Chapter Twenty-Four

The instant I got home, I rushed up the stairs to see Sebastian. He was thankfully still in his room with the door closed. I knocked quietly, but anxiously, and flew in the room as soon as the door had opened.

"Jesus, Ava, what's wrong?"

"Nothing and everything," I said with a huge grin on my face. He raised a brow at me and looked overly concerned. "Sebastian, I remembered everything! My memories came back."

It took him a few seconds to register. "T-that's amazing! So, you remember me?"

I answered him by throwing myself at him for a bear hug. He let out a laugh and we giggled together, before we pulled apart.

"That isn't all, I have some more good news, and a little bit of bad but good news."

"Spill it all!" he cried. I dragged him over to his bed, once I had made sure the door was closed and locked, and told him about how Adam was really Ashton, one of the guys who had kidnapped me.

"Ava, are you serious? We have to tell your parents–" he reached for his phone, but I snatched it out of his reach.

"Sebastian, wait, you can't. It's not how it seems."

He looked at me as if I had grown three heads. "The man who kidnapped you right in front of me, and held you hostage for a week, has been following you around school, and you don't want me to alert your parents? Are you sure you remembered everything?"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him. This was going to be a lot harder to explain than I had thought, and was going to take a lot longer.

***

After I had explained everything that had happened over the course of the week I had stayed with Lucien Bradford and his family, Sebastian had sat perfectly still, eyes trained on the ground. I watched the second's tick by on the digital clock by the bed. A whole 10 minutes went by, and he hadn't said a word. I didn't know what to expect when it came to his reaction. I had of course expected shock, but not utter silence.

"Seb, say something?"

He opened his mouth, then clamped it shut again.

"That's a lot to take in, Ava. I don't know what you want me to say."

He was right. I hadn't even known what I wanted him to say. Tell me it was okay, maybe? That how I felt wasn't wrong? I couldn't expect that from anyone other than Ashton and I.

"Just, promise me you won't tell my parents?"

"How can I not? What do you expect to come from this relationship? He's a criminal Ava, because he kidnapped you. Do you really expect anyone to accept that, let alone your parents?"

Whatever I had expected him to say, this wasn't it. I had felt the hope seeping out through my pores with every word out of his mouth. I knew he was right, but he was supposed to be the one person who told me I was wrong, that it was okay. Everything was going to be fine, that I wasn't crazy or an idiot to think this fucked up fairy tale romance could work.

I felt tears prick at the corner of my eyes, and it blurred my vision. Without thought, I jumped off the bed and ran out of the room to my bedroom. I slammed the door and locked it before Sebastian could even get off the bed. I could hear his approaching footsteps, so I ducked into the ensuite bathroom, and shut the door. I could still hear the bang of his fist on the door. I walked over to the shower and turned it on to drown out his voice.

Thankfully, it had worked. When my heart had finally calmed and the tears stopped, I reached into my back pocket and took out my cellphone. It looked exactly as I had left it, when Lucien took it the day I arrived at the manor. It had only been a few months ago, but now it had seemed like years.

I turned my phone on, and was surprised to see it was almost at full battery. It looked like Ashton had used it quite a bit, since no notifications had blown up the instant the home screen appeared. I swiped the screen, shocked that it unlocked without a new passcode. My fingers stopped and hovered above the screen when I saw the background picture. Before, it had been of Chris Evans as Captain America.

Now, it was of me. But that wasn't what made me almost drop my phone on the ceramic. I hadn't taken the picture; I hadn't even known it existed until this very moment. It was of me, but in the garden at Lucien's manor, when Ashton had taken me out the second time, and we had collected strawberries. I was leaned over, with the small wicker basket in my hand, plucking the berries from the bushes. It was obvious from the angle of the photo; he had taken it.

I had no idea he had even taken out his phone. I wondered how many other secret photos he had of me, and was more delighted by the idea, then creeped out. The screen lit up under my fingers, and said I had an incoming message from and unregistered number. I quickly swiped the message, already knowing who it was.

Hello love xo

Hello handsome, nice background choice.

I'm glad you approve, I'm rather proud of that photo, I figured our phones could match.

I pondered what he had said, while another message popped up, this time a picture of the background of his phone. I covered my face, even though he couldn't see me, to try and hide the blush. The sound of the water sputtering out of the showerhead, turning from hot water to cold, brought me back to reality. I quickly walked over and shut it off, before I tucked my phone back in my pocket and walked out of the bathroom.

It was silent outside my bedroom door. I walked over and opened it a crack to peek out. I saw Sebastian with his back against his door, his head hung between his legs. I knew he was waiting for me, and he hadn't heard my door open. I closed it as quietly as I could and flipped the lock back in place. I wasn't in the mood to deal with him yet, and I was still hurt by what he said.

After everything I had went through, and with the way he had supported me through all of it, I had hoped he would be the one person who would have supported my decision. Instead, he had just put my hopes down further.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

I need to see you tonight.

I don't know if that is possible. Bodyguards, remember?

Bounty hunter, remember? ;) there isn't anywhere I can't go. I'll see you soon.

I hadn't given him my address. Though, I had a feeling, he didn't need it. I couldn't help the grin that split across my face, and tossed my phone on the bed before I followed it. I laid there for what seemed like forever, until I heard commotion downstairs. I jumped off the bed and flew open my door.

Only to be met with the angry face of my father.

"You have a lot of explaining to do. Let's go," he said, and roughly grabbed my arm.

"H-hey, wait! What is going on?" I cried, and ripped my arm out of his harsh grasp. "What are you doing here?"

"Sebastian called us, and told us how you have regained your memory, and how you have met with one of your kidnappers! When did you plan on telling us this? Was this the plan the entire time, just so we would send you here to see him? Who is he?" My father lost it, his face as red at the fake apple that sat in a fruit décor basket, on an end table in the hallway.

I looked behind him, and saw the guilty eyes of Sebastian. He looked pained, but I couldn't care less. He had betrayed me. It felt like a knife had been driven through my stomach, and was being twisted repetitively. My father moved to grab my arm again, but I stumbled out of his reach.

"Stop it, I'm not going anywhere!"

"Yes you are, I'm taking you back home. You're never to see that boy again, ever." He nodded his head behind him, and this time, Alex and Daniel had come barrelling up the stairs, and took a firm hold of either arm. Daniel looked down at me sympathetically, and Alex had refused to even look in my direction, as they had hauled me off.

I kicked and squirmed as much as I could, but it was no use. I was dragged off and hauled into the back of the SUV, the doors locked instantly and Alex was already in the driver's seat before I could lunge for the handle.

"Why are you doing this?" I screamed at my father in the passenger seat. He kept his eyes trained ahead, a permanent scowl on his face.

"Because this is what's best for you. You think you're in love with that degenerate, but he is nothing more then a criminal, following in his Uncle's footsteps, no doubt."

I was pissed at how much Sebastian had told him. It seemed like everything. I hadn't told anyone of the existence of Ashton before I lost my memories, and nobody in my family or outside knew who Ashton and his team were, or how they were related to Lucien.

"If you really want to talk about criminals dad, I now remember Lucien's side of the betrayal story you told me not too long ago," I spat and glared daggers at him through the rear-view. That wasn't entirely true, I had only known half of Lucien's story, but it had matched my father's.

He had betrayed him. Flat out. No questions asked.

Because of that, I had been put in harms way.

But I remembered, the entire time I was under Lucien's care, or even Ashton's when he first snatched me off the street, I had never felt like I was in impending danger, not truly at least. It was natural instinct to think you might die in a situation like that, of course.

"Enough whining, Ava. You are coming home; you're never seeing him again. Even if I have to move you half-way across the world to do it!" He slammed his fist down on the dashboard, and I jumped in my seat; it had even scared Alex a little. My father had never been a violent man, and angry one sure, but never violent.

I fell back in my seat and searched my pockets for my phone, when disappointment dawned on me, and I realized I had forgot in on my bed, after I tossed it.

Shit! I have no way of contacting Ashton, and letting him know what's going on.

Was there any way he could find me? I had doubted it, though he had studied and researched me awhile before I was kidnapped, there was a huge chance he knew where I lived, and was smart enough to put two and two together.

I hoped.

Alex and Daniel had dragged me off into the house when we arrived, right past my flustered and fraught mother, who had demanded to know what was going on.

"You didn't even have the decency to tell her why you're literally locking your 18-year-old daughter up?" I cried at my father, who just shot me another glare, before he addressed my mother. He walked her away from the stairs as Alex and Daniel continued to try and drag me up. Of course, he was going to explain to my mother the sweet version, of how this was what is best for me, blah blah.

And she was going to turn a blind-eye to it, because she hates confrontations, especially with my father, and doesn't think it is polite to argue in front of company; Alex and Daniel. I had remembered why, although I had been in a hostage situation, it had felt like home away from home.

Once I was firmly in my room, Alex slammed the door and locked it. Probably afraid I would attack him and try to escape.

Smart man.

I flopped onto my bed and gazed up at the ceiling. I tried to flip over every idea I had in my head, when I heard a light tap on my window. I sat upright at stared at it for a few seconds, until I heard it again, and saw a small pebble come up from the ground.

I already knew it was him before I got to the window, I could sense his presence. I threw open my window and quickly and quietly as I could, to look down into those bright baby blues I loved so much.

"Ashton."