Liam Payne
I was running out of time.
Things were harder than I expected and I missed my sister more than anything, she'd obviously know what to do right now and I was lost in a maze as I tried to figure out which would be her next step in this situation.
But I was running out of options and I didn't want to go straight for plan B because that was going to be messy, probably cost my life, and I most likely wasn't going to get the revenge I wanted.
Well, Cleo and Harry would be dead but it wouldn't be as satisfying.
They were the only ones left now... I took care of Anne a few days before that night in the club when I run into Zayn and Cleo, but I doubted they knew she was dead.
I was watching them all and when I found out she went back to London by herself, it was the perfect chance to cross her name out of my list. And it was very easy to kill her, I even made it seem like a robbery.
A bullet straight to the head, no hesitation or no small talk, just like I was going to do with Cleo and Harry. Just like I did with Niall.
Anne didn't even beg for her life though, when she saw me it was like she knew I was going to end up coming for her. I knew she saved my sister once but she was a liar and a manipulator, she deserved to die like all of them, and I was going to cross out the final two names soon.
I had to be the one to kill them, they had to suffer just as much as they made me suffer. They would feel the pain they caused my sister and me.
Cindy died because of them, I knew it was a bad idea to let her go to that auction alone but she was always so fucking stubborn. She ended up dying in the fire she started herself, in the hopes of finally killing the Styles and the Horans, along with every other disgusting and sick motherfucker who was invited to that godforsaken masquerade.
No one knew what we went through... what my sister went through. Her pain and everything we fought for was in vain, she was dead and I was alone. No one cared about us and the anger was consuming me inside.
I couldn't properly eat or sleep, I just needed to kill them. It was a suffocating feeling that controlled me entirely, I was blinded by it and it was the only thing keeping me alive.
But I wasn't stupid, I knew I was weaker and I didn't have backup anymore, that's why I had to search for help the moment I found out they were in L.A... The only problem was that these gangs clearly
misunderstood what I asked for, I wanted them to capture and restrain Cleo and Harry, not kill them.
They all failed or nearly got them killed, I completely gave up and it didn't matter much because I knew they had left California by now. This was a huge fucking mess but maybe just the opportunity I needed.
Zayn boarded a flight to New York on his own, but I didn't know about Cleo or Harry just yet. I had a feeling they would follow, those three were inseparable now and I knew they had more help than I knew of.
They were good, Zayn was successful at keeping this facade that he had no idea where they were, I knew he'd fooled most of New York.
But I kept wondering if Cleo and Harry traveled by plane too, I didn't see them going to the airport, but I was busy with something else now... I wasn't going to waste my time with that.
I'd go to New York very soon, I just needed to get some things done before that because this time I was going to be prepared. And I was sure I'd catch them by surprise... I used my brain much more than they did.
I parked my car in front of a small beige house, this was a regular residential neighborhood in a small town in Colorado, and it was easy for me to find her.
I'd been following her ever since I saw her walking out of Harry's building and I just knew there was more to it than it seemed.
This couldn't be a coincidence, she was Ashley's ex and there had to be a connection... I knew she was staying with them for a few days and I just watched and waited. I watched them carry her out of Ashley's house and drive her to Harry's building, treating her as if she was someone more important than she seemed.
I had a gut feeling and I learned the hard way not to ignore them.
So I did my research.
Dear Holly was adopted in secret, but the agency was based in New York.
And I dug even deeper because there had to be something important about her for Harry and Cleo to bring her with them. For her to stay there... I'd been following them ever since the club, when Cleo thought she could be smart enough to put on a wig and trick me. I didn't even have to look at her face, I knew it was her... that was a smart move though, but she forgot how well I knew her.
Cleo Horan was a spoiled daddy's girl with a huge ego and a shitload of issues that made her both lethal and weak, she truly found her match with Harry.
She was very smart but extremely impulsive when it came to her emotions, she thought she was better and stronger... maybe sometimes she was, but she was human.
Humans died and we all have our flaws... her biggest flaw was that she paid too much attention to anything but her. She was worried about me and my plan, worried about Harry, or worried about the FBI chasing them... this occupied her mind too much and she didn't think enough about herself and what she could do.
She was too confident and that made her predictable, that's why we were playing this game and neither of us had succeeded yet.
Yet.
She managed to stab me though, it hurt like a bitch and she nearly killed me if I hadn't been quick, but that reminded me that I wasn't suicidal.
I knew I couldn't take her in a fight, especially if Harry was with her. That's why I ran away from the club, but not before playing with her mind and making her break. I was sure Niall's death haunted her, it was what she deserved.
She probably forgot that I was around for enough time to know how she was like... even if I was just a fuck buddy. I went to her apartment and the strip club... we talked and I observed. I was very good at reading people and my memory was sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse because I never forgot anything.
And that's what brings us here... after I found out that Holly's real name was Gemma Egerton and I paid some private investigator a shit ton of money so he could dig everything he could until he found me something I could use.
He found something very interesting... a file of a small boy named Harry Egerton.
He told me it was very hard to find, and it had a picture on it, which was more than enough for me to connect the dots and figure out what was going on. Why Anne was always so worried about Harry or the trafficking, or why she decided to help the FBI in the first place.
Harry and Gemma had to be trafficked, that's why they were both adopted and changed their last names or changed their names entirely. Maybe Anne ordered herself a son, I mean, her husband owned the business. She kept Harry and got rid of Gemma, and now Harry found her?
I didn't really care about the details, it was Harry's picture on the file and I paid enough money to finally have something I could use. This was going to be a card up my sleeve... they would never see it coming.
And the moment I saw the girl with platinum blonde hair walking out of the house, taking out the trash as if this was a regular evening, I knew it was my cue.
I got out of the car after I put on my jacket, I was parked just across the street and I made my way towards her slowly, putting on my best smile. I knew she was probably bi or a lesbian, so I definitely wasn't going to try to charm her, but I was going to be friendly.
"Hi, sorry." I cleared my throat, nearly scaring her to death when she let the trashbag fall to the floor before she could throw it out, and I was quick to help her. "I'm so sorry, I'm lost and you're the only person I saw in three blocks."
She chuckled under her breath, opening the trash can for me so I could throw the trash inside.
"It's okay, this town is dead on the weekends." She smiled, she had a kind smile and it was a shame she was going to suffer for her brother's mistakes.
Harry and Cleo had helped their parents so much when it came to the trafficking itself, I had proofs of it all and I knew the FBI did too. They probably had more, it was irrefutable. I didn't care if their parents were dead, no one was going to be left alive.
"I'm looking for a friend's house but he forgot to tell me the number." I scratched the back of my neck, looking around to make sure we were alone. This neighborhood was deserted. "I'm just pretty lost, I'm not from here. Sorry if I sound like a creep, but I just need help sorting the GPS."
"Oh, sure." She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Is it on your phone?"
"Yeah, here... I'll tell you the address." I grabbed my phone so I could hand it to her, and I knew I had to move very fast now, she just had to grab it...
And so she did.