" Cassie..."

"Just call me Cassie." I snapped at the female officer whose name is Warren.

"Cassie. Where were you when Miss Ashley Jefferson was attacked?" Damn! She looks so intimidating staring at me like that, like she can easily tell if I'm lying.

"I already told you, I was in my room at that time."

"Continue." She nods at me to continue.

I'm sure everything I'm saying is being recorded and what I'm saying now must not contradict what I already said before.

"Her scream woke me up, then I saw a man climbing out of my window. I was shocked, that was when I also screamed. He stabbed me in the stomach..."

Officer Warren cuts in immediately, it was as if she has been waiting for me to slip. "Why would he stab you? He was already escaping, why would he risk getting caught by turning back to stab you? Why didn't he just escape immediately since you were also screaming?"

"I-I d-don't know!" Gosh! Why did I have to sound panicked? "I mean, I tried to stop him."

"Okay, what you're saying is that when you woke up and found the mysterious man trying to climb out your window, you tried to stop him?" Why is she staring at me like that?

"Yes."

"What a brave move." I don't know if she's been sarcastic or not. "Did you see the person's face?"

"No, I didn't get a clear view of his face."

A cop who I almost forgot has been standing at the corner of the room walked up to us with a file, he brings out a pair of gloves from his pocket and put them on.

"Miss Cassie." He drawls. "How do you explain this?" My eyes widen and panic set in when he brought out a small bottle, the bottle of acid I collected from Ace. "This was found under the bed in your room."

Shit! I stare at the bottle as if I have never seen it before. "What's inside the bottle?"

"Acid."

"W-What! Acid?" I back away from the bottle in fear. "H-how did it get to my room?"

"That's what we want to know, how did this get into your room?"

Fake tears filled my eyes and I sniff, trying to get their pity but their gaze remains hard as they exchanged glances. "Maybe the attacker dropped it when he was struggling with me."

"We are going to need your finger prints Miss Cassie, to see if it matches with the one on the bottle. The result will be out in few days time."

I try not to squirm in my seat or show any traces of fear that will make them suspicious but it is hard. "Okay, can I leave after that?"

"Yes, we only brought you in for questioning but have to promise not to leave the country and that you'll be around anytime we need to speak with you."

"I promise." I say quickly, I'm eager to leave this place.

"Better stick to that promise." Officer Warren mutters under her breath and walks away, it's hard to miss the underlying threat in the statement.

My mom warned me but envy and hatred wouldn't let me listen, she asked me to be patient and let her handle it but I paid deaf ears to her. And now, I am in a deep mess. How am I going to come out of this?

I am restless and frustrated, I feel like shit right now.

"Did you find her?" I ask immediately Ash walk into my room.

"No." She mutters sadly, "Claire also said the same thing and I have been trying her number but it's not going through."

"Fuck!" I push everything on my reading table on the floor furiously, I have never felt so helpless in my life.

"Calm down Jace."

"I should calm down? It's been two days now Ash and I'm scared something bad is happening to her." My voice cracks as I sit on my floor and drop my head in my hands.

"The police..."

"I don't want to hear anything about those incompetent bunch of..." I take a deep breath. "Do you know how many unsolved cases we have with them? My accident, your attack and now Sasha." I'm never going to forgive mom for sending her out of the house, for making me go through all these.

"What about the detectives dad hired? What did they say?" Ash asks while kneeling down beside me.

"Same old story."

She put a finger under my chin and lift my face up till she's staring directly into my eyes. "Look at me Jace, look at me. We will find her. Trust me, we will." Her look of determination strengthened me somehow and I nodded in agreement. We will find her.

I have been in this room for the past two days now, Bryan is delusional, he beats me up at every little thing, Then he will later apologize and force me to say that I forgive him. I have never been let out of this room before, he brings me food in the morning and lock me up after eating, then he goes to god knows where. Then he will come back at night, prepare dinner and serve me. One of his numerous rules is that I must finish every food he brings to me and I must not talk unless he asks me to.

I tried to escape but the jerk has cctv cameras installed in the room but I wasn't aware. To cut story short, he caught me and here I am, tied to a chair.

"Why were you trying to run away from me? Don't you love me anymore?"

When the hell did I tell him that I love him?

He has a knife in his hand and I'm sure he won't hesitate to use it on me if he sees that I'm not cooperating, I have to play along with him or he turns violent.

His phone started ringing, he brought out the phone from his pocket and motioned to me to keep shut.

"Yes?... I'm sorry Sir, I had to come back home when I started feeling sick." I gasp and he gave me a goofy grin. "Can I take the rest of the week off? there is something I need to take care of...Alright...thank you Sir." He dropped the phone of the table beside me and his icy gaze returns to me, how the hell does he do that? Give me a warm smile now and glare at me coldly in the next minute.

"I wasn't running away B-Bryan, I just wanted to go out." I gulp while looking at everywhere but his face.

"Go out? To do what?" As if realizing something, his gaze hardens and his left hand start to tremble, it's a telltale that he is angry. "You wanted to go out to meet your Prince Charming. Right?" He yells to my face but I couldn't talk, I was terrified.

"How did you find out that he has regained his memories?" He asked menacingly.

What?

"He has been searching for you, but you know I will never let him take you from me right?"

I nod while processing what he just said about Jace, could it be true? Has Jace regained his memories? If so...how did he know?

"I would have loved to pardon you but you committed a grave mistake, you tried to run away from me. So I have to punish you but first, I need to feed you." I cringe when he suddenly gave an hysterical laughter and walk out of the room.

I quickly remove the rope he used to tie my wrists to the back, I have been trying to get rid of the damn rope for a while now, I had been able to untie it before he left. A cry of relief escaped my mouth when my eyes landed on his phone that is on the table beside me, I am sure he is at the kitchen now so I have a little bit time to do something.

I type in the first number that came to my head and dialed, it was Jace's number. It's ringing but he's isn't picking up. "Pick up the damn phone Jace, please."

I am about to hang up when I heard a harsh voice from the other line. "If you don't have anything important to say, just hang the hell up right now." I flinch at the harshness of his voice.

"Jace." I hear his sharp intake of breath as I call him softly.