Caught Between a Halo and Horns

forty three.

"Well shit, get the fuck in here." I say, frantically looking outside to make sure he wasn't followed here.

Dan hurries inside and I shut the door behind him. "Mate, who was at the door?" Niall's voice trails off as he walks into the room and eyes Dan. 

"What the fuck?" He says incredulously. 

"Before any of us say anything, you have to answer a questions so I know you're not bullshitting me and you actually do remember." I say, looking him dead in the eyes. 

He nods quickly and I continue. "What happened on October 26th?" I ask him.

"That was the day of the school shooting." He answers. 

"What happened that day?" I further. 

"You and Cristina were in the library, and she had gotten shot in the leg. You and me killed the guys in the hallway. That was the first day I took a life." He answers correctly. 

"What is your father's name?" I ask. 

"David." 

"Your mother?" 

"Susan." 

"What was Cristina to you?" 

"She was my girlfriend, before you took her from me. I loved her. Dick move, man." He says and I decide that it really is him. 

I turn around and nod to the boys, telling them that he's not faking it. 

Niall steps ahead of me, looking at Dan steadily. 

"How is Katie? Is she alright? She's still alive, right? What are they doing to her?" He rushes the questions out one behind another. 

"She's their best seller, if I remember correctly. I think she's doing okay, she's found comfort in the other girls. She was the last person I spoke to while I was at the complex. I told her that I was starting to remember things. I think that gave her hope." Dan tells him. 

"Other girls, so Bella's there too? She's aright?" Louis inquires, stepping forward as well. 

"Yes, they're all in one piece. Physically, at least. I don't know what I can say for their mental health. For you to have your birth fathers force you into a multi-million dollar prostitution ring is some messed up shit." Dan says, shaking his head. 

"She's their best seller?" Niall repeats somberly.

"I think it's honestly because she puts up a fight. The guys think is some sort of turn on or something. It's disgusting. I overheard the girls talking to her the first week she was there, and she had taken the first job pretty hard. I mean, if I were getting essentially raped everyday, I would too." He continues. 

Niall takes the nearest thing, which just so happens to be a baseball, and throws it at the adjacent wall, putting a massive dent in it. 

Louis stares coldly at the ground, on the edge of bursting. 

"They do jobs everyday?!" I ask angrily. 

Dan just nods, and I walk all the way across the room to smash the vase on the floor. I'm nothing if not consistent. 

"Damn it! I fucking knew this was a bad idea." I shout in rage. 

"Don't start with this shit, Harry. Your girl has been there for a day. One fucking day. Katie and Bella have been there for months!" Niall screams back at me. 

"And my sister has been there for fucking years!" I boom, silencing him.

"None of this was supposed to happen, we weren't supposed to get attached to anyone, this is our fault!" Niall shouts frustratedly.

"Look, I'm sorry. I fucking sorry, alright? But none of this is going to get us anywhere." I continue, bringing the volume of my voice back down. 

Niall nods curtly and I turn back to face Dan. "Tell us what you know." I demand. 

"Wait, where is Cristina?" He asks suddenly. 

I sigh and debate whether or not I should even answer him. 

"I handed her over to my father today." I concede. 

"You what? What the fuck, man? I thought-"

"You thought wrong. We handed her over to gain their trust back. It was Cristina's idea in the first place. We're going to set them up." I explain tiredly. 

He closes his mouth and thinks for a moment. "She's the one they've always talked about. All they ever wanted was her. I don't know why thought, they never told me that much. All they said is thatch would be revenge for something that happened a long time ago and that she would make them a shit ton of money." Dan informs us. 

"Anything else?" Liam asks. 

"Yeah, they have this big exchange with the Russians next week, where they're going to sell Cristina and the girls off for a few months. He said this deal alone is worth billions." Dan says, and my heart sinks to the floor. 

"How did they tell you all this, and you're here? Did you escape?" Louis asks. 

"Not necessarily. Alex overheard Katie telling the other girls that I was beginning to remember things, and they sent me to be relocated a few weeks ago, and made sure that I hadn't remembered anything at all. So eventually they let me go and said I was to patrol the area until they were sure they could trust me. I have one hour off for lunch so I ran here." He explains. 

"Damn, that's a long way to run." Niall mutters. 

"Yeah, well, I figured this was pretty important so-"

"No, thank you for coming here. You just made our lives a whole lost easier." I tell him. 

"No problem. Listen, why don't you come find me when you're planning to do all this and I can conjure up some back up for you. There are a lot of guys that hate your father, Alex and Max, but are too afraid to do anything about it." Dan says. 

"Yeah, sure that'd be great. Listen, before you go, one more question. Do you know where they would keep all of records of, like, employees and business transactions? Anything that would have our names on it." I ask, hoping his answer is a simple one. 

"I know all of that is on a hard file back at headquarters. But, the three men each keep a spare hard drive with everything backed up onto it in a secret place that is embedded in one of the computers at  the complex." Dan tells us. 

"Harrison can get that for us." I speak over my shoulder to the boys behind me.

"Alright, you better start running, kid." I wave him off and he nods before jogging through the door. 

"Well that's a blessing if I've ever gotten one." I mumble. 

"I'll go talk to Harrison, Liam you go start on getting the explosive, Niall and Louis, once I'm done talking to Harrison, he'll prep you to acquiring the hard drives. Sound like a plan?" I say, looking at all of them. 

"You got it, boss." 

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we're getting soooo close omg om g

get readyyy!

all the love,

xx