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“Hello boys and welcome to Chili’s. I’m Sophia and I’ll be your waitress this afternoon. Here’s your glasses of water and I’ll be back to take your guys order in a few.”

“Thank you.” they all mumbled as they opened up their menus.

Every once in a while, Brian would glance up from his menu and look around, looking around at the many people that crowded this place, seeing if anyone looked odd. Once he made sure that the coast was clear, he placed his menu down.

“Look, we gotta watch what we say in my house, it’s bugged.”

“Are you serious?” Howie asked. “And what do we watch to say?”

“Plans. We do not speak of any plans we may have to get Baylee back, okay? That man is listening to our every word, and I’m not too sure if he’s watching our every step too, but I know he has someone who’s outside somewhere that just watches us. We just gotta be cautious with what we do.”

“So we have to go out every time we talk?” Nick questioned.

“No, we just gotta watch what we say verbally to each other in the house, other than that we’re gonna have to find another way to communicate our information to each other.” Kevin explained.

“But, what if we have to say something important and we…” AJ tried to ask, but was cut off when he cell phone began to ring. He pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and looked down at the number that was calling him. “Excuse me fellas, I gotta take this.” he said as he rose from his seat and answered his phone. “Hi mom.”

AJ began to walk away from their booth. He turned around to make sure that he was out of hearing distance. “What the fuck do you want?” AJ seethed.

Paul began to laugh, “You and Brian are beginning to answer the phone the same way. How are you doing Alexander?”

“Each day I’m anticipating the moment where I’ll finally kick your ass, and how are you doing fuck face?”

“I’m exquisite, thank you for asking. Look, I have something that I would like to ask you to do today, your first mission.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m somewhere with the guys, I can’t do anything right now.”

“I can clearly see that. Why don’t you go and take a walk outside.”

“For what?”

“Fine, have it your way. Just go by the door and look outside, you’ll see a black SUV parked outside.”

AJ pulled the phone away from his ear and walked towards the door, looking out and finding a black SUV parked out there. “And?”

“I want you to go to that black SUV.”

“For what? I can’t just leave this place, the guys will be suspicious.”

“You know, out of the four of you I thought I could count on you to do the job because you’re so good at telling lies, but I’m beginning to have second thoughts. Do you want to help Brian get Baylee back or not?”

AJ turned to look at the guys who were still talking to each other. “Shit.” he muttered. “Who’s in that car?”

“You’ll see once you get there.”

AJ turned once more to check if they were looking at him. Once he realized that they weren’t paying any attention to him, he hung up his cell phone and walked outside, making his way to the parked SUV. A man suddenly popped out of the SUV and rushed AJ.

“What the fuck!” AJ screamed as the man harshly grabbed him and began to pat him down. “What the fuck are you doing man? Get the fuck off of me!”

But the man didn’t listen. He continued to roughly pat AJ down and had grabbed him by the arm, opening the back door of the SUV and tossing him in as if he was nothing but a rag doll. AJ was going to turn to open the door and get out, but the three men that occupied the car told him otherwise.

“Hello Alexander.” a large man said.

AJ stared long and hard at the large man. He was a burly Caucasian man who sparsely had gray hair on his head. He looked in his late 40’s, early 50’s and he had a professional looking demeanor, it almost looked as if he was a family man that would not be capable to kidnapping a child.

“You’re Paul?” AJ asked in disbelief.

Paul simply nodded and smiled, “In the flesh.”

“You son of a bitch!” AJ growled as he tried to go at Paul, but the other two men who were in the car had grabbed AJ by the arms and had yanked him back, situating him in between the two of them.

“Temper, temper… I must say AJ, you are truly a rebel without a cause, but I like that about you.”

“Where the hell is Baylee?”

“Obviously not in the car, I couldn’t have him watch what we’re going to do.”

AJ looked over at the two large men that sat at both of his sides. “What the fuck do you mean you didn’t want him to watch what you guys are gonna do?”

“Will you stop asking so much questions so I can explain myself? Now, I have a job for you to complete. These two men that are seated next to you is your new personal bodyguard. These two men will watch every move that you make. Like I said before, this proposition only exists between you and I and I told you that you could not tell anyone about what we have going on, well, these two men are going to make sure that you do exactly that. Whenever I have a job for you to complete, they will be there to watch you and make sure you get it done, they’ll also be there when you fail to follow my instructions, and let me tell you the consequences aren’t so pretty.”

AJ felt himself tense up when the man on his right side slapped his large hand down on his shoulder. The man began to squeeze his shoulder, causing him to wince.

“So, here’s what I want you to do. As soon as you get out of this car, I want you to go back into that restaurant and tell the guys that you cannot stay, I’m sure you can think up a good lie to get yourself out. Once you leave the place, it is your job to go to the nearest bank and withdraw… hmm, how much do you say fellas? $1,000 for starters?”

“Are you fucking kidding me? You want me to withdraw $1,000? Since when did this situation become a fucking ransom?”

“Since when did anyone tell you that this situation wasn’t a ransom? I’ve burdened Mr. Littrell enough don’t you think? I thought I’d be nice and have someone else pay so he won’t have to worry about it. The kid’s bail is set at $10 million.”

AJ’s eyes widened. Money was no object, and when it comes to his friend’s son, his brother’s son, he didn’t have to think twice. “Look, I’ll give you your $10 million today and you’ll give me Baylee in exchange right?”

“Now, where’s the fun in that? I don’t want you to pay me all the money today. I will tell you how much to withdraw and when to withdraw it until it finally equals $10 million. Now, I know this will be no problem for you since you’re a Backstreet Boy and all, you guys are made of money.” Paul reached out and had grabbed AJ hard by the back of the neck, yanking him from his seat and pulling him towards him. “I want my money by tonight, no questions asked and no negotiations set. If you don’t follow my rules and get me my $1,000 by tonight…” his hand moved from the back of AJ’s neck and snaked around the front. His fingers curled tightly around his throat and he squeezed hard, causing AJ to whimper and wheeze. “I promise to God you’ll no longer have that pretty voice to make you money, let alone speak another word. Got that?”

AJ simply nodded, the lack of oxygen causing him to become incoherent and unable to speak. “What did you say?” Paul spat.

He released his grip and AJ began to cough. “I said yes…” he wheezed. “I’ll have your money by tonight.”

Paul smiled and nodded, “Good… that’s what I like to hear.” he opened his car door. “Now, excuse yourself please.”

AJ quickly recovered and jumped out of the SUV. Once he did the car started up and left the parking lot. AJ just stood there, gingerly touching his throbbing throat. He was no longer sure if he would be able to do this. The money wasn’t the problem, it was the fact of not being able to tell Brian anything when he deserves to know everything and anything. But he was doing this for Baylee, and Baylee’s life, as well as his, depended on him and him alone.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Hey AJ, everything okay?” Howie asked his friend when he saw him walking towards their table again, noticing that his face was flushed

“Nah um… something came up you guys, and I gotta head outta here. I’ll catch you guys at home though.”

“Did something happen? Your mom’s okay right?” Nick questioned this time.

“Yeah, she’s fine. She said to tell you guys all hi by the way. But it’s other family business I gotta take care of real quick, call me if anything okay?” he hoped no one else would ask him anymore questions, he was finding it very hard to lie to the faces of his brothers. And he really hoped that none of them would call him, he just decided to say that to make his lie sound believable.

Once he realized that no one was going to ask anymore questions, he took it upon himself to quickly leave the restaurant. “Okay fellas, I’ll see you guys later.” and with that he quickly left, not even turning to look back.

How bad he wanted to tell them what he was doing, what Paul was making him do. How bad he wanted to tell Brian how close he is to obtaining Baylee for him. How bad he wanted to tell someone, anyone how he felt and what he was going through, but there was no one, he couldn’t tell a soul.