Harry Styles
"Okay... so the FBI knows about the list and Cindy. Did Amber blame the fire on her?" I furrowed my eyebrows as I asked Zayn, taking another sip of my whiskey. "Explain, please."
Zayn looked the most exhausted and stressed I had ever seen in long years, and I had a feeling he was trying to keep a strong front because things were much more fucked than he let on. And this wasn't a good sign.
I missed him a lot, though. The moment I saw him I remembered how easy things once were, but we had to focus on our safety now and life would never be the same again.
The trip back to the U.S. was stressful, Cleo and I were always on edge and expecting the worst, but everything went well and now we in my L.A. penthouse... and I had forgotten how big it was.
This used to be my first choice whenever I wanted to escape my father or my life in New York, and Zayn always joined me on those escapades. I was young and naive, but little did I know that buying this place in secret would actually be helpful in the future.
I glanced sideways at Cleo when she reached out her hand to grab my cup of whiskey, taking a small sip herself before she returned it to me. Her rings caught my attention and I had to force myself to not get distracted thinking about last night.
Well, I told her once I was gonna get her gold plated rings with her initials, just like mine but the right size for her fingers, and now she was very proudly wearing them.
She tested them quickly when she choked me yesterday but we didn't have much time... I was eager for her to do it again though, harder this time.
Always harder.
I still preferred when she carved her initials with the knife, but the rings were quite fun too. And we looked cute matching like this. I loved how she wasn't hiding her bruises anymore, she looked very fucking proud of them and it really turned me on.
And once again I got distracted by looking at her, she was so fucking beautiful. Her blue eyes seemed a bit darker today and she knew I loved this tank top she was wearing... made her tits look incredible, to be honest.
I couldn't wait to explore every surface of this penthouse, especially the windows. My favorite drawer was in my room upstairs and she was quite surprised when she saw the collar I had here... it was different than the one we brought along with us.
And of course, the many other toys I had in L.A. I wondered if she'd be into double penetration, I knew she could handle it and I had just the right toys to show her how fucking good I could make her feel
Focus, Harry.
For fuck's sake, I would always get carried away when thinking of us. And I had to remind myself we weren't alone.
It was so weird to see Zayn again, I was too used to it being just me and her. And it was strange for me to process that two fucking months had passed.
"Amber and her... informant helped with the information." Zayn cleared his throat, looking away from my eyes. "Amber knew about the list and the unknown files, so she started to do her research after Cindy.
The FBI knows it was her plan of revenge, on top of the whole trafficking case they had going on. Amber is kinda on desk duty, because of the pregnancy... but she has access to all the info, that's why we've been able to help you. She would've been able to help more if Cleo hadn't burned down Eroda."
Cleo chuckled under her breath, twisting the rings on her fingers as she looked at Zayn.
"I don't regret it." She smiled sweetly at him, but the look behind her eyes was very unfriendly. "That place needed to burn."
"Yeah, it was stupid." Zayn deadpanned, looking back into her eyes. "You could've played dead, but now you have the FBI after you."
"There's no point in dwelling over the past, we need to focus on what's happening now." She raised one eyebrow, and I knew that tone very well.
She was about to lose her temper.
"Look, Amber is back in New York because of work... and we need to talk about something else she found out while doing her research on Cindy." Zayn glanced at me this time, and he kept tapping his foot on the floor as he was seated on the couch right in front of the one Cleo and I were on.
The sun was going to set soon and the city looked beautiful with the deep orange glow in the sky. I missed L.A. "Talk about what?" Cleo asked, placing her arm behind my head on the back of the couch, caressing the nape of my neck softly as she brushed her fingers.
"Cindy wasn't working alone." Zayn blurted out, surprising the fuck out of me. What? "Two unknown kids from the files..."
Cleo was the one who spoke up, furrowing her eyebrows. "They were working together? I fucking knew it there was no way she was behind it all on her own. I started thinking about it because of Niall's-"
She stopped talking when she realized what she was about to say, and the pained look on her face made my stomach clench in a weird way. I hated seeing him like this, I knew she was hurt. I just wanted her to deal with the bottled up emotions.
Yes, I was a hypocrite, but at least I wasn't acting numb.
"Yes... the FBI checked the security cameras in Niall's building. It wasn't Cindy who killed him, another man was there." Zayn continued, and Cleo clenched her jaw so hard I was concerned about her teeth. "Her brother, some dude named Liam Payne."
Cleo's body froze entirely and her jaw dropped open, and I didn't expect to see recognition flash on her face. Did she know him?
Fuck, Cindy was working with her brother all along... both trafficked and traumatized children who clearly had no control. And one of them was still out there? Did he know we had killed Cindy?
This wasn't good.
It was the last fucking thing we needed.
"Do you know him?" Zayn asked her, playing with his nose ring. "I used to fuck him." Cleo deadpanned, and I quickly turned to look at her. What the fuck?
Oh... Liam Payne as in ex-fuck buddy Liam?
No fucking way.
I remembered him vaguely, I knew we had run into him that one time in a club, when we met June aka Amber. This was back when we suspected Amber was behind the list... fuck, had he been following us all along?
I hated the fucker even more now, I nearly killed him that night and I should have. And now Zayn was telling me that he was the one seen in Niall's building?
Cleo knew her brother's killer... she had actually fucked him. And if Cindy used my father all those years, then I'm sure he only got close to Cleo because of their sick plan. "How?" Zayn asked her with wide eyes.
"I met him once at Eroda... we fucked and then we kept fucking for a while, didn't work out," Cleo said, and her words made my blood boil.
I couldn't help my jealousy, thinking of her with someone else made me want to puke. Especially if this someone had been a liar and her brother's killer.
"This makes sense now... why we ran into him at the club. It was all a trick." I spoke up and Cleo glanced at me, looking as if she was about to set the whole city on fire.
"He killed Niall? Well, I'm fucking glad I killed his fucking sister." She snapped all of a sudden, standing up from the couch and clenching her fists, maybe she was trying to stop herself from breaking anything and it was very appreciated. "I'm gonna find him, tell Amber to track him. I need all the info she has on him."
"She's been trying, it's not easy. Both Liam and Cindy were adopted after they were trafficked, they were lucky... but that doesn't mean they didn't suffer because of Desmond and Catherine. And he's probably even more
psycho now that you killed his sister." Zayn kept his voice calm while Cleo paced back and forth between the couches.
"Psycho? You all haven't seen psycho yet." She said through gritted teeth. "I'm not leaving this fucking country until I find him and kill him!"
I should've known this would happen, and being in America was a terrible idea. We still had a lot of files of people to kill and even though some of them were from the U.S., we agreed to kill them last until the situation was less chaotic.
And now look at us...
"Cleo, you and Harry have been leaving bodies behind and you're acting really dumb. Let Amber work on this, you don't need any more-"
"You don't know what I need." She interrupted Zayn, taking a step closer to him. "Did you seriously expect me to sit and wait while the FBI worked on it? They can't do shit, if it wasn't for Harry and me then my mother and Desmond would still be alive!"
"If you both didn't act as stupid then people would be safer around you!" Zayn raised his voice back at her, standing up from the couch and looking down into her eyes.
He was taller than Cleo, but again, she was very short. But the rage emanating from her body right now made the air around us harder to breathe and she kept glaring at Zayn.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" She asked him. "That Harry and I should've stayed hidden and watching as little girls were sold? Just smile and pretend we didn't look very fucking guilty? I'm sick and tired of playing by other people's rules, this is my game now. I decide who gets to live and who dies."
"But you don't, Cleo. I don't think you understand how serious this is. Your brother is dead-" Before Zayn could even finish his sentence, she had already grabbed her knife and pushed him back on the couch until he fell sitting, and she leaned closer as she pressed the blade on his neck.
And now I was the one who quickly stood up.
"Cleo," I spoke up, touching her arm so she could step away from him. "Put the knife down, baby."
"If you fucking dare to talk about my brother again... I'll make you regret it." She whispered at Zayn, and they just glared at each other while she kept pressing the knife, almost hard enough to break the skin.
She was worse than I thought.
I grabbed her hips and pulled her away from him, holding her wrist as I took the knife away from her hand. She glared at me this time, but I was sure the look on my face was enough for her to know that I wasn't going to let her hurt Zayn.
"Bedroom. Right now." I told her, letting go of her arm when she tried to push me away.
She simply turned around and headed towards the stairs, completely ignoring me and Zayn as she made her way upstairs.
Cleo needed to cool off, I could understand how it was too much on her but it was no excuse to hurt Zayn when he was only being helpful.
I put her knife in my pocket and I looked at him, and the way he was glaring at me was enough to know his opinion about what just happened.
"She got worse." Zayn deadpanned. "I wanted to talk to you about this to warn you... because Liam is out there and we don't know if he's planning something. Plus, you two are already running away from the cops. You're fucked, H."
"I know." I sighed, sitting down next to him on the couch. "I don't know how to help her, Z. She doesn't want to talk about Niall and I can't judge. Look at all the shit she's going through, she has no one but me. And I love her way too much to watch her self-destruct."
I had no idea why I simply blurted it all out, but this always happened around Zayn. He made me feel comfortable and the words just flowed, I only then realized how much I had been keeping to myself.
"Go talk to her, we need to continue this conversation when she's calmer and I know she won't kill you." He smoothed his hand up and down my back and I glanced sideways at him. "Help her relax, we need Cleo's brain for this, but she can't be this way."
Little did he know that I wasn't sure if she would ever be the same.