First off, I'm like losing my shit after seeing the reads on DTM, half a million, are you kidding me?!
Mad love for everyone reading my mess of stories and somehow finding them enjoyable, thank you so much for the support, you have no idea how much it warms my heart.
The light's too bright, way too bright.
It was so bright that it was practically burning Camila's eyes behind her closed lids but she knew that had a lot to do with the drug that was still lingering in her system.
She knew it was still there because her body felt incredibly heavy. Everything just felt so...weighted. She tried to lift her hand to no avail, or maybe she did but she couldn't open her eyes to see if she had or not. It didn't feel like she lifted her hands. She was sure she hadn't. She couldn't. It was too heavy.
There was a ringing in her ear, she couldn't quite decipher what it was but a part of her mind told her someone was speaking. The words were just impossibly muffled by her incoherent thoughts. Things were too clouded, everything was too fragmented, nothing felt okay.
Her eyes, she had to focus on opening her eyes because then at least she knew where she was. Where Sofi was. That was her highest priority, figuring out if Sofi was okay or not.
Though it turned out that her brain decided to tune her ears in before allowing her sight.
"Mila!" It was still muffled by the squeak in it told Camila that it was her sister and she was close, now if she could just open her eyes.
"She's waking up, see?" Maddy's distinguishable voice spoke as well. "I didn't kill her."
"S-Sofi." Camila managed her first word.
It had been an entire day. Camila had been missing a day and Lauren still didn't have a clue as to how to track her down and the police weren't any closer either. What they did know was that Camila had walked out of the apartment at her own freewill, her jogging shoes were missing along with one of Lauren's jumpers so the older girl knew that something had happened for Camila to just walk out without telling her.
A loud knock on the apartment door broke Lauren out of her trance, the same trance she'd been in the second she realised Camila was missing. She was sat on the couch with her legs tucked up to her chest and her mind was occupied with far too many scenarios that she was sure she'd be near losing her sanity.
"Lauren, open the fucking door." Of course she shouldn't be surprised to hear that it was Lucy's voice on the other side.
Lucy didn't hesitate for a second telling Lauren she would book a plane as soon as possible when the green-eyed girl told her of the news of her girlfriend being missing. And quite honestly, Lauren couldn't say that her heart didn't leap at the knowledge that Lucy was there for her. If Lauren trusted anyone to help her sort out this mess, it was Lucy.
She managed to push herself up from the couch and made her way over to the door, opening it and pretty much having Lucy shove her out of the way in an effort to slip into the apartment.
"First thing's first," Lucy pulled out her phone. "We make Maddy's picture go viral. We make it so she can't so much as breathe without someone noticing her. We put her everywhere, someone's bound to see her." She held out her hand with raised brows. "Jesus Christ, Lauren, you're dating America's favourite girl right now, you're famous, idiot, use that."
"I told you she was crazy," Lucy's shoulders slumped as she took in Lauren's dejected tone. "You said she wasn't and so I stopped looking but I told you I didn't trust her. I should've stuck to my gut."
"Don't try to pin this shit on me, Jauregui, it's not gonna work and it won't make you feel better either. You either let yourself sulk here alone in your apartment or we figure out a way to get your girlfriend and her sister back, you're pick."
"Camila doesn't want me to act the hero."
"Yeah, well Camila's wants are gonna have to take the backseat for a while until she's physically here to give you shit for it."
When Camila's eyes finally cleared, she really wish they hadn't.
Sofi's hands were tied behind her back with rope that looked far too tight. Maddy had even gone as far as to secure her to the table leg she was leaning on and there was a significant cut on the small girl's lip. Her eyes were watered over in an attempt to suppress the tears begging to be released and a part of Camila felt proud of her for her strong resolve, the other part of Camila argued that Sofi should have never had to feel the urge to hold back tears in the first place.
The office itself was what one would expect from an abandoned one. Old, dusty folder piled together on precariously hanging shelves. The light was a stark white in colour but the dimness of it suggested it might fuse soon. The walls were painted bricks with clear outlines of the bricks' contours.
Everything about the office screamed that the warehouse had been an industrial building once, but it was no more. It was now abandoned and secluded and the perfect place Maddy could've chosen for them to not be found.
"What is it about Lauren, Camila?" Finally the celebrity turned her head to the grey-eyed girl and her anger flared at the realisation that this woman had laid a harmful hand on her younger sister.
"You hit her?" Camila snarled, attempting to lunge forward only to come to realise that she was secured in a similar fashion to Sofi, only she was granted a seat whereas the youngest girl wasn't given so much as pillow to put between herself and the floor.
"She got mouthy, that's what she gets." Maddy scoffed before rolling her eyes.
"What the fuck do you want, Maddy?" Camila slumped back in her seat and her eyes darted over to her sister again to find Sofi eagerly trying to rub her tears on her shoulder.
"I want to know; why Lauren?"
"Because I love her," Camila shrugged but she saw the fire in Maddy's eyes and knew that wasn't enough, she needed to give the girl everything. Camila's head felt too heavy and for a moment she dropped it as a sigh slipped through her lips. "Because she was my first everything." Camila explained. "This wasn't a choice, Maddy, I never chose Lauren...but if it was...I would. I'd choose her. She's everything to me."
"So I was just...a game?"
"She moved on, Maddy!" The brown-eyed girl finally looked up and met her capturer's steely gaze. "I was trying to do the same and I know that wasn't fair on you and I know I broke a promise to you, and sure, maybe I even deserve to be in this chair right now, but Sofi doesn't, okay? She doesn't. She's innocent to all of this."
"She was a means to an end." Maddy looked over to the youngest Cabello. "But letting her go now would be stupid of me, she's smart enough to bring anyone back here."
"At least loosen the ropes on her hands," Camila pleaded. "They're cutting into her wrists, please."
And maybe it was the grey-eyed girl's conscience kicking in, maybe it was just to shut Camila up, but Maddy complied and did in fact loosen Sofi's restraint, enough for the little girl to scratch at her irritated wrists.
"Thank you," Camila exhaled softly. "You okay, Sof? Nothing else hurts?"
Sofi shook her head and looked back up to Maddy.
"We could've been great, Camila," The grey-eyed girl shook her head slowly. "Now I need to figure out what to do with you."
And with that, she left the two sisters alone in the office,
As soon as Camila heard the click of the door shut, her head shot to Sofi who was already working her hands through the slacked knots Maddy had left her with. Sofi knew to do this because she'd seen on one of her shows once how a cartoon character wiggled out of the rope. She figured it couldn't be that hard if someone two years younger than her could do it and she just to happened to be right.
"Sof, my back pocket, my phone is in there," Camila gestured to behind her with her eyes and Sofi wasted no time in running up to her sister.
"Do I undo the knots?" The youngest Cabello asked.
"No, I don't think she's gonna be gone long so I need you to get my phone, turn my location setting on and then go back and tie your ropes back up, okay?" Camila instructed as Sofi reached behind her. "Lauren will see it, she'll find us."
And the older girl hoped her girlfriend would think twice before coming to her rescue, she hoped Lauren would consider the police instead of coming in guns blazing.
And Lauren was all for that idea, she was very prepared to let the police handle it and watch from the sidelines no matter how much it killed her. But then the hours started ticking by and Camila's side of the bed grew cold and nothing felt right without the younger Cuban in their apartment.
Lauren was going out of her mind with worry, her heart was quite literally on her sleeve as her mind conjured up countless images of what could be happening to Camila. None of which was pleasant.
She'd posted a tweet three hours prior asking if anyone could let her know where Maddy is, attaching a picture of the girl as well but she was met with either radio silence or people trolling the internet and every one of those comments had her blood boiling.
Lucy advised against asking if people have seen Camila, knowing it would send the media into a frenzy of questions and Alejandro specified that he wanted to keep things under wraps. He didn't want the chaos of photographers and reporters parked outside his house of his daughter's apartment building, it would just add more fame to Maddy than she already had.
Alejandro had a hunch that fame was the exact reason why Maddy was doing all of this. Being the centre of attention certainly had its appeal.
"Lauren, her location's on!" Lucy called from the living room as Lauren slipped one of Camila's hoodies over her head, the familiar vanilla scent only momentarily calming her nerves until she heard her friend's words.
"Where!" The green-eyed girl rushed out of the room and practically snatched the phone from Lucy's grasp. "We're going." Lauren looked up to Lucy, fully expecting her words to be refuted but only to be met by the older girl's knowing smirk.
"Let's go get the girl."
"What about-"
"The police?" Lucy scoffed, rolling her eyes. "By the time they get there, who knows what could have happened to them? We'll call on our way there but we are making sure Camila and Sofi are okay."
"I promised her I'd be smart about this." Lauren sighed as they made their way over to the elevator. "But I can't be, Luce," Her piercing green eyes locked on Lucy's determined brown ones. "I can't think straight, I can't focus, all I know is that I need to find Camila and I need to make sure she's safe and away from Maddy."
"Lauren, fucking look at me," Lucy got her friend's attention before she got lost in her own thoughts. "She's okay, she managed to turn her location on, right? That means she wants you to find her. She's alive and she's waiting for you...for us."
Maddy returned half an hour later with three bottles of water and a bag of chips that she opened and propped up beside Sofi.
"If I untie your hands, you can't run. You won't get far, do you understand?" Maddy's eyes met Sofi's and saw the evident fear in them. The youngest Cabello hesitantly nodded and Maddy pushed the bag of chips over to her. "Eat."
Sofi's eyes immediately darted to Camila as if asking for permission only to find her older sister already nodding. "Eat, Sof."
Camila's voice had lost all its fight after Maddy had re-entered the room because Sofi might not have noticed, but Camila certainly had...Maddy had walked in and tucked comfortably in the back of her pants was a gun.
"I'm not hungry." Sofi spoke defiantly and Camila's eyes shot to her instantly again, darting between Sofi and Maddy to catch the older girl's reaction.
Maddy's reaction was casual, as if she'd had it rehearsed. A small nod, one side of her lip quirked up and her hand reaching behind her to grasp the firearm.
"No, Maddy, no please!" Camila began her struggles again as the gun was then aimed at her sister's head. "Please! Please!" Panic coursed through her veins in waves that caused her stomach to lurch.
Everything felt surreal, the very fact that her little sister was staring down the barrel of a gun had Camila's head spinning. She had no idea when the tears started to prick her eyes but she knew of her screams, her pleas, her endless cries wishing the grey-eyed girl would tuck the gun away and leave her sister alone.
"She'll eat, okay! Just please!" Camila felt the rope cut into her own wrists as she struggled, her entire body wrenching forward in an attempt to free herself, to put her body in front of that barrel so Sofi wouldn't see it anymore, so the threat of a bullet was on her instead of her little sister. "Maddy, I'm begging you, please!" Tears were now streaming down her face, she felt them, she was aware of them but she didn't care. "Sofi, eat."
And timidly, with the fear of her life on the line, Sofi reached over to the offered bag of chips, snuck her hand in and retrieved one, placing it slowly in her mouth before biting into it, leaving a residual crunch in its wake.
Almost instantly, Maddy retracted the gun and tucked it back into the waistband of her jeans.
A breath left Camila's body but her shaking didn't stop, she didn't think it ever would.
Not after what she just witnessed.
She knew the image of her sister being held at gunpoint would forever haunt her mind and so she leaned over to the side of her chair and emptied the contents of her stomach as her body racked with sobs.