*HARRY'S Point of View*

"Besides," Ariana said. "That's not even Harper's handwriting."   

"How do you know that?" I asked as my hopes skyrocketed.

"She left me notes sometimes," Ariana explained. "When we shared a room. She was sweet like that. Just little notes saying  Have a great day or whatever."

* * *

That was two days ago. I can't explain the relief I felt to learn that Harper hadn't written that note. I knew she wouldn't lie to me; I knew she loved me.

But then what happened to her? That question alone haunted me more than believing she had left me.

Ariana and Victoria had been trying to put together clues about who might have written the deceiving note. Even more importantly, they were always trying to distract me or to make me laugh. I was falling in love with them more and more by the second, but still not the way I loved Harper. They were the best friends anyone could ever ask for. I knew they had feelings for me - well, Victoria did at some point, but not any more - but they put aside their feelings to help me. That was true friendship.

I hired someone to go Heathrow and Gatwick to find out if Harper's name had been listed on any of the passenger manifests. No one on my team had the legal credentials to do the job, so I hired a private investigator. The WMEB team was not aware that I had done so. They might threaten me with legal action, but since they were clearly hiding something, I decided that I had every right to resort to my own means.

I no longer trusted Claudia or anyone else from the WMEB team. I only trusted Ben, and he was as confused as we were. I had hired him as my acting manager during the show since I didn't have one, but I knew he was losing what little control he had over the show, too.

It was already Wednesday, and I had spent hours trying to call anyone who might have information on Harper, asking all the team members if they knew anything, and I even grilled the hotel staff. No one seemed to know anything, but it was obvious that someone just wasn't talking. I found it highly unlikely that she left the hotel with all of her luggage and no one noticed a thing. If she left to go back to the States, she would surely be there by now. We all left messages at different places, but with absolutely no luck. 

Ben had managed to snag some time with the executive producer, Tyler Vance, to explain everything and how it didn't add up. Vance had told Ben he had no idea what might have happened, and he agreed to meet with me later this afternoon. I was beginning to hate the way the producers on this show acted like they were royalty and the rest of us were there performing monkeys. Something had seriously gone wrong, and the executive producer couldn't find time in his schedule to speak to me personally? That was just fucked up. 

If I had wanted to, I could have played the part of the eccentric rock star. I could have demanded that everything be done my way. But I didn't. I let the producers have their way because this was their  show, but now they were conspiring for the success of WMEB above everything else, and they didn't care who got hurt in the process. 

Everything in show business has an angle. Believe me, I get that. What they present to the public has to be tweaked so everything appears exactly the way managers and producers want it to appear. And that meant that my happiness was now secondary. It wasn't about me finding love anymore, it was about sensationalism. I knew they filmed every second of my breakdown in Harper's room. They would spin that somehow, I just knew they would. And I didn't even care about that.

I couldn't describe the ache in my heart. Nothing had ever hurt so terribly in all my life. It was similar to the kind of pain I felt when my parents told me they were getting a divorce, or maybe when I was eliminated on the X Factor, before Simon put the band together. But the intensity of my current pain was unmatched.

She was all I wanted. 

I knew she wanted me, too. I heard it in her voice when she said she loved me. I felt it in the way it was so easy to be with her. She made me happy, and now I was miserable, thinking about what might have happened to her. It was becoming more clear that she left unwillingly. I couldn't stand the thought of anyone manhandling her, dragging her to some place to keep her quiet until the show was over. 

The only thing I knew for sure was that she had been forced to leave. And I had to find her.

_____

Hopefully, you won't hate me for all these mini-cliffhangers, but since they're short chapters, I'll be updating fast! <3