chapter twenty-four | missing piece

THE LATE AFTERNOON sun casts a warm glow over the city of Bristol, England, but Gracie hardly noticed as she was wandering through narrow streets, taking in the unfamiliar sights. Normally, she loved this part of touring—getting lost in a new place, letting the charm of a different world soak in, but today, an unsettling quiet followed her. Something was wrong, though she couldn't place her finger on it at first.

Since the bright hour of five a.m., she had been busy working with the team to finalize details for the show and sneaking in short breaks to explore the city. It wasn't until she stopped by a small café to get a coffee and scrolled through her phone that she noticed that she hadn't heard from Mila.

She had from her since their conversation about her soundcheck yesterday.

At first, she dismissed it as a busy day for Mila. Her schedule had been pretty hectic recently and she thought that she had gotten caught up in the whirlwind of things, it was pretty common in this industry. However, as the hours passed and texts went unanswered, unease started to creep in.

Mila had never been MIA like this before, not even after the two had broken up. Something about this whole situation didn't feel right at all. She had hoped that someone might know where she went or if she was okay.

Once Gracie had returned to the venue from one of her secret adventures, she immediately started the search for Mila. "Hey, have you seen Mila?" She asked one of the stagehands, trying to sound casual, but her voice failed her. The answer was a simple shake of the head.

That put her on edge.

She frowned and moved on to approach Audrey, who was standing near the soundboard. "Audrey, have you heard from Mila today?" She asked her curiously.

Audrey looked up, puzzled. "No, not since last night. I figured she was resting or something. Why?"

"She's not answering my texts," Gracie answered, the worry now audible in her voice. "From what I can tell, no one else seems to have seen her."

Audrey's brow furrowed. That didn't sound like Mila to her, she wondered what could be the cause of this. "That's...odd. She usually hangs around, doesn't she? Did you check her room?"

Gracie nodded, already pulling out her phone from her pocket. "I'm going there now." She then made her way out of the venue, beginning the walk back to the hotel building.

The elevator opened onto Mila's floor, the fourth floor. Gracie's mind raced, imagining a dozen scenarios, but none of them were good. She didn't want to believe that any of them were true. Deep down, she hoped that she was either asleep or exploring somewhere, at least still in England. Mila had to be out there somewhere, right?

When she reached the door to Mila's room and knocked, there was no response. Her heart sank as she tried again, louder this time.

Upon getting no response, she made her way to the check-in desk, hoping that she hadn't checked out. "Ah, Miss Abrams. How can I help you?" The man running the desk asked as he typed on his computer. He seemed to be checking with other reservations. "Do you need any extra towels or anything brought to your room?" He questioned.

"Mila—um, the guest in room 412—can you tell me if they checked out?"

She received an acknowledging nod from the man, checking the details on the computer. "It would appear that she had checked out early this morning." He responded, never looking away from his computer screen. The second she heard that, her stomach dropped. She thanked the man and then immediately stepped outside, pulling out her phone. She opened Mila's social media, scrolling through the flood of recent posts from fans. Her breath caught when she found it—a statement from Mila's account.

The words stared back at her, cold and formal.

"After much consideration, I've

decided to step away from

the Good Riddance tour. This

decision wasn't easy, but it's what's

best for everyone involved. I wish

the team nothing but success

moving forward. Thank you for

all the love and support, it truly

means a lot to me. <3"

Gracie reread the statement, her jaw clenching tighter with every word. She knew Mila. This wasn't her voice, her way of saying goodbye. That's when it hit her—she knew whose voice this belonged to—Jordan. This had her fingerprints all over it.

Gracie's hands trembled as she placed her phone in her pocket, anger and worry mixing into a storm inside her. Mika was gone and Jordan was behind it. She didn't need to hear it from anyone to know it was true.

There was no way that she could let Jordan get away with this. She had to say something...no, she had to do something.

She started the walk back to the venue, the words of the statement swirling in her head. Never in a million years did she think that something like this would happen under her watch, yet it was. The woman she loved was now gone with no trace because of her manager, someone that she thought she could trust.

She thought she had felt betrayed before, but this time, it was the worst she had ever felt. She wasn't sure what was real or a lie anymore, but she was sure of one thing. She could never trust Jordan again.

Something had to be done about this, she just had to figure it out.

Gracie had returned to the venue, fueled with rage from her discovery. Her chest heaved with every breath as she pushed through the side door, her eyes scanning the bustling crew: the once-familiar space felt suffocating, the weight of Jordan's actions pressing down on her.

She still couldn't believe that any of this was happening. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

Audrey spotted her almost immediately, her face etched with concern. "Gracie," She called out, waving her over. She watched as Gracie walked over, the pure anger written on her face. "Did you find out anything?" She asked her curiously, resting a conforming hand on her shoulder, in hopes of calming her down a little bit.

Gracie shook her head sharply. "She's gone, Audrey. Jordan is behind this, she fired her." Once she said that, Aubrey looked at her with a confused expression. "Jordan fired her behind my back. She did something that would be difficult to reverse."

Audrey's hand dropped from Gracie's shoulder as her brows knitted together in disbelief. "What do you mean Jordan fired her? She doesn't have the authority to do that...does she?" She questioned.

Gracie let out a bitter laugh, her frustration bubbling over. "She thinks she does. Mila's gone, Audrey. Her room was cleared out, and then I saw the statement Jordan made her post. It wasn't even Mila's words. It was cold, robotic—completely impersonal. That's not Mila." She pointed out, letting out a sigh, and ran a hand through her hair.

Audrey frowned deeply, glancing around to ensure that no one was within earshot. "So, you're telling me that Jordan wrote a fake statement for her and made her leave?" She questioned, trying to make sense of the situation, Gracie was trying to do the same thing. "What the hell is going on?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out myself," Gracie snapped, her voice trembling with equal parts anger and worry. "Jordan's been sabotaging Mila this whole time, and I didn't do anything about it until it was too late." She rubbed her temples, the weight of her realization bearing down on her. "I should've done something. All those things she told me, it's all been Jordan."

"Gracie, this isn't your fault. You trusted Jordan and she took advantage of that. Role Model is here to replace Mila, plus you have a break after this show. We're going to find her tomorrow and find a way to fix this."

"What if we can't fix this? What if it's too late?"

Audrey let out a sigh, wrapping an arm around her. She could see that Gracie was starting to spiral and if she got like that, nothing would get done. "Don't even continue with that thought. Everything will be fine, we'll figure this out." She reassured, her tone becoming comforting yet firm to prove her point. "We'll find her together."

"Right...together," Gracie repeated, letting out a breath. Her feelings started to regulate from Audrey's reassurance. She always knew the right thing to say to calm her down, she appreciated Audrey so much for that.

Once they find Mila, Jordan will have a lot of questions to answer.

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AUTHORS NOTE !

i'm sorry this was shorter

than usual! we'll consider

this one a filler! i hope you

all enjoyed and i hope there's

no mistakes!