Happy New Year!
*TW: This chapter contains violence, guns, death, blood and panic attacks.*
Thank you for 20K reads!
Faye's POV:
The inside of this house is just as big as the outside. I want to say it is even bigger than Nik's place. When we got inside a man who was wearing a nice white suit immediately welcomed us. I take note of the dark brown marble flooring in the entry way and the artwork that hangs on the walls. They all remind me of renaissance paintings, the ones you'd see in school history books. I bring my attention back to the men when Nik gives a nod of his head and proceeds to walk forward down the hall, his arm still wrapped around mine.
Harry is close behind us, eyes burning into the back of my head watching my every move as well as Niks. I am afraid of what Harry will do if Nik does kiss me again. I try to shake the image out of my mind of Harry killing Nik when we eventually reach a huge set of double doors at the end of the hall, making me nervous about what is going to be on the other side. We stop outside the doors, standing still just staring at them.
"Remember Faye; stay by my side the entire time and don't speak unless you are spoken to." Nik fixes his suit jacket and messes with his hair a bit almost like he is nervous. His hand meets the door handle and swings it open.
When I finally see what is waiting for us, I notice there are multiple tables set up with people sitting at each, talking to one another, laughing as they are having a good time. It reminds me of the party Nik held but this was more of a personal setting. Everyone here is a bit older than the three of us and there are more men than women. The women that are in here sit by their husbands' sides with their mouths shut.
Nik gives my arm a squeeze as we approach the back table where a man has a cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth. He is laughing loudly with the man next to him as if he just said something hilarious. Maybe this is why Nik seemed so jealous. All of these men are way older than him and most likely have more experience in the business. He doesn't want to look stupid in front of them.
"Frank." Nik speaks up over the man seated in front of us.
"Ah Dominik, you've made it!" He gives a big grin then looks over at me. "And I see you brought one of your whores, dressed her up real nice."
After his words he lets his eyes scan up and down my body, holding his gaze at my breasts. My hand that is resting on Nik's arm tightens from what the man had called me and my body cringes as he checks me out. Harry shuffles his feet behind us, and I know he is fighting everything in him to not kill this man.
"Fiance." Nik corrects him.
"Huh?" The old man darts his eyes back to Nik.
"She is my fiance, not one of my whores. I think you owe her an apology." Nik states. I bring my left hand up to grab hold of Niks bicep to show off the diamond ring.
"I am sorry Miss. Shouldn't have assumed." He holds his hand over his heart.
"That's alright." I accept his apology with a fake smile.
"Now if you are done insulting my future wife, can we get down to business?" Nik asks.
"Of course." He sets the cigar down in an ashtray. "Why don't you have your assistant here take your fiance to get a drink. Women have no place when making deals."
Out of the corner of my eye I see Harry's jaw tense up from being called Nik's assistant. "They can both stay. When we are married, she will be a part of the business."
"That isn't how things work Dominik." Frank leans forward, ashing his cigar in a tray.
"That's how things work for me." He lets go of my arm to place both of his palms down on the table in front of him, leaning closer towards Frank. "I'm here to get the weapons that you have stored for me."
"Mmm yes. Do you have the money?" Frank puffs another hit from the brown cigar.
"My assistant over there has it for you." Nik answers. I look over to Harry who has a large black case hanging in front of him. When did he grab that? "$1.4 million."
The man jerks his head to Nik. "We agreed on 1.8 million."
"And now I'm offering less. This isn't a negotiation, Frank."
Frank looks from Nik then over to Harry, his eyes scanning down to the briefcase and you can see his thoughts turning. Suddenly and unexpectedly, he gives a small cynical smile and reaches into the inside of his jacket drawing out a gun. At first, I thought that this could be one of the weapons that Nik wants to buy but I am proven wrong when the barrel of the gun is pointing straight at Nik. He doesn't even flinch, doesn't move from his spot and his eyes stay glued to Frank's face.
"Is this some sort of a joke?" Frank tilts his head to the side.
"Nope." Nik answers. "Either take it or leave it but you know that no one else is going to want to buy those weapons from you at the price you want. In reality, I am doing you a favor."
"A favor?" He chuckles and thinks for a moment. "If you are giving me less than what I want then you must offer something along with it."
"What did you have in mind?" Nik pushes his hands off the table, straightening back up. Frank doesn't hesitate to bring his eyes to meet mine, scanning them down my body. Nik is quick to notice and speaks again. "No, absolutely not!"
"Oh come one Nik, it is the least you can do. Just an hour alone with her." He licks his lips.
I can't help but to turn my head to see Harry's reaction. His eyes are dark, full of anger and his chest is rising and falling quickly. He looks like he is ready to kill someone. Frank being that someone.
"An hour is too long." Nik says to Frank causing my head to whip towards him. Is he really about to do this?
"What?" I find myself speaking up but he ignores me.
"Okay, half of that. Thirty minutes?" Frank negotiates.
"Fine." Nik agrees.
My mouth falls open at their agreement and I immediately feel sick to my stomach. My heart feels like it is going to burst out of my chest with how hard it is beating from the anxiety.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Harry's voice sounds from beside me.
I looked over to him, my vision blurred a bit from the tears forming in my eyes.
"Harry, please shut up." Nik turns towards him. "Sometimes you have to do things you don't necessarily like in order to get the things you want."
Nik brings his eyes to mine, a hint of an apology in them but I look away. The sight of him makes me sick. He told me he wouldn't let any harm come my way while we were here and what is he doing? Sending me off to be alone with some old fucking guy who is going to do God knows what with me! I feel Nik's presence coming closer to me and can feel his breath on my ear.
"Everything will be fine, I promise." His words are meant to calm me but I am anything but that right now. It is taking all of my strength to not drop down and have a panic attack while everyone in the room watches.
I turn my head to meet his eyes, blinking my tears away and whisper. "Fuck you!"
The words I spoke seem to hurt him a bit but I really don't care. The sound of a chair sliding backwards breaks my focus and when I turn, I see Frank standing up and coming from around the table. He holds his hand out for me to take. I really don't have a choice do I? If I don't take his hand then the deal is off and Nik won't get the weapons he so desperately wants.
When I finally get the courage, I take his hand in mine and turn my head to see Harry and Nik whispering to each other. Harry nods his head then looks at me.
"Everything will be okay." He tells me and when it comes from his mouth, I actually believe him.
I give him a small nod and then bring my attention back to Frank. He leads us out of a back door and up some stairs. There are only a few people lingering in the hallway which I assume work for him. Frank makes his way down the hall and to a large door. Just because he wants alone time with me doesn't mean I actually have to do anything with him, right?
"What did you say your name was?" Frank asks as he closes the bedroom door behind us.
"I didn't." I answer.
"And are you going to tell me your name?" He walks over towards me.
"I don't think you deserve to know my name after calling me a whore." I spit. He stops right in front of me and gives a small laugh.
"You've got a mouth on you." One step closer and he is inches from me. "Nik should really put you in your place. Or maybe I should do it for him."
He is quick to bring his hand up and backhands me right in the face. I stumble backwards, falling to the floor from the impact. My lip feels wet and when I lift my hand to run my finger over I notice that I am bleeding. The large rings on his fingers sliced open my lip and I can feel the sting getting worse on my skin from where the back of his hand made contact.
My eyes leave my blood tipped fingers to where he is standing when he begins to walk over towards me. He bends down and grabs a fistful of my hair, yanking me up to my feet. It was in this moment I realized he didn't bring me up here to have sex with me; he brought me up here to hurt me.
"Maybe this will teach Nik to keep his word." His grip is hard on the back of my head and the next thing I know he is releasing me. He shoves me away from him then my head meets the corner of a dresser.
As soon as I made contact, pain shoots through me like the lightning that rips through the sky and another cry escapes me. My hand meets my head, finding the tender spot on my temple that met the edge of the dresser. More blood spills out from this cut but I quickly turn my head to see Frank coming at me again. I move so fast, getting myself into a good position where I lift my leg up. My heel meets his groin causing him to double over in pain.
"You little fucking bitch!" He manages to yell. "I'm going to kill you!"
With him still bent over in pain, I take the opportunity to push myself up and run towards the door. My hand almost meets the handle when I feel his hand grasp my hair again, wincing at the pain radiating through my scalp. I'm pulled away from the door, my back against him when I feel the coldness of a gun pressed to the side of my head. The same side that hit the table.
He presses it harder into me causing more pain to shoot through my head. "I'm going to enjoy this."
There is amusement in his voice and I shut my eyes. Even if I wanted to put up a fight I couldn't. Not with the way his arm is wrapped around my chest, pressing so hard it is making it difficult to breathe. So I don't fight. I shut my eyes instead and try to take a deep breath knowing I'm about to die.
My mind goes to Silas first. All of the memories we have shared, all the times that he was there for me when I needed him. My heart aches just thinking about him. I know that one day Nik will kill him and when he does, we can finally see each other again.
Then my mind drifts to Harry. If I die, he won't survive it. He will go off the rails with no one to stop him from doing whatever he wants. To kill whoever he wants. I choke out a cry from the thought of leaving both of them behind.
"Drop the gun!" A familiar voice brings me out of my thoughts.
My eyes shoot open to see both Nik and Harry standing there with their guns pointed at us. Relief washes over me when I see Harry but I know the feeling he has right now is the opposite. He looks from where the gun is resting on my head, the blood from my collision with the dresser and then down to my busted lip.
"He said drop the fucking gun!" Nik reiterated Harry's demand after seeing my condition.
"And why would I do that? Wanted to teach you a lesson Nik! Not offering me the amount that I wanted and because of that, you get to watch her die." Frank pulls me tighter, the gun digging into my skin. I hiss at the pain and blink the tears out of my eyes, feeling them roll down my face.
"Put the gun down or I'll put a hole through your fucking skull right now!" Harry shouts.
"And if you miss? Then you'll shoot her!" Frank laughs off the threat.
"I've got good aim." Harry shrugs and pulls the trigger.
It all happens in slow motion. I didn't dare move as it all played out. The bullet flew through the air at a slow speed and for a moment I was afraid it was going to hit me but it didn't. It flew past my head and I swear I could hear the tiny little nose it made as it whizzed by. I felt Frank's arm loosen around me and the gun he was holding dropped to the floor with a loud thud and I knew that he was dead. He wasn't holding me anymore but I still felt trapped, like my feet were glued to this spot.
Nik rushes over to me and grabs my face asking me if I'm okay but his touch irritates me. It brings me out of my shock for a moment and I bring my hands up to throw his hands off of me.
"Don't fucking touch me!" I yell in his face.
"Faye-" He tries to bring his hands up but I back away from him. The heel of my foot bumps into Frank's body that is lying lifeless on the ground beneath me. I stare at his head, where Harry's bullet impaled him and then my eyes scan the amount of blood on the floor.
"I think I'm going to be sick." My hand covers my mouth as I search the room with my eyes looking for the bathroom door. When it comes into my line of vision, I race over to it and kneel myself in front of the toilet, almost not making it in time.
Between the moments of me getting sick I hear Nik telling Harry to come check on me. My hands grip the edge of the toilet as more comes up my throat. When I feel someone grab my hair, my immediate reaction is to flinch but then realize it is just Harry. With one hand he holds my hair back and with the other he gently rubs my back telling me it's going to be okay.
After what feels like forever, I lean back on my heels not feeling like anything else is going to come up and then Harry is extending out his hand. Immediately I take it and he walks me over to the sink. I turn the water on and cup my hands, letting it fill up before bringing it to my mouth. I swish it around for a moment then spit it out into the sink. When my eyes lift up, I can see Harry looking over my marks again and the expression that is on his face is the same one he would get after he had hurt me in the past.
"Harry, text Niall and tell him to meet me out back. I found out where Frank is keeping my weapons." He tucks what I assume to be Frank's phone in his back pocket. "Get her out of here."
Harry nods and takes his phone out, sending a quick text to Niall and then puts his phone away. He takes my hand in his and leads us out of the bathroom. I keep my eyes ahead of me not wanting to look at Frank's dead body. This is what, the fourth person that was killed in front of me?
Harry is quick to take us down hallways where no one is around, going through doors that I don't remember coming through when we first got here and then suddenly we are outside. The fresh air helps me breathe a little, refilling my lungs but we continue to walk, Harry staying silent. When we reach the car, he opens the door for me and helps me in.
The ride back to Niks was quiet and I'm glad. I didn't really feel like talking, still feeling in a bit of shock from almost dying and it seemed like Harry was still trying to dial down his anger. After we got back, Harry took me up to my room and stood me in the bathroom where I faced the mirror and took in the way that I looked. The bleeding has stopped but the pain is still there and lord is it terrible. Harry brings over a wet washcloth and raises it to my lip.
"This might hurt a little." He warns me.
"It's fine." I answer quietly.
The cloth meets my lip and my eyes screw shut as he begins to wipe off the dried blood. "I'm so sorry Faye."
"It isn't your fault." I opened my eyes to tell him.
"But it is, isn't it?" His green eyes look at me. "All of this is my fault."
He moves the cloth up and to the side of my head. "All of this is Niks fault. He is the one that started all of this."
"I'm going to fix this Faye, all of this." He tosses the now red washcloth in the sink. "Nik should be here soon. I'm going to help him carry everything in. Why don't you shower?"
"After all of what happened tonight, he still got what he wanted?" I asked.
"And even got to keep the money." Harry says with disgust in his voice. "But he also started a war by killing Frank."
"Great." I said sarcastically and turned around. "Can you unzip me?"
Harry doesn't hesitate to undo my dress and I immediately slip out of it. Having it off of my body feels like I can finally breathe again. When I turn towards Harry, his eyes don't leave mine. Even though I am standing completely naked in front of him, he doesn't let his gaze wander down my body. He holds a worried expression on his face as he stares at me then he lets out a long breath of air.
He ducks his head down closer to me and plants a kiss on my cheek. "Shower Faye. I'll come check on you later, okay?"
"Okay." I muttered as he turns to walk away.
The shower didn't help much. Sure the water felt amazing on my skin as I washed all the events off from the night. I thought that it would calm me down a bit but I was wrong. Being alone right now probably wasn't the best thing to happen because I let my mind wander. I tried to clear my head by shutting my eyes but the images of that night played out in my head like a movie. I can still feel the gun pressed against my head and I hate it.
I shut the water off and grabbed a cotton towel, wrapping it around my body then I made my way to the bedroom. My wet hair is dripping on the floor as I walk leaving a trail behind me. The towel loosens on my body as I begin to have trouble breathing. Every moment from tonight rushes into my mind; Frank hitting me, my head slamming into the dresser, the feeling of his gun against my temple, the image of his dead body on the floor– it got me thinking of what I had witnessed earlier this morning.
My eyes scan over to where Harry had killed that woman, the spot is now perfectly clean. I have seen so much death since I have been here– it's all too much. Every single moment that someone died crosses through my mind right now and then it ends with my father. With the image of his body in our kitchen, the nightmare I had where Nik handed me the gun, demanding that I kill my own father.
My legs go weak and I drop to the ground, clenching the towel at my chest trying to breath but I can't. I can feel the cold air on my bare skin letting me know that the towel is now only covering my front but that is the least of my problems. Shortness of breath is a scary thing because it makes you feel like you are dying. At this point I am panting, not able to breath at all when my vision begins to go fuzzy.
Every sound is muffled so I don't even hear footsteps coming into the room. When I lift my head up, Nik is kneeled in front of me with a panicked look on his face. His mouth is moving, saying words to me that I can not hear and when I look past him I can see Niall standing there with his hand over his mouth, worried for me.
My palms meet the floor and my head drops down, feeling so weak that I can't even hold my head up anymore. I still see Nik's legs as he kneels in front of my and I know he has no idea what the fuck to do. I focus my eyes on the ground below me when I begin to hear words, soft words to me but I am sure everyone is shouting.
"I don't know what to do!" Nik says in a panic.
"Move! I can get her to calm down."
Nik's knees now disappear and are replaced with someone else. I feel the gentle touch of his hands on my cheek, lifting my head up to look at him. Harry's eyes meet mine and I can tell he is just as worried as the rest of them but he remains calm.
"Faye, remember what to do? Breathe with me." He orders and takes a deep breath in.
I follow his breathing slowly knowing he is going to help me, he always does. I suck in a deep breath, letting the air fill in my lungs and blow it all out. For a moment it feels like we are the only two in the room. That's how hard I am focusing on him.
"Good... you're doing so good Faye." Harry praises me as he brushes my tears away. "So good. Keep breathing."
I nod my head in response as I take in another deep breath. My vision is back to normal and I can clearly see Harry's face, tears slightly in his eyes. When I began to calm down, I then realized that we are not the only two in the room. I looked over Harry's shoulder to see Nik watching us intently, but I couldn't make out his expression. He seemed to be relieved that I was calm but then there was also a hint of anger.
It was only when I look past him to Niall whose eyes were wide when I realized that we had just fucked up. This intimate moment Harry and I just shared, him being so gentle and calm with me, Nik has to know something is going on between us.