Stacy went and held Amy’s hand under the table. To her, it was clear that her best friend was in no condition to handle this entire situation, and although this would reveal that Amy was there that night, she eventually spoke up, afraid to test Raven’s patience any longer. Although the adult man claimed he had the time, the aggression at the end made it clear that he was about done playing games.

“That night, we both went to meet up with her internet boyfriend for the first time. I just came along, because Stacy was afraid he might try to do something to her. Seeing as your brother brought two friends along, she wasn’t wrong.” Amy revealed.

“He took us to a karaoke club, and he and his friends started to offer us… stuff. The two of us just came along to have some fun, but when we refused to take it, he tried to force himself onto my friend. In the end, I screamed, and the receptionist came and saw what was going on. We ran away after that, but we didn’t inform the police… we were too scared and just wanted to forget what happened that day, but that’s when you showed up.”

When speaking, Amy had decided to partly reveal the truth, only omitting that according to Stacy it had been her brother who had appeared. She just hoped that would be enough for Raven to leave them alone, without getting her brother involved in this mess.

Stacy nodded her head, confirming her best friend’s recounting of what had happened, but Raven just folded his arms and started shaking his head.

“You sure it was the receptionist? Why don’t we wait a little longer and see if your story has changed.”

It was then that Amy got the feeling that Raven had caught onto her lie. Unfortunately, the high school girl had no way of knowing that the Grey Elephant leader was aware that the receptionist was a good friend of his brother’s. That wasn’t the end of it, though. That guy was also one of those that had gone missing without anyone having any clue about their whereabouts. According to the owner of the club, he had suddenly resigned…

Since Raven knew Amy was lying, he felt more confident that he was on the right track. They waited another thirty-ish minutes in silence. Amy eventually drank her coffee, trying to appear relaxed as if they had nothing else to hide, but that didn’t seem to be working either.

“May I go to the toilet? I think it might be this whole situation or the coffee.” Amy requested.

“Can I go, too?” Stacy immediately asked.

“Of course, but you know what will happen if you two try to do something.” Raven allowed it, but not before warning them. The two girls quickly got up and headed towards the toilet, while the adult man remained sitting. Once inside, Stacy was waiting on Amy to speak, thinking she had some type of plan.

“Why don’t we just tell them the truth? I mean, I know you don’t want to get your brother involved, but if he tells me that he doesn’t know where that guy is either, he might let us go, right? Please, can we just tell them the truth!” Stacy begged, her hands were still shaking.

“Do you really think a guy who kidnapped us for simply refusing to speak to him, is going to let us go, just because we don’t have the answer he is searching for? These are gangsters, Stacy!” Amy replied, holding onto her best friend’s hands. “You’ve seen the movies, right? Once they have seen our faces, then it means that they will get rid of us. They’re only keeping us alive because we have information that they want. So we have to keep it from them, and call for help!”

Amy only half believed the things she was saying. If one ignored the fact that Raven had abducted them, it really seemed like he was an overprotective brother who just wanted to learn the truth. He might even have been honest about letting them go, but right now she needed Stacy to believe that getting Gary involved was dangerous.

When they were finally in the toilet stalls, though, she had asked Stacy to try to contact the police and see if they could help in the situation. At the same time, Amy had decided to send a text to her brother.

However, it looked like there was no signal in the restaurant, or at least not in the bathroom stall. It was a little strange but not impossible. In fact, it might have been a reason why he had picked this place.

‘The message should be sent once I’m back outside anyway.’ Amy thought.

The two girls came back, and since they could still see the strange men behind the door, they returned to sit down opposite Raven. He waited for them to sit down before he let out a sigh and started shaking his head.

“You know, technology truly is an amazing thing. There are many new inventions that come out every day. I’ve really tried being nice to you, you know? I told you to not try anything, didn’t I?” Raven smiled, as he received two text messages on his phone.

Amy wasn’t quite sure how, but he must have realised that the two girls had tried something.

‘Microphones in the toilet, cameras, damn, I should have known they didn’t just take us to a coffee shop. If that’s true then they might have heard everything.’

Panicking, Amy did the only thing she felt like they could do now that the situation had escalated.

“Help!!! We’ve been kidnapped by this guy!!! He took us from our school and threatened us with those guys outside. Please help us!” Amy shouted, dragging Stacy along as they rushed towards the worker behind the reception desk.

It was the last resort and the only thing they could do. She just had to hope that the strangers would help protect them from these gang members.

‘Huh, why isn’t anyone doing anything?’ Amy thought as she looked around the room. That’s when she noticed that many of them were smiling or outright laughing.

“You really are kids. Why do you think I brought you here? This entire coffee shop belongs to the Grey Elephants. Everyone in here is one of our members… that naturally includes that worker behind you.” Raven explained as he came over.

******

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