*Author's Warning: Uh yeah...the same language one. :)

Thinking quickly and being on her toes had gotten her through a lot of sticky situations, but this one might be more than she could handle. Tom was obviously not pleased with finding her in the closet, he was less than happy to see that she was still dirty from head to toe, and the look in his eyes showed that his patience was wearing very thin.

If it were only herself that he was dealing with, she would have taken some bigger risks. But Tristan's injured state was weighing heavily on her conscience and it wasn't an option that he be harmed any more than he already was. If Tom lost it completely and needed to take his pit of hatred out on someone…Tristan would be a helpless and innocent victim. There was really only one thing to do, and hopefully he wouldn't see through her little game. It was time for the battle of wits to begin and she had the upper hand here because anger clouded his thoughts. Fear was pulling at hers, but at the same time she was determined not to go down without one HELL of a fight.

Her eyes squinted and her head bobbled a little as she tried to look up at him. "Huh?"

His hands rested on his hips and he leaned down with a growl. "I SAID, you just never learn, do you? I gave you twenty minutes to take a shower and here I find you in a…what in the hell are you doing in a closet? If this is another attempt to get away from me, I'm telling you right now that it won't work. It will only succeed in pissing me off even more!"

An unsteady hand ran through her hair and she smiled slightly as she stared up at him. "You're funny. I wasn't trying to do anything. Besides, how would I escape through a closet? This is a closet, right?"

He watched her muddy hand scrape along the inside wall of the closet and realization hit. With that realization came a bright gleam to his eyes and a sly grin to his lips. "Are you drunk?"

She hiccuped and closed her eyes. "I wouldn't give you the satisfaction of being drunk. Wow, I guess it's true what they say. Fungus really CAN speak when it wants to."

He didn't know what she was talking about, but the sight of her being this vulnerable was more than a little exciting for him. "I was afraid that you didn't get enough alcohol inside of you, but then again…I knew what a low tolerance you have for the hard stuff. WHAT are you doing in the closet?"

His fingers dug into her arms as he dragged her up off the floor. "I uh…you told me there were…were clothes in the closet for me to change into. I…I was looking for them and everything went…went dark. It's bright now!"

When she almost tripped, he pulled her up against his chest and prepared for the battle she would wage, but shockingly enough…nothing happened. "Lauren, I told you the clothes were in the other closet. Only you would manage to get into the wrong closet and get lost inside of a blanket. Now get in there and get cleaned up. I'm going to give you fifteen minutes this time and then I'll come in and help you if you're not out yet."

She fought not to smile at his stupidity, but at the same time she knew she couldn't overdo this act because if she did he really would clean her up himself. THAT was not an option. "Let go of me! I can do it myself!"

His fingers released her suddenly and she slid down his body onto the floor. He stared down at her and shook his head slowly as he noticed the muddy state of her and the torn clothes. "You have really outdone yourself this time."

"I didn't do anything. There are going to be so many charges brought on you when they finally get their hands on you. You won't be able to remember the word 'freedom' when they get finished."

His fingers tightened around her jaw and he violently jerked it up. "You made me hurt you, Lauren. If you just would have listened and followed my simple instructions, none of this would have been necessary." His eyes scanned over the bruise quickly forming on her jaw, the bloody wrists, and the cuts and scrapes that covered her skin. "It's a shame that you had to get messed up, but the coroner won't mind at all. I'm sure he's seen worse. Although, I do pity Justin when he finds out. His entire world will crumble around him and OH HOW I WISH I could be there to see his face."

"He'll…kill…you. He won't sleep until he has your head mounted on the front of the tour bus."

"I'll be long gone…as will you be. Now hurry up and enjoy your shower. It will probably be the last one you'll ever take."

When the door slammed behind him and the lock slid into place, Lauren rubbed her muddy forehead and tried once again to convince herself that this would all be over soon. Things this terrible didn't happen to people like her. They didn't happen to anyone and she just knew that someone was going to pinch her and she would wake up in the middle of Justin's arms and he would be comforting her through this nightmare. It just had to happen that way.

Pushing herself off the floor, she grimaced when the pain hit her tender ankles and she fought to ignore that feeling as she grabbed the phone out of the closet and ran into the bathroom. There were no locks on the bathroom door so she forgot about that to turn on the water and hide the phone in one of the drawers inside.

She quickly busied herself with digging through every single drawer that was in the bureau, but she came up empty handed. There were no objects anywhere that could be used as a weapon. No nail files, no fingernail clippers, and definitely no razors.

"I don't get this! Doesn't Britney ever shave her legs when she comes here? DAMMIT!"

Her eyes scanned over the top of the counter and she saw that there wasn't even a bar of soap or a glass dish to be broken and used for parts. However, she did notice the huge mirror and that gave her an idea. Wrapping a towel around her hand, she hit the side corner of the glass and cringed when it made a loud bang that echoed through the room. Waiting a few seconds to see if Tom would come running in, she fought to get her breathing under control, and then tried again. Finally a few taps later, the edge of the mirror broke off and it had enough of a sharp point on the shard to do some serious damage if used forcefully enough.

After tucking that away under a stack of towels, she quickly showered and scrubbed off as much dirt, grime, and blood as she could. Her muscles protested against the movement but washing away everything that reminded her of Tom pushed her to keep scrubbing. She could still feel his hands on her skin and the way his fingertips had brushed against her stomach appreciatively.

There was no doubt in her mind that he was losing his grip on reality. Already he had mistaken her for Carrie, he flipped back and forth between extreme anger and calmness, and the unpredictability of his mental health was going to become a bigger issue as this went on.

Carrie was someone that he had loved very deeply and if he believed that she was Carrie then he wouldn't hurt her the way he wanted to hurt Lauren. He wanted to punish and harm everyone or anything that had to do with who she was, and she had to wonder if the right buttons were pushed…if he would really believe that she was Carrie. Being Carrie might be the only thing that could save her life, and she wasn't beyond pushing those sensitive buttons to shove him over the edge. The more irrational he was…the more vulnerable he would also be.

It took her a good ten minutes before she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a thick towel around her. She probably should have brought her clothes into the bathroom with her, but that was something she had overlooked in her haste. She did have an extra pair of underclothes that she put on under the towel, and very carefully she slipped the piece of mirror into her bra strap where it could be used later on.

Back in the bedroom she shoved the huge dresser in front of the door and picked up the phone again. The battery pack she had was almost used up and this call would have to matter more than anything. If she could just talk to Justin, all of this would be taken of, but there had to be some way to reach him. There had to be some way to make him figure out where she was.

Dialing the numbers again, she huddled up in the corner that was farthest from the blocked door and waited to hear his voice again. On the second ring, he answered and he sounded groggier than he had the first time.

"I'm SO glad someone around here can sleep." She pushed the buttons a few times to get his attention.

"Lauren? You scared the hell out of me when you hung up like that. Did something happen?"

She clicked the buttons once and waited. "Come on, Justin. You KNOW where I am. You…KNOW."

"They canceled the delay that we were going to have so we'll be there quicker than I originally told you. I…I think that's what they said. Yeah…yeah that's what they said."

Lauren's eyes lowered with concern. "What is wrong with you?"

"Jayce is on his way too. He said that your father is working with the police right now to get their hands on Tom. Did you tell him where you were going?"

She clicked once for no before whispering. "My God…what's wrong with you?"

His voice was lower and softer this time, but she could clearly hear his tears. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to find you. Nobody will help me, Val."

Hearing him this torn up and this helpless made tears come to her eyes, but it also snapped something inside of her. The fear was gone, the self pity was thrown away, and now she was angry. She was so angry at everything that they were going through at that moment that she just wanted to claw and scrape and KILL so they wouldn't have to deal with it any longer. Consequences be damned, she was going to have to get herself out of this one.

She pushed the buttons over and over in her anger, but he still barely said anything. "What are you ON? Wait…oh wait. They didn't give him something to…DAMMIT!"

Her fingers slammed against the keys again as she whispered angrily. "Give someone the phone! Give someone the phone who will ask the questions! Justin PLEASE give a clearheaded person the phone and HELP ME!"

She could barely catch his questioning tone as she continued to slam the keys and drown him out, but finally she stopped with a cry and hugged the phone to her ear. "Please give up your pride and your protective side, and let someone help us! TRUST someone, Justin!"

The noise she was making on the phone was scaring him because he didn't know if he was losing her or if she was in some God-awful situation that caused her to panic against the keys. He lost control of his emotions and cried openly on the phone.

Lauren covered her mouth and a tear ran down her cheek when his hoarse voice began singing. "I never thought you were a fair-weather friend. You never let me down; you're true to the end. For in the darkest hour…when all was lost. Somehow you left the light on. You faced the road and showed the world a thing or two. Stood up for me…for you."

His voice cracked and was followed by a few heart-wrenching sobs before he continued. "Some say it wasn't worth the things we went through. I say it ain't worth losing you. I hope you know how much you've changed all our lives. Someday you'll see…" His voice lowered so much that she could barely hear him. "If only through heaven's eyes."

She couldn't see through the tears flooding her eyes when they opened again, and her throat was so choked with unshed tears for herself and for him that she barely got the words out. "Oh Justin…please don't give up. Please don't lose hope because your strength is all…it's all I have left."

There were a few clicks and Lauren assumed that she had lost the connection with him.

But then Mike's dominating and take-charge voice answered.

"Justin was given something to calm him down a little bit. He's emotional and he's angry, but know that we're doing everything we can to get you out of there. Is there any way you can tell me where you are?"

After wiping the tears from her face and collecting herself, she checked the clock beside her and saw that Tom would be up any second. "NO!"

After hearing her clicks, Mike continued. "Is anyone severely hurt?"

Tristan was the worst off out of all of them, and she wasn't going to lie because medical attention would be needed. "Two clicks, come on Mike. Put someone on the phone that knows what to ask! Miranda has to be there somewhere! She's a damn journalist and it's her job to ask questions! Put her on…put her on…PUT HER ON!"

Almost as if they had heard her plea, the phone exchanged hands and Miranda immediately took over the situation the way she knew she would. "Ok, Lauren. Do you know where you are?"

Lauren smiled hopefully and clicked twice.

"Are you far from the airport?"

She clicked once. "Come on, you can do this Miranda. I know you don't even realize that this place exists, but you can figure this out!"

"You're at a house?"

"YES!" Her fingers quickly clicked twice when she heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Have you been to this house before or is it…"

She clicked two times to cut her off before it got confusing. "You're almost there. PLEASE!"

"So you've been there before. Do the guys know this place?"

The footsteps were even closer as she answered.

"Do they know it well? Like, could they find it easily if they wanted to?"

The doorknob started to turn and she quickly pressed the keypad. "Oh please hurry, Miranda."

She could hear Miranda's soft breathing for a few moments. "Lauren, is it in the city itself or outside of the city. Click once for in the city and click twice for outside of city limits."

Lauren wanted to kiss the sky at that moment as she clicked twice. "That's it!"

When the door opened slightly and banged against the dresser she had put in front of it, Lauren pulled the phone apart and tucked it under the mattress of the bed. Tom continued to beat against the door and shove it against the wood loudly.

"LAUREN! Move the dresser! Move it or I'll make you sorry when I finally do get in there!"

She tightened her towel around her and slowly walked towards the rattling door to gently move the dresser out of the way. It was the last thing she wanted to do, but there was no way to get out of there, and she knew his threats were more like promises. She didn't know what he was totally capable of, and she didn't want to find out.

Once the dresser was pushed aside, the door flew open and she stepped back to avoid being hit by it. Tom pushed his way in and slammed the door behind him before glaring at her suspiciously. "What did you think you were doing?"

It dawned on her how naked she felt, how naked she was, and she gripped the edges of the towel tighter between her fingers. "I…I was getting dressed."

"You blocked the door!"

She wrung the fabric between her fingers nervously and nodded. "I didn't want you to walk in while I was dressing."

He took his time looking her over and had to admit to himself that she was such a beautiful creature standing there still damp, hair wet, droplets of water on her shoulders, and a wide-eyed look that he could certainly get used to. "I told you fifteen minutes."

Her eyes darkened as he continued to size her up with his eyes. Never in her life had she felt so dirty or used as she did at that moment. "Get out so I can get dressed."

"Excuse me? What did you just say?"

"I SAID, GET OUT! I'm not going to get dressed in front of you, if that was the sick plan you had next."

His arms folded against his chest and an arrogant look crossed his face. "You're in no position to tell me what to do, and that means that if I wanted you to walk around here completely naked…then I could do it. DON'T push me." He walked over and reached out to touch her wet hair. "You're already tempting me."

Her angry eyes remained on his. "If you touch me…I'll shove your balls to your throat. And yes…you're already tempting ME."

While it made him angrier to see her fight him this way, to still see the fire in her eyes after everything he had done to prove that she was in a helpless situation, it also intrigued him to watch her. "I've taken care of Anthony and the poor guy will have quite a headache when he wakes up. Leave it to Justin to hire a bodyguard who can't even handle a little rumble with a man who is MUCH weaker than he is."

"What have you done to Tristan?"

His arm flew swiftly and Lauren jumped back when he pushed everything off of the dresser and onto the floor. "Oh that's right! Worry about Tristan! The dear sweet friend who would have given up everything just for you to give him a second look. You are a heartless bitch that deserves everything that I'm about to give you, and I just hope that you're STILL thinking of Tristan, the guy who is INNOCENT here, when you're rolling that car off of a cliff. Will you cry for him? Will you be able to stand the look in his eyes as he realizes that you're not worth dying for?"

He was losing it, and he was losing it quickly. "I want to get dressed."

The clothes were thrown at her as Tom stalked to the door. "Two minutes…and then you're mine."

It took her several attempts to pull the white sundress over her head and she was surprised by how well it fit her. The dress had to have been left there by someone who was associated with Jive, but she couldn't think of anyone who would have been there recently or who would have left a dress her size in one of the closets. After checking to make sure that the piece of the mirror was secure inside her bra strap, she turned the doorknob and was shocked to find that it was unlocked.

Cautiously stepping out into the hallway, she looked around and saw that there was nobody in view. It was eerily quiet as she made her way to the staircase and down into the living room where Tristan was now laying on the couch. He was still bound as tightly as he had been before, but there was a lot less fight in him this time around.

His eyes barely lifted as she ran across the carpet and kneeled down beside him. "Tristan, can you open your eyes? Can you focus on me at all?"

His eyes opened a little wider when she pulled the tape from his mouth. "Lauren…get out of here. Run while you have the chance. He's in the kitchen and you can get out through the front door."

She pulled up his shirt and wiped blood away from his eyes and lips. "I…I can't. If I try to leave, he'll kill you. If I try to get away and he catches me…he'll snap and kill us both."

He tried to sit up but the pain in his ribs stopped him. His head flopped back on the cushion with a loud painful groan. "You…can't…stay…here. Don't worry about Anthony and me. Get out of here and save yourself!"

She continued to wipe at the blood on his lip and shook her head. "Maybe if he snaps…"

His eyes popped open then. "No, Lauren. Don't even think of…"

"Maybe if he thinks I'm Carrie…"

"Do you hear me? DON'T try to push him until…"

Her fingers touched his lips to silence him. "He won't hurt me if he thinks I'm Carrie."

"What makes you think that you can make him believe that you're Carrie? He HATES you and he's just waiting for the chance to…"

"You heard him call me Carrie, and I must look like her or something because he has slipped too many times. He said that Jayce had taken his Carrie, so now he would take his. That must mean…"

"I'm telling you again and listen to me this time. Get out of here!"

She had no shoes, nothing to protect her from the forest or the elements, and if she left then Tristan and Anthony would be Tom's only sacrifices. Selfishness tugged at her, but her loyalty to both of them, her need to protect them the way they had protected her…won out over everything else. "I'm not going to let him make you pay for his hatred towards ME. I…I couldn't live with myself if that happened."

His eyes closed painfully. "Lauren…"

"I'm not worth it, Tristan. Don't you see that I'm…"

Her words ended with a scream when fingers dug into her hair and yanked her back away from the couch. She reached up to pull his fingers away but Tom continued to drag her across the room as she scrambled to crawl backward on one hand and her feet. Finally he gave her hair a shove and it sent her rocking back against the floor where she held onto her aching head with a groan.

Tom nudged her hip until she rolled over onto her stomach. "You're a very smart girl for not running, but I wonder if you're really as bright as I gave you credit for."

She tried to curl her legs towards her chest, but Tom's foot kicked them back down away from her. "I didn't try to run. I wasn't going to run!"

"You're over there with your young boy-toy, and you were so fixated on him that you couldn't even see that I was behind you!"

It was unbelievable that he felt ignored in a situation such as this, but that's exactly what it sounded like to her. She tried to push herself up off the floor, but his shoe rested against her spine and pushed her back down. "He's hurt, Tom. Don't you see that he has nothing to do with this and yet you've hurt him! You should know what it feels like to be punished when you've done nothing, and Tristan is over there bleeding and in pain when all he was trying to do was be my friend!"

Tom leaned more weight on his foot and pinned her against the floor. "He wanted to take you away from Justin, he wanted to get inside your pants, and you STILL defend him. He didn't want anything from you that hundreds of other guys don't want when they see you and that attitude of yours. He wanted a quick lay and you are more than qualified for that position. Isn't that what Justin would say?"

Enough was enough, and if she was going to stall long enough for Justin to get there, if she was going to make it through this, she was going to have to do it on her terms. "If you treated Carrie this way, I can see why she left your ass."

"I KNOW I heard you wrong!"

It was a struggle, but finally she managed to sit up and turn around to glare at him. "If you tried to control and manipulate her entire life the way you do with everyone's around you…I can understand why she left you."

His palm cracked across her face and she reached up to touch the side of her lip that was now split and bleeding. It didn't stop her though. She looked up at him through the hair covering her face and chuckled. "Is that how you used to make her shut up when she dared to stand up to you? Or did she like being slapped around by you? I hear some women are into that kind of thing."

His fists balled at his sides and his jaw clinched tight. "Don't."

Lauren smiled again and carefully pushed her hair back. "Maybe she liked knowing that you would destroy anyone who happened to hurt her delicate little feelings. Was she that weak, Tom?"

"I'm warning you…"

"I didn't know her and she's not someone I would want to know, but I can't say that I think very highly of her. Here's a woman who supposedly looked a lot like me and…not to sound arrogant or anything, YOU are the best she could land? I mean, come on! You have to admit that there's a HUGE difference between…" She looked up and down his rigid body. "…between the crumbs that she nibbled on, and the MAN that I have wrapped around my finger. Hmm…Justin Timberlake or a middle aged power hungry chinchilla monkey dressed in a cheap suit. Was she in special classes in school? I've been wondering that for a while."

He reached for her again, but she scooted back and kicked his shin in the process. "Lauren…"

She scooted backwards until her back hit against a wall. "You have destroyed so many lives, you're here trying to end three more, and all for what? All for a girl who didn't have the balls to stand up to her father and fight for you! You say you're doing this all for her, but when did she fight for you? The one time that she had to choose between having you or following her dear old daddy's wishes and she chose his dreams over you. What does that tell you about her feelings, Tom?"

"Fun time is over, Lauren." He slowly began walking towards her.

The hatred in his eyes was enough to blind her, but still she pushed him. "Did she ever tell you that she loved you? You know what I think? I think she was too selfish and self absorbed to love anyone. What kind of sap sucker allows daddy to run her life…even if daddy was RIGHT ON in keeping her away from you. When are you going to wake up and realize that she wasn't the best thing ever to hit this earth? When are you going to realize that she didn't give a DAMN about you, and yet you do all of this to somehow show her that you're worthy of her love?"

He was getting so close that she could feel the heat from his angry breathing, and it gave her a sick thrill to know that she was manipulating him this way. "You're…you're just plain pathetic, Tom. She'll never know it and she'll never see it because she's dead! She's DEAD and I'm not going to credit her with enough IQ points to realize all of this even if she was alive. After all, she married YOU. Forget worrying about a bulb being on upstairs. I don't think her house was even electrically WIRED."

He hovered over her with his hands resting on the wall on both sides of her head. "You have been listening to your shrink of a mother too much, but why don't I try a little realism of my own here. How much will you be smiling when you're gone? And how much longer will you smile when you know that I'll go after your brother next? Once I'm finished with him…there's nowhere Justin will be able to hide from me. They will beg for their lives like you have…and like you will."

Her tongue darted out to lick the blood from the corner of her mouth and it was a cover for her smile more than anything. "Tell me how she fought to be with you, Tom. Give me one example of how she SHOWED you that she loved you."

His fingers absently toyed with her hair. "She married me. Through everything, she always TURNED TO ME!"

"You can marry your pet ferret in some underdeveloped countries, but that doesn't mean that the ferret loves you. It doesn't mean that the ferret WANTS to be with you. She didn't turn to you because she wanted to be with you. She turned to you because she was probably too scared to get away!"

"She…"

"That's not love, Tom. That's not respect and care for another person. That's nothing but fear, and so now you're defending her honor and her life by repeating the same thing over and over that drove her away from you in the first place. Look at what happened the first moment she met someone who knew how to treat her. She dropped you for Jayce so fast that it probably made her own head spin so…"

His fingers gripped her hair and slammed her head back against the wall so hard that she saw stars. "HE USED HER!"

It took a lot, but finally she laughed bitterly. "Did she look like Melinda too? Let me guess, she wanted some kind of lesbian tryst but since Melinda is straight you fought to get her EVERYTHING she ever wanted?"

"Pulling Melinda's world apart had nothing to do with Carrie."

"Then why did…"

He shrugged and grinned like he had so much pride in himself that he could barely contain it. "She was an experiment and she was a tool, but she was also all part of the game."

All along she wanted to know why he had done the things he had to the people that he had destroyed, but knowing his motives or lack thereof could prove to be more frightening than the oblivion ever could have been. "She was a tool?"

"I'd like to call her an experiment to see if I really could accomplish a much larger task."

"That's it? It was all a game to you?"

He leaned in close to her ear and whispered. "It was fun to ruin her life, and to see the lost look on her face when she couldn't figure out why I had done that to her."

Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath before asking. "And Miranda?"

He pushed her head against the wall again before stepping back. "That's none of your business."

"Oh come on, Tom. Satisfy my curiosity before I meet my fate. Don't I get one last request or are you THAT heartless? Why did you go after Miranda?"

It was easy to see that he had wanted to brag about these things for quite a while, but he still didn't trust her. "Miranda is a nosey bitch. End of story."

The alcohol that she had digested mixed with the blows to her head weren't making her think clearly because she could have sworn that he had lost the angry edge he had had before. In fact, he looked at her now like she was someone he knew on a different level. Someone like…Carrie. "Miranda is very nosey, but that's what her job is all about. Did it feel good to manipulate her too?"

He scratched his head and grinned even brighter as he thought about it. "The funny thing is, I was going to leave her alone. I wanted her on my side with that brain of hers because I KNOW she could have easily been an asset to me. But she had to run her mouth, she had to go against me at every turn, and she had to…she had to…she…"

Now they were getting somewhere. "She had to what? She had to fall for JC?"

"She had to cheat on that poor sap Harrison. Do you know what he gave up for her? He thought that the sun set in her eyes and what did the little whore do? She ruffled her tail feathers and shacked up with the first eligible man who looked her way. Harrison should be THANKING ME for ridding him of that waste of space. He should be thanking me for showing him what she was hiding beneath that oh so perfect exterior. She's nothing but a piece of trash who struts around like she's got everything under control."

"She threatened your power."

"SHUT UP!"

Lauren slid along the wall to put some distance between them. "She didn't bow down to your wishes and for once you met someone who could eat you alive with games of her own. She…scared…you. In fact, she scares you right now because you know that she will find a way to outdo you if you go head to head with her. A WOMAN of all things!"

He clutched his head and groaned. "No that's…that's not true. She will never beat me and it should have been Carrie in that spot! She would have been perfect and she would have written circles around Miranda Hill."

Pieces of the puzzle were starting to lock into place. He hated Miranda from the moment she walked in the door because, from the way it sounded, Carrie had wanted to be a journalist or at least a writer. In his eyes, he saw Miranda cheating on Harrison the same thing as Carrie cheating on him with Jayce, or maybe even the football player in high school who had used her. It was such a precarious and unstable web of reasons and explanations that one little jiggle and the whole thing would fall apart around them. It was really unclear if Tom even understood his reasons behind all of this.

"Did you go after JC just to prove a point? Was he a challenge so you pulled Kara away from him to feel like a better person?"

Tom laughed as he walked over to where Tristan was laying, and he nudged him a few times before answering. "I wanted someone to understand what I went through."

"JC had nothing to do with you and he definitely didn't have anything to do with Carrie! You manipulative little BASTARD! JC was so happy with Kara. They were in love and he was so damn happy, but you had to tear it all away and scar him for the rest of his life because you were miserable and…"

"He wasn't happy."

She eyed the lamp beside her and wondered if she could make any kind of move towards him with it. "He was happy until you interfered. Let me guess, you just couldn't stand to see anyone happy? Is that it? Because a stupid girl who probably didn't know how to spell MGM backwards dragged you through the gutters, you had to take it out on JC? Are you going to spend your entire life pulling happy couples apart just so they'll understand what you went through? That's MESSED UP, Tom."

He looked up at her with twinkling eyes. "Whoever said that JC was my target?"

The look in his eyes and the raw evil she saw in them made her swallow hard. "You hurt him worse than I've ever seen a person hurt before. You almost made him give up on everything he ever treasured, and you left him a shell of a man that I once knew. That is…until Miranda arrived. If that's not making someone a target, if that's not hurting a person, then I don't know what you think is."

"I did him a favor. One that he should be thanking me for. I showed him that giving himself up for a girl…for a woman who is NOTHING, isn't the way to live his life."

This was blowing her farther away the more he talked. "Kara was the one you were after?"

"I got so SICK of seeing those two together, of hearing JC talk about how she was just the most perfect woman ever created, and having to stand back and see her for what she really was."

"And what was she?"

"She was nothing but a slut who ran around on him every chance she got. He held her up like a diamond and she was making him out to be a fool! Sweet innocent little Kara who everyone weeps over because she was attacked by the media, but that's not why she left. She left because I told her I would expose her lover. Can you imagine what the fans would have done to her if it was revealed that she was a two timer and on JC? Like I said, he should be THANKING ME!"

Lauren walked around one of the end tables when he started moving towards her. "You're lying. I knew Kara and I know that she wouldn't cheat on JC! They loved each other until you broke them apart and…wait. How did you know she was cheating?"

That smile of his grew so bright and mischievous that it was almost painful to witness. "I knew because…I was the one she was running to."

"You were WHAT?"

"It's none of your business, but I was the other guy. In more basic and animalistic terms…she fucked my brains out. Regularly."

The world began to spin again and she covered her mouth with a trembling hand to hold back her cry of surprise. "None of this had anything to do with JC. I…I thought you were just after the guys for some…some sick reason and…"

"And now you know that JC just got hurt in the process. It's a shame, but such is life. He lost every bit of respect I had for him when he started sniffing around Miranda, but obviously he's not really GOOD at picking women of quality."

"Oh and you are, right? You hook up with one woman who kills herself trying to get away from you, and then you took up JC's leftovers before he was finished with them. I bet you've already started your self-help book for men who can't seem to find honorable women. It will be a best seller for sure."

He walked forward until she was up against a corner and narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you going to ask about you and Justin?"

She knew but she wasn't sure if she REALLY wanted to know. "You couldn't stand that best friends fell in love, could you? It was like seeing Carrie with Jayce all over again. But what we have is deeper than anything the short friendship between those two shared. You won't pull us apart, and by now you should know that."

He reached out to gently touch her cheek and shook his head. "He was touching and taking what was rightfully mine. You…are…mine."

"I'm not yours and I never will be."

"When I lost Carrie I thought that there wasn't a God anymore. There was a time when I thought that my life was over. But then I saw you, I saw Carrie all over again, and I KNEW that you were brought to me for a reason. Someone was telling me and showing me that you were my destiny. It's a shame that you have to be part of the man that I must tear apart, but that's the luck of the draw right? It's not your fault that your brother killed her, but it's your fault that you pushed me away. It's your fault that you didn't stay away from Justin like I told you to, and it's YOUR FAULT that you didn't see how much I care about you."

She trembled against his hand and found that she couldn't tear her eyes away from his. "If everything you did to me was the display of your devotion or love of me…I STILL don't want any part of it or you. I think you're the saddest and weakest WASTE of good blood cells that has ever been placed on the earth. If it were between me being burned alive while my fingernails and teeth were being pulled out one by one, and being subjected to your idea of love…BRING ON THE PLIERS!"

"That's too bad. Too…too bad."

Before she knew he had moved, he had her in his arms and slung her across the room. She landed on top of one of the coffee tables and slid off onto the floor. Very casually he walked over to her and kicked her leg. "Get up! We've wasted enough time with your stupid questions and reasons."

The breath had been knocked out of her and she struggled to get it back. "I'll fight you every step of the way, Tom."

"Why does that not surprise me?" He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up against him.

She struggled against him until he pinned her arms back and reached for a rope to secure her again. "No you won't do this! I won't let you do this to me!"

He swung the rope against her bare legs and smiled when she cried out in pain. "You make sure you fight and scream and beg for all you're worth. I need a few stories to tell my grandkids."

They fought back and forth as he tried to tie her wrists again, and Lauren did everything she could to prevent that from happening. If he tied her again then she was as good as dead because he wasn't going to wait this time. The determined and angry look was back in his eyes and he was more than ready to make her pay for everyone else's mistakes.

"You've made too many mistakes, Tom. You're going to burn for all of this and you'll be doing it for three deaths instead of one! Too many people know that you're here and that I'm missing! Don't you understand that you can't win?"

She kicked his leg and they both slammed against he floor together. Tom struggled with getting a good hold on her while she kicked and screamed at him, and Lauren was doing everything she could to hurt or disarm his senses. She managed to kick his chest several times and once in the face that stunned him for a mere second, but he had her ankle and was dragging her back towards him before she could regain any sense of footing.

When he dragged her onto her back and straddled her hips to reach for her hands again, she screamed and clawed at anything her hands could reach. Unfortunately this gave him better access to her wrists and he had them both in his and ready to secure when a voice sounded from the kitchen doorway.

"Get your hands OFF OF HER!"

He dragged her up off the floor, tucked her head into the crook of his arm, and held her against him as he stood up and took several steps back. "I don't believe this! What a TREAT!"

Lauren could barely breathe with his arm tightened around her neck this way, and she clawed at his skin with every bit of the fingernails that she still had left. It was no use because he tightened his muscles and cut off even more oxygen that she was already lacking in to begin with. "No…no please go away."

Tom yanked against her neck and pulled her along with him. "Let me guess, you're the rescue party? I've been dreaming of this day for so long."

Tears rolled down her cheeks and she dug her heels into the carpet to keep them from moving. "Please go!"

"Do you see that? Isn't she just a wonderful person? I could snap her neck, which I will if you step any closer, and all she can worry about is you. Tell me, what's it like to be loved so much and so deeply by this woman?"

Jayce held his hands up as he took a step towards them. "Your problem is with me, Tom. Let Lauren go."

Tom kissed the side of her head and grinned. "He missed the truth session we had a few minutes ago, right sweetheart? Well I guess…I guess we'll just have to catch him up on a few things."