Why we were chosen.

Chapter 34

Lauren's POV

"I don't know, okay!" I frustratedly let out, bringing my hands up to tug on my hair in frustration. "They checked Elizabitch's house, his house, their vacation houses, even his small businesses, but they haven't found him! They have no fucking clue about where Sofia could be!" I was freaking out right now. I was currently with all of the girls, except for Camila. We were in Amy's room, talking about everything and trying to find any hint as to where Sofia could be at. We wanted to invite Camila, but I thought it would be best to leave her out of conversations that involved her little sister, not wanting her to have a breakdown in front of everybody.

"Yeah, but they caught all of his goons." Olivia said as she hugged her knees against her chest. "They can question them and see if they know where he took her."

"Oh please." Zendaya scoffed, looking through the file copies we made. After Sofia was taken, we had made copies of the files Daniel had left for us before turning them in to the private investigator our parents had hired. He immediately went into action and had tracked every single person that was involved with Kyle. Once they knew where everyone was, they made their arrests. We kept our copy to make sure we could do our own investigations. And here we were, scattered papers around us, trying to find a lead as to where Kyle could have taken her.

"They were going to kill us!" Zendaya continued. "Kyle paid them well." She scoffed, tossing a stack of papers onto the bed. "I mean look! Every single person he hired had nothing! He knew that offering that much money would make them loyal, even behind bars! They're not going to talk, especially not when they're locked in a cage because they have families they are trying to protect. They know Kyle will either hurt their families, or take everything they have."

"It's a good tactic." Amy mumbled. "Hire people who would do anything to get out of poverty." She looked down at the ground before looking around at everyone. "When I was with Elizabeth," I saw her gulp at the memories before she continued, "I had talked to this one." She held up a picture of one of the guys who Camila had shot at the cabin. I read through his file. He was only twenty four years old. "He told me that his mom had cancer and she couldn't afford treatment, nor could she work. He had to stop going to med school to work and support his younger siblings and his mom. Without a degree, he made minimum wage, which obviously isn't enough to pay for everything needed." I watched as her eyes got teary. "He told me that helping Kyle was against his morals, but that he was desperate to help his family." I frowned when tears started running down her cheeks. I stood up from her desk to comfort her, but Becky beat me to it, wrapping an arm around her waist and holding her tight. "He wasn't a bad guy." She sniffed through her tears. "He just needed help, and Kyle was his best option." Becky wiped away some of the pregnant girls tears. "He told me that he had tried running away with his family, but Kyle caught him before he could and that he gave him an ultimatum." She shook her head. "He could either go back and work for Kyle, but never see his family until Elizabeth's plan was done and over with, or he could leave, but Kyle would take the lives of the ones he was trying to protect. And obviously we know what he chose because he was there! He died at that cabin!" She began to cry.

"Amy, it's okay, you don't have to.." Alyssa began to speak until her cousin cut her off.

"No, I do." She nodded before wiping away her tears. "What I'm getting at is that as much as I hate the fact that they helped Kyle and Elizabeth, I get why they did. They were good people who needed help, and Kyle gave them more than enough. I mean, even Daniel tried to kill all of us because of how desperate he was to get money. That's why I know that they aren't going to talk. They love their friends, families, whoever they accepted the job for, so they won't speak no matter what. Kyle will hurt whoever gets in his way, and they don't want to get in his way." I let out a shaky breath, knowing she was right.