//TW: VIOLENCE & BLOOD//
#The header has a reference in the later Chapter#
I have to admit I cried a little writing this. :')
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Grace Evans
The sound of the gunshot me flinch immediately.
"Hey it's okay." Zayn holds me to calm down. "Let me get my gun. Stay here." He makes me sit on the sofa and disappears into the room.
I wait there quietly praying that it was just some random person and not actual bad people.
He walks out and hands me a gun.
"Keep this with you. And don't go anywhere okay. It's okay. It's nothing to worry about."
I nod.
There's again sound of gunshots as I grip the gun harder.
"Okay now listen to me." Zayn holds my face making me look at him. "I'm going to see if it's some random false alarm or actual people after us."
"N-no. Don't go out there. Please. You'll get hurt." I say grabbing his forearms trying to stop him.
"Grace I have to, I can't sit around here waiting for them to show up. And I'll be fine. It's not my first time. I've done this before." He says getting his hands out of my grip.
"At least get something to guard yourself." I insist.
"I don't have the time. I have to go check. And do not open the door unless it's me." He starts walking away as I stand up going to the window trying to look out and see if there are people.
"Stay here. I'll be back soon."
He goes out as the door locks itself.
My heart was pounding. I felt nauseous in fear.
I didn't know what was happening. It felt the entire world was spinning. I was finding it hard to stay calm. I pace around the room in stress.
I can't leave him alone out there.
We have no idea how many people are there and he could get hurt. I walk over to the door pressing my ear against it trying to hear anything I can.
My stomach was turning in anticipation and fear. I didn't hear anything. Not even footsteps. It started to scare me. I didn't know what to do at this moment. My hands start shaking as I get them into a fist to conrol it. I cannot be scared right now.
I immediately hear sounds of rapid gunfire. Fuck.
I don't think me sitting around waiting here will do any good. I have to do something. Even though he said he'll be fine, I fear that he won't. He can't do this alone.
I've been preparing myself for this the day since the day I stepped into this underworld shit. I knew I had to go head on with dangerous people. I knew there was no way out.
It would always come down to either fight or flight.
I check the magazine of my gun to see if it's loaded and grab the knife from the table. I don't know what's gonna happen but I have to be ready. I keep the knife in my left hand and the gun in my right.
I'm about to open the door when I hear footsteps. I immediately get dead silent paying attention. The footsteps slowly get closer.
I hear loud knocks as I stay still not making a sound.
"Hey. Open the door. It's me." I hear a hush as relief washes over me.
"Zayn?" I question for confirmation.
"Yes. Open fast they're coming." He says whisper shouting.
I slowly reach out for the handle opening the door as I immediately realise what a terrible mistake I made.
It wasn't him.
The guy grabs my throat shoving me to the wall behind me choking me and slitting my forearm with his knife trying to get rid of the gun in my hand. I whine out in pain as he hits my head on the wall.
He pins my hands near my head so I couldn't attack him. As I try to move my legs he steps on them with his boots, hard, crushing my toes.
"You're one little fucked up girl." He Mutters near my ear digging his fingers into my wrists as he presses his boots on my toes hard making me cry.
"What do you want!" I shout at him with rage.
"Lower that voice or you get killed right here." He says as he gets one hand to the buttons of my shirt.
I get my left hand out of his grip and stab the knife in his bicep making him groan out and loosen his grip as I immediately push him on the ground pointing the gun at him.
"Don't. Move." Say with clenched jaw as he groans in pain. My hand bleeding but I couldn't care about that in this moment.
He takes out the gun from his jeans as I kick his hand hard causing the gun to fly away.
"I SAID DON'T FUCKING MOVE." I shout.
"You think you can kill me?" He laughs moaning in pain.
"I will if I have to." I say stepping closer pointing the gun to his head.
"Who are you and why did you attack?" I question.
He doesn't answer. He keeps holding his bicep trying to control the blood flow.
"I'm asking you something." I raise my voice.
"I'd rather die than tell you anything, whore." He mutters in disgust.
I shoot the gun right next to him making him flinch covering his face with his forearm immediately.
"If I ask you something, you answer me!!" I say louder.
"Fuck you!" He shouts getting up trying to hit me as I shoot his palm.
He cries out in pain falling back.
"You slut! You're gonna pay for this." He grinds his teeth together as I grab his hair yanking his head up.
"Call me slut once more and I'll rip that tongue out of your mouth." I slap his face.
He grabs my hand yanking me down on the floor as he gets on top of me trying to get the gun from my hands.
"I'll rip you to shreds." He digs his finger on my open wound on the forearm making me wince. "I'll kill you."
"You can try!" I say getting my elbows together hitting his face with them as he flinches back and I stab the knife in his good hand.
He groans out and grabs my hand pinning them over my head as I arch my back hitting his head with my own causing him to sit back up.
I immediately push him off me hitting his head with the gun twice causing him zone out. He tried grabbing my wrist but I punched his face making his head hit the ground.
He started going unconscious. His movements coming down to just breathing and barely moving.
The room fell silent again.
Warm tears rolled down my cheeks as I saw all the blood that stained the floor. I was hurting. Two of my toenails were broken and they hurt like hell.
But then I realise that Zayn isn't here yet.
I hope he was okay.
I get up covering my wound with my hand and walking out With the gun.
I trail down the silent hallway. A few sounds of firing coming now and again.
I start getting down the stairs hoping to find him.
As I reach two floors below, I hear some sounds from the end of the hallway as I get out my gun.
I try to walk as silently as possible as I make my way. The sounds of hitting and groaning got closer.
The moment I get there I see Zayn on the floor with one guy grabbing his hands and two guys kicking his body.
He kept trying to get up but in vain. They were beating the shit out of him.
My heart broke at the sight. I pull the slide of the gun and without thinking, I pull the trigger pointing towards the guy's shoulder.
The moment the bullet hit, he plummeted down on the floor as the other two immediately take out their guns pointing at me.
Zayn lifts his head from the ground and looks at me.
"Grace no! Go away. Run" He shouts in pain
"No." I say with no emotion in my voice.
"This is the fucking lamb we've been searching for." The guy who was holding Zayn's hand says getting up.
"You touch her and I'll rip you inside out." Zayn spits in rage as the other guy punches his face.
"Shut up you weak bastard."
"It's funny how three of you have to tackle him and somehow he's the one that's weak." I say as I storm towards them.
At this moment, I went numb. I didn't fear the consequence anymore. I just knew that I'll do whatever the hell it takes to get us out of this.
The guy hits his face again.
I raise my gun shooting the guy who punched him as he shouts in pain trying to shoot me as I shoot again at his stomach causing him to fall down on the floor. The other guy immediately starts firing at me as I get behind the wall.
"You fucking get out here or I'll put a bullet in this man's skull." I hear him say.
"Grace run. I'll be okay. Do not worry about me." Zayn shouts as I tilt my head back against the wall, catching my breath. I wasn't scared. I wasn't hurting. I wasn't feeling anything at all.
"I know you're there. You better fucking come out." He says shooting the gun on the ground.
"Grace do this for me and go away. Don't show up. These dogs, they can just bark. They can't kill me. They need me." Zayn assures as he gets hit again.
All of those voices echoed in my head as I take out the magazine and see just one bullet left.
I can't leave him alone.
I know I can't protect him. I'm not powerful enough. But I have to try.
I take a deep breath walking out from behind the wall seeing them both.
Two guys groaning on the ground and Zayn holding onto his stomach turning in pain and the guy raising his gun to shoot me.
"Beg for your life or you'll be having three bullets in your brain." He shouts at me with rage.
I stay silent.
"Get on your fucking knees and beg for your life!!"
I step forward slowly.
"Can't you fucking hear!? I. SAID. GET. ON. YOUR. DAMN. KNEES." He shouts his voice echoing through the corridor.
"I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees." I say looking directly into his eyes.
I raise my gun to point at him. One last bullet. One last chance.
But he had already pulled the slide loading the bullet as his hand rose.
"Grace! Noo! Get away please." Zayn begs.
It felt like everything was moving in slow motion. I knew I was going to get shot but I didn't care at this moment.
Or maybe, this was the moment I waited for. For everything to end. Death didn't scare me anymore. To have to keep living a life like this, did.
He's right about to pull the trigger when there's a sound of another shot see his body go still.
He falls on his knees and crashes down. Lifeless.
What did just happen?
I stand still when I see a silhouette walk in from the opposite end of the hallway.
Harry.
It felt like someone opened the gates of my emotions as I crash down on my knees crying, burying my face into my palms. Relief, hatred and fear all blend together pulsating through my veins.
"Grace are you okay?" I hear Harry's voice as I hear his footsteps get closer through the hallway.
I didn't know if I should be thankful for this moment or hate that my life has become like this. Never had I thought I'd be experiencing anything like this.
He approaches and gets down on his knees as I felt his arms wrap around me.
"It's okay. I'm here. It's alright." He rubs my back.
"Zayn.. he's hurt." I say in between sniffles trying to get away from the hug.
"I know. He'll be okay. Just calm down first." He rubs my palms together.
Eventually my crying turns into slow sobs . "T-Thank you." I say sniffling as I separate from his embrace.
I get up and sprint to Zayn landing on my knees next to him.
His face was beat to shreds. My hand shakes as I touch him." I'm so sorry." I cry cupping his face.
"Don't be, Grace..it's not your fault... I'm fine.." he manages to put on a smile for me.
"No you're not. You're hurt. And I'm sorry I didn't come earlier." I say softly holding his face trying not to hurt him.
"No..you shouldn't have come at all.. I shouldn't have brought you here.. are you okay?" He says lifting his head to see if I'm hurt anywhere.
"What's this? Who did this? I'm so sorry." He says looking at the wound on my arm.
"It's nothing. I'm not as hurt." I say shaking my head.
"Grace we need to leave." I hear Harry's voice. "There are more people coming here."
"No are you serious? We're not leaving him like this!" I deny.
"Listen to me, he's right. You should leave." Zayn holds my hand trying to assure me.
"No! I'm not leaving you alone. They'll kill you." I shake my head.
"Grace we need to hurry." Harry steps closer.
"Stop it Harry. I don't care. He needs help." I say through tears.
"I'll run Grace. I'll go away. I have my bike. You're not safe here. You're not safe with me." Zayn holds my hand.
"You can't even get up Zayn.. you can't do that." I question.
"I just need a moment, I'll be fine. But right now, you need to go. He'll keep you safe."
"But what about you? Where will you go?"
"I have a lot of places. They can't track me. Trust me. I'll be okay."
I stay silent as tears brimmed at the corner of my eyes.
I feel Harry's hand on my shoulder.
"We can't waste anymore time. They're here." He says as we hear cars approach.
"Take the backstairs and run." Zayn says immediately looking at Harry pointing at the direction.
"But-"
"Just go Grace. I'll be fine." He says in desperation as he tries to sit up and I feel Harry pulling me up on my feet.
"Zayn no please." I say starting to cry seeing him barely being able to sit up. "You're hurting. You need help." Harry starts pulling me with him.
"I'm not hurt. I'll get through this." He tries saying with a confident tone. "Don't worry about me."
"Harry please help him." I say turning to him.
"I can't do that Grace. I'm sorry. But he'll be fine. I know. He's stronger than that."
"Are you serious right now???" I shout at him out of frustration trying to get my hand away from his grip and running back to Zayn getting down, comforting him.
"Grace, I'm fine just go. Please." He says coughing in pain.
Harry grabs my hand yanking me up making me look at him by grabbing my face.
"Stop doing this. He won't be killed. They need him. He's the underboss. No one but the Godfather can kill him so he's fine. Stop wasting our time!!!" He shouts in stress.
"Don't treat her like that! She's scared!" Zayn defends.
I turn my head to see Zayn looking at me bent forward in pain as Harry starts walking me away from him.
I knew how much he was hurting and it was breaking me to see him like that. Something about him wasn't feeling right.
It felt like he wasn't gonna fight. That he was going to give up. I could feel it in my bones.
"Promise me." I say looking at him with glossy eyes as his eyes looked through mine in hurt.
"Zayn promise me you'll be fine! Promise me you'll meet me soon. That you won't give up." I say tears rolling down my cheeks as Harry walks in a faster pace pulling me away.
He was still silent.
"Zayn please." I say in desperation.
"I promise." He says getting up on his feet holding the wall. "I won't give up."
We take a turn and Harry rushes down the narrow stairs keeping a firm grip on my wrist.
"You're bleeding too much." He says leaving my hand taking off his shirt.
I stay silent as I was blank at this moment. Overwhelmed, hurt and worried
"Give me your hand." He says turning to me.
"We don't have the time" I shake my head.
"But you'll pass out if you keep losing that much blood." He yanking my arm up and wrapping his shirt around it tying it tightly to stop the blood from flowing.
"What if they kill him?" I question as my heart stopped even at the thought of it.
"They won't. Stop worrying about him." He says as we start running through the stairs.
10 more floors to go.
"I can't run anymore. Take the elevator. Please." I say running out of breath and feeling weak and dizzy.
"We can't. They'll know."
"Why are they even after us?" I question as he stays silent.
"Harry." I ask again
"I don't know." He says a little irritated.
We finally reach the ground floor as I bend forward catching my breath. There were three cars parked.
"Grace hurry up." He says equally out of breath but still more stable than me.
"Harry there are three cars. He can't fight all of them alone." I start panicking.
"It's not the time to worry about him. His associates will come to get him. We need to worry about us." He says grabbing my hand leading me out as I take a look at Zayn's bike. It made my heart wrench even more.
We get to the backside of the building where I see a bike parked. He rushes towards it as I slow down trying to catch my breath.
"C'mon let's go." Harry says starting the bike.
I walk over getting on it as I look up at the towering building.
"Don't let go." I say quietly looking up hoping it would reach Zayn somehow. We ride away from the building as I keep my eyes locked with the floor I figured he would be hoping to catch a glance at him.
"I won't." I felt a voice in my heart.
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Hey loves<3 hope you liked the Chapter. It was kinda intense to write. Do vote and comment, loves! Ty for all your support. Ilysm<3
Also if you haven't seen my announcement about the thing I've been working on, go check out my second last announcement.<3
See you next chapter! ;)