Well, hi everyone. I apologize for not updating in months… Things kind of got really hard with school after everything with the pandemic started, and frankly, these past few months have not been easy. Or, well, this year has not been easy.

But, anyway, here's the next chapter of Heart Stopping Comeback. There's a bit of violence in this, I guess, though it doesn't go into too much detail, but I'm just letting you all know so you're aware. I hope you enjoy.

"Katie, wait!" Kendall whisper-shouted as they neared a corner. Katie, who had been walking closely behind him, stopped abruptly, lightly knocking into him.

"What happened?" she asked, but instead of answering her, Kendall held a finger to his lips.

He peeked his head around the corner just in time to see Trey walk out of a room and, to his relief, walk in the opposite direction of where they were. "Come on," he said, taking Katie's hand once Trey had turned a corner, and pulled her into the room he had walked out from. The room was small, with only a desk, a chair, and a lamp inside. Its walls were painted a light grey, though some of the paint had peeled off to reveal white paint underneath it.

"What are we doing in here?" Katie asked as Kendall walked around the desk and pulled open a drawer.

"Looking for our phones," he said, without looking up. "They're not in here, though. We should go."

Without waiting for Katie to respond, he guided her towards the entrance, before stepping in front of her to make sure Trey was nowhere in sight. Not hearing or seeing him anywhere, he stepped out of the room carefully, keeping a close eye on Katie as they walked along the wall.

"I wish we knew where they had Mom," Katie whispered behind him, clutching at his arm.

"Me too," he said, spotting another door not too far away. The door appeared to be closed, but there was light coming from inside it.

"Do you think that's where she is?" Katie asked, nodding in the door's direction.

"I don't know." Kendall swallowed hard, his throat feeling as dry as sandpaper. He looked around the hallway, noticing a room a few feet from where they were standing. "Come," he told Katie, pulling her along, until they were at the room's entrance. Unlike the other rooms, this one didn't have a door. It was a lot smaller, with shelves lining the walls, but they were empty. It appeared to be a closet – or it had been at one point, since the building they were in appeared to be practically empty.

"Katie," he said, as he pulled her into the enclosed space, "I need you to do something for me."

"What?" Katie asked, looking puzzled.

"Stay in here, okay?"

"What?"

"Stay in here. I'll go look for Mom, and once I find her, I'll come back and get you."

"Are you out of your mind? I'm not just going to stay in here and leave you alone!"

"It won't be for long—"

"I don't care. You're my brother."

"And you're my baby sister," Kendall said, feeling tears well up in his eyes. "I know you want to come with me, but I'd rather you stay here, hidden. I promise I'll be careful."

"Kendall." His name came out of Katie's mouth sounding more like a choked sob than a whisper. "I can't."

"You can," he said, reaching with both hands to wipe the tears that were starting to roll down Katie's cheeks. "And you will."

"But—"

"You have to." He closed his eyes and pulled her close, feeling her smaller arms wrap around him tightly. He could feel the vibrations of her sobs as she held onto him for dear life. It felt as if his heart was shattering into millions of pieces. "I'll come back," he said, as he pulled away.

"You have to promise me."

He nodded his head, his lips forming into a tight line. "I promise."

"Okay." Katie bit hard on her bottom lip, as if to stop herself from crying, and backed up against the wall, to where the shelves were. She sat down on the floor then, pulling her knees up to her chest, and stared up at Kendall.

"I love you," she whispered, reaching with a hand up to grasp his.

Kendall squeezed his fingers around it, brushing a tear away with his other hand before it could slide down his face. "I love you too, baby sister," he whispered back, before pulling his hand away and walking out of the room.

The room that had the light on was only a few feet away, but as much as he wanted to just go in there and see if his mom was inside, he knew he couldn't. He had a feeling that wherever his mom was, his father was too, and he didn't even want to think about what he would do if he were to find out he and Katie had escaped.

As he looked between the room Katie was in and the other room, he couldn't help but think they should have come up with a plan. He was always so good with plans. He was always the one that came up with schemes whenever his friends needed help with something, or whenever they wanted to pull some sort of prank, but this was different. This wasn't just for fun – this was life or death, and as much as he wanted to, he couldn't think clearly. His one goal was to get them all out of there without getting caught, but that was hard to do when he didn't even know where exactly his mom was. Not to mention that his father or Trey could appear at any moment, without a warning.

Just as he was thinking that, he heard the sound of footsteps coming from somewhere nearby. Not knowing what else to do, he took the couple of steps towards the room Katie was in and hid behind the wall, near the doorway.

"What happened?" Katie asked, but all he could do was press a finger to his lips as the sound of the footsteps got closer.

Katie's eyes grew wide, but she stayed silent where she sat.

From where he stood, Kendall could see outside the room slightly. He felt his blood run cold when a figure appeared just outside the room, stopping abruptly.

It was Trey.

"Shit," Trey said under his breath, his gaze cast downwards, at something he held in his hand. He then proceeded to walk, and soon, the sound of a door opening was heard, followed by Trey's voice, as well as his father's. He couldn't hear what they were saying at first, but it sounded like they were arguing about something.

"I told you to get rid of them after we got the numbers!" His father's booming voice could be heard just outside the room. "They could've tracked us, all because of your stupidity!"

"I'll get rid of them—"

"It might be too late for that now. We have to go."

"Go? But go where? There's nowhere for us to go."

"We can't stay here."

"But—"

"We're. Leaving. Now."

Their voices couldn't be heard after that, but the sound of shoes scraping against concrete flooring could be heard, though it seemed that the sound was getting farther away.

Taking one last glance at Katie, Kendall slowly peeked his head out, but his father and Trey could no longer be seen. Knowing he had no time to lose, he made his way towards the room with the light on and peeked inside. His heart stopped when he caught sight of his mom through the door's window.

Before he could think twice about what he was about to do, he pulled the door open and stepped inside, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Kendall?" His mom stared at him, her eyes wide open, as if she couldn't believe that he was actually standing there. "What–What are you doing here?"

"We have to go," was all Kendall said as he started untying the ropes that were around his mother's wrists, which were binding her to the arms of the chair she was sitting on. "They're going to take us somewhere else. I think they think someone might have tracked us here or something. We… We need to leave before they find us."

"Where's Katie?"

"Hiding in a closet," he responded, his hands shaking as he undid one of the ropes. He then moved on to the other, sighing in relief when it undid in a matter of seconds. "Let's go."

Keeping his eye on his mom, he blindly reached for the door, but before his hand could come into contact with it, he heard the sound of it turning and froze.

"Katie!"

He turned just in time to see Katie closing the door behind her.

"I think they know we're gone," she said, her eyes quickly moving from her mom to Kendall. "I don't think we can leave without them finding us. I-I… I'm scared."

Kendall felt sick. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. He knew that if his father found them, he would do much worse things to them.

"We should get out of here," he said, and opened the door. He made sure there was no one in the hallway before stepping aside so that his mom and Katie could step out.

Once they were all outside the room, the three of them quietly ran down the hallway, in the direction that was opposite to the one his father and Trey had gone in.

Kendall's head was pounding and his heart was racing. It felt like his lungs were on fire. He had no idea where they were headed, but he knew that they had to get out of there as soon as possible.

"How could you not get rid of the phones?"

His blood was boiling. While he didn't know a lot about technology, since he had been imprisoned for eight years, he knew that the phones could be used to track them, which is why he had given Trey specific instructions to get rid of Kendall, Katie and Jennifer's phones. They had gotten all the numbers they needed, saved them to his phone, and Trey was supposed to dump them in a dumpster somewhere. He didn't care where, as long as it was far away from where they were. Nobody would ever guess they were in that warehouse. Not when it was so close to where the boys lived.

But of course, Trey couldn't even do that. He should have known better than to trust someone he had only known for a few months before he had been released from prison, but he was the only person he knew who could help him.

When he was sent to prison, he had lost contact with everyone he knew, not that he had many friends to begin with. The only people he saw on a regular basis were the other boys' parents, but of course, he couldn't even call them his friends. He would put on an act around them, act like the perfect father when they were watching him. But he knew that once he was released from prison, he wouldn't be able to fool them anymore, especially Antonio.

Antonio was the one who had turned him in. He was the person he despised the most, aside from Kendall, and if he could, he would make his life a living hell too. He just had to figure out a way to do it.

"I was going to, but then—"

He snapped his head in Trey's direction, annoyance clearly showing on his face. "But then what?"

Trey stared at him with his mouth open, but no more words slipped out.

"That's what I thought."

He gave Trey one last glare before reaching for his keys so that he could unlock the door of the room he had left Kendall and Katie in, but as they neared the door, he realized it was slightly open.

"Did you leave the door open?" he asked, turning to Trey, who gave him a confused look.

"No," he mumbled under his breath. "I locked it behind me."

Pushing Trey out of the way, he stormed into the room, only to find it completely empty. Kendall and Katie were gone.

"You idiot," he said through gritted teeth. "Where are they?"

Beside him, Trey's face grew ashen as his eyes roamed the room. "I… I don't know."

"Well, you better find out!" he shouted, causing Trey to cower back and out of the room.

If he wasn't angry before, he was now. He ran out of the room in a hurry, heading in the direction in which he and Trey had come from. When he turned the corner, he was surprised to catch a glimpse of Kendall before he could turn the corner that followed.

"Where do you think you're going?!" he shouted, letting his legs carry him as fast as they could to catch up with Kendall. For a moment, Kendall stood frozen, but then, to his surprise, he started running in his direction, colliding with him a moment later, knocking them both to the ground.

Kendall reached for his throat almost instantly, but just as his fingers began to tighten around it, Kenneth pushed Kendall to the ground. Before Kendall could move, he brought his fist back and then forward, striking him on the nose. The action caused Kendall's head to snap back, hitting the floor. He did it again, and again, and again, until Kendall's nose and mouth were oozing blood and his lip was split.

"Kendall!"

He turned just in time to see Katie and Jennifer running towards him, and that is when he pulled his gun out.

"Don't come any closer," he said, aiming it at them.

The two took a few steps back in surprise, causing a smirk to come to his face. "You come any closer," he warned, "and I'll shoot you."

"Leave her out of this," Jennifer said, venom dripping from every word that came out of her mouth as she pushed Katie behind her. "Leave them both out of this. They did nothing to you."

"Didn't they? He's the main reason I went to jail to begin with." He nodded towards Kendall, who laid unmoving on the floor. "And you," he said, pointing the gun in her direction. "You just let it happen."

His finger tightened over the gun's trigger. It would be so easy to kill her. To let Katie watch her bleed out, but that wasn't enough. If he wanted anyone to watch Jennifer bleed out, it was Kendall. He wanted the guilt to eat him alive, knowing that it was his fault his mother was dead.

But he did want to hurt her.

Aiming the gun at her leg, he pulled the trigger. The shot rang through the hallway, just as Jennifer fell to the ground, Katie screaming in horror.

It was then that Trey appeared, his eyes landing on Jennifer and Katie, then on Kendall, and finally on Kenneth.

"The police are here," he said, getting Kenneth's attention.

He tore his eyes away from Jennifer to stare at him in shock. "What?"

"The police are here. I saw them through the cameras. They just got here. I-I think they're coming in through the front. We-We have to go."

He got up in an instant, pulling Kendall up along with him, and hauled him over his shoulder. "This is all your fault," he said, pushing Trey out of the way. "We're leaving."

"But what about—"

"Leave them," he said, looking back at Jennifer and Katie. Jennifer was now unconscious, but Katie had risen to her feet, her mother's blood coating her hands.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted, before throwing herself at her father. He was a lot quicker, though, and threw her against the wall, hard. He heard the sickening crack of her head hitting it, but he didn't bother to wait to see what would happen next. Instead, he tossed his car keys to Trey, and the two of them hurried down the hallway, leaving Katie and Jennifer behind.

As he stepped foot outside the building, the scorching heat greeted him, the brightness of the sun's rays blinding him for a moment. He followed Trey to where he had parked his car and threw Kendall into the backseat as soon as the doors had been unlocked. He then climbed in alongside him, screaming at Trey to hurry up and get them out of there before the police could find them.

It had been a good idea to park the car in the back, because that meant that the police would most likely not see them as they drove off. But just to make sure, he looked back as the car skidded away, but there was no sight of a police car anywhere.

A smile tugged at his lips as he looked down at Kendall, who now had dry blood coating his nose, lips and chin, some of it having slid down his neck and onto his white t-shirt. His eyes were now swollen, from where his fist had collided against them. The damage was nothing compared to the damage he had caused him when he was eight years old, but he would make sure that he paid for what he had done, one way or another.

"What are we going to do now?" Trey asked from the front, turning slightly in his seat to look back at him. "They're going to find us."

"Not without those stupid phones they won't."

"You don't know that that's the reason they found us."

"How else would they have found us?" he growled. "We left no clues. I left no clues."

Trey stayed quiet for a moment, but it wasn't long before he spoke again, this time keeping his eyes on the road.

"Where are we even going to go?" he asked. "We have nothing. Nowhere."

"Look," he said, leaning forward so that the tip of his gun came into contact with Trey's temple. "Stop asking questions and just drive."

"Yeah, but—"

"Drive!"

Trey nodded his head frantically, stepping on the gas pedal.

Beside him, Kendall started to stir, so he grabbed a couple of tissues and a bottle of chloroform from the passenger's seat, and drenched them with it, before pressing it to Kendall's face.

For a moment, Kendall started to squirm in his seat, his hand coming up to remove the tissues, but the struggle only lasted for a few seconds.

Watching Kendall's head loll to the side, Kenneth grinned in satisfaction and placed his gun on his lap, just in case he needed it. After all, this was only the beginning.

Well… that happened. I'm sorry?

~ BigTimeRush-BTR :)