Smitten

Chapter 21

Madison smacks Eliza's stomach with a baseball bat, causing her to fall to her knees in pain. "Get up, you whore!" Madison yells.

"No," Eliza says sternly, slowly rising from her knees as she catches her breath, still clutching her stomach.

"No? What do you mean, NO?!"

"I mean...NO!" Eliza says, now on her feet with her taser in her hand. She manages to jab Madison a couple of times before Madison dives head-first toward her. Eliza puts up a huge fight and leaves Madison with a ton of scratches and bruises. Eliza's furniture is turned over every which way, and most of the liquor from the bar cart has shattered, along with the glass coffee table. Madison eventually drags her out of the front door, but not before Eliza can toss her cycling shoes outside into the hall, hoping to leave a clue for the team—mainly Aaron—about Madison's involvement.

"What the fuck do you want with me, Madison? Do you want money? Just name a price," Eliza asks tiredly, now in the backseat of a car with zip ties on her wrists.

"Shut the fuck up, you whore," Madison says. "Drive, Ian." She tells a man.

-

The next morning, Emily arrives to the penthouse to pick up Eliza as promised. She sees the front door wide open and the wreckage left and panics. She draws her gun and calls for Eliza. She searches the entire downstairs and the terrace before heading upstairs, terrified by what she might find. She is briefly relieved when she sees the upstairs untouched, but that rubs off as she calls Derek.

"Hey, where are you guys? Late night last—"

"Derek," Emily says frantically. "She's gone."

"What do you mean she's gone?" He replies softly, walking a distance from the others so Jack doesn't hear anything.

"Eliza's not here. The downstairs is an absolute wreck, like she put up a fight. I think she's been kidnapped. She's not here." Emily says distraughtly, tears stinging her eyes.

"Ok, ok. We're on our way. Stay put." Derek heads back over to tell everyone what's happened. JJ, Spencer, and Penelope run to their cars, and Derek moves then to tell Dave.

"Hey Jack, can you put on your earmuffs for a sec?" Jack then covers his ears.

"Eliza's missing. Sounds like somebody took her. I know you'll have to stay here, but—"

"Call me with anything and everything you find. Go." Dave tells Derek before he speeds away to his car, pondering how the hell he's going to break this to Aaron once he finishes the race.

-

The team soon arrives at the penthouse, Penelope to her lair at the BAU. Emily rushes over once she sees them.

"Everything is as it was; I told CSI to rush any prints straight to Quantico. They found her place was bugged, too. Even the terrace. My God, what the hell happened to her?!" Emily asks.

"Em, I don't know, but we're going to find her," JJ assures. "Can you think of anyone who would want to do something like this to her?"

"No, I really can't. Everyone loved her," Emily says.

"Loves her, Emily. She's still out there somewhere," Spencer says, trying to comfort her.

"Oh my God, I can't believe I said that," Emily says, starting to cry.

"Hey hey, slow down. Come back to what JJ asked. Does Eliza have any sort of enemies?" Derek asks gently.

"No, I really don't think she does. She had a hard time when the engagement ended, but that ended as well as it could've. She really doesn't have many other friends, at least in DC. Just us."