Suddenly Joe’s cell phone rang, startling everyone. He quickly grabbed it and answered before it could ring twice.

"Hello?" Joe said, anxiously.

"Joe?" Vanessa’s voice was shaky.

"Oh, God – Vanessa!" Joe was flooded with relief at the sound of her voice. "Are you alright?"

"I’m ok. Joe, they want a file. They said if you give them the file, they’ll let me go." She repeated what Trevor had told her to say.

"I’ll give them anything to get you back, Baby. Whatever they want." He stopped, listening intently to a voice in the background that was speaking to Vanessa.

"Gary Travers. They want a file on Gary Travers." She said, then Joe heard a jostling of the phone and Vanessa was gone.

"Vanessa!" he cried out.

"Don’t worry. She’s safe." A male voice said.

"If you even think of touching her- " Joe’s voice shook with rage.

"She won’t be hurt." The voice cut him off. "You have the file on Travers?"

"Yes." Joe replied through gritted teeth.

"Good. We’ll contact you in the morning with further instructions."

"No!" Joe cried out. "Tonight! I’ll give it to you tonight, just tell me where!" Fear gripped him at the thought of what Vanessa could be subjected to at the hands of these men for an entire night. "Please." He begged. "Tonight."

"Tomorrow." The voice insisted, and then softened slightly. "She will not be hurt. You’ll have her back tomorrow." Then the voice was gone.

Joe was about to hang up when he heard Vanessa again.

"I love you, Joe. I love you."

He could hear the tears in her voice and then nothing but the dial tone. The phone slid from his hand, clattering to the floor.

"I love you too, Baby." Joe whispered.

He felt his mother’s arm wrap around his shoulders, pulling him close. He was vaguely aware that she was speaking to him, but all he heard was Vanessa.

He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed. ‘Please, God. Please, please protect her tonight. Please keep her safe.’

Opening his eyes, he saw his father looking at him with concern.

"I’m giving them the file." Joe said with determination.

"Of course." Fenton replied. "Gary Travers is not worth Vanessa’s life."

Joe was relieved, fearing he would have to convince his father to let him turn over the file, although he was surprised at how readily his father agreed. He had a feeling it wasn’t going to be quite as simple as it seemed.

Fenton Hardy turned and let his gaze rest on Callie.

"I think you’d better tell us what’s going on. From the beginning." Fenton said evenly. He had no idea what could have possibly possessed Callie to steal a file from Frank and turn it over to a criminal.

"I…can’t." she said, looking to Frank for support.

"You can and you will. If for no other reason than you owe it to Joe. He has a right to know why Vanessa was taken as a bargaining chip." Fenton replied, his tone making it clear he expected to be obeyed.

Looking at Joe, Callie saw the hatred directed at her had not diminished one bit. If anything, it had increased. Recalling what Frank had told her about Joe’s violent, destructive rage the night Vanessa had been raped, she reached for Frank, moving to position herself behind him. She had never in her life felt Joe was even remotely capable of hurting her until tonight. She leaned her forehead against Frank’s back, trembling.

As upset as he was with her, Frank’s protective instincts kicked in. He turned around and took her in his arms.

"Callie, please. Dad is right. Joe needs to know what’s going on. We all do." He held her tightly, whispering, "He won’t hurt you. He’s angry with you but he would never hurt you."

Callie looked up at him, regret, fear and anguish washing over her.

"I need to explain it to you first." She glanced at Frank’s parents and Joe, then looked back at him. "Privately."

Something in her eyes – her voice – gripped Frank. She was scared, not of Joe, but of something else entirely. Instinctively, he knew whatever she had to say to him needed to be done in private.

Without turning around or taking his eyes off her face, Frank spoke to his family.

"Can we have a few moments alone? Please?" He requested in a hushed voice.

"No." Joe replied angrily, in sharp contrast to Frank’s subdued tone. "She’s responsible for -"

Frank turned and locked eyes with his younger brother.

"Please, Joe. I need to talk to my wife alone."

Joe was shocked at the distress he saw on his brother’s face. He forced himself not to look at Callie. It was her fault Vanessa had been taken. It was her fault his brother was suddenly in so much pain. He nodded once at Frank, then turned and left the room.

Walking out of the office and back into his parent’s house, he sat on the steps leading to the second floor. Holding his head in his hands, he tried to get a grip on all the emotions that were so close to taking control of him when he felt someone sit down beside him. A strong, comforting hand squeezed his shoulder.

"He said they wouldn’t hurt her. He said she’d be safe." Joe said to his father without looking up. He needed his father to tell him everything would be ok.

"They have no reason to hurt her, son. You told them you would turn over the file. It would be stupid for them to hurt her now." It wasn’t what Joe wanted to hear, but Fenton hoped it would reassure him Vanessa was still safe – for the moment, anyway.

"Four men, Dad. She was taken by four men. She has to be terrified beyond belief."

"I’m not going to lie to you, Joe. I’m sure she is. But she knows you’re doing everything you can to get her back safely. I know that’s a comfort to her."

Joe remained silent, leaning his head on his father’s shoulder. He began to pray once more.

Back in the office, Frank led Callie to the couch.

"There’s an envelope in the emergency kit in the trunk of my car." Callie began. "Can you go get it?"

Frank stood, not understanding, but willing to comply if it would get to the bottom of this mess.

"Please don’t look in it. Not until I have a chance to explain."

"I won’t." He reached out to wipe a tear from Callie’s face, then turned and walked out to her car.

Waiting for Frank to return, Callie looked blankly around the office until her eyes rested on a photograph on Fenton’s desk, and her tears started anew. Staring at the picture of herself, Frank, Joe and Vanessa taken on the day she and Frank were married she was struck by how utterly happy they all were and wondered how everything could change so drastically in less than a year.

"I’m so sorry, Vanessa." She whispered, staring at her best friend’s face. "I never meant for this to happen."

She heard the door open announcing Frank’s return and quickly wiped her eyes. Callie was determined to get through this without breaking down. She owed it to Vanessa.

"Here." Frank said softly handing Callie the envelope as he took a seat on the couch next to her.

Callie took a deep breath to compose herself then looked Frank directly in the eyes.

"I’m being blackmailed." She said simply.

"Blackmailed? By who? Why? How?" Frank’s eyes grew wide.

"Who – I don’t know. Why – to get that file." Callie paused, her eyes drawn to the envelope in her hand. "This is how." She said quietly.

"What is it?" Frank asked, wanting to give Callie a chance to explain what had possessed her to do something so totally out of character.

"Pictures. Of me." With a shaking hand, she offered the envelope to Frank. "I don’t know when or where they were taken, but they’ve been…altered." She said, her voice shaking.

Taking the envelope Frank pulled out the photographs, looking at each one, the color draining from his face. He then looked at Callie, unable to speak.

"I don’t know who he is, Frank. I’ve never seen him before in my life. I swear." She said, her eyes and her voice pleading with him to believe her. "They came in the mail last Friday. As soon as I opened the envelope I got a phone call. The man said if I didn’t steal the file from you, he would send you copies of the pictures."

Frank looked back down and flipped through the pictures again. Who was this man? Holding Callie so close? Touching her so intimately? Kissing her so passionately? Even though his instincts told him things weren't what they appeared to be, he couldn’t help but feel deeply hurt. Not at the sight of the pictures themselves, as disturbing as they were, but at the fact that Callie obviously hadn't intended to tell him the truth unless she was forced to.

"I don’t know where they got the pictures of me, but he has to be a computer generated image, or super imposed…or something. I swear I don’t know who he is." Callie’s voice trailed off as she saw the look on Frank’s face.

"Callie, why didn’t you tell me about these as soon as you got them?" He asked, clearly hurt.

‘I was right. He doesn’t believe me.’ Callie thought as tears sprang to her eyes.

"I…I…I wanted to, I really did. But…" she stopped and took a deep breath, willing herself not to cry. "I couldn’t take the chance."

Frank looked at her, confused. "Couldn't take what chance?"

"I couldn’t take the chance that you wouldn’t believe me, given that you had the ‘proof’ right in front of you."

"What?" Frank asked, clearly distressed that Callie admitted she didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth. "You automatically assumed I’d think the worst, without even giving me a chance? Why, Cal?"

"You didn’t believe Joe when he told you the truth." She replied softly, knowing her words would cut him deeply. "If you didn’t believe him…" her voice trailed off, the implication hanging in the air. "I’m sorry, Frank. I couldn’t take the chance that you would believe what you saw without giving me a chance to explain."

Frank closed his eyes, turning away from her trying to control the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him. Betrayal, pain, and anger but most of all…guilt. While Callie’s words were like a knife through his heart, a small part of him understood. He hadn’t believed Joe when Joe had told him the truth. He chose to believe what he thought he saw with his own eyes rather than have faith in his brother.

With a sick feeling in his stomach, Frank realized that with his initial negative reaction to Joe's cries of innocence three months earlier, he had left himself wide open for something like this. Getting a tighter grip on his emotions, Frank turned to face his wife.

"I’m sorry, Callie. I’m sorry you felt you had to do this. And I do understand…at least partially…why you would think I wouldn’t believe you; wouldn’t give you the benefit of the doubt. But you didn’t give me the benefit of the doubt either." Frank said, unable to hide the pain in his voice.

"I…I don’t understand."

"I learned, Callie. I learned from the mistake I made with Joe. And I will never, ever make that mistake again." He said with conviction. "Sometimes you have to believe what your heart knows instead of what your eye sees - or thinks it sees. And I know, in my heart, you would never cheat on me."

Frank looked at the pictures in his hand once again, the detective in him starting to resurface. Something in the background of one of the pictures caught his eye. A couple, seated at a table. A young woman, sitting on a young man’s lap. He flipped through a few more pictures and found them again, this time engaged in a fiery kiss. Peering closer, he tried to make out who they were without success.

"What is it?" Callie asked, recognizing the look on his face.

"I’m not sure…" he murmured as he got up and walked over to his father’s desk.

Switching on the desk lamp, Frank carefully laid out the pictures. Opening the top drawer, he rummaged around in it for a moment and finally come up with a powerful magnifying glass. Leaning over, he began examining the pictures intently.

Callie stood up and walked to the desk. Watching, she tried to figure out what it was that had Frank so engrossed. Finally, he looked up at her, sadness written all over his face.

"You do know this man, Callie." Frank said quietly.

"I don’t! I swear I don’t!" Callie cried, her eyes huge. "See?! That's why I didn't tell you!"

"Callie…it’s me."

Callie looked at him, utterly confused. "What?"

"Come here." Frank took her hand and guided her around the desk until she was standing next to him. "Look." He said simply, holding the magnifying glass over the young couple he had noticed in the background of the picture.

Callie gasped, then looked at her husband. "That’s Joe and Vanessa!"

"Mm-hmm." Frank nodded. "These pictures were taken at that club we went to in New York City. Which means that man you are with is me."