? Well, then in that case...

I push away the thoughts of me slapping Patrick for what he did to Claire and just sit in my seat, glancing between Logan and Patrick.

"So... we need a favor." Logan says, changing the topic and Patrick nods.

"You told me this yesterday. So, what do you two need?" Patrick asks and Logan hands Patrick his phone.

"Someone messaged Avery and I yesterday and we think that the person is planning to take River."

"Who - oh, your daughter." Patrick says and I nod slowly. Patrick begins to tap a few things on Logan's phone and Patrick hands the phone to one of the guys behind him.

"Take this to John and tell him to find who owns the number." Patrick says and the guy nods before walking out of the room. Another guy walks in and takes the other guy's place, copying the same stance as the guy next to him.

"So, as we wait, is there anything you two want to clear up because I know I want to clear up a few things." Patrick says and Logan and I glance at each other before nodding.

"Do you remember Ryan?" Logan asks and Patrick chuckles.

"Yes, he was a very good man until I had to get rid of him." Patrick says and I frown.

"What did he do?" I ask almost immediately and Patrick turns to me, his eyebrow raising.

"Unless you know Ryan, I can't give you that-"

"He is her neighbor. They are basically like best friends." Logan says, cutting Patrick off and I would be lying if I said I didn't see Patrick's face drop in shock and worry.

"Okay, Avery," Patrick starts, folding his arms across on the table. "Since I care about you, I would advise you to stay away from Ryan until my men sort out a few things. You see, when Ryan was doing a job for me, he had drugged a girl which was included in the task but when he came back with the girl, she had bruises all over her skin... places that you wouldn't even think of hitting a girl." Patrick explains and I frown.

"He doesn't abuse people, Patrick. I know him." I say and Patrick shakes his head.

"That is what I thought until he... hit my sister. He acts all friendly for a couple of weeks but if you do something wrong, he lashes out and goes crazy. Like I said before, I care about you and since you have a daughter, I don't want her to get hurt. You need to stay away from him." Patrick says and my lips part at the news.

"What..." I mumble, looking down at the floor. Patrick sighs and I notice him look at Logan.

"Make sure she stays away from him." Patrick tells Logan and I look up to see Logan frowning at me.

"I told her this before; to stay away from him but it ended up in an argument." Logan says and I sigh and wipe my hands on my jeans.

"I... didn't know." I say and Patrick nods.

"But now you do so please, make sure you don't talk to him from now on. I mean, you can say hi but that is it." Patrick says and I nod.

"Okay." I say and Patrick looks over at Logan.

"You want to ask anything?"

"Yeah," Logan begins, his eyes narrowing at his cousin. "Explain to me why you do this stuff to girls." Logan says and Patrick nods, leaning back in his seat.

"When I was fifteen, my parents were held up with a lot of work and so when I had nothing to do one night, I went out for a walk and some guy bumped into me, kidnapped me and took me to his house. He blackmailed me so he could make me become apart of his team and he sent me over here where some guys would start me off with his business." Patrick starts and as Logan nods, I narrow my eyes at him.

"What did he blackmail you with?"

"My sister's nudes." Patrick replies blankly, his face showing no emotion and I nod slowly and let Patrick continue.

"Anyway, the people who started me off told me that I would be 'manipulating' girls then drugging them to bring back to a warehouse where the guys would organise an auction every Saturday night and the girls would be sold to creepy guys. This routine continued on for six years and is still going. I don't want to do this to girls, trust me, but i had to if I wanted my sisters nudes to be kept a secret." Patrick says and Logan let's out a sigh.

"I'm sorry man for treating you like shit. I didn't know the story behind it." Logan says and Patrick nods.

"Its fine. I don't get the girls anymore though, I get other people to do it and all I do is arrange the auction. The boss, the person who kidnapped me that night, still has my sisters nudes to this day and I am doing whatever it takes for them to stay away from the Internet. I know this is illegal but I would rather go to jail for twenty years or longer then to hear that my sister has committed suicide because of her nudes getting leaked." Patrick explains and a small frown appears on my face.

"What about Claire?"

"What about her?" Patrick asks and I run a hand through my hair.

"Did you only get close to her to take her and... do that?" I ask and Patrick shakes his head.

"No, I would never do anything to hurt Claire. At first, it was apart of the plan but when I started to get to know Claire, she began to take each piece of my heart asked sadly, I fell for her, making me drop the plan. Even though I had to pay a lot of money to replace Claire with another girl, I don't mind at all because just like my sister, I would've done anything to get her out of trouble." Patrick says and I smile.

"You still love her, don't you?" I ask and Patrick grins and nods.

"I do," Patrick's smiles but suddenly, it turns into a frown. "Too bad I actually fucked up though." Patrick says and I shrug.

"Things will turn out to be somewhat happy at the end. I'm not saying that you two will get back together but you might become friends." I say and Logan rolls his eyes.

"Thats if Henry allows it. Claire has probably told him everything." Logan chimes and I nod.

"She has but if I explain a few things to her, they might become friends." I say and Patrick clears his throat.

"I am right here, people." Patrick says and I nod.

"Sorry. Well, my questions are cleared up." I turn to Logan with a smile. "Anything else?" I ask Logan and he shakes his head.

"The only question I want answered is who is planning to take my daughter." Logan says and I roll my eyes at him.

"Logan, she is my daughter too."

"But she loves me-" Logan's sentence gets cut off when a knock on the door is heard. Patrick allows the person to come in and the dude from before who walked out with Logan's phone walks in. The guy who replaced the other guys spot when he walked out, leaves the room and the guy hands the phone to Patrick.

"Thank you." Patrick says and he types a few things in and his eyes widen.

"Before I tell you, do you think that the person that texted you both is the same person?" Patrick asks after a few seconds of staring at Logan's phone.

"Pretty sure." I say and Patrick nods before running his hand through his hair. He takes in a deep breath before turning the phone around, showing us the name on the screen.

Jade Rose Leighton.

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Oh my god, what do you all think of Jade's return! Did you guys think it was her or did you think it was someone else? Maybe Patrick? What do you think of Ryan now? What about Patrick?

Press the star and comment your thoughts! I will give a dedication to the first person to comment something other than 'please update'.

Lofd - "You left a bloodstain on the floor. You set your sights on him. You left a hand print on the door... like all the boys before, like all the boys before."

-XmysterysmileX