stockholm syndrome - tracob

eighteen

"So... Then I realised it was him whom Jacob had seen kissing Curt... and yeah. I kind of started guessing after that, but Steele's reaction gave him away. Basically, he is neck deep into shady shit that made Curt and Jacob decide to kidnap me in order to get some money."

It had taken Troye a bit longer than usual to walk to the studio because the paps had gotten a hint of him now. There were journalists asking him questions almost everywhere he went, and if it wouldn't have been for Ben finally deciding to go back and take the car after all it would have probably taken them hours to get here. After they had arrived the group had all sat down and Troye had told them everything. Well, almost everything. He left out a few things about his dream about Jacob, how they had slept next to each other, how Jacob had cried in his arms when he and Curt had gotten into that huge fight and how they had agreed to watch a movie the night Troye was rescued. But other than that, he had told them everything. All of them – meaning Hari, Adam and Ben, were now looking at him, silent. Trying process all that they had heard.

Ben scraped his throat. "About his Dutch name, that could be my... You know, when he was younger he was always so curious..." he shook his head. "I also taught him Dutch. He speaks it quite fluently, even if he has an accent."

Hari and Adam kept silent.

"So..." Adam then suddenly said after a moment of thinking. "Basically you want to find out if your brother is involved so you can get Curt and make sure Jacob gets off the hook? But.. isn't Jacob as bad as the others?"

Troye shook his head violently. "No! He is not! He isn't... he isn't a bad guy. He took care of me, you know. He gave me food, and blankets, and kept me company... He.. He is a nice guy!"

Everyone at the table looked a bit taken aback by that. "Well that's not very healthy," Adam muttered.

"Let's keep us at the task at hand here," Hari interjected before Troye could retort. It hurt her that Troye felt this way about a guy who had done such a horrible thing to him. Maybe I should've just kidnapped him a year ago. Would've speeded things up between us, she thought bitterly. She immediately waved the thought away. Troye didn't mean to feel like this. She had read about it. Some sort of kidnapping syndrome? That was probably what he had now. She felt bad for him. The boy had been through so much... he didn't deserve any of this.

"Okay so," she spread her hands over the table. "What we first need to think of is a way to lure Steele out so we can follow him. Any ideas?"

The group fell silent as they started to think.

-

"Jessica, get back here!" Jacob yelled. He sprinted towards her and grabbed his sister by the waist just before she could run over the street where cars were swooshing by. "Hey, you can't do that, alright? You could've gotten hurt!" Jacob drew a shaky breath. "Alright, go see where your sister is at so we can get to the store."

"Fine JayJay" Jessica said as she wiggled out of his grasp. "There she is!" she pointed to a grass field where his other sister was petting a dog.

"Watch out!" he said as he ran towards her. "Do you know if this dog is a good dog? What if he is sick?" he checked out the animal. It looked abandoned. He had seen it before, sitting on this small patch of grass. It would probably still be here when they got back from the grocery store, too. Two big brown eyes were gazing up at him. "Oh no, don't look at me like that buddy. I can't afford taking in a dog. We already had that bloody cat draining our money."

"Jacob!" Jessica cried. "He was my kitty, not a bloody cat!" She started sobbing softly and Jacob sighed. "Fine, fine, you're right. I'm sorry, I know you miss him. I can't take in this dog though. I know you like him Jessica, but it's just too expensive. Now come on, we have to go grocery shopping. This will be the last time I go with you alright? After this you have to know how to do it with just the two of you." He took his two sisters by the hand and felt guilt gnawing at his heart. They were only five and six years old, he knew he couldn't really leave them behind like this. But he had to be prepared. They had to be prepared. Once the police would take him in, they would have to be able to take care of themselves, and their mother. He looked down at the both of them and sighed again.