𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐃 // 𝐇.𝐒.

71.

"Who is she talking to?" Eileen asked.

"Louis," I mumbled under my breath as I recalled everything that Fuck had done. The way he tormented my Elle and made her too afraid to tell me the truth. I swallowed when I then heard her yell at him.

But then it fell quiet. That's when I took the mic from Finn and I said, "Angel, it's me... If you can't answer me, don't. Just know we're here. I'm here." I paused, waiting for a word when I had just told her she didn't have to respond.

But static had cut her off. "Elle?" I spoke through the mic. "My Elle, are you there?"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Finny muttered.

"What happened?!" Eileen interrupted.

I dropped the mic onto Finn's lap and I shook my head. "You have to fix it, Finn. Fix it now!"

"I am! It must've fallen out of her ear or something... I—"

I turned away, upset to think we might've lost contact with her. The moment I saw Finn's equipment that he obtained from fuck knows where I doubted it. I knew something would go wrong and it's frustrating to see that it had.

I missed her. I missed her so much.

"What now?" Eileen asked Finn while I had to step away.

I sat on the floor of the van and I anxiously pushed my hair back. I needed a minute to see if a surge of optimism would hit me, but the more I sat by myself, I more I expected the worst. I'm not like Elle and I desperately wish that I was.

Read it when I'm there and you miss me. Read it when you're worried and you don't know what to do.

I heard her voice in my head and quickly, I reached for her letter in my pocket. With trembling hands, I unfolded the paper and soon recognized her pretty handwriting.

I might've held my breath while I read her words off the piece of journal paper because by the time I reached the end a vast breath left my body.

Lowering her letter onto my lap, all I could imagine was Elle scribbling her heart out onto this sheet for me. It physically ached, every inch of me, as I reread the very last sentence she wrote.

I will wait patiently for us to live this life, however many lifetimes it will take.

She must know I'd fight my hardest to live this life with her in this very lifetime.

I carefully folded her letter to stuff it right back into my pocket.

I shuffled onto my feet the second I heard a loud explosion. The van rocked and I looked at Finn for answers. "What the fuck was that?"

Everyone else in this van had looked around in confusion. Eileen then answered, "It sounded like it came from the warehouse."

That wasn't what I wanted to hear. If it did come from the warehouse, it meant I couldn't wait around. After reading her letter, I knew I had to do something.

"I'm going in," I announced, beginning to gear up.

"No, you're not," said Eileen. "We have to wait for the green light, for the signal that Jo is with her mom."

"And how do you fucking expect to get a signal when we lost contact?!" I snapped, watching the eyes of the other Angelos in the car shift onto me.

"Shut up!" Finn then yelled when he was able to hear her again.

"Please... Don't hurt her and... I'll do it. I'll do whatever you want!"

Hearing her scream felt heavy. I couldn't stand there and listen to her bargain. I turned to grab a gun, but then Finn peeled away from his computer screen to grab me by the shoulders. He pushed me aside.