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As soon as Skylar headed off in the direction of the parking lot, Alice immediately felt the need to follow after her. As far as they knew it was unsafe for the group to be split up; or for anyone to go off on their own. Turning back to signal to Adam that he should follow as well, Alice began to make her way through the mall and out towards the parking lot where Jack, Cailen and now Skylar were waiting. "Bella's gone, we have to call the police."

Arriving only in time to hear Jack speak those words, a chill was sent throughout her entire body. Something had happened to Bella - and it was serious enough to warrant a telephone call to the police. Her brain screamed for her to open her mouth and ask for someone to fill her in on the current situation, but somewhere along the way the signal got lost. Deep concern was painted on everyone's faces; her's certainly no exception.

Turning her attention to Cailen, Alice was not sure exactly how to feel towards him. This had to be related to the tall man who claimed to be a good friend of Cailen's, so of course he would be feeling extraordinarily guilty for anything happening to his twin sister. On the other hand, if his gambling debts put his own family in danger.... She wanted to scream at him for being so incredibly reckless and putting Bella in danger. However at the exact same time she wanted to wrap her arms around Cailen and tell him that everything would be okay and that they would figure something out.

She would take the middle ground on this one, fully well knowing that getting angry with Cailen was not the way to ensure Bella returned home safely. Kneeling down in front of where he was seated, Alice reached out and took a hold of Cailen's hand and gave it a slight squeeze to make up for the fact that she remained completely silent. She was not okay with the fact his choices had such dire consequences, but it was not in her nature to make the situation worse by getting angry.

Adam might be a different story....

Alice looked up at Cailen, trying to be as sympathetic as she could using nothing but her eyes. Afraid to speak, unsure of what words might leave her. It had to be easy to tell that she was still upset with him. She could not lie even when she wasn't speaking a single word.

“It’s all my fault, Alice. I messed up big time.”

Alice couldn't argue with him on that point but she still remained silent. She would not make the situation worse. She was unsure of how the situation would turn if something bad happened to Bella. Alice knew that whoever was holding Bella hostage must have been looking for money from Cailen; although she had no idea how much he owed this time.

“I understand if you hate me.”

She was unsure how to respond to that comment. At this point, the longer she kept from speaking the more he was going to assume the worst; that she hated him and wanted nothing more to do with him. Alice knew that she did not hate Cailen, even if he really, really messed up this time. This was more than just forgetting her birthday or anything petty and small like they had gotten in arguments before.

"I don't hate you," she spoke softly, feeling as if she raised her voice above a whisper it would shatter the boy as if he were made of fragile glass.

Once again, a silence fell over her. She wanted to continue her sentence and let him know that she was quite upset that he had let something like this happen despite being told over and over again that he needed to stop gambling. Upset almost did not even cover it, her feelings veering more towards the anger side of the spectrum. Expressing this anger would not do the situation any good. They all needed to have a level head if they were going to figure out what to do, especially Cailen.

"Let's just focus on Bella," Alice decided to turn the subject away from her feelings and place it back to Bella.

Calling the police seemed to be the logical answer to the problem, but that ran some risks as well. Criminals never liked the involvement of the authorities. It was possible that he would harm Bella if there was any indication that Cailen had gotten anyone else involved. The man wanted his money and did not seem to want to stop at anything to get it back. The more she thought about it, the more she started to feel as if taking the job at Indulgence would be the only solution. Perhaps she could even ask for an advance if she signed some sort of contract that stated she would work for whatever amount of time. But she did not even have the meeting until tomorrow. Even that seemed like it would be waiting much too long.

Alice watched in horror as Adam joined the rest of the group, fully well noticing the sheer anger in his eyes, like a volcano ready to erupt at any second. Three, two... one. Alice counted down in her mind and in almost perfect timing Adam handed his coffee to Skylar and stepped toward Cailen with a shoving motion. Her first instinct was to back away since she was in such close proximity to where the eruption was occurring. However she could not will herself to step away, hoping that a female presence being there would somehow calm Adam down and deter any more aggression. Unfortunately her plan did not work; Adam continued to holler and shoved Cailen once more. Shortly after Skylar pipped up in a volume that surpassed Adam's, telling him to knock off what he was doing and that screaming and blaming others would not solve the problem. Alice wanted to chime in and agree that placing blame would not solve everything; and that everyone really needed to calm down, when an idea struck her.

"Just... give me a minute," Alice excused herself before quickly making her way out of earshot from the others. She wanted to make a quick phone call, in hopes that she would be able to fix the problem and get Bella back. At this point, she did not care if Cailen wanted anyone's help. She was no longer doing this to help him out, but rather to get Bella back; that was the only thing that mattered right now.

Reaching into her purse, Alice remembered that she was missing the business card that Harrison had given her. She almost admitted defeat before realizing that since she had just called earlier that day, the number should still be in her phone. Her heart raced as it rang. I can't believe I'm doing this... I can't believe I'm doing this.... Expecting to hear Harrison's secretary, Alice was surprised when the same deep male voice that had spoke to her at the casino answered. "Harrison speaking,"

Alice paused, her mouth suddenly feeling incredibly dry and unable to speak. The man had to repeat himself again before she could actually respond to him, "Hello Mr. Moore... it's Alice... I have an appointment with you tomorrow but I-wanted-to-know-if-we-could-meet-as-soon-as-you-could-its-important--"

She did not have the chance to finish her explanation before being interrupted by the man. "Anything for a pretty little face like yours. I take it you've been giving lots of thought to my offer. I'd love to have you on board here," the man chuckled as if he heard this sort of thing all of the time, "I'll tell you what, how about you come down to my office here in... say... fifteen minutes... half an hour? Whichever works for you. We can sign the contract today if you want."

After the telephone conversation ended, Alice was feeling a little bit more hopeful about the situation. It seemed as if this man was very eager to have her working for them. Maybe he would be eager enough to give her an advance on the money that she would be paid to do so. If he would be able to give her an advance it would help towards getting Bella back. She was not sure if taking this job was a good idea, but now that Bella was in danger she knew that she had to do something to get her back. The only snag in her plan was the fact that she had driven to the mall with Cailen, and therefore would not have her own drive to Indulgence. Surely, she was not going to tell him that she needed a drive to a strip club for a job, hoping to get an advance so she could pay off his gambling debts to get his twin sister back. The entire situation seemed insane the more she thought about it.

Adam... he drove himself here.... He'd be the least likely to judge and getting him away from Cailen might be a good idea right now.

Rushing back towards the group who were now talking about the amount of money that was owed to Tony, Alice grabbed on Adam's arm and spoke in a hurried tone, "Adam, I need a drive, now. No one ask questions. I'm going to fix this. Adam. Car. Now." Alice ordered hoping that no one would question anything until she had everything sorted out.

Alice quickly followed behind Adam, glancing back for just a moment at the group to see their slightly confused faces. Not one of them had a clue what was going on, and at the current point in time that was exactly what Alice wanted. A part of her felt sick for what she was about to do, but she also knew that she would never forgive herself for not trying if anything happened to Bella.

Looking forward to the task at hand, Alice put on the helmet that Adam had tossed her way and got onto the motorcycle behind him. She absolutely hated the thought of riding in anything but an enclosed vehicle, but right now she had to put her fear aside. It was either this, or explain to Cailen what she was about to do. Her mother had always told her, "Sometimes it's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission." Alice figured that this was one of those situations where that could ring true; Bella's life could very well be at stake. But how the hell am I going to explain this to Adam? While she was sure that she would receive less of a reaction if she had told Adam rather than Cailen (or any of the others, for that matter), it still did not feel like an easy task. It wasn't an easy task.

"At the next stop sign, turn left onto Morton, then head straight until you get to... Evergreen. It'll be the building at the very end of that road," she called out directions to him as he drove. Alice hoped that he wouldn't immediately recognize where she had directed for him to go.

Still, eventually she was going to need to explain to him why she wanted to go there. She almost thought that it was a good idea to explain it to him while he was driving, but she feared that if he opposed to the idea, he would stop and refuse to take her. At least if she waited until they reached their destination, she would already be there if he opposed to what she wanted to do.

Why would be oppose? It's not like he has that kind of money to just fork over. There's no way he has that sort of money just lying around. He'd want to do whatever he could to save Bella. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is the only way to save Bella. Alice tried to convince herself that everything was going to work out in a neat little pile. Of course, this was reality and she was not sure how they were actually going to pan out. She tried not to think about Bella, or the job she was about to take, or what the job was going to involve, or what everyone would think of her. She would be successful for a few moments, but the thoughts always came flooding back. I have to do this. I HAVE to do this. Bella could die. Tony could kill her. This could get him his money. Bella would be back safe and everything would be okay. Another thought pipped up inside of her mind. What would she think of herself if she did this to save Bella? Would she be able to look at herself in the mirror after a long shift of dancing in her underwear? Think of Bella. Bella is worth it. Bella is your friend. But what if the others couldn't look at her either? She had always been the innocent one... what if they started to think of her as a cheap slut who would do anything for a dollar. What if she thought of herself as cheap?

"Whatever happens. Promise me that you won't think I'm cheap?" Alice asked Adam almost without realizing that she was now speaking out loud instead of in her head.

Adam had pulled over and stopped the motorcycle on the side of the road. Alice began to curse inwardly for what she had done. If she had just kept her mouth shut there would not be this delay. A panicked feeling crept up inside of her, knowing that every second they were stopped was another second that Bella was with that...monster. It was still a bit of a ways to go to Indulgence if she were to walk, so Alice reluctantly decided that it would be best if she just talked with Adam for a bit to get it out of the way and then they could resume on their trip. Complying with the request to grab the card out of his pocket, Alice did not even bother to take a look down at the paper in her hand. She wanted to get this over with so that she could try to get the money for Tony.

"Alice, I have to tell you something before I can answer your question. Because I know that if I ask you the same question now and you promise to not think me cheap, you wont mean it. Or you'll change your mind when you find out the hard way."

Alice was unsure of where he was going with that statement. She grew more impatient. All she wanted to do was sign her dignity away in exchange for the cash to free her friend from the grips of Tony. No. That wasn't true. She didn't want to be signing away her dignity, but she wanted to save Bella.

"Adam...please," Alice begged, "can we just do this later? Think of Bella. Think where she might be right now. Think of what he might be doing to her...."

Despite the fact that she already knew her pleading would not stop Adam from having a conversation that he seemed bound and determined to have, she still felt the need to try. She started to feel as if she was the only one who was trying to do anything to help Bella. While that may or may not have been the truth, it was how she felt at the current moment. Without much warning a flash of anger uncharacteristic for Alice waved over her. Anger at Adam for stopping, anger at Tony for taking Bella and perhaps most importantly, anger at Cailen for letting his gambling problem get so out of hand in the first place. For a moment she said nothing, looking into Adam's eyes, waiting for him to say whatever it was that he had intended to tell her. In her silence, the anger grew. It poured throughout her body, growing. Alice was usually a calm person, perhaps not as quiet and calm as Skylar, but she was not known for Adam-like outbursts. That was, until her own volcanic eruption.

"ADAM! If you don't drive me where I ******** asked you to go, then I'll walk there MYSELF!" she hoped that would be the end of her outburst, but her mind still had things that needed to escape. "Am I the only person who cares about Bella right now? The others are just sitting around twiddling their ******** thumbs hoping that the police will just take the situation and solve it. How ******** long is that going to take? Sure, we won't have to fork over money and they'll just deliver Bella's dead body to us all wrapped up in a neat little bow!"

Alice's breathing became laboured with each word that passed from her lips. She couldn't believe that she was the one making all of this noise, but that did not seem to stop her from spewing out everything that had been on her mind for quite some time. That had always been a terrible habit for the girl. She often let things that were really bothering her bottle up inside until it came to the point where she burst at the seams, much like what was happening right now.

"This whole situation is ******** up! But at least I want to do something. I'm the one who's about to sign away my ******** dignity for who knows how long to get this money. I'm the one who's going to have to degrade myself by tearing off my clothes for perverted creepy old men because my ******** boyfriend didn't ******** listen to ANYBODY about his stupid damn gambling problem!" As she continued to speak, tears began to well up in her eyes. This situation was starting to feel all too familiar. The night that she had spent with Adam had begun with an outburst like this. She had started crying that night as well. She took a few steps away from him, to make it harder to him to attempt to comfort her in case he tried like he had done that night.

"Whatever you want to tell me. It can wait. If you don't get back on that motorcycle and take me to Indulgence, it will be YOUR fault if Bella dies. I'll never speak to you OR Cailen ever again! You both will have KILLED HER!!!" she shrieked in a tone she had not previously heard escape her before. As soon as she realized what she had just said her stomach churned with disgusted at what this situation had done to her. How dare she even insinuate that it would be the fault of anyone but Tony if the worst case scenario were to happen to Bella.

Leaning against the fence a few steps down from where Adam was doing the same thing, Alice allowed herself to flop downward onto the ground. Her head fell down into her lap as she flung her arms around it in an attempt to hide herself from the situation. She shielded herself as more tears poured themselves from her eyes. She wanted to will the entire situation away. Right now any passersby would probably assume that she had gone crazy with the way that she had just exploded, perhaps Adam had even felt the same way.

"I don't want to do this. I don't want this," Alice's tone had changed significantly from before. Now she was speaking in an almost inaudible whimper. "I want to save Bella... but I... I don't want it to be this way...." she cried.