A fucking FBI badge.
That's what I was seeing at the moment and I couldn't fucking believe it.
Cleo was holding it in her hand and at least I could see she found something useful in June's room, or whatever the fuck her name really was.
Fuck.
Well, that also explained how she managed to come up behind me so fucking silently and unarm me at a very impressive speed, grabbing my gun and pressing it on the back of my head.
She told me to be quiet and kneel on the floor, and I actually had to force myself to be smart about this and not get myself killed because I wasn't alone... Cleo was in the bedroom and she had no idea June had magically walked into the apartment and attacked me like a fucking ninja.
I knew I wasn't very good at fighting, and now that she had my gun, which she loaded, I literally didn't know what to do without being reckless. Plus, my abdomen was hurting a bit because I completely forgot about my bullet wound when I fucked Cleo a bit too hard against the mirror.
Not that I regretted it.
On a brighter note, Cleo had her knives on the holster around her thigh, but since we were dealing with a highly trained FBI agent, I assumed June could shoot me before she could throw one of the knives.
Cleo wouldn't risk anything, she was smarter than me. But we had to figure something out together... we were a very good team after all.
I could see the panic in her eyes the moment she walked back into the living room, though. Maybe seeing me in this position reminded her of her father... even though she finally found out how much of an asshole he was, she didn't know it back then, and watching him die traumatized her.
Her fear of guns was clear proof of it, and I felt guilty every time I saw her reaction around a gun. I was also the one to blame for this, I knew it wasn't easy to handle fear... you couldn't simply turn it off.
I fucking wished I could.
At least I didn't feel embarrassed around Cleo, I was so fucking nervous when I had to turn on the flashlight because the alley was just so fucking dark. My heart was racing in my chest just like it was right now, but thankfully I wasn't afraid at the moment.
My brain was connecting the pieces and the only thing I could gather from all this was that June was a fucking undercover agent working at Eroda and dating Zayn... which meant she was probably working on a case on my family and also Cleo's.
Zayn was the easiest and less obvious connection she could have to me, and being a dancer and also making her way into Cleo's life were also very fucking smart moves. She was completely infiltrated and in a very strategic position, just like I assumed.
But I sure as fuck wasn't expecting this, if the cops were fucking involved then we were so fucked.
Cleo and I were killers, I often forgot that what we did was illegal because it was so damn normal to me. I'd lost count of how many people I'd killed already and I was pretty sure Cleo also didn't keep track anymore.
And we had actually broken into the home of an FBI agent... what a fucking way to end the night. There was no fucking way I was going to prison, I'd die before anyone could lock me up.
Fuck, and Zayn was going to be so devastated about this... this fucking bitch played us all, but he actually loved her. I warned him love was a dangerous thing, it was probably more unpredictable than I was.
But how was this connected to the list? Did the FBI actually set us up? Why?
"You weren't supposed to find that," June spoke up, keeping the gun pressed on the back of my head.
"You weren't supposed to be here, but I knew you'd end up coming... I thought you'd be alone, though."
"Fucking cunt." I said under my breath, which made June hit the barrel of the gun on my face, and I felt the cut on my cheekbone because of the impact, blood started dripping down my face instantly but the pain was only giving me more motivation to be impulsive.
"Lower the fucking gun," Cleo said through gritted teeth, throwing the badge to the floor. "Amber Evans, isn't it? It says so on our badge."
"Did Catherine send you here?" June - well, Amber - asked Cleo, this time pressing the gun to my temple.
Catherine? Cleo's mother?
"What?" Cleo furrowed her eyebrows. "What does my mother have to do with this? Did you give her the list as a fucking set up? Did the FBI actually orchestrate this?"
"What list are you talking about?" Amber sounded really fucking confused, which also made me confused.
Cleo thought the same as me, but it seemed like we all had mistaken theories about each other. One thing remained the same: Amber was a fucking rat and I really hated cops...
"You pretended you didn't know me at the club... we saw you at that roadside bar the night we rescued Zayn... I'm sorry but I don't fucking believe in coincidences." I spoke up, keeping my eyes focused on Cleo's. "You're a lying bitch, just fucking tell us what you're working on."
"A Styles and a Horan working together..." Amber clicked her tongue, walking until she was standing right next to me now, keeping the gun on my head and the finger on the trigger. "I studied a lot about you... all of you. But I really thought I was going crazy when I saw you both at the club tonight... and then Mr. Styles here got jealous, which is another evidence that you're all working together, both families. There's no rivalry, is it? You fool everyone so well."
What the fuck?
It was fun that people instantly assumed that our families were suddenly the best of friends just because I was fucking Cleo. I still hated her mother and I knew she hated my father, nothing had changed except the fact I didn't hate Cleo anymore. We were dragged into this mess, that was the truth.
"You've been working on this case of yours for years... fuck, why Eroda?" Cleo furrowed her eyebrows, taking a step closer to me but Amber clicked her tongue and pressed the gun a bit harder on my temple. "This has to be related to the list."
"I don't know what list you're talking about, but this is an ongoing investigation for ten years now, and I was assigned this case six years ago," Amber said, even her voice sounded different now that she was out of character. "And yes, I look younger than my age."
"My father," Cleo whispered, and that's when I also connected the dots.
Mason had died six years ago... Amber was on a case related to him, it had to be. But why involve my family? Was it because my dad killed him?
"Mason Horan has an impressive file for a dead man," Amber said. "And your family is doing a great job at keeping it up from where he left off. But you both made my job very complicated now..."
If she killed us then it would probably make her job harder and draw unnecessary attention... and if she arrested us it'd be even worse. But dear fake June forgot who she was dealing with, she had only read our files but never seen me and Cleo in action. Fuck, we had to throw her off and take control, she could actually tell us a lot of information on Mason and maybe we could connect it to the list.
I believed her when she said she didn't know about it, it sounded very unprofessional for the FBI and it made zero sense since they already had her infiltrated for years.
"Wait, from where he left off?" Cleo raised her voice. "Are you talking about the trafficking? What the fuck? Is it still happening?"
"You're a good actress, Cleo." Amber chuckled. "I'm gonna have to call my boss, this has gotten very messy."
Shit, she couldn't call anyone.
Cleo looked shocked now that she processed what Amber said about the trafficking and I hated to say that I saw it coming... I always suspected Catherine kept doing Mason's work.
I had a feeling she knew all along, and Eroda was a great fucking way to keep a few of the girls... maybe she was tricking them and only trafficking older women now, either way, she was fucking sick and I knew something was up. That's why I didn't doubt she could be behind the list.
Maybe adding those names so Cleo could realize what her father was doing to see her reaction... or maybe kill off a few clients that were threatening her business. But why me? Who the fuck dragged me into this mess and why?
My dear father had to be involved... was he being honest when he said he didn't do business with the men who previously worked with Mason? He was probably lying, obviously.
But he hated Mason ever since they started competing to be the best and most powerful, and also because he killed my mother. But this drama didn't include me, this was the only thing that wasn't making any sense.
What if my dad was working with Cleo's mother on the list? Fuck, I was really desperate to figure this out now that my main theory about fake June was wrong. Maybe we should kill everyone and be done with it... not the smartest option, but it would make me feel better.
"I'm not fucking lying. I only recently found out about it, I had no idea. Is it my mother? Fucking tell me right now if she's still doing it!" Cleo was shouting now, her eyes were watering with tears of anger and I felt my stomach clenching.
She didn't deserve this.
"Catherine learned a lot from your father, she's actually better than him," Amber said simply, and at that moment I could see Cleo's heart breaking a bit more. "You've been by Mason's side all these years and learning from him, working with Catherine and literally walking around Eroda. You don't expect me to believe that you're this oblivious, Cleo."
Fuck, I recognized the look on Cleo's eyes a little too much. Shit was about to hit the fan and I was here for it. It was my chance to be unpredictable, and Cleo looked motivated enough to kill Amber for even thinking she was involved with the trafficking.
"Inhale," I whispered, instantly catching Cleo's attention and I smiled. "One... two... three."
"Exhale." She whispered back, and the moment the words left her lips I moved as fast as I could when I pushed Amber's hand away from my head at the same time that Cleo grabbed a knife.
My gun had a silencer but the gunshot echoed around the apartment when she shot the floor, and I grabbed her arm, forcing it behind her back until she dropped the gun.
But Cleo was about to throw a knife when Amber hit the back of her head against my nose, throwing me off just enough so she could turn around and bring her knee up to hit me right on the crotch.
Fuck.
I grunted in pain and she punched me right on my abdomen, making me fall on my knees on the floor when the sharp pain irradiated through my body, making my ears ring.
But before she could hit me again or reach for the gun, Cleo came up behind her, grabbing her hair and aiming her knife at Amber's throat.
But the bitch was really good and she used her elbow to hit Cleo's stomach, and I was trying to get on my feet again or move, but my whole body hurt in a really bad way.
Cleo kept a tight grip on her knife though, but Amber was already tackling her to the floor and holding her arm down with one hand as she punched Cleo with the other, and I forced myself to move so I could grab the gun that was on the floor, a few feet away from me-
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Amber spoke up when I was about to grab the gun, and when I looked at her she was holding a knife to Cleo's throat while they still were on the floor.
I was trying to catch my breath and Cleo was doing the same, but I pulled away from the gun and I felt even more pissed off that one agent had managed to overpower us-
"Fuck!" Amber's sudden grunt caught me off guard and I watched as Cleo literally forced her neck against the knife so she could reach her holster again, not caring at all that she cut her throat in the process.
But she managed to stab Amber right on the side of her body and I quickly grabbed the gun from the floor, stepping closer and aiming it at her head when Cleo pushed her body to the side.
Fuck, I had to ignore the pain now before this bitch could even think of trying anything again.
I reached out my free hand to help Cleo from the floor and she took it, getting on her feet as blood dripped down her body and stained her dress, but it wasn't a deadly wound.
Either way, she had a slightly deep cut on her neck and she needed a few stitches and also to apply some pressure to stop the bleeding.
She walked towards the bathroom while I kept an eye on Amber, knowing she wasn't stabbed anywhere that was going to kill her but Cleo had done enough to surprise her and hurt her a lot.
Cleo finally walked back into the living room after a few seconds, holding a towel against her neck and another knife in her free hand, stopping when she was right next to me.
"You're good." She told Amber, wincing a little as she spoke. "But you don't know me. So you're going to fucking tell me why you think I'm involved with trafficking before I show you who I really am, June. You have two psychopaths in your home, I'd start talking if I were you."
Fuck me.
"Are you really going to kill an FBI agent?" She asked us, sitting up slowly and looking straight at the gun aimed at her head.
"I really don't have a problem with that." I smiled at her. "Do you have a problem, baby?"
"Not really," Cleo answered. "So fucking answer my question: is my mother trafficking still?"
Amber shook her head, chuckling under her breath before she answered.
"Yes, it never stopped. This isn't any news or secret." She grimaced. "Didn't you notice the new dancers every month? How some of them quit their jobs so quickly and with no explanation? Shit, I actually think you're the naive one in this..."
Cleo inhaled sharply, keeping the towel pressed on her neck as her hands trembled slightly.
"Catharine has run it since Mason died?" I asked.
"Yes." Amber sighed, whimpering when she tried to remove the knife lodged on her side, but Cleo was quick to do it for her without being careful at all, making her grunt in pain again. "I have someone on the inside... actually we have this informer for a while now and I'm waiting for the right time to take you all down. Your family included, Styles."
I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to understand why my name was included in this narrative.
"Why Harry? Why use Zayn?" Cleo asked.
"Oh god... you really have no idea, do you?" Amber shook her head, keeping her hand pressed over her stab wound. "Desmond Styles is the one who keeps a clear path for trafficking. They arrive through the city port... and your father's men are the first to give the warm welcome."