I got on the elevator, trying to calm myself down. I had no idea why my parents were in town or why they had stopped here to see me. Normally they would tell me several days or even a week or two ahead of time that they were going to visit. I hoped it was something boring, like a doctor's appointment, that had brought them to town. However, my parents didn't have any bad health problems that would need a specialist doctor in this big city. I couldn't think of anything else that they would need to do in the city. Besides, it was a two hour drive. Maybe they were just here to go shopping and wanted to see me. There was no reason to be scared. I took several deep breaths and walked out of the elevator.

I saw them immediately, standing near the front desk area. I walked over smiling, and hoped that everything was good to go. My mom's eyes widened as she looked at me, and my dad's face got red. Oh shit. This wasn't going to go well, was it? My dad walked toward me looking like a bull about to gore me. I slowed down and then stopped, turning to go back to the elevator, when he grabbed my arm.

"How dare you show yourself in public like this. You shame us!" He hissed at me while he dragged me out the doors. I didn't want to make a scene, and I figured maybe they would just want to talk to me outside. They couldn't take me home. I was sure of that. I had a professional job.

Mom took my other arm and frog marched me to a waiting car by the curb, with Uncle Joe opening the back door. Okay, now I was really scared. This was no shopping trip or a friendly visit. "Hey I don't know what's-" my dad opened the back door and threw me in. I slammed across the backseat, falling down onto the floor.

I raised myself up and saw my mom closing the back door. The car sped off. My dad must've gotten in the front passenger seat while I was on the floor. Maybe they were just going to circle the block, or take me back to my apartment and yell at me. I had no idea, but this couldn't take too long because I had to get back to work.

"I could not believe my ears when your Aunt Sophie called me to say that she saw you and some alpha shopping for paternity clothes! You have no shame! I thought you had learned your lesson back in college."

Oh. My. God. This was much worse than that time in college. I had never heard my mom speak to me like this.

"Hey, you don't need to talk to me like that! I'm your son, remember? You've always wanted me to have kids. I don't understand-"

"You don't talk to your mother like that! I've got a good mind to smack you right now."

I sat there with my mouth hanging open. This was much worse than any nightmare I had had after the college surprise visit. My fears were coming true. I thought I had been crazy for worrying about my parents getting me and taking me back home when they found out I was pregnant. I couldn't believe my Aunt Sophie would call my parents. Then again, she was my mom's sister.

I sat up on the backseat and looked out the back window, trying to figure out how I was going to get out of this. I needed to get back to work, but I also didn't want to make my parents any angrier, or I had a feeling that they would cut me off and never see me again. Then again, with the way they were treating me right now, I didn't know if I really wanted them in my life. I looked down at my hands, trying to think of what to do.

Would they really take me back home? I was older now, and had a professional job. It would be noticed if I had gone missing. Plus, Lance was my roommate! I felt better knowing that Lance would know if I was gone. I bet I could even call him right now, except that I didn't know what to tell him. That my parents were mad? Besides, what if my mom tried to take my phone when I pulled it out? I didn't know what they would do. This was so different than anything they had done before.

I looked up to see where we were and noticed we were on the interstate going out of town. The one I took when going back home. My stomach dropped and a cold chill went through me. They just had to be going to a park to talk, right? They weren't actually taking me home, were they? "Where are we going?"

No one answered me. I got even more scared. There was no way to get out of the car now that we were driving so fast. I tried to think of what I could do, of ways I could signal people that I needed help. I didn't want to take out my phone for fear they would take it away from me. Plus if I dialed 911, would the operator really be able to tell where I was? I probably wouldn't even be able to say anything before my mom snatched the phone away.

"You know I've got to get back to work right? I've got a job at a law firm."

Nobody said anything. Oh my God. This was bad, this was going to be just like that time in college. What the hell. I could not believe they were doing this to me again.

I put my head down, rubbing my face with my hands. I had nightmares for so long after that time in college. At least this time I felt better knowing that I would be missed right away and there were people that could do something. Lance had a full-time job with income. Plus, he would know I was missing not long after work. He could call the police, if the police would believe that someone's parents had kidnapped them. Also there was work, and Marcus. God, I wished I could take out my phone and text him while we were still close enough.

"I've got to go to the bathroom. Can we stop so I can go to the bathroom?"

Nobody said anything. Oh my God. Were they going to keep me cooped up in here and not let me out for the entire drive? Did I dare risk taking my phone out and texting for help? It was in my right pocket, which wasn't good because my mom was sitting on the right side of me. There was no way I could slip it out of my pocket and move it over to my left side and text without my mom seeing me.

I glanced up front and saw that my dad had his head turned so that he could keep an eye on me. I had never seen such a crazy look in his eye. I shuddered and looked out the window. It was like I didn't even know these people. I was suddenly very scared.

Marcus

I had a feeling that I was going to need to leave town to rescue Ryan. I needed to give Meredith a heads up, no matter how much I didn't want to. She was too sharp for her own good. I stormed down the hallway toward her office and passed Eric going the other way. I gave him a terse nod.

He grabbed my arm. "Hey! What's going on? I've never seen you like this."

I glanced over at Eric and something in my expression made Eric's eyes widen.

"Is it your mom? Did she take ill? Do you need me to do anything?"

I shook my head. I sure as hell wasn't going to say anything out here in the hallway. I kept walking to Meredith's office and went through the open door. Eric followed me in, which was fine. He needed to know what was going on, too.

"Meredith, I've got a family emergency. I need to leave right now. I don't know how long I'm going to be gone." I had never had a family emergency before, and I had never been scared shitless for somebody else before either. I tried to tell myself that I was just jumping to conclusions, things really couldn't be that bad, but my gut told me things were indeed that bad and probably worse. I had learned over the years to always trust my gut and I was doing so now.

"Marcus, talk to me. Is your mom okay?"

I ignored Eric and stared at Meredith, pleading with my eyes. I did not want to have to explain anything else.

Meredith stared at me, then narrowed her eyes. "If this was your mother or sibling, you would say so. Does this have anything to do with your paralegal Ryan being missing?"

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. She was too damn smart. I flattened my lips and looked behind me. The office door was still open. I closed the door and turned around.

"I need to leave now. It's a family emergency, believe me. I also need to know if any of know of a helicopter company or someone with a private helicopter that could get me to a town a few hours away as soon as possible." I had no idea where his parents lived but I was assuming a podunk town meant in the country which was at least a few hours away.

"Since it's a family emergency, I'm sure you could use the firm's jet." Eric's idea was genius. I hadn't even thought of that. I turned to Meredith.

"Yes, I's in town at the airfield. No, you're not authorized to use it until you tell me what's going on. As a partner, you know that you can't use it for personal errands." I couldn't believe Meredith was going to be a hard ass about this. I knew she just wanted confirmation that I was going after Ryan.

I sighed, running my hands through my hair. If I told her it was for business, just to get access to the jet I could come back and find myself stripped of my partnership. Or worse, kicked out of the firm due to getting an employee pregnant. What else could I do? I wasn't going to be able to get my hands on anything faster than a Learjet right now.

"Are the pilot and copilot nearby and ready? Could they get ready within thirty minutes?"

Meredith narrowed her eyes even more.

"I don't like the sound of this, Marcus. Yes, they are still at the airfield, as a matter of fact. They just landed."

Fucking perfect. This was the best news I had heard all day. "Don't go celebrating on me just yet Sutton. I understand there's some sort of family emergency, but you seriously cannot use that jet for personal use. Do you really want to lose your job over this?"

I knew all the rules about being a partner. Once the partners and the founders heard what happened they would let me off the hook, right? Fuck, I wasn't sure. I really wasn't sure. When they found out about the fact that I had knocked up a subordinate? Yeah, I was thinking they weren't going to be very forgiving. "All right Meredith. I'm going to tell you, but don't tell anyone else. Ryan wanted me to keep it a secret. He didn't want to be treated any differently."

Dear God, I hoped to hell I got to Ryan and told him the story before anyone else did. I hoped he forgave me, because we were going to have to follow through on this as soon as I got him back. "Ryan and I secretly got married. He's also pregnant. His parents unexpectedly came up to visit him, but they didn't know he was married. They're very fundamentalist and I believe they took the news that he was pregnant rather badly. As a matter of fact, I talked to his roommate just now and he told me of a similar situation in college, when they took him home because Ryan was dating someone they didn't like. Allegedly, they kept him home until he called the alpha, broke up with him, and promised never to go near him again. I think his parents took him. He's been gone for over three hours now. I need to get to him as soon as possible." I didn't look at Eric. I didn't want to lose my poker face. I wasn't sure how good of a liar I could be to my best friend. So I wasn't going to look at him and give up the game.

Meredith glanced down at my left hand that was currently resting on my hip, then she looked back up. "I can see you're serious. So help me God Marcus, you better be telling me the truth about you and Ryan. Are you really sure, do you really have some sort of proof that you believe his parents kidnapped him?"

"You can talk to Linda, our secretary, or you can talk to the other paralegals who noticed Ryan was scared. You can talk to his roommate, Lance, who was there when his parents kidnapped him in college. We're wasting time! I need to leave now!"

Meredith nodded her head. "I'll call the pilots and tell them to get the plane ready. Get out there as soon as you can. As a matter of fact, there's a helicopter on the roof. Go up there and use that to get to the airfield. I'll call that company and tell them to get the bird ready." I took a deep breath, and would've hugged her, but I didn't have time. I turned around, glancing at Eric, and then opened the door, almost running down the hallway.

Eric was keeping up with me. He turned his head and spoke quietly. "If that's really the situation, then you're going to need help to get Ryan back. You're going to be taking care of him, you'll need a driver for a car, and then you'll need some extra muscle just in case."

I nodded my head. These were all very good points. I could use Bill as the muscle but that left me needing one more person. I couldn't call Steve, even though he would be perfect, as he was an actual FBI agent. Who the hell else could I get to go with me? I'm pretty sure the pilots wouldn't want to get involved. Eric surprised the hell out of me though.

"I don't have anything urgent right now. I'm going to cancel my only appointment for the day and go with you."

I turned to Eric, but he cut me off.

"Don't even argue. You need someone you can count on and trust. Plus I can spin a story and sell anything. I'll keep the parents occupied as needed."

I nodded. He had very good points. I felt like this might actually work.