It's been awhile...

Well? Anything?

It was nearing 8 pm that same day. Stevie wasn't home, when Lindsey came back, he only found Maria. Both of them were getting increasingly more worried. There weren't many people to call, to whom Stevie might have gone, Lindsey checked with all of them and neither had seen or heard from her. 

"Where could she be? And with Liam." Lindsey wondered aloud. 

"He hasn't been feeling too well for a couple of days now, maybe Mom took Liam to the doctor?" Maria suggested, then added herself. "Surely, they would have come home by now."

"It has to by Ryan. It has to." He finally said. "He found out where we live, he tried and got lucky, because I wasn't here and he took her." Maria teared up and Lindsey noticed, knowing why. "It's not your fault." 

"What if that is exactly what happened, Lindsey? What if he hurt Mom? And we're just sitting here..."

"Where do we go? How can we know where to look?"

"The obvious." She said. "Home."

"You really think so? Didn't he think that would be the first place we looked?"

"Exactly the opposite. I'm sure Dad thought we wouldn't try to find them there, because it was that obvious."

Getting up from the couch, Lindsey turned to leave the room. "That's where I'm going then."

"I'm going with you."

"No, Maria. I can't risk taking you with me. If something happened to you, your mother would never forgive me."

Staying quiet for a moment, Maria said. "But you can't just go there either. My Dad's... he's not okay. Now, if he took my Mom, I think he's capable of anything." Wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "We need to call the police."

"They didn't do shit the past two times we tried."

"Lindsey, it's not safe." Maria emphasized. "You can get hurt, too. Don't you realize it?"

"You're really smart for being fifteen." Sighing, he looked up at her. "What should I tell them? Something like... a noise complaint? No, that's stupid." He shook his head, thinking.

"Whatever gets them to the house." Maria shrugged her shoulders, her eyes drifting towards the phone on the wall, which Lindsey picked up and dialed 911.

Meanwhile...

Hearing Liam's cries and how he was desperately asking for Stevie, broke her heart. Ryan locked the boy in his old room, hiding the key, and he wouldn't let her go to him.

"You're one sick bastard." She cried, glaring at Ryan.

"He's a distraction to you."

"A distraction?" Stevie shook her head in disbelief. "He's a scared little boy, who's seriously ill. He's probably starving, too. You've been raising Liam as your own son for four years, how can you be so indifferent now? Aren't his screams painful to listen to for you? Just imagine how terrified he must be!"

Ryan scoffed. "I stopped caring for him the second I knew he wasn't mine."

"What are you trying to achieve here? You're not going to make me fall in love with you, by hurting my son, keeping me tied to this bed as well."

"I just want you to realize that this is where you belong." Ryan shrugged. "Do you want anything? I could bring you something to drink or eat." Getting closer, he placed his hand on her belly. "You have to think about that baby, you know."

"Get your hands away from me." She spat, trying to move away.

"Mama!" Stevie then heard from across the hall. "Mama, come!"

"Please." She asked weakly. "I'll do anything you ask me to, but I'm begging you, let him go, give him some food, give him his medicine. Ryan, he's sick." Her face was wet from tears and it had begun to sting. 

"Anything, you say..." He trailed off, getting back on his feet, wandering around the room, just to prolong the pause. "You'll stay and you won't be a bitch about it. If you so desperately want for me to let your beloved bastard child leave that room, you'll forget all about that asshole, you'll remain here, with me. We'll be a happy family again." Ryan spoke, but his voice was emotionless, he truly looked like a mentally ill man.

Did she want to? Of course not, but it was her baby boy hurting and she couldn't stand hearing his pleas, that grew more quiet each time. "Okay." She said at last. "If that's what you want."

Giving her a smile, Ryan turned around and left the room, causing Stevie to frown. He returned about ten minutes later, saying... "I locked every entrance you could think of, I cut the phone wires. Will you stay true to your word?"

Sighing, the only choice for her now was to accept her fate. "I will."

"Good." Leaving her alone once again, he went to bring the key, going to unlock the door to Liam's room, who ran out the second it opened, stumbling and falling over, the boy stood back up and hurried to his mother.

"Oh, baby... It's fine. Everything's fine now." Kissing him repeatedly, while Liam clung to her, his little face wet and red from tears as well. She wanted to scream at Ryan, but she was afraid he would take her boy away again. 

"Do you promise to behave if I set you free? And by that I mean, I let you go only to feed him."

"Yes, yes I swear." She nodded, looking at him hopefully.

"Well, alright." He then untied her, Stevie now able to pull Liam close with both her arms, before she hoisted him up and took him downstairs. 

She couldn't stop herself from crying, thinking what horrible things she had to have done in her life to deserve this. Ryan didn't leave her be by herself, of course. He was in the kitchen, while she was looking through the fridge for a meal.

Then there was a knock on the door. Ryan gave Stevie a look, before going to check who it was. He certainly didn't expect to see two policemen standing in front of him.

"Good evening, Sir. We received a complaint, the person said you were being really loud." One of the two said, making Ryan frown.

"I don't really know what you're talking about. As I'm sure you can see, there's nothing going on here and are we loud now?"

"We're just doing our job."

"Well, you've done, I think." He was ready to close the door and Stevie's hopes were shattered, until the same policeman, stopped Ryan, putting a hand up against the door. 

"Would you mind if we looked around?"

"Is that really necessary? Everything's fine."

"Then I'm sure there's no reason for you not to let us in." Sighing, Ryan stepped aside and the policemen entered the house. They noticed Stevie in the kitchen with Liam. "Good evening, Ma'am." She didn't reply, trying to appear busy with making dinner, when Ryan looked at her. 

"Everything seems alright." The other policemen now said and Stevie was this close to grabbing Liam and running out the door. "I'm sorry to disturb you." He said to Ryan, while the second officer made eye contact with Stevie, noticing that she'd been crying and in his eyes, she looked scared. 

Shutting the door, once the policemen left, Ryan turned to Stevie. "That was weird, don't you think?"

"Maybe they got the address mixed up or something." She shrugged, not wanting for him to dwell on it.

Seeing the officers leave the house, Lindsey jumped out of his car, getting to them quickly. "Well? Anything? What did he say?"

The older of the two gave a small nod. "She's in there." Turning to his colleague, he said. "I think we need backup."