Ashley regarded Jamie silently for a long time, gun never moving from where it was trained on Jamie's abdomen. Jamie stared back, trying to figure out what to do next that wouldn't make her dead.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused?" Ashley finally asked.

Jamie would have laughed out loud in Ashley's face, but a fervent wish to remain alive prevented her from doing so. She dropped her eyes to the ground and shook her head.

"If you have just cooperated and died when I shot you, none of this would be happening."

Jamie couldn't resist. She looked up, met Ashley's eyes, and said calmly, "Sorry."

The crack of Ashley's hand meeting Jamie's cheek resounded loudly in the forest. "I will kill you, bitch. Don't think I won't. You are standing in the way of destiny, and you must be removed."

"What destiny? Whose? I don't understand," said Jamie. Maybe I can get her to talk. That'll be the distraction I need.

Ashley's mouth hung open. "Whose destiny? WHOSE DESTINY? God, you are stupid. I'm talking about Kevin and me. OUR destiny, together. You are in the way of our happiness. That's what I'm talking about."

Okay, you've got that one backwards, Jamie thought. Out loud, she said, "I didn't know."

"How could you not know? Everyone knows. Even the fans know. I am Kevin's soulmate, and he is mine. We've known that ever since that night in St. Louis. He had to leave, but he promised he'd be back for me. I've been waiting for him to return, and then you had to stick your nose where it doesn't belong and screw everything up."

Jamie knelt down, running her hands back and forth over the ground, not looking up. "I'm sorry. I really didn't know," she said, tingeing her voice with a little bit of sorrow.

Ashley kicked her. "What are you doing? Get up! I never said you could move."

Jamie stood up slowly, brushing the dirt off her hands, "Sorry."

"You keep saying that! God, don't you know anything else? It's a wonder Kevin hasn't killed you himself if that's all you ever say." Jamie opened her mouth, but Ashley cut her off, "Don't you dare say 'Sorry'."

Jamie closed her mouth and watched Ashley, allowing some of her fear to show on her face. Ashley noticed, and looked triumphant.

"You should be scared, bitch. You will die today, I'm gonna make sure of that."

Jamie swallowed hard, and then said quietly, "Tell me more about this destiny thing. I should know why I'm going to die, right?" Please let me get through this alive.

Ashley narrowed her eyes. "Why are you the only one who knows nothing? Do you know how many fans I had come up to me today, asking me if I was Kevin's wife? Me! Not you, ME! Kevin's wife!" The gun waved dangerously in Jamie's face as Ashley talked. "They all know the truth. Why do you persist in keeping us apart? You know you won't win. There's no way Kevin will allow it."

Jamie took a small step to her left, then another. With Ashley moving while she spoke, Jamie's movements didn't register. But when Jamie again knelt to the ground, Ashley noticed.

"What exactly is wrong with you? Did you not hear me? Get up!" Ashley kicked her again, more forcefully the second time. Jamie cried out in pain, and fell back down to the ground. She put a hand out to break her fall, but it didn't help as she landed on a pile of twigs and rocks. Jamie cried out a second time, bringing a smile to Ashley's face.

"Did that hurt?" she crooned in a high singsong voice. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Poor little thing." The smile turned suddenly to a sneer. "Get used to it, bitch. You're going to feel a lot more pain by the time I'm through with you. For all the pain you've caused me. For all the pain you've caused Kevin."

Pain I've caused Kevin? You mean like while I was in a coma, and he wasn't sure I was going to live or die? The coma caused by your shooting me? That sort of pain? Uncontrollably, Jamie began to silently shake with laughter. She closed her eyes, afraid of how Ashley would react.

Ashley misinterpreted her movements. She knelt down and pulled Jamie's head up by her hair, a grotesque grin on her face. "Good, keep being scared. You should have the fear of God in you when you go to meet Him. Although I'm pretty sure you're going to spend eternity in a very warm place. Fitting punishment for all the hell you've put me through."

There's only so much bravado a person can fake before becoming truly scared. As Jamie opened her eyes, she looked into Ashley's eyes and saw the madness and determination lying there. Jamie finally tasted the fear she had kept at bay for so long. The shivers running down her spine were caused by the knowledge that she might die today, after all.

Kevin, Nick and Carlos walked through the trees, pushing aside branches, trying to figure out what happened to Jamie.

"Ja - " Kevin called before being shushed by his bodyguard.

"Don't. You don't want to give this girl any advantage. If she hears you calling for Jamie, she just might shoot her," warned Carlos. Kevin shut his mouth abruptly and nodded, shoulders slumped in defeat.

"We'll find her, Kev. It's gonna be fine," Nick whispered. Kevin nodded again.

"Where do you think they are?" Nick asked Carlos.

The big man shrugged, "I don't know. It depends on how much time elapsed between them leaving, and the time we noticed. We could be right behind them, or they could be out of the trees already." He looked sorrowfully at Kevin, "I don't know, I'm sorry."

The trees to their left rustled, and all three turned their heads in that direction. Unfortunately, Logan and another detective appeared before them. Kevin straightened up, hostility radiating from him in waves. Logan put up a hand to try to forestall the explosion of rage he sensed coming from the dark-haired singer.

"Please, Mr. Richardson, we've fanned out. I've got a lot of policemen combing the woods right now. If they're in here, we'll get her and return Jamie to you safely."

"And if they're not in the woods?" asked Kevin quietly, the hostility not lessening one iota.

"Then we'll find them. Wherever they are. We'll find them," said Logan forcefully. "I will return your wife to you, I promise."

"You better," Kevin eyed the detective. "And God help you if Jamie's hurt in any way."

Jamie was still sprawled on the ground, looking up fearfully at her captor. One hand held her up, the other running back and forth over the forest floor.

Calm down, Jaim! Please, it's the only way to get out of here! She fought to regain her balance, but the terror surged upwards, tearing through her mind, scrambling her thoughts. Any thoughts of the self-defense Nick had taught her were tossed aside like yesterday's newspaper. Instinct took over, pure and simple.

Ashley stood over her, the feral smile still on her face, the gun still trained on Jamie.

"I'm tired of this, whore. I'm tired of you. I just want what's mine, you can't keep me from Kevin any longer." The hammer of the gun clicked as Ashley cocked it back. "Say goodbye, bitch."

Jamie's eyes widened as she saw the hammer being pulled back. Running her hand on the ground in desperation, her fingers closed around a fallen branch from a nearby tree. Raw emotion fueled her; it was now or never.

She swung the branch up at the same time Ashley pulled the trigger.

"Anything?" Logan asked as more of his men reported in. The response was always the same. "No, sir, nothing."

Kevin grew more and more enraged as each report came back negative. "Why can't they find them? Did you send out blind policemen? They've got to be here!"

Nick grabbed Kevin by the arm as he moved towards the detective. "Not now, Kev. It's not going to help anything."

"I don't know about that. It'll certainly make me feel better." The vein against Kevin's neck pulsed as he shifted his jaw from side to side.

Nick tightened his grip on Kevin. "Assaulting an officer? You want to see the inside of a jail again? Don't you remember it from the first time? Besides, punching his lights out won't find Jamie."

"It might give him incentive to look harder."

"Kevin. . ."

The steely-eyed glare Kevin fixed on Nick suddenly melted into pain and fear, "Nick. Jamie's out there scared and alone, and I can't find her. Logan isn't looking hard enough, and I have to get to her. If it'll get him to find her, I'll do whatever it takes."

Nick nodded, since he understood the emotions surging through Kevin. Still holding onto Kevin, the blond turned towards Logan, "You better keep searching, Detective. I can't keep Kev from doing what he wants for much longer. And if you don't find Jamie alive, I may just help him."

"I thought you didn't want to go to jail," Logan protested.

"If Jamie's hurt in any way, or dead, it really won't matter much to either of us where we end up." The resolve in Kevin's green eyes returned and was echoed beside him in a steady blue-eyed gaze.

Logan turned to Carlos, "And you? You're just going to allow your charges to threaten me like this?"

The bodyguard shrugged, "Jamie means more to me than you do. I suggest you go back to your job rather than worry about what my 'charges' would do to you if you fail."

Suddenly, a shot rang out clearly through the woods. Kevin and Nick looked at each other, then sprinted towards the sound.