Gracie Weiss- Los Angeles, California

12:20 am PST

Gracie's mouth went dry, and her heart skipped a beat before it started to pound hard and fast in her chest. Her whole body was tense, and she looked between the three of them before she looked solely at Jim. "What is going on, Jim?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Who are they?" She gestured toward the men that were sitting on her couch.

Jim hesitated and looked at them before he looked at her, and her eyes grew sadder while he looked at her. "They're friends, Grace," he said and tucked his head closer to his chest. "Please, go ahead and sit down in that chair. We have a few minutes before y-"

A phone rang, interrupting Jim from finishing his sentence. He bit back an annoyed sigh and looked at one of the men, who looked very sheepish but didn't seem to take the phone out of his pocket. "Go ahead and take the phone out of your pocket so that you can give it to her. He doesn't like to wait too long."

The man hesitated but did what he was told to do and reached for the phone that continued to ring. He bowed his head and held it out for Gracie to take, but Gracie didn't move toward him or the phone.

Jim licked his lips and looked at the phone before he looked at her. Pain and sadness filled his eyes while he studied her as if he knew what was going on through the young female's head after they had worked with each other for so long.

"Go ahead, and take the phone from him, Grace," he said, with a small hum in his voice, and he tucked his head closer to his chest while a smile appeared on his face. "It's fine and safe. I promise."

Gracie hesitated before she started to walk toward the man with the phone in his hand. She didn't say a word and stopped in front of him before she took the phone from that man. She looked at Jim and did not answer it, even though he said it was safe for her to do so.

Her eyes were wide and filled with fear, and her mouth became dry. It felt as if she had swallowed a ton of sand when she didn't.

Was he sure that this was going to be ok..?

"I am sure that it is ok, Gracie," Jim said and nodded in confirmation to her silent question. "Go ahead and answer the phone call. You will be safe and will learn about something that I can't talk to you about until you are done with that." He gestured toward the phone in her hands, and Gracie frowned and narrowed her eyes while she studied him.

Finally, Gracie bit back a tired sigh and slowly nodded, relenting. She didn't say a word and walked over to the other chair and sat down in the chair, and the phone continued to ring. She hesitated and licked her lips before she answered the call and placed the phone to her ear. "Hello?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper while she furrowed her brows, cocking her head to the side. "Who's this? What's going on?"

"If this is Gracie Weiss, please, press four," a robotic voice said as soon as she said something, and Gracie narrowed her eyes and looked at Jim with a small scowl on her face.

"What is this, Jim?" she asked, and Jim raised an eyebrow in question while he waited for her to say something else. "This robotic voice wants me to press four."

"Please, press four," the robotic voice said in her ear.

"Then go ahead and press four," Jim said and nodded, biting back a small smile. "You are supposed to hear someone else after you press the number."

Gracie hesitated before she slowly nodded. She pulled the phone away from her ear and pressed four before she placed the phone back to her ear, hoping that she would be able to have her questions answered soon.

"Please, hold."

A small frown appeared on her face while she looked at Jim, and music started to play in the background while she waited for the person to answer the phone.

"I'm on hold," she said and furrowed her brows in confusion, pressing her lips into a thin line. "What's going on, Jim?" she asked, biting back a tired sigh while she shifted in her seat. "Please, why is this happening? What's going on?"

"We'll talk later as soon as they are done with you," Jim said and shook his head. He sighed and moved a hand through his hair and across his face. "I will make sure to answer some of your questions before you leave."

The hair on the back of Gracie's neck stood at attention, and her eyes grew wide while they became filled with shock and fear. Her face grew pale, and sadness filled her eyes while she stared at him, searching his face for answers. "Leave?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper with a small crack in it.

Gracie paused and cleared her throat, licking her lips while she looked at the man that had been some sort of a father figure to her for a couple of years. "What do you mean by leave? Why am I leaving? Where are we going?"

Jim flinched and set his jaw while he pressed his lips into a thin line, and guilt filled his eyes. "Unfortunately, we will have to talk about everything later, Gracie," he said and bowed, not looking at her. "Ok?"

Please, don't push...

"Bu-"

"Miss Weiss?" someone asked before she could ask him what he meant and why they had to wait to talk, stopping the music from playing. "Are you still there?"

The voice was gentle, soothing even, and Gracie couldn't help but like the person with the voice, even though she didn't know who it was and the person on the other end of the line could be a mass killer, and she was now one of his targets in getting killed.

But Jim wouldn't do that to her because he seemed to know those people and trust him... would he?

"Miss Weiss?" the person, a male, asked again, and concern filled his voice when she didn't answer the question right off the bat. "Please, are you still there, Love? We didn't lose you while I was getting on the call, did we?"

"Ummm..." Graice cringed when her voice sounded like she had swallowed more sand, and she cleared her throat and licked her lips before she rubbed her throat with a small grimace on her face. "You didn't lose me, Sir. I am still here." She paused and wrinkled her nose before she pursed her lips in annoyance while she closed her eyes before she opened her eyes. "And this is Gracie Weiss."

Jim nodded toward the kitchen, and Gracie instantly looked at him while the man on the other side of the line sighed with relief. "Go ahead and get yourself a glass of water, Gracie," he mouthed. "You do not need to be feeling as if you had eaten a lot of sand when that isn't the case." He flashed her a small smirk and a wink, and the young female couldn't help but roll her eyes and offer him a hesitant smile at the joke he had given her.

The person sighed with relief, and he seemed to relax just a tad. "Good, good," he said and cleared his throat with the sound of ruffling papers filling the background. "How are you, Dear?" he asked in his soothing voice that she liked.

Graixe hesitated and nodded in thanks to Jim before she walked to the kitchen, knowing full well that she had no way of escaping the little apartment she had been given. "Scared," she said, her voice barely above a whisper before she cleared her throat and licked her lips. "I am scared."

Her stomach growled loudly and in warning that it was about to eat her insides.

And even the man on the phone seemed to hear it because he bit back a small chuckle when he heard it...

Instantly, the young female's cheeks turned red while she blushed, and she tucked her head closer to her chest. "And hungry," she admitted, biting the inside of her lip. "I hadn't eaten yet and hadn't expected anything... guests to be in my apartment after I finished my shower..." She grabbed a bottle of water for herself before she grabbed three more waters, shifting the phone until she was clutching it between her ear and her shoulder.

"Right, right," the man on the other side of the line said with a small chuckle in his voice before he cleared his throat to hide it. "My apologies. They work for me and so does Jim." He paused and cleared his throat. "Even though Jim is basically a higher rank than the rest of them..."

The hair on the back of Gracie's neck stood at attention, and her whole body grew tense. "Oh?" she asked and walked into the living room with the bottles of water. She looked at Jim with a small frown on her face and made no move to distribute the bottles of water. "Does he now?"

Jim's eyebrow went up in question, silently asking her what was wrong. He didn't say a word and didn't move toward her to take the other three bottles of water, knowing full well that she was tense and afraid.

The man on the other line chuckled nervously while he shifted in his seat. "Well, he works with me," he said, nervously. "They all work with me. I am not their boss, but I-I uh..."

Gracie raised an eyebrow in question, amused at this man's stuttering and nervousness. "Is he always like this?" she mouthed and cocked her head to the side while she looked at Jim, waiting for the other male to respond. "Stuttering and stumbling over his words as if he didn't know what to say?"

Jim bit back a small chuckle and slowly nodded in confirmation. "Yes," he mouthed back and cleared his throat to stop himself from chuckling some more. He flashed her a small teasing wink with a sad, small smile on his face. "Don't worry, he will get worse when you meet him in person."

Great...