Celine Elloise Dufort:

We've been driving for hours and I have no idea where we are. Everything looks the same. All the mountains, all the bushes, all the fields filled with grass, all the cities and villages we rode by, they all look the exact same.

As if he's been driving in circles, trying to get some more time alone with me.

Because we both know what will happen when we arrive at the Curzio's.

I did recognize Bordeaux when we drove through it. The bridge and the cathedral. I recognized them. But that was two hours ago. And I have no clue where we are since he's not driving on the highway.

The road he's taking is in the middle of nowhere. No signs to tell me where we are. Nothing.

Nothing but green lands as far as the eyes can see, some houses and sometimes a mountain. But that's it.

I look at the little screen in the car and stare at the time. It's already two in the morning, which means we've been driving for over four hours.

April twenty-first. Five days. They took us in for five days. And they still have Neveah.

'We need to stop to get some gas.' Kai whispers.

It's the first thing he said to me ever since we left the house. Ever since we left Neveah with Hunter. We need to stop to get some gas...

I look out through the window and try to see if I recognize anything. Any sign of where we are. But there's nothing but grass. A field that's dark in the night.

'Do you need to pee or want something to eat?' I bite on my tongue to keep myself from shouting at him. 'Celine?'

He drives onto a normal highway again, making me look at all the signs on the sides of the road. Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.

He's been lingering around Bordeaux for hours.

'I don't need anything.' He nods and continues to drive until we reach a gas station.

The car stops and Kai jumps out, waiting for me to move. But I stay put.

If I get out, I might run. But there's nowhere for me to go.

We need to at least drive six more hours until we get to Paris.

Toulouse. We left from just outside Toulouse.

I have to remember where exactly until we get to Paris. Until I can tell them where they locked us in the house. Until we can get there to check it out.

I made sure I knew exactly what the house looked like, wishing that they left some clues, any clue at all. Maybe we could get Neveah out of there if they did.

Otherwise, we would be screwed, not getting any further in this battle.

'Here.' Kai says as he gets back in the car. He bought some bottles of water and some chips in the store. I stare at him for a second and turn to the window again.

There's no way I'm taking anything else from him. 'Take me to Paris.'

He sighs as he throws the bottles and chips into the car and looks at me for a second. I don't know if he's actually looking at me, but I feel his eyes on me.

'Celine, please-' 'Take me to Paris, now.' I state, trying to keep my voice down.

Wasting energy on him will be entirely worthless.

He sighs deeply, but starts the car and continues driving. He doesn't take a detour this time, just straight onto the highway, following the signs to Paris.

Three hours. Three whole hours of no words and some huffs of boredom.

'You have to understand.' Understand? He wants me to understand? 'I didn't have a choice.' 'You lied to me.'

'I didn't want to lie to you.' A low chuckle erupts from my throat and I slowly turn to Kai. 'But you did.' He nods and keeps his eyes on the road, annoying me even more.

He's the one who started this conversation and he doesn't even have the balls to look at me.

'I did it for you.' He whispers, making my mind go wild. 'You got us in danger, for me?' I ask sarcastically. 'Yes.' I can't help but laugh.

'Do you realize how stupid you sound right now?' He sighs deeply and tightens his grip on the wheel. 'I know, but he said he would take you if I didn't give him Neveah.'

'If Rio and Leon were with us, Hunter wouldn't get a chance.' I sneer, not understanding how he could think that Hunter would get to me in the first place.

'You planned this all along, didn't you? You got close to us just to stab us in the back, didn't you?'

Kai shakes his head and finally looks at me for a second. 'I did not.' 'Do you expect me to believe you?'

I wait for him to answer, but he doesn't. Exactly.

He knows he messed up, but I hate that it just hit him now. After all he did. He finally realizes how bad he messed up. I turn back to the window recognizing more and more as we get closer to home.

As soon as we get to the estate, I'm telling them all I know and we need to catch the plane back to Toulouse.

We need to get there as quickly as possible. 'Drive faster.' And he does. Thank god.

'It was never my intention to hurt you.' I turn back to him and sigh. He looks tense, gorgeous but tense. 'But you did. And I want nothing to do with you anymore.'

He sighs deeply, making me want to shove my fist down his throat, asshole. 'You don't mean that.' 'Why did you do it?' I ask, desperately waiting for answers.

'I didn't want to, I swear.' 'But you did. Why? And don't tell me it's because Hunter was going to take me, because that's bullshit.' I sneer, seeing that look in his eyes.

He stays silent, not knowing what to say. 'You planned it all out, you went through all that shit, why?' 'I didn't plan this Celine. I just-'

He sighs again, angering me more than I already am. 'You what, Kai?'

'Hunter was supposed to go to Frankfurt. He was supposed to be there. But he decided to change his course. He decided to come to France instead. He said that, if I didn't make sure Neveah would be ready for him to take, he would go after you. And I couldn't let that happen. I just-' 'So you knew all this time and didn't tell us anything?' I ask, just to clarify it all.

And he nods. Ashamed of what he did. Of what he just admitted. 'You're a piece of shit.'

'I know, but I couldn't let him get you.' He groans, looking at me again. 'He still got me! I was there! I was the one who had to cut Neveah open to get that damn tracker out, I was the one who had to watch while she was being tortured! I was the one that couldn't do shit because you wouldn't let me!'

My throat hurts because it's dry and hoarse from all the screaming before we left. I need to drink something, but I'm not touching his water.

'Celine please understand that I didn't-' 'I need you to understand that I can't forgive you for this. No matter what motives you had. I can't even look at you without wanting to kill you and I-' I stop, not knowing what to say.

Well, I know exactly what to say to him. I just don't know how to.

How do I tell the man I thought wouldn't hurt me, the man I thought loved me, that I wish he would've never come into my life. That I wish he would be better. That I wish he would've done something, anything to stop this mess from getting worse and worse.

How do I do all of that, without crying? Without pain? Without desperation?

'You can. I'll help to get her back. We'll go to Rio and talk to him. I'll tell them all I know and so will you and then-' Rio. He'll explode when we get back. If not him, Leon certainly won't hesitate to kill him.

But Rio will simply kill him for his betrayal.

'Don't be stupid.' He turns back to me and stares into my eyes. I look back at him and imprint his face in my mind. 'I need to stay with you, Celine.' 'You do not.'

'I need you Celine, please don't push me away.' I shake my head and look outside, realizing we're closer than I thought. Palaiseau.

Less than an hour.

'You don't need me. You proved that already.' I sneer, noticing him slowing down. I turn back to him and raise a brow. 'Why are you-' 'Don't push me away.'

'You pushed me away when you decided to go behind our backs, now start the car.' He shakes his head, jumps out of the car, and walks over to my side. 'What are you-' His hand wraps around my arm and he swiftly pulls me out of the car, walking a few steps away from the car.

'Let go of me and continue to-' 'I promise I'll help. I'll get her back and we can be happy!'

Lies. How can he expect me to trust him after what happened? After what he did?

He won't make it alive, even if I wanted him to. Rio and Leon will kill him.

'You think that we can be happy?' He nods and steps closer to me, making me step back. 'Yes, we can be happy. I know we can. We just ha-' 'Then why did you lie?'

He freezes and lowers his arms again. 'If you knew we could be happy, why did you lie? Why did you have to break my trust? Why did you have to push me away?'

'I didn't push you away.' I shake my head and take another step back, trying to keep my distance from him. 'You did.' I sneer.

I want him to die, I want him to suffer in worse ways than Neveah did, I want to erase him from my life. As if he never existed.

'You were the one that kept bugging me about lack of communication and now you do this? You go behind our backs and betray us?'

The look on his face says enough. 'Please, Celine...' He's not going to admit it. So there's no use in trying.

'Tell me what you know.' He frowns and tries to step closer. 'Tell me what you know.' 'They're taking her on a boat. I have no clue where they're going or what they'll do to her. You have to believe me.'

I look at him, trying to decipher if he's indeed telling the truth. But I can't tell. I thought I could, but apparently, I can't.

Because I believed every word that came out of his mouth. And they were all lies. 'I can't lose you.'

'You had me.' I admit, letting all the anger flow out. All the words I wanted to say. All of it. 'You had me, but you don't anymore. You betrayed me and because of you, all went to shit.'

'Don't say that. You don't mean it-' 'I do.' And he does not want to accept it. 'Now can we please get in the car?' I want to walk past him, but he moves in front of me. Not ready to accept it yet.

But I already have. I accepted it the moment I realized what was actually going on. 'I knew we shouldn't have trusted you... But I just thought-' 'You have me.'

I look up, straight into his eyes, and see the desperation in his eyes. 'Get in the car.'

The sun is ready to rise again, coloring the sky in pretty shades of red and yellow. It's absolutely stunning, be we need to get to Paris. 'Kai.'

'You have me. Until every star in the fucking galaxy dies. You have me.'

Star. Every fucking star.

Kai and his stupid references. He knows exactly where to strike. Idiot.

All I can do is stare into his eyes. He's lost, broken, exhausted, but I don't care.

He's the reason all of this happened. We trusted him. I trusted him.

'You don't mean any of it.' I say with clear anger in my voice.

'I do!' I scoff, unable to take anything he says seriously, to believe a word coming out of his mouth. Lies.

'No.' I whisper, walking back to the car. 'No, you don't.'

All he does is lie. That's all men ever do. They lie and lie, trying to break you. And even then, they continue to lie. 'Now take me to Paris.'

'Celine please-' My body moves to the car, in the seat that he was just sitting in. I get in, close the door and lock the car.

There's no way that he's driving me back to the others. He's not going to drive. He wants to fix this, but this is something that can't be fixed. He should've known that.

They'll kill him for his betrayal. Just as I should.

But I can't. I can't kill him. Not even after what he did, not even if he deserves it. He means too much to me. And I hate myself for it.

Tears stream down my face, but I simply smile at him and start the car.

'I love you.' He mouths, making my heart break even more.

The words I've been waiting for, finally. But under the wrong circumstances.

This betrayal hurts more than Jayden's, which I didn't think would be possible. I loved Jayden with all I had, and with Kai-

Our eyes lock and I feel my heart aching for him. I want to slap him, but at the same time, I want him to hug me. I want him to hug me and tell me that everything will be fine. That he will help us get Neveah back and that we will stay together forever.

But he won't. He won't betray Hunter. Just like I won't betray Rio.

I wipe my eyes and race past him, unable to control my anger. I want to run him over, but I can't. I won't.

Because... I love him too...

The rest of the drive becomes a blur. A mixture of anger and pain, and within the next hour, I get to the estate. I almost crash into the fence and jump out of the car before closing it off correctly.

I need to get inside. I need to tell-

The front door opens and Rio appears, with behind him Leon and Cataleya.

They look like they just got out of bed and rushed out here, which they probably did.

And the look on their faces breaks me, making me realize what all of this actually meant.

Kai betrayed us. He gave us to the enemy, he used me to get inside, he did all of that just to help Hunter.

'Celine!' Cataleya pushes the boys aside and runs over to me, catching me before I fall to my knees.

I feel numb and heavy. 'Are you okay? Where's Neveah?' Her voice is panicked. Tight as if she's unable to breathe.

'She's still- Kai said they're taking her to the ocean. They're going to take her on a boat and I have no clue where- but we have to get her. We have to save her. We have-' A new set of shoes enters my view and when I look up, I stare straight into Rio's eyes.

'Get up.' He mumbles, waiting for me to move but I can't. It's too heavy. 'We need to get to Toulouse. That's where they kept us. In a mansion near the Cathedral, we have to go there now- she's still with them and-' 'Elle, calm down.'

Leon drops to his knees and pulls me in his embrace, wiping the tears from my face. 'We'll get to her.'

'I'll make the phone call.' Leon nods and watches as Rio's footsteps fade. 'I promised we'll get her back.' I tremble, looking up. 'We need to get her back-' 'Celine... Calm down.' Leya whispers, grabbing my hand.

I can feel myself shaking, but I can't stop it. I just can't.

All of this, Kai betraying us, having to pull that chip out Neveah, watching her be in so much pain because of Hunter Steel, being locked up while Neveah gets tortured, seeing her after two days of pain and torture, being separated, hearing Kai, seeing the pain and regret in his eyes, and the fact that he finally said it.

It's all too much.

I need all of it to stop. But we first have to get Neveah back, we just have to get- 'Celine, I need you to pull yourself together.' Rio states.

Leonardo already let go of me, but I hadn't noticed. I barely notice anything anymore.

'I need you to tell me all you know.' I stare into Rio's eyes. The eyes that saved me more than once. The eyes that used to make me feel safer than ever, suddenly scare me. 'So get up and take us to the location.'

Scared or not. I promised I'll do my best to get Neveah back. I promised her that I would get her back. So I will.

I climb up and follow him to one of the cars, while Leya and Leon stay behind. They look at us in shock and, when I enter the car, so do they.

We race to the airport and immediately enter a plane. Everyone takes a seat, before turning to me.

I hate the way they look at me, it makes me feel weak. And I feel weak for leaving Kai on the side of the road. I feel weak for letting him go, but I feel strong for it too.

I loved him. And I still let him go. I've never felt this strong but also weak at the same time.

'I sent men to every haven in France, so if they pass through, we'll know.' Rio states, nodding at Leon, before turning back to me. 'Tell me what happened.'

And I do. I tell them everything. Even the part where I took Neveah's chip out, which they already knew. I tell them what I heard in the halls at night, I tell them the names I remembered, I tell them all the new faces I saw, I tell them everything.

Everything but the end.

The end of Kai and me.

If I told them, if I told Rio I let Kai slip through my fingers he'll explode. More than he already is. 'Celine...' Cataleya moves closer to me and hugs me tightly. 'I'm so glad you're okay.'

I press my face into her shoulder and try not to cry. It's no use. It's a waste of time.

We need to get her back. Until then, no tears. No emotions, no wasting time. Just straight action.

It takes about an hour to get to Toulouse and when we land we all rush to the car.

Leon races to the mansion. Or at least what's left of it.

They burned it all down, leaving only some of the foundation of the house. The rest of it is all gone. As if it never existed. 'Shit.' He grunts, kicking some stones before turning back to Rio. 'What now?'

'How long ago did they let you go?' Rio asks, ignoring Leon's question and turning back to me. 'Last night, around ten.'

'What took you so long?' Leon asks, suddenly a bit annoyed. I get it though. They have Neveah. 'Calm down, she already said they wouldn't be here.' Rio sneers, before turning back to me. 'Kai took a detour.'

Shit. 'Kai?' Leya asks, waiting for me to explain myself. I said that someone drove me to them, that I lost that person somewhere on the way. But I didn't say that it was Kai.

'He took a detour to talk and when we got to a gas station, I stole the car.' I state, looking at the ground.

If I wanted to convince them that I was telling the truth, I should be looking at them. But I can't.

'Elle please don't lie to us, we need to get her back.' Rio steps in front of Leon and tries to keep him away from me. But not because he feels sorry for me.

It's because he doesn't actually care about Neveah. He flew all the way to Toulouse, just to make it seem like he did, wishing that Hunter would be here, but he's not. And he doesn't care about anything else right now.

'I-' 'We should go somewhere inside so you can rest.' Rio states, not even looking at me. And I don't even know if he's talking about me.

Leon and Leya both look like they could use some more sleep as well, so I have no clue who he's talking about.

'Come on.' He pushes Leon back to the car and waits for Cataleya and me to follow. Leya has to pull me after them because I can't take my eyes off of the house.

We drive for at least an hour, an hour to the mansion in Castres. When we get there, my legs are heavy. Heavier than stone. Heavier than anything in the world.

'I'll take her.' Rio says when everyone is already out of the car, but me. 'Rio, I'm not leaving-' 'Leonardo, take Valentina inside.'

Leon sighs deeply and takes Cataleya inside, shutting the door behind them. Rio takes a seat next to me and sighs deeply. 'Celine. Do you know where Kai is?'

I look up, into Rio's eyes, and the only thing I see is hatred. He wants to kill Kai and Hunter for doing this. But that's all he cares about.

He does not give a single shit about Neveah, and I don't think he ever did. I know he never did, but he's doing so good at making Leya and Leon believe that he does.

'I left him on the side of the road.' He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to control his anger. 'You let him go?'

His soft voice from minutes ago turns dark and angry. I forgot how Rio sounded when he got angry and disappointed at me, because it has been a while.

But I don't remember it being this bad.

Hunter's anger is nothing compared to Rio's. Not even close. 'I didn't know it would matter that much.' I lie. I knew this would mean the world to him. To get his hands on the traitor himself.

But I can't let Kai die.

I would much rather let him be free, but in pain, than let him die. 'You did. You just let him slip right through because you-' He rams his fist into the chair in front of him and I flinch when I hear his bones crunch at the blow. 'Yes.'

I know what he was going to say. And I knew that it would ruin whatever trust he had in me. 'I'm sorry.'

He takes another deep breath and finally looks at me again. I just wish he would close his eyes again. Then I wouldn't see the disappointment. Then I wouldn't see the pain and regret. None of it.

But I do. I see all of it. All the hate, disappointment, pain, regret, and anger. 'I'm letting you go.' He groans, rubbing his temples. 'What?'

'I'm letting you go, Celine, I'm kicking you out.' I shake my head and lean forward, finally able to move. 'No, not until I get-' 'We're not getting Neveah back. My only goal was getting you back and now that you're okay, I'm setting you free. Go be with your family, go work in a hospital. Go live a normal life.'

Normal. A normal life.

It sounds boring but safe. Safer than any of this shit.

But I can't just drop everything and leave. 'I promised-' 'Well, I didn't. And I'm telling you you're out.' No.

He's pushing me away. He's doing this on purpose. He knows I know too much. 'Leon will-' 'It's best if she dies now rather than later.' Piece of fucking shit...

'How can you say that?! Leon loves her!' He shrugs and leans back in his seat, taking a deep breath. 'You would let her die even though she means so much to him?'

'It will make him strong.' He groans, looking at me again. 'She only made him weak. If she dies, maybe it'll all change.'

'I'm not-' 'Yes, you are. I'll tell them you resigned, too broken to continue. And you're going to go to your family and enjoy the rest of your life, Celine.' He sneers, opening his door. When I turn to mine, I notice that it's locked.

He knew exactly what he was doing. 'It was an honor to have you working for me, Celine Dufort. But your time is up.' He says, slowly turning around and throwing something into the car, before closing the door.

Smoke fills the car. A lot of fucking smoke and everything becomes blurry. 'You piece of shit!' I shout at him, but it's too late. The car is locked and I can't see shit.

I slam my fist against the window, but it's no use. My body becomes heavier and heavier and I feel myself weakening with every breath. 'Rio!' I shout before my vision becomes darker and darker.

He's going to let her die. He's going to let Neveah die. I promised her I would get her back, that I would save her from Hunter. But I can't do that if they won't let me help, if Rio won't let me help!

Everything becomes small and narrow, and before I know it, everything turns to darkness. Complete and total darkness.

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A/N: So what will happen now?

Thank you so much for all the love (I know I keep saying it time and time again, but it really means so much to me!!!!!!!!) I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though I think it was a bit rushed and short.

Have a blessed day and don't forget to vote and comment on what you liked most, until next time!!!!