{TRIGGERING SUBJECTS, READ AT OWN RISK! IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE IT, DO NOT PROCEED- thank you <3}
I look around, taking in the crowd dancing around everywhere, before coming eye to eye with Nico.
He's angry. But I don't get why.
He has no right to be angry with me just because I sent North to do this. I asked her and she said yes, so he has no right to be annoyed.
'You okay?' Marco asks, clinging his glass against mine. I turn to him and nod, taking another look around.
'What's wrong with Nico?' I ask, despite already knowing why he's so pissed. 'You already know.' I do.
'Have you seen Kai?' Brandon asks, looking around as well. I haven't seen that fucker ever since he talked to North when she entered.
And maybe that's a good thing.
'Talk about the devil.' Marco mumbles, just before Kai reaches us. 'Neveah, come on!' He says as he pulls Brandon off his seat and runs back in the direction he just came from.
He sounds panicked and by the look on his face, something is off. Shit.
All he said was Neveah, come on, but we all jump up and follow after him. 'What's going on?'
'The door is locked. She's in there with him and-' 'Go get Nico.' I say, pushing him in the other direction.
He glares at me for a second, before doing as I ordered him to, while Marco, Brandon, and I get into a hall with a few doors. 'North?!' I shout, opening one door after the other.
Marco has his gun out already, aiming it as soon as I open every door. 'Neveah!' Brandon shouts, panic filling him as well.
She'll be fine. Right?
'I told you this was a bad idea.' Marco mumbles as I open another door. 'Just shut up and find her.' I sneer, walking deeper into the hall.
It's too small for the three of us and it's making me anxious.
'North?!' I hate that I sound panicked as well, but I told her nothing bad would happen and I can't even fucking find her.
Shit.
I hear sounds coming from the door at the end of the hall and listen for another second. 'Shut up.' Finally.
'Neveah?!' We all rush to the door, trying to open it, but it's locked. Of course.
'Where is she?' Nico says concern all over his face as he walks over to us and looks at the door. 'It's locked.'
'Help me.' Nico and Marco continuously push against the door, almost bending it. 'For fuck's sake, open this fucking door or I'll-' 'Move.' They look at me as if I'm insane, but we have to do this together.
'We have to work together.' Vincent says, throwing himself at the door as well.
'Everyone, push on three.' Brandon says, staying close to the door, 'Hold on Neveah!'
'Three, two, one!' We all push through the door, almost falling as it finally bursts open.
Kai and Brandon are on the floor, but Nico, Marco, Vincent, and I are still standing.
And my heart drops at the scene playing out in front of me. Fuck no.
Johan is forcing himself on North as she gasps for air, trying to fight him off with all she has.
And her dress is ripped. And there's blood on the floor. And everything is a mess.
Everyone freezes at the sight, but everything becomes red again, and before I know it, I pull my gun and shoot, straight through his fucking head.
I shoot again and again and again, hearing the screams of the other people in the club, and suddenly someone smacks the gun out of my hands.
When everything turns back to normal again, I notice Vincent is standing very close to me. He's probably the one who stopped me from shooting everyone in here. And North, she's coughing, gasping for air. Shit.
People in the background start screaming and I recon everyone is running the hell out of here before the cops get here, something we should be doing as well, but I can't do that until North is able to breathe again.
'Neveah.' Brandon rushes over to her, wrapping his arms around her as she cries, but she's still not breathing.
'Brandon.' He ignores me and tries to comfort her, but it's not working. 'Are you okay?' 'Barsetti.'
He looks at me with anger in his eyes and continues to hold onto her. 'Let go of her.'
She said she didn't want to be touched the last time, so I don't think she wants to be touched right now.
'You don't get to-' 'Brandon, lasciala andare.' Marco sneers, remembering the last time as well. 'Neveah, are you okay?'
Brandon lets go of her, but stays close, making sure that if she faints, he's there to catch her.
'Go get the cars ready, see if the cops get here.' I say, looking at Vincent and Kai. I trust them with this.
Everyone needs to leave.
Everyone needs to get the fuck out so she can breathe.
'Everyone, go.' They all look at me as if I'm insane, but it's the only way she'll be able to process all of this.
'Are you-' 'Nico, get moving.' Vincent pulls his friend away, who's trying his hardest to not kill me right now, and Kai and Marco follow behind.
'Neveah.' I crouch down as well, keeping my distance as she breathes again. Not normal, but at least she's breathing. 'The police will be here any minute and we have to go.' It comes off wrong again, but it's the truth.
We have to get the fuck out of here.
'I know- Just- give me a minute, please.' She says, crawling away from all of us as she tries to get her breathing steady again.
She keeps her eyes on Johan's body, or what's left of it, and silently cries as we wait for her to calm down.
I should've never sent her in here...
Sirens sound outside and Brandon looks at me, waiting for me to tell him what to do. Shit.
'Neveah-' She looks at me and all the air leaves my lungs, as if the room suddenly has no air left, and I feel cold. So fucking cold. 'I know.' She mumbles, moving over to Johan's body to grab something from his pocket, before standing up.
'Let's go.' She says faintly, before walking into the hall with her bruised body.
I want to pick her up and get her the fuck out of here, but I doubt it will do her any good.
When we get outside, everyone looks at us, at her, and I look at the car Marco and I came in. 'North get in that black Tesla, Brandon you're coming with us. We'll meet at the house, okay?'
Everyone frowns for a second, but North immediately starts moving to the car and gets in the back.
'Take a detour and make sure no one follows you.' I say as I get to the car myself. Brandon jumps in next to me and looks back at Neveah, who looks as if she's going to give up any second now.
'Don't even think about it.' I say, making her look at me with those teary eyes. For once, I don't hate her for wanting to cry.
I honestly expected her to be crying already, but she's not.
'Just drive.' Brandon says, looking back at the club.
I notice the blue lights in the distance and sigh deeply, before starting the car and racing the other way.
They're going to follow us for sure, but we'll be fine.
'Guarda.' I say as I try driving past all the traffic at this time of day. We have to get the fuck out of here and make it to the house, so North can rest.
Brandon keeps his eyes on Neveah, just as I told him to, and when we finally get rid of the police, I quickly take a glance as well. She's shivering because of the rip in her dress.
Or because that fucker raped her...
My grip around the wheel tightens and I almost crash into another car because of it, but I manage to correct myself and race past everyone just to get to the house faster.
A deep sigh erupts from the backseat and Brandon looks at me. 'Stop the car, Rio.'
'What? We're almost there?' I say, noticing that we're indeed almost there. 'Stop the car!' Brandon hits my arm, forcing me to stop on the side of the road.
Just in time for North to open the door and step outside.
I follow her out while Brandon stays put, and keep my eyes on her as her breathing falters again. 'North-' She shakes her head, raising her hands my way, basically ordering me to shut the fuck up, and starts gagging.
Oh god.
Before I can even blink, she throws up, stumbling to the side of the road, before dropping on her knees as she starts crying.
I rush over to her and stay close, not touching her, but not knowing what to do either. 'Brandon!'
'What?' Brandon jumps out of the car and rushes over to us, dropping on his knees right next to her as she cries. 'It's okay Neveah.'
It doesn't seem to help.
'North.' I say, but she ignores me. Probably exactly the way I do when everything becomes blurry. 'North, look at me.' I drop onto my knees as well, sitting right in front of her. 'You need to calm down.'
This reminds me of that night.
And I hate every second of it. 'Calm down, okay. We'll get to the house and you can rest there, okay?'
'He- he rap-' 'I know.' I cut her off, feeling the bile form in my throat as well. 'But he's dead. And I know that doesn't make up for it, but he won't hurt you again.'
She shakes her head, again and again, her body shaking from fear.
'No one is going to hurt you like this again, okay?' She looks at me with those teary eyes, and flashes of that night flicker through my mind. Shit.
Valentina looked at me like that as well.
Not now.
'Here.' I take off my jacket and wrap it around her, wishing she could stop shivering so much.
'We're going to the house and you're going to rest.' I get up and look at her, waiting for her to get up, but she stays put. 'North, please?'
She looks up at me and takes a deep breath. 'Okay.'
As hard as it must be for her right now, she gets up and follows us back to the car.
I get behind the wheel again, and keep eyeing her from time to time just to see if she's okay.
But I can tell she's not. And she shouldn't be.
Before I can even put the car in park, Brandon jumps out and rushes to Neveah's side to open the door for her.
He helps her inside, opening every door for her, while I follow behind.
Everyone else is already inside, they even informed Killian about it. And I already know this is going to be a difficult moment for her.
'Are you okay?' Vince asks for the millionth time ever since we got her out.
She's hating everyone right now. Everyone except me.
Even though I should be the one she hates right now. I'm not.
Because I don't ask.
I don't need to.
And I don't want to.
I know what happened in there, boundaries were crossed, all because we couldn't make it in time.
We all saw the look on her face when we burst through those doors. We all saw that she was barely wearing clothes.
We all did.
So why ask?
'I'm fine. I'm just-' She looks at me again, 'I'm just tired.'
I nod, knowing that there's more. 'Go get some rest. We'll talk in the morning.'
'We can talk now, I have-' I sigh deeply, wishing I could wash the image out of my mind. 'Neveah, just go to your room and sleep.'
It's not worth it.
None of this is worth it.
I want Valentina back, I truly do, but at what cost?
Because of me, North got raped.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not too fond of North, but she didn't deserve this.
She really didn't.
And it's all my fault.
'It's not worth it.' Her eyes widen as she takes off my jacket and throws it my way. 'We are not giving up.'
'This is too much, Neveah.' Marco mumbles as well, admitting our defeat.
I know I said I would do anything to get her back, but I didn't expect Neveah to get sexually assaulted in the process.
'We can't just-' 'Neveah.' I say warningly, tasting the bile in my mouth again as I look at her.
How is she still standing? How is she still determined to continue? How is she not crying or throwing up again? How did she survive that?
I don't understand why this is affecting me so much.
Maybe it's because I've never seen this happen to anyone in real life. I mean, I've heard about it happening to people, but I've never seen it happen with my own eyes.
Especially not at my command.
'Just go to your room and rest.' She stays put, keeping her eyes on me.
There's simply one emotion in her eyes and it's not fear or pain.
Disappointment.
'We are not giving up.' For god's sake... 'We are. Now go to your room.'
'Rio, I'm going to fucking kill you if you give up right now.' She warns, taking a step closer to me.
For some reason, I stumble back, into the dining room, and keep my eyes on her. 'Neveah-' 'We can't give up now. She needs us. We need to get her back.' She says, determined to get Valentina back.
Even though we have no clue where to begin.
And I don't want her to have to go through this shit. Not like this.
'It's pointless.' My heart starts to tear further and further with every breath I take, and the bile starts coming back again. 'We can't save her.'
'Stop saying that!' She shouts, not caring about the fact that Victoria is probably sleeping upstairs. 'Go to your room.'
'We have to talk about our next step, I have the-' 'Neveah, you got raped!' Now she's the one stumbling back as I drop into one of the chairs. 'So I'm calling it off.'
Tears form in her eyes and I wish she just wouldn't look at me. Not with that look on her face.
I need the North I hate, the North that annoys me every second she breathes, the one that always has something annoying to say, the one that wants to make my blood boil for no goddamn reason.
Not this one.
Not the one that makes my skin crawl, simply because I can't get the image of her on the ground and Johan doing that to her out of my head.
She tries to blink her tears away and throws something on the table, grasping everyone's attention, but mine. Because I can't stop looking at her.
But I know exactly what it is. How did she-
'Check what's on it, we'll talk in the morning.' She mumbles as she walks out of the room. Brandon follows her, keeping enough distance for her to not freak out, and I look at the others.
Nico wants to go after her, but he wants to shout at me first.
As soon as we hear their footsteps fade away, they all turn to me.
'I told you this was a bad idea.' Nico sneers, making me take a deep breath. I know.
'We didn't know this would happen, Nico.' Killian says, looking at the wooden table between us.
We didn't, but we knew the risk. I knew the risk.
'I told you to not let her go through with it. We could've hired someone else!' Nico continues, letting all his anger out on me.
'Nico-' 'No! He did that to her. He let her go into that room without any help! Just to get his girl back!' All I do is look at him. He knows...
Someone told him the truth. And that doesn't shock me. The thing that's shocking me is that he's talking to me about her.
If he wants to shout at me, fine. But he needs to keep his mouth shut about Valentina.
'We've been searching for two months! Two fucking months! And we still have no clue where she might be!'
I want to shout at him, but he's right. We have no clue where she is.
We've been searching for a long time, and still no sign of her.
'Nico, enough.' We all look at Vince, who's clearly done with Nico's shit.
But he has every right to be angry with me.
Because it is my fault.
Sure, she wanted to go, but she didn't have to. I could've hired another girl, a more skilled girl, for the job. But I sent her.
'If something like this ever happens again,' Nico gets up from his chair and looks at me. The look in his eyes sends shivers down my spine. He's ready to kill.
He's ready to kill me.
'I will fucking kill you.' He says, his tone ice-cold before he heads into the hall. 'Nico!' Killian shouts, but it's too late.
He's not going to listen or take back a thing.
'Rio, he's just-' 'Go talk to him.' I say, walking to the cabinets to grab a glass.
'But-' 'Go and talk to him. He needs it more than I do.' I don't have to look at them to know what their faces look like right now.
They stay for another five seconds, debating if they should actually go, while I pour myself a drink.
I need it.
I need a fucking drink.
'Rio, it's not your fault.' Marco mumbles, keeping his eyes on me. He knows me better than the others do, so he should know that I don't want to hear this shit right now. 'You should go as well, you two are close.'
I simply look at him, waiting for him to get the fuck out as well. 'But-'
'Marco, get the fuck out.' Killian taps his shoulder, basically pulling him out of the room, just so I can have my moment.
When they finally leave, I drop into the chair and shove the glass onto the ground.
It's too small and the portions work too slow. So I decide to drink from the bottle.
This is all my fault.
I feel sick again and try to drink everything away with the whiskey that has probably been lying here for a while.
It's bitter, but it works.
After emptying the first bottle, I reach for the next. And just when I bring it to my lips, my phone starts ringing.
It's the middle of the night, and someone's calling me.
I pick it up and bring it to my ear, without looking to see who it is.
'Who is this?' I take a sip and wait for the person on the other end of the line to say something, but all I hear are loud men shouting.
'Who the fuck-' 'Adriano!?' Leon... Why is he calling me in the middle of the night?
'Can you hear me?' The shouting stopped and I nod. 'I take that as a yes.' He chuckles.
Oh god...
His chuckle reminds me of when we were younger. When we would run around and have fun at the house. In Barletta.
We were so innocent back then.
So fucking innocent.
'Why are you calling me?' I ask, sitting up a little. Does he know where Valentina is?
If so, I'm glad he called. Because that's exactly what we need right now. Good news.
'It's midnight where I am.' I frown and lean back in the chair again, taking a sip, before saying: 'So?'
'It's the twenty-seventh of June.' Oh.
I didn't even notice. I mean, I had better things to do. But... Oh well.
'Happy birthday Adriano.'
I drop my phone and take a deep breath.
A year passed.
I'm a year older.
Nothing changed.
Apart from the fact that my life is all over the place now.
So I guess you can say that a lot has changed.
It all changed because of her.
Because of Cataleya Valentina Velez.
Last year fucked me up.
I can hear Leon talk over the phone and try to ignore him.
He's probably talking about celebrating my twenty-seventh birthday.
But I'm not in the mood.
How can I celebrate it after what just happened?
North got raped because of me.
I saw the fear in her eyes. It's printed inside my mind and I'll never be able to forget it.
It doesn't take me long to finish the second bottle and just as I'm about to reach for the third, my phone lights up.
I notice that Leon hung up at some point, continuing to do whatever it is he's doing, so that's not what's making my phone light up.
A text from Celine.
𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝙱𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚍𝚊𝚢!
Shit.
I don't deserve her. I don't deserve North, I don't deserve the help to get Valentina back.
I don't deserve Valentina.
I don't deserve any of it.
I deserve absolutely nothing. I deserve to be lonely. I deserve to be alone, to celebrate my birthday by myself like I am right now.
Nothing more.
After taking another sip, I realize that it's not working anymore. It's not helping with the sickness or with the guilt or with the pain.
It's making it all worse.
So I throw the bottle on the table, or that's where it's supposed to go, but it falls onto the ground, shattering into a billion pieces.
I stumble into the hall and up the stairs, trying to keep my balance as the world starts spinning.
It's done. We're done.
I'll never find her and we're going to fucking die because of the shit we've done.
Why did I think this was going to- I hear mumbling coming from one of the rooms and slowly follow the sound, opening the door just far enough so I can peek inside.
It's Victoria's room.
And North is sitting on the floor, humming a song as she stares at the wall.
She doesn't notice me until I step on a squishy toy laying on the floor, and immediately turns to me, panic all over her face.
'It's me.' I whisper, raising my hands as I try to keep my balance. 'It's just me.'
Her chest goes up and down a few times before she looks at Victoria again. She's still sleeping, probably dreaming of nice things.
Completely unaware of what happened tonight.
'Why are you still up?' I ask as I try to walk over to her. It feels like the floor is just slightly tilted, making it a lot harder for me to walk in a straight line.
It's that or I drank too much.
'I couldn't sleep.' She whispers as an answer, slowly getting up as she keeps her eyes on me. 'Stop looking at me like that.' I stumble forward, almost falling over another toy.
'Are you drunk?' She asks, crossing her arms. She reminds me of Celine right now.
Because Celine would look at me like that when she would find me drunk in my office.
'Don't give me that shit.' I sneer, for a second, forgetting that Victoria's sleeping in this room.
She groans and turns around, her eyes still closed as I watch her breathe. 'Come with me.' North walks past me and heads back to the stairs, and I silently follow after her, almost tripping a million times.
'Do you need help?' She asks as she's already walking down the stairs and I'm still on top.
I know I'm going to break something if I go down the stairs again.
'Why did you need me to follow you?' I ask, staying right where I am.
She rolls her eyes and looks me up and down, before taking a deep breath. 'Because we need to talk and I don't want to wake her up. Now come on.' She says before walking to the front door.
'North, where are you-' I almost fall down the first step but find my balance as I hold onto the wall for dear life, and slowly make my way down the stairs, noticing North still standing by the front door.
'We're going for a little walk, come on.' But it's in the middle of the night? And she should be sleeping. She heads out anyway, not caring about the fact that I'm still trying to keep up with everything.
I rush outside and see her standing on the little path that goes around the house. 'We're not giving up.' Her words wash over me like cold water, almost sobering me up entirely.
'We've been searching for two months and we haven't found her yet, I don't think we'll find her.' The tear in my heart only grows, almost ripping it in two, but I have to convince her that it's done. That this has to stop, 'She seemed happy and I don't think she even wants to leave.'
And that's it. The thing I feared.
Hunter somehow convinced her to stay. I know he did. Just to get to me. Because he knew, everyone knew what she meant to me. Everyone but the person that needs to know the most.
'Don't you want her to know how you feel?' She asks as we walk side by side on the gravel pathway. 'More than anything.' 'Then you're not allowed to give up.' She states, looking at me as I try to keep my gaze ahead.
I can't look at her. Not without freaking out myself.
She tugs at my arm, immediately letting go of me again, and looks into my eyes. Into my soul.
'You can not give up on her.' I know...
'I don't want to, but there's nothing I can do here.' I can see the anger rising in her eyes, and almost smile.
This is the North I remember. The North I want to see.
'If you say something like that I'm going to hit you, so be warned.' She says, almost making me laugh again.
She barely wants to touch anyone, let alone hit me. 'You wouldn't dare.'
She continues to walk, giving me a few seconds to follow her to the back of the house. 'If she would be here right now, what would you tell her?'
What? Is she seriously asking me right now?
'North-' 'Answer the question.' She demands, continuing her way around the little garden. 'I don't know.' I admit. Because I have no clue.
I would want to tell her everything. All at once. I want her to understand, to feel what I feel, without me having to actually tell her.
'Do you have something in mind?' She asks, not looking at me as she stares at some flowers in the grass. 'Yes.'
She takes a deep breath and looks up at the sky, the star-filled night sky.
'I would probably tell her that I missed her.' That's a start. I would probably start with that. 'And then I would tell her how much... I care about her.' I glance at Neveah for a second, noticing her lips curling up. 'And then I'll ask her to marry me.'
Her eyes widen, but she does not turn away from the sky.
'Marry you?' She asks curiously and I simply nod. 'I want to marry her.' 'You do?' I can hear a slight change in her tone and I wonder what it is.
It's something between excitement and happiness, but I can't put my finger on it.
'Do you think Leya's your soulmate?' The tear in my heart that formed earlier is slowly gluing itself back together by simply thinking about all of this, and it skips a beat.
'Define soulmate.' I think I know what it is, but I just want to know what I'm admitting to. 'It's a person that occupies your mind every minute of the day, a person you would risk your all for, a person you care about with all your being, a person you would like to spend the rest of your life with, the person you see as your equal.'
I take it all in and realize that Valentina is exactly that. I want to spend the rest of my life with her, I truly do, but I can't find her. And I'm slowly losing hope.
She shivers and starts rubbing her arms, looking at me with something calm going through her mind. 'We should get inside.'
I follow her back inside and into the living room, watching as she tries to start a fire at the chimney. 'What are you doing?'
'It's cold.' She groans, lighting a match, before staring at it for a few seconds. 'North. Throw it on the wood.'
She rolls her eyes, but does as I tell her to, and takes a seat on the chair closest to the fire. 'You should apologize to Celine.' This again?
'She won't forgive me.' She shakes her head and looks at me for a second. 'She will if you do it correctly.'
'Anything else you want to add to my to-do list.' To my surprise, she nods, grinning a little.
I truly wonder how her mind works, especially after what happened tonight. How can she be so calm about all of this?
'Tell me.' I don't know why, but I want to hear what she has to say.
Because she always has to say something.
'Wait here.' She rushes out of the room, taking a few minutes, before she returns with one of those notebooks Leon bought for her. 'What are you doing?'
'Writing down what happened today, but we were talking about your to-do list.' She chimes, opening her pen as she starts writing.
So she really is giving it back to him when they reunite. 'You should apologize to Celine, be nicer to Marco and Brandon, and thank them for their help.'
'I'm paying them to help.' I say, frowning a bit. They're getting a lot of money for the shit they do, that's a thank you enough if you ask me. 'I'm not talking about Vincent or Killian or Nikolai, I'm talking about Brandon, Marco, and Celine.' What?
'They work their asses off for you and you treat them like shit sometimes.'
Do I really treat them that badly?
'Honestly, if I would be Celine, I wouldn't even fucking talk to you at all.' She says, turning to her little notebook to write something down.
I move to the edge of my seat, hoping to catch a glimpse of what she's writing down.
'Why is that?' I ask, squinting my eyes to try and read anything she's writing down right now. 'Maybe because you gassed her while she was pregnant?'
'I didn't know she was pregnant.'
'It doesn't change the fact that you did. And I don't think you've apologized yet.' She states, looking at me for a second.
'I didn't.' I admit, feeling shame wash over me.
She's pregnant. Celine, a person I would consider my friend, maybe even family, is pregnant and I gassed her.
'They're your friends, but I feel like you don't give them enough credit.' I wish I wouldn't have downed those two bottles earlier. That way I would be able to not let North's word get to me.
But I'm too wasted to block it. Too tired to try.
'Are you going to give that to him?' I ask, trying to divert the subject so that I can stop myself from going insane. 'What?' 'Are you going to give him that book?'
'Maybe.' She admits, smiling at the words she wrote down. 'He called me and I almost wanted to tell him what happened tonight.'
'Why didn't you?' She asks, tears forming in her eyes again. I look at the fire as I take a deep breath and shrug. 'I don't know.'
Maybe I should've told him? It just didn't feel right to tell him.
She's the one who should tell him. And she'll tell him if she's comfortable enough to tell him.
But it might be because I'm a little selfish as well.
He said he was going to kill himself if something happened to her and I know he wasn't bluffing.
As much as I'm still angry at him for giving Valentina to our worst enemy, I can't lose him too.
He's the only family I have left.
'Thank you.' She whispers, looking at the fire again, 'For not telling him. I really appreciate it.'
'Do you think you found your soulmate yet?' I ask, wanting to go back to that subject again.
I don't fucking know why.
'Definitely. And I don't know if I like it that much.' I frown, but she's too focused on the fire to notice. 'Why?'
'Because it's hard.' She mumbles, taking her eyes off of the fire for just a second. 'How can it be hard?'
'It's hard because I know Tiago is my soulmate.'
She looks at the fire and sighs deeply.
'So is she.' I whisper, watching as she looks up to meet my eyes.
I've told her more than once, not directly, but I have certainly been very suggestive about it, yet she seems shocked.
Blown away even.
'You think Leya is your soulmate?' She asks, moving to the edge of her seat.
'She's the only person coming close enough to the description.' She nods impressed and scribbles something in that notebook of hers. 'What are you doing?'
'Nothing.' She chimes, grinning like crazy. 'Are you really leaving or is it just a lie?' I ask, leaning back in my chair. 'When we get her back, I'm leaving and I hope she will as well.'
Even after all the shit I just told her, North will still try and take Valentina away from me.
'I won't let you.' I state, trying not to come off too harsh, even though I should be. When we get her back, something that won't happen, ever, I'll never let go of her again.
'I think it's only fair you let her decide.' I shrug and wiggle a little, trying to find a more comfortable position. 'I'll convince her in no time.'
'Really?' She asks, raising a brow at my confidence. 'Yes, I'll need less than an hour.'
'How about a week?' Now I'm the one raising a brow. 'What do you mean?' 'Let's make a deal, I'll give you a week to convince her to stay. If she wants to stay, I'll leave her with you, but if she doesn't, you have to let go of her completely.' Ha!
'I don't see why not.' I chuckle for a second, thinking about how easy it's going to be.
Not that we'll find her. Because we're stopping. 'If you say so.' She mumbles, writing something down again. 'What are you doing, North?' I ask again, trying to read what's on the paper.
But the words are twisting and turning, making me feel dizzy.
'Work. Look, can we talk about this more in the morning, I'm getting pretty tired?' She yawns and stretches her arms as soon as she's done writing. 'There's nothing to talk about North.'
'There is. We have a lot to talk about because we're not quitting.' We are...
And just like that, the tear is back, bigger than before. Leaving barely an inch intact to keep my heart together.
I hate this. I hate every second of it.
'Goodnight Rio.' North mumbles as she rushes out of the room.
I look at my watch and realize that it's already four in the morning.
We've been talking for four hours?
And our conversation was all over the place.
As I try to think back on it, my head starts spinning, and I decide to give up and just sleep on the couch I'm sitting on.
I wake up to people talking in the kitchen. It's a kid and a woman. Probably North and Victoria.
'Goodmorning idiot.' Nico says, throwing a bottle of water on my chest. 'Neveah told me to give you this.'
I squint my eyes because of the bright light filling the room.
They opened the curtains and everything is way too bright for me right now. Fucking hell...
'Great,' I look over my shoulder and see North, smiling at me, 'You're up. We have to talk.' Oh shit.
I groan as I climb up and quickly chug the bottle down, enjoying the soothing effect it has on my throat.
'We do not.' I say, heading to the stairs. I need to brush my teeth and sleep on a bed. 'Rio, I have that meeting today, so I suggest you hurry up!' Meeting?
'What meeting?' I ask, turning at the top of the stairs. 'That meeting with Micheal Williams.' North chimes, keeping her eyes on me.
'You sure you want to go to that meeting?' Nico appears behind North, and I notice something change in her as she searches for an answer. 'I won't mind, I'll be fine.'
'I don't think it's a smart thing to do.' Marco says, appearing from the other side of the house. 'I agree with him.' Vincent says, following behind him.
Even though everyone advises against it, I keep my eyes on North.
She wants to go. She needs to go. Because everyone is suffocating her again.
And North doesn't like to be babied.
'Let me brush my teeth, then we'll talk.' I walk to my room and quickly take a shower, before brushing my teeth and changing into casual clothes.
As I make my way down the stairs, I notice that Brandon, Killian, and Kai are up as well. 'Goodmorning boss.' Killian chimes, following me into the kitchen.
My head is pounding like crazy and I notice that all the others were already waiting for me.
'Okay, so North.' I look at her and notice that she's hugging Victoria again, 'Are you sure you want to go to that meeting?'
'You've got to be kidding me.' Nico says, looking at me as if I'm insane. 'Rio, I don't think that it's a-' 'Yes.' Neveah answers, keeping her eyes on me while the others basically scold me for even suggesting it.
'Then you're going. But it's the last thing you'll be doing.' Everyone goes silent. Everyone except North: 'What do you mean?'
'You're going to that meeting and after that, you're taking the first flight to the US to go back to your normal life.'
Everyone nods in agreement, even Brandon, but North is fuming. 'I'm not going anywhere because we haven't found-' 'We're not going to search for her anymore North, it's done.' And just like that, the last piece that was keeping my heart together, tears apart.
'Go get ready, Nico will accompany you, and when you return everything will be ready.' I state, crossing my arms. 'You can't be-' 'Neveah. Go.'
'I'm going, but we're going to talk when I get back.' So I'll make sure I won't be here by the time you do...
'Just go.' I groan, massaging my temples, hoping that it will relieve some of the pain right now.
'Go to hell.' She mumbles as she heads for the door again. Victoria and Brandon follow her out of the room, leaving me with an annoyed group of men.
'Don't start with me,' I state, keeping my eyes on the kitchen island between all of us, 'Nico, you're going with her. Stall her as long as you can. The others, find a way to get her out of this mess and make sure to keep her away from me.'
We'll see what happens next...
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A/N: ANOTHER EARLY POST!! So he's giving up. Will Neveah give up as well? Will they ever find Leya at all?
I hope you guys still enjoy the story, let me know what you think in the comments, and don't forget to vote!
I love you all and I hope to see you in the next chapter! I hope you have a great day!