Niall’s P.O.V.

It was only another sleepless night for me. It must have been around three o’clock in the morning, when my phone began vibrating with a new message. I reached for it, my hands shaking. I was exhausted, but forced myself to stay up, in case I missed anything.

When I saw the name of the sender, my heart started beating faster. It was Aria.

Aria: Please help. I’m at my mother’s house and my father’s trying to kill me. I don’t know where her house is , but please check records. Please. I love you both very much. Don’t text back.

I noticed that she had also forwarded the message to Harry, but had no time to worry about being jealous. I stumbled out of bed and grabbed my phone, running downstairs to the guest bedroom. I was about to knock when I noticed that the room light was on. Harry must still be up.
I walked in slowly, and noticed him reading something on his phone. He looked up, eyes wide.

“Did you get the message as well?” I asked, sitting down on the bed. Harry nodded and showed his screen to me, containing the same message I had just received.

It was only then that I noticed Harry was crying.

“Haz,” I placed a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Cue the rant.

“Everything is wrong,” he sobbed. “I thought Amber liked me, the way I liked her. Do you know how it feels when you find out she’s just been using you? I thought she really liked me. I-I thought we had a chance together. And what’s even worse? It’s that it’s all my fault Aria is gone. I brought Amber here. I let Amber get close to Aria. I fell for her act. I fell for it all. And now, Aria’s been kidnapped by her.” He frowned, looking extremely pissed. “What the hell was I thinking?”

But I refused to think that this was Harry’s fault. He didn’t know. And that was a good enough excuse for me. I couldn’t blame him right now. But would I could do was congratulate Amber for being such a great actor. We all fell for it. Even Harry. I wanted to yell at her, and tell her how badly she had broken Harry’s heart. I wanted to tell her she deserved to die.

I wasn’t just mad anymore, that Aria was gone. I was also mad at Amber, for breaking Harry’s heart.

“Harry, I’m not going to let you live another day thinking that Aria’s kidnap is your fault. You didn’t know about Amber, and I know that if you knew anything, you would have told me. I understand that even though you feel that you brought Amber into Aria’s life that it’s automatically your fault, but it’s really not.”

“But-“

“No but’s Haz.”

Harry sighed. “I just wish I could’ve realized sooner.”

“I wish that, too.”

And I would not tolerate it.

“Look,” I sighed, “If we can go to the police department and find some records on Aria’s mother, I think we could find out where she lives. That’s where Aria says she is. We can get Aria back and get Amber arrested and in jail, where she should be.”

Harry looked up at me, his eyes puffy.

“That’s sounds good.”

“Okay.” I stood up and pat his chest. “Get some sleep man. We’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

Harry forced a smile, before turning the lights out. I left the room and dragged my feet back upstairs, knowing that no matter how I tried, I would not be able to go to sleep. Never would I, knowing that the girl I loved was out there somewhere getting beaten and… other things I didn’t even want to think about.

Amber and her father both disgusted me, and I would do anything and everything in my power to get them busted, and to get my princess back in my arms.

Anything.

And everything.

Change of plans.

The next morning after recording, I gathered all the boys together. I filled them all in on Aria’s past, and the messages, and the call. I told them everything I could about her suspicions of Amber, but not everything. I never told them about her dreams, or the parts of her past that were too detailed. Liam didn’t seem so surprised, except the mention of the call.

Zayn and Louis were terrified.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Zayn demanded angrily, banging his fist on the coffee table. “I deserved to know.”

“The less people who knew, the better,” Liam sighed, trying to calm Zayn down. “Aria didn’t know who she could trust.”

“But why would she keep all of this from us?” Harry argued along. “She can’t just do that. She should’ve known we would never have anything to do with this. She should’ve trusted us.”

“It could’ve been anyone sending her those messages.” I said sternly, clenching my fists. “Would you just go tell everyone you know that you’re getting messages that are threatening you?”

“No, but-“

“Exactly.” I finished. I caught Liam glancing at Harry silently telling Harry not to argue with me.

“Lads, we need to calm down. Aria not telling us is the past. We’ve got to think about what we’re going to do now.” Liam said. Finally, someone talks sense into this group of idiots that I call my band mates.

“I just hate her for not telling me.” Zayn muttered, standing up to pace around with his head in his hands. My head snapped towards him.

“What did you just say?”

“Uh, I- um, sorry. That just came out the wrong-“

Before I knew what I was doing, I had stood up and swung a punch right at Zayn’s face. He staggered back, straight into the wall, his mouth wide open.

“What the hell?” Liam yelled, pushing me back onto the couch. I myself, was shocked and what I had just done. I had never punched anyone square in the face, ever in my life. And I had just done it to one of my best friends.

“I-I’m,” I tried to speak, but instead I burst into tears. I couldn’t take it. Harry wrapped his arms around my shoulders and hugged me, long and hard.

Finally, quiet little Louis stood up.

“Look you dumbasses,” Louis exclaimed,, throwing his hands up in the air. “Aria’s in trouble and her current situation is possibly fatal. So stop arguing, and fighting and crying and get your fat asses up. We’re going to the police station.”

He marched out the door.

Ha. He was more smarter than I thought. I underestimated that guy.



Aria’s P.O.V.

I felt dead.

Everything was slightly blurry from where my father hit me right in the eyes. I was pretty sure my nose was broken, and my arm probably was, too.

Amber walked in, the clanking of her heels echoing the room. As usual, her eyes were on her phone. She didn’t even ook at me. It was as if I was invisible. As if I had disappeared. Bu then she did look up, straight into my eyes.

“How are you doing?” she giggled, dragging her nail down my jaw line. “I hope you’re doing good.”

“Absolutely fine.” I croaked, realizing how tired I sounded. All I wanted was something warm. My skin was numb from the freezing temperature of the room, and all I could think about was the warmth of Niall’s arms. It hurt to think about him, so I didn’t.

“Why are you doing this to me?” I managed to say, just over a whisper. Aria glanced at me, before clenching her teeth.

“Because you killed Scarlett.”

In a second, my vision seemed to clear, and I saw her staring at me, as if she despised the sight of me.

“I what?”

“You fucking killed my best friend!” she yelled, slapping my face.

“I was five fucking years old, Amber!” I screamed with all my might. “How the hell do you think I could do that?”

“You know,” Amber started, gripping my arms. “she came to my house one night. She told me that your parents didn’t care about her anymore. She said that they hated her; that she was invisible to them after you were born. She told me that all she wanted was for someone to love her. Scarlett said that she heard your parents fighting about whether to disown her. She said it was because they loved you more than her. Then, she went to a bar. She got drunk, and drove herself home. But you know what she told me before she went to that bar? She told me two things: one, to not expect her to be alive the next day, and two, to find you and hurt you the way you hurt her.”

I was infuriated, and wanted so badly to punch Amber’s pretty little face. “There’s really only one reason why they would want to disown Scarlett.” I growled. “It’s because she was a pain. She drank; she smoked pot, slept with a million guys. She never talked to my parents, and when she did, she wasn’t talking, she was arguing with them. Do you know how hard that was for me at five years old, to see that happening? After my mom left, Scarlett only became worse.”

Amber fell to the floor and began sobbing in front of me. She deserved whatever pain she was feeling.

“Scarlett,” she whimpered. “She was my best friend.”

“Well, whoop-de-doo for you. You can’t listen to someone who obviously didn’t have a brain herself. Scarlett was messed up, and you know it, Amber. You know it good and well.”

Amber only nodded.

“But,” Amber hiccupped. “When Scarlett was better,” Amber shivered. “When Scarlett was better, she was amazing. She always helped me feel better when I was bullied. She stood up for me when I needed it most. She was the only person I knew who had my back.”

“Wait.” I recalled Amber’s words. “You were bullied?” Gorgeous, beautiful, long-legged, brown haired, green eyed, model material Amber was bullied?

Amber looked up at me and wiped away her tears.

“I wasn’t the prettiest girl when I was younger. I had glasses, and f-freckles. I loved reading, an-and I always knew the answers in class. Everyone thought I was a nobody, and I was. Until Scarlett came along.”

I remained silent.

“She was wild.” Amber laughed, tears streaming down her face. “And crazy. The boys loved her, and they would do anything she said. She got me out of being bullied so many times. And I owed her. I owed her this much.”

I shook my head, keeping my voice quiet. “Don’t you understand Amber? You know what I feel like right now, sitting here. You know that I feel helpless, and weak. You know how I feel because you’ve felt the same way. Why are you doing the same thing to me that Scarlett got you out of?”

“I don’t know.” Amber cried.

“Then why are you not doing anything about it?”

“Because I’ve just now realized what an idiot I am.” She spoke quietly, wiping tears off her face.
“So you’re not going to do what Scar said?” I questioned in surprise.

Amber faced me, shaking her head. “What’s the point? She’s dead anyway. I thought by doing this, that in some way, I’d get her back. Maybe not physically, but in some way. Now I’m realizing that I haven’t gained anything. I’ve just hurt you, and lost Harry.”

Wait. She actually cared about him?

“Yeah, I miss him. “ she said, as if reading my mind. “I really was starting to like him, but then I kept telling myself it was only until I could get you alone. I guess he’ll forget about me soon enough.”

I frowned. “Harry likes you a lot. I can tell by the way he looks at you.”

Amber managed a smile. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Eventually, he’s going to find out what I did to you. He’ll dump me on the spot.”

“You don’t know that.”

Amber only shrugged. “I’m so sorry, Aria.”

I bit my lip and gulped. “I hope you understand that I can’t forgive you. Not yet. I just can’t.”

Amber nodded. “I understand.” Then she looked up with wide eyes. “I’ll text Harry the address of this place. He can find you then.”

Amber took her phone out and typed fast. It made sense, considering how much time she spent on the device. A little noise ascertained that the message had been sent.

“Will you get me out of this chair?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t suddenly turn on me and tell me everything she said just before was a joke. Instead, Amber nodded.

She worked fast and undid the knots around my legs. Then, she took out the ones around my hands and the one strapping my waist to the chair.

“Better?” she asked quietly. I nodded.

“Thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

“Wait, what’s going to happen when my dad comes in?”

Amber smirked. “I’ve got that covered. She took a key out of her pocket, showing it to me with a grin before walking over to the door and locking it.

“Your dad is out at a bar right now, so he gave me the only key for this room.”

“Wait. My dad is at a bar?” I squeaked. Amber nodded. “Then why don’t we just get out of here?”

Amber bit her lip, thinking. Then, she walked over to a closet door and grabbed something out of it. It was a fire-escape ladder.

And just as I began to smile, a cold hand was placed on my arm.