Kai's Pov
From inside the mansion, things were set. The house was lit in some rooms, dark and abandoned in others. We had just entered through the windows, that Shawn and Ariana had managed to unlock through their security system. It was quite obvious to Otto that someone had hacked into his home, we all knew that. That's why I was very select on who I allowed on my team, even though Ariana was much better with combat than tech. Everyone on the ground with me knew that Otto knew so we kept that secret from everyone else, so there wouldn't be any defiance.
Zayn and Camila's team were still outside, waiting on the signal to enter from inside. Lauren and Cole, along with their team were still by the woods and hadn't been given instruction yet. Everyone was waiting on my call.
Tommy looked over at me, while both of us pressed our backs against the white doors. "Now or never." He said, giving a small smile, holding his gun by his side.
"Everything has to be perfect Tommy." I reiterated, not only to him but to the entire room who had been focusing on me. "Our first mission is to get my aunt and uncle out safe, fuck Otto right now. I know all of you understand the risks and everything you're putting on the line right now, but I am asking you, very clearly not to endanger yourselves if it is not necessary. If we have to retreat, it's every man for himself. Do not, I repeat, do not, come or go back for anyone else. You're my family, that's my job. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal." They replied in unison, although some of them were slightly nervous at my words. Preparing and actually going through with the actions were two different things.
I tapped into my mic, connecting Shawn and Ariana back to my earpiece, along with everyone else since we all needed to communicate.
We have everyone's team code names to better help with talking as well. Zayn and Camila's were our entrance team, Cole and Lauren's were our ground team, Shawn and Ariana's were our sky team, and my team was the stealth team.
"Sky team, give me an angle," I said into my earpiece.
Ariana was the one to respond. "Shawn says that cameras show that your hallway is clear, the north one has movement, and a couple of guys going in and out. If you want less noise, the south doors would be best for the entrance team to enter."
"Entrance team, take north doors."
"Grande said south, are you sure north?" Cole replied.
"I told you I'm not repeating myself tonight. Entrance team, take south doors." The noise wasn't an issue, they already knew we were here. "Ground team, enter five seconds after the entrance team makes it in."
"Copy," Zayn said.
"Stealth, we need to split up." I sighed, disconnecting from comms once again. "Because they know we're here, Willow and Matt could be anywhere. Hell, Otto would kill them and us right in front of me if I lead us right to them. Grab a partner, and make your way to the top, once everything is cleared, make your way down. Antonio has a team and is on standby until he can get to Otto, do not be afraid to call for help or retreat."
They looked amongst us themselves, nodding as they all found someone and stood next to them. Tommy looked over at me, letting me know he was sticking with me.
I was the first to open the doors and step out, before sending my men upstairs while Tommy led them until they could break out in two. I stood by the stairs, waiting until every last one of them made it up.
I heard the first shots going off from downstairs letting me know that my guys were in, I connected back on comms. "Kai!" I heard, just as I barely got on.
"Yes?"
"Where were you? We've been trying to tell you that your floors have been breached!"
"What do you mean?"
"We think there's a bomb in the house. It's not exactly big enough to explode the house but it can definitely do some damage. My computer's detecting it in the electrical wall they have in the security system."
"Hey, someone just threw a match in the basement." Camila came in and interjected.
"How bad is it?" Tommy asked.
"Fire's spreading pretty quickly but there's no sign of Willow or Matt. About ten are down on their side, we have an injury on ours."
"Lauren?" I said.
"Zayn and I are fine! But don't come downstairs, it's an open fire. We'll come back in once things are safe—" And she cut out with that.
Tommy and I were continuing to check each room as the house got louder and louder with gunshots and bullets going everywhere. Screams and yells filled the house, and the air was starting to get thick as smoke started to fill as well.
"Basement is cleared, Grey. We have about twenty before we gotta get out of here, the fire's bad." Cole checked in. "Ground team's gonna go secure the perimeter, they're sending more in."
Before I could say anything else, Tommy grabs my shirt, sending us both face flat on the ground in a huff, as the doors exploded open, and fire and smoke began to erupt.
With my loud coughs echoing in the room, my vision was starting to get blurrier with my ears starting to ring. I could barely hear anything as I checked my side for Tommy. He was just a couple of feet away from the door, laid out on the ground.
I ran over to make sure he was okay, and sure enough, I saw that he wasn't conscious anymore with his head bleeding and a bullet pierced in his chest. I tried checking if he was still breathing, and with everything going on with me, I couldn't tell if I could feel something or not.
Our mics were busted so we were completely out of comms, and stupidly, I let out a scream. Igniting both my guys and Otto's guys to come our way. Otto's guys entered a second before mine did, letting a couple of loose shots out, while I tried to protect Tommy and let shots out of my own in the grey smoke abyss. Tommy's body jerked as I felt another bullet graze my skin, and sink inside of his. Lauren's team was the one to come in directing shots at Otto's team.
When her eyes met mine, I only saw the basis of the panic on her face, I could just barely hear her say, "No, no, we're fucking done, let's go!"
"Lauren take him, he's gonna die if he's not dead already. I'm fine."
"Kai—"
"-no repeats," I said once again, as Ozzy and Jayde picked up Tommy, easily.
"But Zayn's, Zayn's been—"
"-let her go Ozzy."
Two other members helped me up, and I left Lauren alone as she didn't try to stop me again. I was pissed now, I was sure my team would start making their way back down now, so I figured we missed something. We had to. They were here.
I guessed that the bomb would most likely be at the top considering most of my men were still making their way down. They didn't know we split into groups, Otto wanted me dead and he was gonna end up killing them if I didn't get everyone down in time.
I dashed down the hall, not hesitating to shoot at anyone that was rushing my way. I was out of breath, running up these stairs to make sure I got to them in time. It was like every corner I turned, more and more appeared out of nowhere. And I figured my guys cleared these floors, and of course, they knew what they were doing, so that could only mean that something must've happened to them.
I was weak, tired, and could barely see and breathe but I know I had to push through. My dad or Matt would've never left anyone behind. My guys had families to come home to, I wasn't gonna take a parent/significant other out of someone's life. My dad always came home to me, and so did my mom, so best believe every single one of my guys was making it out.
"Hey, is anyone up here? It's Kai and I need to get you out! The fire starting to spread more so I really need you to call out so I can find you. Things are gonna start collapsing soon!" I yelled, earning silence as I ran through yet another floor and another flight of stairs. I didn't think the house would be so big like this.
"Is anyone here?!" No response, so I moved on. But just as I had reached the second to last floor, I heard screaming from the very end of the hall, so I ran as fast as I possibly could.
Slamming open the door, it was dark, and the yelling stopped. And that's when my breathing stopped, this was a fucking trap.
"Don't move." I heard, as the cold metal pressed against my head. The figure slowly walked in front of me, meeting my eyes. "I know you wouldn't have guessed this. I know." He chuckled.
"Frankie, you don't know what you're doing."
"But I do." Frankie smiled, with a shrug. "You and your friends took away the first real guy I ever loved. Max was my everything and you had Zayn kill him like it was nothing."
"Zayn didn't kill Max, Frankie, he drove him out of the city and he was blackmailed. You're crazy." Even though that was a lie, Zayn definitely killed his ass.
"Stop fucking lying to me!" He yelled, smacking the gun against my face.
So I took my hand, and I slapped the shit out of him. He stumbled back, holding his face.
"Bitch, do you think I won't do it?"
"I think you're fucking crazy, that's what I think. If I wanted your boyfriend killed, I would've had no problem doing it in front of your ass. We chose to let him go and have the world think that he died, but sending a hit is only one call away."
"I let your fucking men go, I could've killed them all. I'm everything but crazy, Kai. I wish I would've run The Page, ruined your fucking life like you did mine. Ruined my sister's too. You know I was supposed to have everything and mom gave it all to her?" He let out a chuckle. "Yes, I worked with Otto, but wanting to kidnap and kill your aunt and uncle was all me. Honestly, he's not even here right now, he helped with tipping you guys off. The rest was all me. He wants to kill you himself anyway, but he fucked that up so now I'm gonna do it for him. He doesn't deserve the satisfaction after he fucked me over. And if I'm being completely honest with you, he's always been right under your noses. But as of right now, he's in New York, I guess to secure some land. He's still running the whole real estate thing too. Talk about priorities. But anyway back to my original point, you can't trust everyone you call your friend, Kai. I thought you would've known that by now."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'll let Ariana figure it out for you. I really liked you guys together too, I mean until I realized how selfish you both were. Well, can I just be completely honest with you? I finally get to talk about it all for the first time. So anyways, I used Ryder to get close to Madison, surprise, I actually shot her. Drugged everyone that night, you know. Lauren thinks Ariana did it because Otto said she did but nah, it was me. What else... what else... oh, did you know Otto was having an affair with Camila? He thinks they're legally married but that was forged, by me of course. You should ask her about that though. But can I just ask you, who really ran The Page? Just out of curiosity."
My mouth almost hung agape as the man talked, in detail describing shit that we never would've guessed was him. He was actually crazy, and no one figured it out. I was actually gonna fucking die.
"I—I don't know."
"Mmm, oh well. I always thought it was Shawn, he seems a bit off after the whole cheating thing. Guess you'll never know then." Just as that last word escaped his lips, I felt it in me that he planned on pulling the trigger, so I grabbed him by his suit jacket and slammed him against the window, and held him outside of the window as he was safe by just me holding onto his jacket loosely.
"You won't." He smiled, as blood dripped down his nose.
"Don't ever fuck with a Grey," I said calmly, letting his shirt go. I turned away from the scene before I could see him fall.
My body had kinda stumbled to the ground as I laid on the floor for rest, seen as I was exhausted and a mess. Breathing in and out slowly, I now realized that it was getting hot as hell and I wasn't breathing air anymore, the building was now cloudy with smoke.
Picking myself back up again, I stumbled over to the door. I still had to make it back into the basement, but as soon as I opened it, the floor beneath me collapsed, and I grabbed onto the door frame, dangling over home fragments, wood, glass, and fire. I could barely hold myself up, trying to pull me over and across the door onto the floor that hadn't collapsed.
Just as I had pulled my body over the frame, a loud ringing came across my ears, and I felt myself let go.
The bomb.
But what I had realized then was the bomb was never planted upstairs so I could be the one to go and deactivate it... it was so I'd never make it back down to save them from the fire.
Because if water took away Kehlani and Malcolm, it would only make sense that fire would take away the last family I had.
The last family Victoria had. We were the last she had.
a/n: 💀