Safe and Sound

Chapter 46

Chapter 46

**the next day**

LOUIS'S POV

Kamaria and Niall got in late last night, while most of us were sleeping or taking care of Izzy. But the following morning, all hell broke loose.

"What the fuck?!" Liam yelled, causing all of us to jump. Niall and Kamaria were the target if his aggression, his rage.

"Why in God's name would you LEAVE her?!"

"She told us to." Kamaria said back.

"That is not an excuse. We are a team, a family. We don't leave our family behind." He yelled. He turned his attention to me. "And you, Niall, should already know this. I mean, for fuck's sake!" He ran his hands through his hair, and gripped the strands.

"I'm sorry. We couldn't get out. Nicole found an exit and told us to go for it. We thought she was right behind us but by the time we got to the service lift and saw she wasn't planning on joining us, it was too late. And the police were coming and we had to get out of there. Next thing we know, we find out Isabel was stabbed." Niall said, taking in a huge breath after. Liam braces himself against the couch, his knuckles turning white as a steadied himself. Harry was leaning on the wall near him, pinching the bridge of his nose. Leigh and Drew were seated on the couch opposite from where Liam was.

"Where is Nicole?" I heard a small voice say. We all turned to the bedroom door and saw Izzy standing there, her hand over where she was injured. Harry took long strides to her side and put his arms around her.

"Don't worry about that. You need to rest." He guided her back into the room and stayed in there with her.

We all stood in silence for a few minutes, the air thick with tension and aggression. Liam looks as if he is going to explode, literally. Kamaria looks to be on the verge of tears, and Niall looks flustered. Leigh-Anne covers her mouth with her hand, and Drew puts his arm around her. Something inside me stirred at the sight of his affection towards her. Jealousy.

"So just to reiterate," Liam began. "We don't have Aubrey, Izzy is hurt, and now we lost Nicole."

"Did you get a glimpse of the person who was shooting at you guys?" Leigh asked.

"Not really." Niall responded.

"Actually," started Kamaria, "I saw her a little. But all I could make out was that she had curly hair."

I pondered over the information and within an instant, the wheels in my head began to turn. I looked to Liam, who seems to be thinking the same thing I am.

"Myah."

ZAYN'S POV

"So how long have you been seeing my daughter?" Aubrey asked me, as she cut a piece of her French toast. I

"Umm.... Some months now. Everything has gone by in a blur." I answer. I'm sat next to her on the dirty mattress on the floor. I brought my knees up and wrapped my arms around them. She nodded her head at my answer, and took a sip from her glass or orange juice.

"How long were you and Michael married for, you know before you left?" I asked cautiously. I don't mean to open old wounds for her but I am curious about this woman. We have been talking a lot lately, and it amazes me how much she reminds me of Nicole. It's really just the little things about her: like her laugh, they way she scrunches her nose, how she always plays with her hair when she is agitated, and the fact that they both love French toast.

"Nicole was about 14 when I left. So," she popped a piece of French toast into her mouth, "Michael and I were married for a little over 15 years."

"How did you do it? After years of being married and having a family, how could you just leave them?" The questions were flowing out of my mouth before I could stop them. Ever since Nicole told me about her mother's departure from her life, I always wondered about it. I always wondered how her mother did it because from what I have seen so far, Aubrey is still in love with Michael, and she would do anything for him and Nicole.