Note: I'm always overwhelmed by your responses. Thank you all for your continued support; it truly does make me want to continue writing more. I really was never expecting to receive so much positive feedback! I'm super excited to continue this journey.

4

Spencer sighed. She traced her finger across the lines on her palm. She remembered her mother once telling her that the bottom was her lifeline. She analyzed it; it was quite long. But she didn't get why. She felt like she didn't have much time left. Or maybe she did, but she would be here for the rest of her long life— trapped and miserable. Was there really much point in having an extremely long lifeline if it was going to be spent as a prisoner?

The door rustled open. It was Alex. Spencer's heart dropped. Was it already Ezra's death hour?

"Hello, dearest sister," she smirked, slipping back into her British accent. She had been speaking with an American accent for so long; it was a relief to be herself again, actually.

Reluctantly, Spencer huffed out, "Hi..."

Alex opened a slit in Spencer's cell and slid a brown paper bag across the floor. Spencer raised her eyebrows.

"Oh come on, Spencer, don't be afraid of it," she laughed wickedly, shaking her head. "It's just a mere sandwich; I'm sure you've had plenty of them in your perfect little life here. I was kind enough to bring you something to eat." She stopped, turning the other direction. "I even brought Ezra a sandwich." She opened the slit in Ezra's cell and slid another brown paper bag his way. He furrowed his eyebrows, not understanding her "generosity." She stepped back over to Spencer's cell.

Alex smiled proudly. In a voice that only Spencer could hear, she said, "You may be wondering why he's still here... well, I decided that I want to make sure everything's my way before offing him. To tell him that I've won Aria's heart right before I chop him up into little pieces and maybe make him into his own little necklace like Wren? Freaking brilliant."

"The search is hectic. Everybody's worried about him," she continued, laughing wickedly again, rolling her eyes. "They think A.D. is back— they're right. But they think that Mary Drake is the one responsible. It's a shame they're holding the wrong Drake accountable." She tapped her foot on the floor a few times, making a loud clanking sound that disturbed Spencer's ears. "It's funny, actually," she added. "They've all got no idea that the real culprit is right in front of their eyes."

Spencer squinted her eyes.

"Aren't they suspicious that you're here right now instead of helping them find Mary and Ezra?"

She scoffed, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe... probably. I suggested that I pick up some sandwiches from a nearby bakery so that everybody's got something to eat while they search. They all looked at me like I'm a freaking loon— you should've been there! Too bad you couldn't be..." She shook her head, continuing, "I'm pretty sure Aria's stomach is not going to be able to take a sandwich right now."

Spencer clenched her fists. "Alex. Do whatever the hell you want to me, but do not hurt her. Or any of my friends."

Alex rolled her eyes, "Last I recall, I'm the one who's calling the shots. You've got no say in this."

Spencer smirked. She lowered her voice, "Doesn't it bother you, though?"

Alex raised her eyebrows. "What are you referring to?"

"This thing with Aria," she continued, "doesn't it bother you?"

"Why would it bother me?" Alex rolled her eyes. "I'm getting everything I've ever wanted. The perfect life. The perfect friends. The perfect lover."

"It's not perfect— not even close," Spencer jabbed. She still was speaking quietly, not wanting Ezra to hear anything. "Here's the thing: they'll never love you. And Aria will never love you. They will never love Alex Drake; they'll only ever love Spencer Hastings, and there's nothing you can do about that. That's right: Aria won't ever have feelings for you. She'll only have feelings for me." She tilted her head, speaking in a warning tone, "And if you go through with this, Alex, there's no chance she'll ever be able to forgive you."

Alex's face hardened. She was clearly being hit by Spencer's words, as much as she tried to pretend like she wasn't.

"Don't test me, Spencer," she warned. "You're already not on my good graces after you tried to escape."

"I'm not testing you," Spencer shook her head. "I'm telling you how it is. You're getting yourself friends who don't really love you. It'll always be fake."

"Well, by the luck of the draw, I got the cheap end of the deal while you took home everything, so there's not much I can do about that!" Alex yelled aggressively, slamming on Spencer's door. Ezra heard her say that. He hadn't heard them talking about Aria, but he certainly did hear that. As he chewed on the sandwich, his eyes were side. "And this sure is better than the utter garbage life I had to live over in England thanks to you."

"That wasn't my fault!" Spencer defended herself. "I'm sorry that things went that way for you, but I literally had no idea that you existed until recently! I spent my whole life thinking that Veronica Hastings was my mother... I didn't know anything... I didn't know how messed up my family tree was."

Alex shook her head. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that you got this life, and I suffered. Now it's time for me to turn the tables."

"Wouldn't it have been better if you let her fall in love with the real you?" Spencer asked quietly and calmly. "Things wouldn't be so messed up... You wouldn't have to be somebody that you're not."

Alex scoffed loudly. "Spencer, Spencer, Spencer... you're a fool, aren't you? And I thought you were the smart one!" She was practically pressed against the glass of Spencer's cell now. "Things are already messed up. Things have been messed up since the moment I was sold like a worthless piece of garbage to a family in England who didn't give a damn about me. She can't fall in love with the real me because the real me is twisted. But now I can make everything go away... I can be Spencer Hastings. I can be who I should've been. I can get the life I deserved to have. Things would've been so different if Veronica had just taken me, too. I wouldn't be this way."

"But you're not me," Spencer growled in the lowest voice level she could. "And no matter how hard you fake that American accent and say your best Spencer lines, you'll never be me. And none of them will ever give a real damn about you. Especially Aria."

Alex gritted her teeth together. Spencer hadn't seen her so angry this whole time, but there was now rage boiling visibly all through her body. She hated these words, probably because she knew they were true and she couldn't keep fighting that reality. But Spencer knew that she was going to keep pretending like she accepted that she would let everyone love her as Spencer Hastings because she needed herself to be okay with it. She needed herself to not care that by taking this way out, nobody would ever love her.

"Okay, now I'm seriously considering letting your fate match Ezra's. Keep your mouth shut."

With that said, Alex stormed out of the room. She felt defeated, but she couldn't let anybody know that. Especially Spencer. She couldn't let Spencer have yet another victory in life— she already got all the other victories.

As soon as she was gone, Ezra set his sandwich down and looked at Spencer with burning concern in his eyes.

"Spencer, what is going on?" he asked, trying to be soft, but the fear was audible. "What is with all the whispering?"

"She's... determined," Spencer huffed, feeling a shiver run down her spine.

Maybe she really would spend the rest of her lifeline locked in this cell. And she'd be alone soon, too, once Alex "chopped Ezra up."

x x x

"Hey, I'm back!" Alex announced, marching into the wedding hall room where Aria had gotten ready. She tossed a few brown paper bags of sandwiches on to the couch.

"That took an awful long time for the bakery that's literally five minutes from here," Hanna commented, looking at Alex suspiciously.

"And you're awfully giddy considering that Aria's fiancé is missing," Alison spoke, almost viciously.

Alex furrowed her eyebrows. "Just because we're on the search, doesn't mean we shouldn't be eating. Besides, everyone didn't have anything to eat since they were expecting to eat after the ceremony... I'm sorry for knowing that we'd work better if we weren't all on empty stomachs."

Alison was about to retaliate, but Aria squeezed her arm to stop her.

"Guys, it's fine. Spencer was just trying to make this easier," she assured everyone. "Caleb's trying to track the location of Ezra's cell phone."

Caleb seemed frustrated. He shook his head.

"It's off, but the last location it was in was the Brew," he explained.

"Anything else?" Alex asked, raising her eyebrows. "Do we have any idea how to find Mary Drake?"

Caleb stared at the floor. "I hate to say it, but I'm stumped... literally. We have nothing to go off of here."

"Maybe we could check the Brew," Aria tried to stay positive. "It did say that his last location was there... maybe he's just upstairs in his apartment. Maybe he turned his phone off because he didn't want to answer."

"Maybe..." Caleb muttered, but he didn't seem to really buy it.

Aria buried her face in her knees, beginning to sob quietly. The others looked at her with concern, but were unsure of how to comfort and support her at a time like this. Alex's heart dropped seeing the girl crying like that. The one thing she hated most about all of this was that she had to keep on hurting Aria to get what she wanted. If there were a way to do this without hurting her, she would take that path instantly. But for now, all she could do was walk over to where she was and sit beside her, wrapping her arms around the tiny girl and holding her close. Aria lifted her head up, pressing herself against Alex's chest, finding a small sense of happiness from how safe she felt in her arms.

"I wasted everyone's time today and brought them here for a wedding... I had to disappoint everyone. And then Ezra left me just because of a fight that we had and didn't show up to our own wedding!" Aria cried, letting her tears absorb into Alex's navy blue dress.

Alex pressed a hand to Aria's soft hair, stroking it gently.

"Aria, don't worry about the other people. Those guests are irrelevant right now," Alex told her. "And it's not your fault, whether Ezra was an ass and left you, or whether something really happened to him. There was nothing you could've done to stop this from happening, so stop blaming yourself. I don't ever wanna hear you blaming yourself for this again."

She shook her head, "I could've just told him sooner about what the doctors said, but I was too afraid of what he would say. I should've trusted him."

"It's not surprising that you didn't trust him after everything he's done to you," Alex hissed, her anger directed towards Ezra and not Spencer.

Aria raised her eyebrows, taken back by how aggressive she was.

"Sorry..." she muttered.

Hanna tilted her head to the side, squinting her eyes, "Since when did you have such a burning hate for Ezra, Spence? Last I remember, you were trying your hardest to help with the wedding planning."

"That's because one, I'm a sucker for planning weddings. And two, I thought that he made her happy, but it's clear that he doesn't. I accepted him because she seemed happy. But he has done nothing but hurt her again and again in the past! It's clear that he's never gonna stop hurting her!" Alex cried indignantly.

Everyone in the room stared at her, all startled by her rage towards Aria's fiancé. Aria just squeezed her arm again, trying to settle her down. She knew that there was more to her hatred for Ezra than she was letting on, but she couldn't say it aloud. Not right now, maybe not ever.

"Whatever," Alison shook it off, shifting her attention away from Alex and back to Caleb. "We should focus ourselves on finding Ezra right now. What are we gonna do?"

Caleb huffed, blinking quickly. He tried to think, but was lost.

"Beats me," he shrugged his shoulders. "If anyone else would like to contribute, feel free."

Alex let go of Aria, standing up from the couch.

"You know what? While you all brainstorm here, I'm just gonna visit the Brew and check the loft to see if he's there. Maybe we're lucky and he really is just hiding out with pre-wedding jitters and cold feet," she announced.

"Spence, do you want me to come with you?" Toby offered, perking his head up.

"I would, but you don't have to. This is a job that one person can handle themselves. I think it would be better if you focused on thinking of other ways to catch Mary Drake or find Ezra," she replied, smiling with fake pity as she slid out the door.

x x x

Alex was confused as of how she was going to get through this and put an end to their desperate search for Ezra Fitz and Mary Drake, but she had finally come up with a plan so simple that anyone could have thought of it. She returned to where she was keeping Spencer and Ezra hostage, smiling proudly as she walked inside. Spencer's head shot up. She raised her eyebrows at her twin sister.

"Back already? You really missed me that much?"

"Very cute, sister," Alex rolled her eyes, slipping back into her British accent. "And no, I didn't miss you. I came to take care of things quite simply."

Ezra's eyes widened, fearing that the end was coming for him. He crawled back in his cell, pressing his back against the wall, looking at Alex fearfully. She laughed loudly and wickedly, knowing that she had invoked serious fear in him. She wanted to make him pay for winning Aria's heart after everything he had done to her, and it was all working out.

"Look at your face!" Alex sneered, looking at him. He kept his mouth shut, not wanting to say anything that would trigger her to act rashly. "Don't worry, love: you've got more time. Considering that everything is going my way, I decided I would spare you for a little longer. I mean... it's not like you can go anywhere else."

Alex pulled open a door and pulled out a bag. Then, she stuck her hand inside of it and yanked out a phone. Ezra raised his eyebrows, recognizing that phone. It was his phone.

"Why do you need my phone?" he suddenly asked, growing confused and curious.

"Oh, well, I'm not a big fan of weddings, so I decided that I would let Aria know that you've changed your mind about her. I'm telling her that you've left town!" she laughed. "I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. It's so simple."

Spencer glared at her, folding her arms.

"Well, well, who peed in your cheerios, sister?" Alex smirked, turning to instead look at Spencer's cell.

She took slow steps towards Spencer's cell, her smirk growing wider as she did so. She pressed her hands against the glass.

Lowering her voice into a whisper, Alex asked, "Would you like to know how fantastic Aria's body felt pressed against mine this morning? Her moans, her whispers, her kisses, her touches... it was like a dream come true."

Spencer's mouth hung agape, watching Alex's smug expression carefully.

"You did this... again?" Spencer angrily asked, but kept her voice in a low level for Ezra's sake. "Stop hurting her. You don't deserve her if you treat her this way."

"Oh, I also shoved my tongue down Toby's throat for a hot minute, but it was just so that Aria would see and feel regretful for choosing to marry that... oaf," Alex rolled her eyes, gesturing over to Ezra, who had now stopped paying attention and instead was eating the leftovers of his sandwich from earlier.

Spencer gritted her teeth. She hated how Alex was messing with Toby and Aria. She especially hated what she was doing to Aria— manipulating her into thinking she was someone else, touching her when she didn't have permission, letting her feel conflicted about Ezra. And the thought of Alex's sick hands all over Aria's body made Spencer sick. But Alex seemed pleased with herself.

"Aria doesn't deserve this. She deserves someone who loves her and would never hurt her," Spencer furiously said.

"And what? You think that's you?" Alex scoffed while heat started rising to Spencer's cheeks. She turned her head away, avoiding Alex's eyes. "And don't be so protective over her, love. Have you forgotten that she's picked Ezra over you time after time? Over your friends?"

Spencer simply stared at the wall, refusing to look at Alex and refusing to continue this conversation. The whole thought of Alex touching Aria like that was extremely unsettling. Spencer didn't know what exactly it was about, but ever since Alex told her that she manipulated her into sex yet again, there had been a huge knot in Spencer's stomach.

"I would stay to chat more, but everyone must be waiting for me," Alex announced with a grin.

Cheerfully, the girl trotted away and disappeared into darkness, clinging on to Ezra's phone tightly. Spencer finally turned her head, watching her disappear. She had no idea what that darkness led to, and frankly was worried that she would get lost in this death trap maze that Alex had set up. Spencer knew damn well that there was no way that Alex would make it easy to get out of here unless you knew the structure of it. But Spencer's stomach fell when she was reminded of the fact that there was a damn good chance that she would never get out of here, and would instead become a permanent prisoner while Alex enjoyed manipulating everyone Spencer cared about.

Ezra popped the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth and then looked over at Spencer with worry in his eyes. Spencer looked away, trying to avoid his eyes because of the guilt she felt about everything. She knew that she hadn't done anything in particular, but she was keeping a bad secret to protect Aria in the off-chance that they got out of this place. She just didn't want to tell him everything and destroy their relationship before they got a chance to talk about it. Unlike Alex, Spencer appreciated that Ezra had become a better guy and started to make Aria quite happy lately, even if Spencer wasn't always extremely fond of him. But Spencer just couldn't be the one to tell him about what happened and destroy their relationship.

"What exactly is her plan?" Ezra asked, confused. "I mean... what is the endgame, here?"

Spencer shrugged her shoulders.

Ezra furrowed his eyebrows, looking at her with suspicion in his eyes.

"I think you know more than you're letting on," he directly said. "She's always whispering things to you, but I don't know what she's saying. What is going on, Spencer? You shouldn't be lying to me and keeping things from me because... we have to rely on each other here. It's the only way that we're ever gonna get out of here."

Spencer sighed, "Well, for the sake of entertainment, she's trying to make sure your wedding with Aria never happens."

Ezra pressed his lips together.

"Yeah, she said that part. But what does she want?" he asked. "Why is she doing any of this? What is she trying to gain?"

"My life," she replied, chuckling bitterly. "She wants a happily ever after."

"With Toby?" he questioned.

Spencer swallowed hard before nodding her head. She decided that it was better to let him believe that for now. That was Alex's original plan, anyways: to do exactly what she was doing to Aria with Toby instead.

"I'm sorry," he said sympathetically. "This must be so hard for you... to know that she's using him like that... pretending to be you while she's with him... I'm so sorry."

Her heart was pounding. Lying to him about this was a lot harder than she expected.

"Don't be sorry for me," she shook her head. "We need to get out of here. Then, nobody will have to be sorry for anyone."

Ezra toyed with the cuff on his leg, tapping it with his fingernail.

"I'm more worried about the others than myself," he confessed. "Maybe she's gonna kill me; I don't know... But I can't stand the thought of her doing this to Aria. She's gonna think that I didn't show up to our wedding... she's gonna think that I don't really love her—"

"Ezra," she said sternly. "I know it's hard, but there are more important things right now. Aria will understand that you didn't show up when we get out of here and tell her that we were kinda being held hostage, so we couldn't come to the wedding. She's been through this type of stuff before."

"But right now, she'll think I don't love her," he sighed. "I know it sounds stupid. But what makes you so sure we'll ever really get out of here? I'm starting to think that we'll be here forever, and she'll go on thinking that I skipped town and didn't want to be with her."

"Well, maybe we could get out of here if we both stopped feeling sorry for everything and instead figured out how the hell we're gonna get out of here."

x x x

Sitting in the car, Alex sent Mona a text message first.

Clear out Ezra's apartment of all his stuff. Leave Aria's stuff. Make it look like he disappeared. -A.D.

Done. -M

Alex had promised Mona forgiveness for killing Charlotte if she loyally helped her with her plans as A.D. now. Desperately, she agreed to do it. But of course, Alex didn't really forgive her for what she did. There was no way she would ever forgive anyone for killing Charlotte, the one person she loved more than Aria. She would figure out how to punish Mona more later, but for now, she was accepting Mona's loyal services. And Mona was really good at what she did; after all, she was the one who had led the game first.

Mona was desperate for friendship and acceptance, and Alex gave that to her in exchange for her services. It also allowed her to stay close to the girls: especially Hanna. Mona loved Hanna the most, so Alex promised her that she wouldn't make her do anything to hurt the blonde. But hurting Aria was a different story.

Mona's tech skills really came in handy. Alex had ordered the girl to hack the location of Ezra's phone, making it appear to be in another state far from Pennsylvania. She knew that Caleb was just waiting to get a location alert. She smirked to herself in the car as she pulled Ezra's phone out, tapping away at the keyboard to send a farewell message to Aria.

I'm sorry, Aria. I couldn't go through with the wedding. I love you so much, but it just doesn't feel right anymore. I know I let you down again, but please don't come looking for me. I'm clearing my head. -E

Proud after sending the message, Alex pulled the car door open and stepped out. She walked into the wedding hall and went to the room where Aria had gotten ready. Inside, everyone was gathered around Aria, looking down while she held her phone up with shaky hands. Hanna put her hands on Aria's shoulders, rubbing them gently to comfort her. Tears rolled down Aria's cheeks.

"What happened?" Alex asked breathily, voicing concern.

"Ezra texted," Alison spoke up, looking up from Aria's phone and into Alex's eyes instead. "He's gone."

Alex bit her lip.

"I went to his loft at the Brew. It's been cleared out," she announced. "All of his things are gone."

That was the final nail on the coffin for Aria. She shook her head, the tears coming out of her eyes now uncontrollably. Sure, it was better than him being kidnapped by Mary Drake or whoever A.D. was, but it still hurt like hell to know that he bailed on their wedding because "it just didn't feel right."

"I'm so sorry, Aria," Alex breathed.

She laughed bitterly, "That's what Ezra said, too. He said 'I'm so sorry' after messaging me that he couldn't go through with marrying me."

"Things will get better," Alison said, looking over at Aria again sympathetically. "You deserve better than him, anyways."

Aria sniffed. Their kind words were fine, but she just couldn't take anything in right now.

"Where did he even go?" Emily suddenly asked, glancing at Caleb, who was typing away furiously on his laptop.

"That's what I'm checking right now. I got an alert that his phone turned back on around the time that Aria got his text message," Caleb explained. He kept typing furiously for a few more seconds before announcing, "He's in Vermont right now."

"Vermont," Aria nodded her head aloud. "Yeah, makes sense... he's got some family over there. He's probably staying with them while he 'clears his head.'"

"You know, maybe he just needs some time to process your fight or something. Maybe he'll come back to you after he clears his head," Hanna offered.

Aria's face turned from sadness to anger.

"Let him come back," she said, almost viciously. "I'm glad that he's safe, but I'm not gonna sit here and patiently wait for him to return once he decides whether or not I'm worth marrying. He should've been here today. He proposed to me. And now he just ran away, saying that he can't do it? I—I can't wait for him. I'm moving forward from now on. This is the last time that I'm gonna let him hurt me."

It was like music to Alex's ears. To hear Aria finally proclaim that she was finished with him was the most satisfying thing she had heard in a long time. Aria looked up from where she was sitting, locking eyes with Alex. A small smile emerged on the tiny girl's face. Alex smiled back at her.

"We didn't rent this hall forever, so we should get out of here already," Aria said, standing up. She wiped the tears off of her face. "I want to change out of this dress... and burn it, maybe."

Alex chuckled.

"I don't wanna be alone tonight, so... can we all hang out or something?" Aria asked.

"Of course," Alison nodded her head.

"What about at my barn?" Alex offered. "You can all sleep over there. Just like old times."

"Sounds good enough," Aria smiled, nodding her head.