𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐃 // 𝐇.𝐒.

71.

Chapter 71

24 HOURS BEFORE

HARRY

Watching her go had been way too damn hard. She was ushered out by the Angelos before I could even get another hug or kiss in. Once the door of the safe house had shut, I tucked the letter she made me promise not to read yet into the pocket of my pants.

I turned and pushed past the crowd to deal with the fact that I let the love of my life walk straight into danger.

I believed in her, I trusted her more than anything in this world, but I still didn't feel good about the plan. Being apart from her for the first time in forever, I felt sick. I just wanted to be with her and near her so that I could protect her, but knowing she was unreachable was not sitting well with me.

"Brother," Finn called for me, dropping a hand onto my shoulder to keep me from walking any further.

I turned. "What?"

"It's going to be fine. She's going to be fine," he assured.

My jaw clenched. "You better be right, because don't forget... you encouraged her."

He sighed as if he was tired of my negativity. "As long as the plan gets followed—"

"And if it doesn't?" I thickly swallowed, but I shook my head when I didn't want to argue any further. I didn't want to let myself think of all the things that could go wrong. I couldn't.

I walked away before he could say anything more.

When it was time for the Angelos to go, I climbed into the back of a van with Finn, that Eileen girl, and a few faces I hadn't recognized—though, I knew they were Angelos.

I didn't want to ride with the blonde and I'm sure she didn't want to ride with me, but she and Finn had been working together to execute this plan. I didn't have much of a choice because of it.

"Look, she's in," Finn said, pointing to his laptop computer screen and I turned my head to look. For some reason, I expected to see her face—or I hoped I would see her face. I saw a red dot on a map instead, which had been her tracking device located in that damn warehouse.

"Do you think she'll be able to hear us now?" Eileen asked Finn.

I leaned against one side of the moving van, keeping my balance as the two hovered over the computer screen.

"One sec," Finn mumbled, tapping away at keys. Then he would say, "Testing... Jo, can you hear me?"

I stood stiff, waiting for her voice but all we hear is light static. That's when I said, "You said we'd be able to hear her."

"And we will."

I thickly swallowed and I locked eyes with Eileen for only a second.

I missed her. I missed my Elle and it was beginning to affect me. I had to tuck my shaky hands underneath my arms. It was killing me slowly at the thought of not knowing whether she was okay or not.

I lifted my head when the van had come to a stop. I headed for the view out of the windscreen. I recognized that we were about a mile and a half from the warehouse. With a frown, I turned back to Finn. "Anything?"

Again, Finn said, "Jo? Testing. Can you hear me?"

Expecting more static, I stepped even closer when the sound was clear. Through a mic, Finn said her name again.

"You. Vampy, isn't it?"

Her voice. All of us seem to shift the moment we heard her talk. Although she wasn't talking to us, I felt relieved and I waited to hear her voice again.

"Who is she talking to?" Eileen asked.

"Louis," I mumbled under my breath as I recalled everything that Fuck had done. The way he tormented my Elle and made her too afraid to tell me the truth. I swallowed when I then heard her yell at him.

But then it fell quiet. That's when I took the mic from Finn and I said, "Angel, it's me... If you can't answer me, don't. Just know we're here. I'm here." I paused, waiting for a word when I had just told her she didn't have to respond.

But static had cut her off. "Elle?" I spoke through the mic. "My Elle, are you there?"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Finny muttered.

"What happened?!" Eileen interrupted.

I dropped the mic onto Finn's lap and I shook my head. "You have to fix it, Finn. Fix it now!"

"I am! It must've fallen out of her ear or something... I—"

I turned away, upset to think we might've lost contact with her. The moment I saw Finn's equipment that he obtained from fuck knows where I doubted it. I knew something would go wrong and it's frustrating to see that it had.

I missed her. I missed her so much.

"What now?" Eileen asked Finn while I had to step away.

I sat on the floor of the van and I anxiously pushed my hair back. I needed a minute to see if a surge of optimism would hit me, but the more I sat by myself, I more I expected the worst. I'm not like Elle and I desperately wish that I was.

Read it when I'm there and you miss me. Read it when you're worried and you don't know what to do.

I heard her voice in my head and quickly, I reached for her letter in my pocket. With trembling hands, I unfolded the paper and soon recognized her pretty handwriting.

I might've held my breath while I read her words off the piece of journal paper because by the time I reached the end a vast breath left my body.

Lowering her letter onto my lap, all I could imagine was Elle scribbling her heart out onto this sheet for me. It physically ached, every inch of me, as I reread the very last sentence she wrote.

I will wait patiently for us to live this life, however many lifetimes it will take.

She must know I'd fight my hardest to live this life with her in this very lifetime.

I carefully folded her letter to stuff it right back into my pocket.

I shuffled onto my feet the second I heard a loud explosion. The van rocked and I looked at Finn for answers. "What the fuck was that?"

Everyone else in this van had looked around in confusion. Eileen then answered, "It sounded like it came from the warehouse."

That wasn't what I wanted to hear. If it did come from the warehouse, it meant I couldn't wait around. After reading her letter, I knew I had to do something.

"I'm going in," I announced, beginning to gear up.

"No, you're not," said Eileen. "We have to wait for the green light, for the signal that Jo is with her mom."

"And how do you fucking expect to get a signal when we lost contact?!" I snapped, watching the eyes of the other Angelos in the car shift onto me.

"Shut up!" Finn then yelled when he was able to hear her again.

"Please... Don't hurt her and... I'll do it. I'll do whatever you want!"

Hearing her scream felt heavy. I couldn't stand there and listen to her bargain. I turned to grab a gun, but then Finn peeled away from his computer screen to grab me by the shoulders. He pushed me aside.

"Hey... you can't go in yet. I know you want to burst in there—believe me, I do too—but it's too early."

I shoved his hands off me because I didn't want to hear it. I then pushed past to get to the door but the Angelos in the van had blocked me. "Get the fuck out of my way," I told them.

"He's right. It's too early."

I frowned at the blonde, scoffing as she sided with Finn. "Did you not hear her?! You heard that explosion. It might've come from in there or not, but if it wasn't them, the fucking Infernos are going to think something is up. Any minute they are going to spot ten to fifteen vans and then it'll be too late," I explained. I turned back to the Angelos. "So get out of my damn way. I'm not going to ask you again!"

To explain what happened next would be hard. I was close to killing them. All of a sudden, my gun was raised and my thumb was over the trigger. Their guns were pointed right back at me, but then Eileen ordered them to move. They folded.

When they stepped aside and allowed me to leave, I rushed out. I quickly hopped out the back of the van, but then Finn grabbed me by the shirt as he went after me.

He pushed me against the side of the van and I shoved him in return. "The fuck!" I shouted. "I need to fucking go! She needs me, Finn. She needs me!"

Even with the force of my shove, Finn came right back to grab a hold of my shoulders. He was panting. "Listen to me first!"

I stopped myself from shoving him again and I looked at him.

"You go in there, but you find her and bring her back. Don't do anything stupid, you got that?" Finn said, using his pointer finger to get me to understand his every word. "I'm sending the Angelos in as soon as I hear nothing from you."

I heaved a sigh and I looked elsewhere. "But... if I don't find her," I began. "You find her for me. You tell her it's all okay and you take her back to the safe house. Don't worry about me."

"Harry."

"I fucking mean it, Finn. Don't worry about me. You keep her safe and you put her first. You owe me that... as my fucking brother, you owe me that." I swallowed the itch in my throat and I looked at him again.

Finn looked down this time. Finally, he then nodded. He had let go of his hold on me and that's when I ran. I ran as fast as I could and the mile distance hadn't worn me out. By the time I had been approaching the warehouse, I loaded my gun all while remaining vigilant of my surroundings.

Two Infernos guarded an entrance, but over a cigarette and a chat. I didn't recognize them. Members were recruited daily for no other reason but to create a fucking army. I walked up to them because nothing was going to stop me from getting in.

"Who the fuck are you?" One of them asked, leaning off the wall to intimidate me.

"Oh, shit," the other said, smacking a hand against the first one's chest. "Pierce?"

I despised hearing my given nickname when I ran with the Infernos. It only brought back the shame of the shit I was involved in. I then remembered Pierce is supposed to be dead. Having one of these fucks spread the news that I'm not dead but here wouldn't help. I lifted my gun while still approaching them. I fired, taking both of them out, and maybe I'd feel remorse if my Elle wasn't in trouble.

I stepped over the bodies and entered the warehouse while pushing through the door. I stood in place for only a second as I looked around the familiarity.

I raised my gun again when the place was too fucking quiet and empty. I suspected all the other Infernos were elsewhere. My heart, loud in my chest, feared that maybe she wasn't here anymore.

I stopped myself from thinking the worst. Before I could get into that negative mindset I almost always end up in, I focus on one thing only: that happy ending I'm fighting for.

I turned to the sound of fast-paced footsteps coming from a hall to my very far right. I quietly walked in the same direction, waiting to see who was going to appear. I made it to the wall, just where the hallway began, and I pressed my back against it. Seconds later, I saw the asshole I once worked alongside—the one I'd been wanting to get my hands on for a while now.

I yanked Louis by his top and I pushed him up against the wall, my forearm pressed against his throat to keep him pinned. The urge I felt to crush his skull against the wall of cement had been violently strong. I clenched my jaw as I managed to spit out, "Where the fuck is she?!"

He struggled to get a word out from the way I had him, but he didn't fight it. I frowned and to let him answer me, I released pressure.

"Fucking hell," he first muttered while dramatically gasping for air. He then looked at me up and down. "You're not dead."

"No, shit... Now tell me where the fuck is she before I fucking kill you the way I should have when I found out what you fucking did to her."

Louis huffed at that. "You weren't supposed to find out, mate," he then told me, attempting to be witty by the way he grinned.

Just as I was about to beat his face in with the gun, he yelled, "Alright, alright!" He panted when I stopped myself. "I let her go. I told her where he had her mum and now I'm trying to fucking act as if I don't know shit so he won't kill me! I'm already in deep shit so lay off!"

I tried to decipher if he told a lie. I frowned the more I looked at him. "Why the fuck would you let her go? I fucking swear if you're lying to me, Vamp—"

"I'm not fucking lying," he defended. "Do you know why this place is so fucking empty?! He just sent everyone to check out the explosion and to gear up if we're being attacked. Little does he fucking know I blew up his shit. Money and drugs."

I had let go of my hold on Louis after what he said.

"I have my reasons," Louis continued as if he read what I was thinking. "I was in the middle of sabotaging the fuck out of him before you fucking showed up."

I never knew Louis well. I never knew anything about him or where he came from. I just knew he was a fellow Inferno, but maybe he hated the position he was put in, too. I don't know whether to take his act of destroying Dante's drugs and money as fucking stupid or genius. Either way, he was a dead man walking.

I shoved past him, but he stopped me from walking away. "Pierce, I had to fuck with her. He's been obsessed with her and—"

I didn't care for his excuses for what he had done to Elle. I shook my head. "Just tell me where I could fucking find her... please."

"She's—" He paused and the both of us looked behind me when a string of gunfire erupted.

Louis reached for his gun while he cursed under his breath. "What was that?" He asked me.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I muttered at the realization of what was happening. The Angelos, without giving me enough time, were already here.

"What?!" Louis panicked beside me.

"You need to leave," I then warned. "Even though you're already fucking dead, you need to get out of here, Vampy."

He frowned at me or maybe he was puzzled at the fact that I was sparing his life. He took a few steps back anyway. "When it gets back to him, that his shit is gone, he's going to try to escape," he warned. "There's a boat—"

The Angelos burst into the warehouse, filing in with their guns and I grabbed Louis. With my arm swinging around his neck, I tugged him close and pressed the barrel of my gun against his temple. If I hadn't, the Angelos might've taken a shot at him. "Relax," I muttered when he tried to pull away.

A war zone broke right in front of me. With the Angelos on one side, Infernos filed into the warehouse on the opposite side. I froze when I looked around. On either side, people were falling—they were dying. I stood there with the words of my wife's words engraved in my mind: however many lifetimes it will take.

I ducked the second an Inferno fired at me. I released Louis by the neck, but I kept a grip on his shirt. I then fired back several times before getting back up and pulling Louis up onto his feet.

"Fucking hell!" Louis complained.

"You're going to tell me where he's going," I said. With the Angelos here, I decided to put all my trust in Finn. He was going to find her and I was going to keep Dante from leaving.

"We have to get out of here," Louis then said and I nodded. He turned and through the back and forth gunfire, he led us out of the warehouse.

I released him the minute we were outside and alone again. It didn't take long for Louis to tell me Dante's escape plan, every last detail of it. "One more thing," he then said before having to go. "If he's not leaving with her, he's leaving with her mum."

I figured. "Go," I then allowed now that I knew what would happen next. I watched as Louis ran back inside, having to report back to Dante as his second-hand man as if he wasn't in the middle of sabotaging him for his own reasons.

I reloaded my gun as I now had the plan to keep Dante from getting on that boat.

"Hey!"

I looked up, groaning at the sight of two Infernos making their way to me. They pointed their guns, but instead of shooting them, I raised my hands in defense. Not recognizing them, I only hoped they wouldn't recognize me. "I'm with I-16. I'm going to prove it," I warned before lifting my shirt to reveal my tattoo.

They were convinced. I watched as the two idiots lowered their weapons. "Dante wants every Angelo in there dead," said one of them.

"I know... but he wants me out here in case any Angelo slips by," I lied and I looked around. "Infernos need all the help though... it's rough in there."

Looking back at the men, I could read the nerves right off of them. They turned their backs to me, however. I licked my lips as my feet stepped closer to the pile of scrapped metal to my left because, in truth, the Angelos didn't need any more Infernos trying to kill them. With a metal pipe I found, I picked it up and I swung it as hard as I could. One man fell to the ground and the other turned, but before he could shoot me, I grabbed his gun. It fired, but the bullet hit the ground. I grunted as I threw a punch. He also fell, but I threw another punch that caused his head to hit the cold cement.

I went through their pockets for anything of use, but I stepped away the moment I had the gunfire intensify. I then turned my head at the sound of a garage door opening. I quickly moved, hiding behind a dumpster as I watched Louis come out of it. My jaw clenched at the sight of him carrying Roma. She wasn't awake, but she wasn't dead—at least, I fucking hoped she wasn't. Just as I was about to run towards Louis, I stopped myself when I saw him.

He stomped right behind Louis toward the wooden dock. He looked furious.

Don't do anything stupid.

I started to pant when I then wondered where my wife was. Was she safe? Did Finn find her? I felt sick, physically sick again, with not knowing shit. I pushed myself away from the dumpster. I wasn't going to let Dante get on that boat. I wasn't going to let him take my wife's mother, Roma, and have her believe all of this was for nothing. I pushed the hood off of my head and I headed for the cement below the wooden dock. I'd have a better chance of reaching the boat they were heading to without being seen.

Gunshot.

I looked up and I found my Elle. I didn't have time to thank whatever God was out there. It was happening too fast. She fired at Dante and now he was firing back. He wasn't going to hurt her, not over my dead body. I fired at him, too.

My Elle and I locked eyes, but only for a second. We were suddenly, both determined to kill Dante, despite the consequences. I shot bullet after bullet and I got him in the shoulder. I watched him groan in agony, but as I was about to shoot again, a sharp pain ripped through my side.

I stumbled back, gripping my side. I searched for Elle's face, but with one off step, I had fallen into the water. A shock of coldness went through me and it stung. I tried to swim, but I panicked. My fingers went numb, and my chest felt tight, but I kept holding my breath. I fought the urge to inhale and it was hurting.

Yet, I moved my arms. I started to swim so that I could get to my wife.

Eventually, my hands gripped the metal bars of a ladder. I pulled myself up and I gasped for air.

I roughly coughed and I felt myself shiver shortly after. When I looked around, I wasn't sure where I was. I lost sight of where I had fallen and my breathing picked up again when I couldn't see her.

"Harry Styles?"

I looked up to see four to five men on the dock surrounding the ladder I held onto. They carried guns and bulletproof vests. The letters DEA across their chests and then one said, "You're coming with us."