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Chapter 15 – What Friendship Demands
The silence after Lana's message was deafening. Ava stared at the screen long after it had gone black, her reflection barely visible in the glass—eyes wide, face pale, jaw clenched.
Cami spoke first. "She's alive, Ava. That means we still have time."
Ava didn't answer. Her mind was spinning, heart pounding. Lana's bloodied face kept replaying in her head. That whisper of a name. A plea. A promise.
Jessy stood by the window, phone in hand. "I'm calling Liam. We need more people. We can't do this alone."
Elisha said nothing. He just watched Ava like he was waiting for her to explode.
And she did.
"I'm not waiting for Liam," she snapped. "I'm not sitting here while they torture her. I've done that before. With Chloe. And I won't do it again."
Elisha moved to block her path. "Ava, you run in there without a plan, you die. And so does Lana."
She stepped right into his face, eyes blazing. "Then help me make a plan. But I swear, if any of you think I'll sleep tonight knowing she's in their hands, you don't know me."
There was a beat of silence.
Then Cami stepped forward. "I'm with you."
Jessy glanced at them both, then sighed. "Damn it. Me too."
Elisha hesitated for a moment longer, then nodded. "Alright. But we do this smart. We figure out where they're keeping her, what security they've got, and we hit hard. No mistakes."
Ava took a deep breath. "Then we start with the message. The video. Look for anything—background sounds, shadows, markings on the walls. Anything that tells us where she is."
They huddled around the screen, playing the video on repeat. Frame by frame.
"She's underground," Jessy said after a few minutes. "That echo? Concrete walls. And that humming—ventilation."
Cami pointed at the corner. "That flicker—see that? Security camera reflection. They're watching her."
Ava nodded slowly. "Good. That means we can make them watch us, too."
---
Meanwhile…
Lana's head throbbed. Her wrists ached from the ropes. But she refused to let the tears fall.
Someone had entered the room earlier—masked, quiet, efficient. They hadn't said a word. Just cleaned a wound on her forehead and injected something into her arm.
Now her vision blurred, and her thoughts spun like loose leaves in the wind.
But she held onto one thing.
Ava.
She remembered the way Ava held her hand earlier that night. The way her voice never shook when she talked about fighting back. Chloe had believed in Ava. Trained her. Loved her like a sister.
And Lana did, too.
"I'm not breaking," she whispered to no one. "So don't you dare give up on me."
The door creaked open. But this time, it wasn't the masked figure.
This time, it was a woman in a black suit. Tall, cold, and with an air of authority that made the air feel colder.
Lana's heart skipped. Who was this?
The woman stood silent, her eyes scanning the room before locking onto Lana. She tilted her head slightly, as though measuring the weight of Lana's resistance.
Then, her lips parted, revealing a cold smile. "You're stronger than I expected."
Lana said nothing, just glared at her.
"I don't need you to speak," the woman continued, walking closer. "I need you to understand. The people you care about? They can't save you. Not anymore. But I'll give you one more chance to make this easy. Tell me what I want to know, and you can live."
Lana's blood ran cold. This is it. This is how it ends.
But her eyes stayed defiant. She wasn't going to break.
"Tell me, and I'll end it quickly," the woman insisted, kneeling to Lana's level.
Lana's lips parted, but no words came out. She felt dizzy, disoriented. Her heart raced. She couldn't afford to say anything.
Instead, she did the only thing she could.
She spit in the woman's face.
The woman blinked once, then wiped the spit from her cheek, unfazed. "I admire your bravery. Truly." Her expression darkened. "But your friends will have to watch you die. That's the deal."
Lana's breath quickened, and the woman's cold smile grew.
"There's no escaping this. We're too far along."
---
Back at the house…
Ava stared at the board Jessy had set up, filled with pins and maps and scribbled notes. "Who would they trust to keep her? They wouldn't risk a public place."
"No. But they'd want to watch," Elisha said. "And they'd want to send a message. Whoever took her—it was personal."
Ava blinked. "Jessy. Pull up the organization's file. The one Chloe was working on before she disappeared."
Jessy hesitated. "You think this is tied to her too?"
"I think everything is," she said. "She knew something.
Elisha looked at her sharply. "
Ava didn't flinch. "I'm not sure of anything. Except this—
They stared at the screen as old names flashed by. Codes. Locations. Faces.
One of them stopped Ava cold.
"Go back," she said. "That photo. The warehouse outside Denner Road."
Cami narrowed her eyes. "That's where they took the kids last time. When Chloe rescued them."
Ava nodded. "If I were them, I'd hide her somewhere symbolic. Somewhere that means something to Chloe. Somewhere she might come back to."
"Or somewhere they know we will," Jessy added quietly.
Elisha picked up a flashlight. "Then we leave in ten. Gear up."
---
In the back of the van, Ava stared out the window as trees blurred past.
"Why do you care so much?" Cami asked her softly. "About Lana."
Ava turned to her, surprised.
Cami didn't flinch. "I'm not judging. I just… I want to understand."
Ava hesitated, then spoke. "Because she never gave up on me. Even when I did. When Chloe disappeared, Lana was the only one who stayed. She cried with me. Fought for me. She's family."
Cami nodded. "Then let's bring your sister home."
---
Far beneath the warehouse, Lana stirred at the sound of footsteps. A door creaked open.
The masked figure returned.
But this time, they weren't alone.
Lana blinked through the haze.
And saw a familiar face.
A woman—strangely, unrecognizable yet somehow familiar. Cold, too controlled for her own good.
Lana's breath hitched.
"Lana, I told Chloe loyalty comes at a price," the woman said, her voice cutting through the dark.
And just as Lana opened her mouth to speak, her body tensed.
No.
The world went black.
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To be continued in Chapter 16...