Her father was so often away from home that if there were any problems, Mallory had no idea. He sounded normal on the phone, as normal as he had been since her mother's death. Noah Pierce always made sure his daughter was never in need of anything. She hadn't used her credit card for several days, having spent time in the luxurious home that was far too large for two people and a few staff to share. But it was home, and it was where she'd always been. Since her father had been away, she'd had various friends over, up until the fateful shopping trip when her credit card failed. That wasn't normal as she'd never over spent on it and the bills were always paid. Innocent to what her father had done, or the fact that he had offered up his only daughter as collateral to pay off this particular group, while he likely had to figure out what to do for any other debts he owed.<br/><br/><i>'Happy Birthday to me...'</i>The thought was a mournful one, as this was far more than any prank her friends might pull. Even Evan wouldn't do something like this, and she knew for sure the men in her bedroom had not been at all familiar. She had fought, at least a little but she wasn't accustomed to strangers breaking into her room when she'd been sleeping at some early hour that the sky had still been dark, deepening the shadows in her room. And jerked her head around at a raise in sounds indicating some change in the room, tugging at her bound wrists rather than trying to hide if she was awake or not, breathing still sharper through her nose. Then the voice, unfamiliar as he wandered around her by the way his voice carried, her head trying to follow the movements. Her father? What did this have to do with him?<br/><br/>The twisting to try to track him blindly froze. What the hell? He would easily be able to see when she tensed as his hands wandered, trying to arch away from him but at the same time not able to tell where he was to know how to avoid his hands. And swung a foot in what seemed to be his general direction, the whimper when stiffness made itself known muffled through the fabric pinned in her mouth. Just as suddenly as she'd tried to kick, the fabric was being peeled away, dark blue eyes blinking and squinting in the light of the room after the darkness behind the blindfold. Enough to make her eyes water a bit, breathing a little harder now that she wasn't forced to breath just through her nose. Until she focused on the one who had spoken, the only other one she could see in the room, eyebrows drawing in.<br/><br/>Of course she knew his face. Abby was obsessed with the recording studio and was often thrusting pictures in her face, proclaiming how she would one day get an amazing opportunity with them, how the owner would swoon over her voice and sweep her off her feet. As though she needed someone rich when she was as well off as Mallory Pierce. "Who wouldn't be, when their kidnapped from their bed?" Her voice was soft, wary and cracked slightly before she was swallowing, tongue appearing in any sort of attempt to wet her lips, mouth feeling dry after the gag. Her gaze skimmed away from him nervously, taking in the room and he likely realized what she caught sight of by the tension and sharper inhale of fear when she saw the various tools around the room, ocean blue eyes focusing back on the male when he assured her they weren't for her,"What do you want? Where am I?" A pause and she gave a tug at the bindings around her wrists, fingers flexing in some desperate hope the bindings might have loosened,"And what does my father have to do with it? I just want to go home!" The last came out a little more fearful than she'd meant it to, throwing the words in his face, since it wasn't as though he had said she couldn't talk.