I laid on the table in the emergency room, not fully asleep, but heavily sedated. Everything felt like a daze when they shot me full of pain medication, barely remembering when the doctor pulled the bullet out of my lower stomach.
The medication didn't give me much motivation to think about anything else. Not the ambush on the house, Niall, or Anna. My mind was blank, soaking in the numb feeling. It wasn't until they stitched me up when I started to gather my thoughts back, the sedative was wearing off, and I could feel the vague feeling of the needle piercing through my skin. But I laid still.
"We can move him back to his room."
I heard the doctor say. My head fell to the side, staring at the bloodied mess on the surgical table next to me. A silver bullet spotted with blood in a small bowl with sanitary towels filled with my own blood. I swallowed thickly, feeling my stomach flip sickly, and I closed my eyes as they moved me.
How could I have let this happen? Be so careless, so reckless. Anna almost died because of me. She almost got taken away from me again. How many more times was I going to fight for her life? How many more times was I going to fight for my friend's lives?
I didn't know how they found us. Sure they knew where the warehouse was, but never did I tell Angela where we lived. She wasn't breaching any kind of contract in showing up to our house, but it sure as hell wasn't the fucking deal either. But the deal didn't matter anymore. They made their first move and now we were going to have to deal with it.
The worst part is that I was doing this to help people. Not destroy their lives. Traumatize them.
This deal was supposed to protect them the only way I knew how. Many times I've made deals with the devil, but this woman was as pure as evil. She was not the devil, she was worse than that. Angela was the thing that made the devil shiver in fear and beg for death. Angela was the thing that lived beneath hell. The place nobody talks about, the place where you'd wished there was no heaven or hell.
I shook hands with someone I thought to be the devil, only to find out that I made a deal with something much worse.
Wheeled back into the room, they hooked me up to some IV's, made sure to hook me up to a heart monitor, and left the room. There was a thin layer of sweat on my forehead, letting my head fall the other way to see Anna sitting on the bed with her legs crossed and staring into her lap.
"Angel." I rasped.
Her head rose, gazing towards me with reddened eyes.
"Come here," I mumbled, "I need you."
Anna swung her legs over the bed, feet hitting the floor. I scooted over as much as I could muster, letting her lay beside me. I grabbed her hand, letting out a bated breath, and kissing her fingers slowly. It pained me worse of all to see her hurt. The anger that flooded me wasn't like anything I'd ever experienced.
When me and Niall entered the house, I half expected there only to be a couple people, and there were at first. Niall seemed to take one down, but then another one came from the front door. While Niall was struggling with one of them, I was wrestling with the other.
If I had known that Anna was outside...
When I went outside to check on Niall and found Anna on the ground, something came over me so fiercely, so furiously. I wanted nothing more than to tie up that man and show him exactly what I was able to do, and what he deserved when he placed his hands on her. I wanted to kill him, but I wanted it to take days. Weeks, months, years. Wear him down, make him feel like I'm getting old of torturing him, and then come back and peel his fucking skin–,
It didn't matter.
He was dead now, but I had to worry about what came after this.
"Are you okay?" Anna asked softly, holding my hand to her heart.
"I'm okay, they gave me some medicine," I mumbled thick and coarse, adjusting my hips softly as I tilted my head onto her shoulder, "Where is Gracie and Rina?"
"Gracie went upstairs with Rina," Anna said tiredly, fiddling with my fingers, "My nose isn't broken."
"Good. How is Niall? Do we know anything?" I interlocked our legs together, getting impossibly close to her.
"Not yet," Anna said, licking her chapped lips, "Gracie said she would text me."
I craned my neck upwards, staring at the side of her face. Much cleaner, though still stained red of blood in some places. Her nose was reddened and bruised, swollen. The top of her lip busted and split open. I wanted to cry for her. To think that someone would ever touch an Angel like this, that someone would ever want to hurt her. It filled me with such rage.
"I'll kill them," I seethed quietly, placing a gentle hand on the side of her face, making her look at me, "I'm going to kill every single one of them."
Anna pressed her lips together. She forced a tight knit smile, then leaned in and kissed my bottom lip.
"I have something to tell you," Anna said against my lips, nudging her nose against mine, "Something really important."
"What is it? Is everything okay?"
Anna didn't say a word, instead her fingers around mine forced my hand to move down her chest. I gulped, tightening my legs around hers. I pressed my lips against hers, pushing myself up on my elbow, just enough for me to hover over her. Anna kissed back lightly, hesitantly, and sorely because of her split lip.
She placed my hand on her stomach, leaving it there. I pecked her lips some more, fingers feathering around her skin, breathing softly against her lips. I didn't understand what she was trying to do, if she was trying to have an intimate moment in the hospital; it was going to be hard for me to work myself up in the conditions I was in.
"What, baby?" I whispered against her lips, staring into her eyes, "Tell me."
"Harry..." Anna tilted her head away from mine.
I followed her gaze, she was staring down at her exposed stomach. My fingers drew around her belly button, lips parted. She placed a gentle hand onto mine, pressing down lightly on her stomach. I looked back at her in confusion, only for her to smile lightly with tears in her eyes. That broken smile, the one with the split lip and the tired eyes.
"You're going to be a daddy," Anna croaked softly, trying to hold back the hoarse cry in her throat.
I almost jolted, but my stitches reminded me not to move quickly. I stared down at her stomach, my hand against her bare skin, my fingers closing into a fist as I turned my gaze back to hers. Vision blurred, I parted my lips as I took her hand and pulled it to my chest.
"Don't play with me, Angel." I warned, hoarse.
"I'm serious," She wiped her tears, taking her free hand to use her thumb and wipe away the tear that fell down my cheek; I hadn't even noticed it, "I tested positive."
The flood gates opened. I was a part of the rain that poured outside, reddened nose and eyes, and all. My fingers locking with hers, my lips kissing hers desperately. My heart pounded, an immense amount of love that overflowed into something that I'd never felt before. I cried into the kiss, not caring that it may had made me look weak; not caring about anything in that moment. I kissed her hard on the mouth until I lost my breath.
"I'm going to be a dad," I croaked, biting my quivering lip, "I'm going to be a dad and you're going to be a mummy."
Anna sniffled, nodding, "We did it, Harry."
I looked down to her stomach. Laying back down, I shifted lower towards her. Pulling her shirt up and placing my ear on her stomach.
"How far along are you?" I asked, listening to the sounds of her stomach.
"They said early, between four to six weeks," Anna giggled.
I rubbed her stomach, kissing it softly, staring at it in awe. I gazed up at her with reddened eyes.
"My baby is in there," I chewed the inside of my lip, "We are going to be parents."
"I–I can't believe it..." Anna cupped my cheek, smiling sadly.
"Is this why you've been sick?" I asked, chuckling quietly.
Anna shrugged one shoulder, "It was probably both this and the medicine. Either way..." She paused, tears glistening in her eyes, "I'm gonna be a mumma..."
Tears slid down my cheeks as I kissed her stomach. This was the only thing I ever wanted, if I did nothing else with my life, if I couldn't make something magnificent with my life, this is all I wanted. A family. I couldn't wrap my head around it. We'd been trying for so long, it was bound to happen, but knowing that there was a baby growing inside of her...
My baby.
My child.
I couldn't wait to meet them.
The door clicked open, Rina entered the room with irritated eyes. Surely from crying. I gazed towards her, pushing myself up slowly onto my knees. She looked between the two of us, for a moment there was a beat of silence. Then she smiled.
"He's okay," She finally said, "He's going to make a full recovery, but he's asleep right now."
"Thank God," Anna sighed heavily, sinking into the bed, "How bad is his face?"
Rina frowned, "It's really rough, I'm not gonna lie."
"What room is it? We will come up soon." I said thickly.
"Room 208." Rina hummed.
"Great, we'll be up soon, then."
Rina nodded, she turned to leave the room, only for Anna to halt her.
"Wait," Anna said, Rina turned back to look at her, "Did Gracie tell you?"
Rina smiled wide, nodding lightly, "Congratulations. You two are going to be great parents. I'm really happy for you two."
"Thank you, Rina," I offered as I laid beside Anna, rubbing her stomach slowly, "We are really excited."
"We'll talk more when you come up, just rest for now. It's been a long day for everyone." Rina's smile wavered, sadness in her voice.
With that, she left. Anna and I stayed in bed for a bit longer. It was nice to know that Niall was okay. Ultimately I knew that Niall was going to be okay. If there is anything about Niall, it's that he simply can't die. I've seen that boy go through things that should've killed him, but still lived. He was strong.
However, I never knew when his luck was going to run out.
During the time that Anna and I stayed in the hospital bed, we barely spoke, and when we did; it was about the baby. It was hard to wrap my mind around. Hearing her say that I was going to be a dad felt fake, almost in a cruel way, like it was some sort of prank.
But then the unsettling feeling of her being pregnant sank in. If anyone found out that she was pregnant, I'd be scared to know what they were going to do to her. Not only was this a gift, but it was a curse. I was no longer protecting Anna, but my future child as well. I felt sick, bile rising in my throat.
I didn't mention it to her. I couldn't bring myself to stress her out. She was carrying our child, our baby, I needed her to relax as much as possible.
"I love you," I broke the silence, "And I will do anything for you and our child."
Anna craned her neck, looking at me with a lazy smile. Tired. Her thumb pulled my bottom lip down before kissing my top lip.
"I know," She whispered, "Me too."
When the doctor cleared us both to leave, they prescribed me some pain medication. I was honest with them, telling them about my past addiction and that I needed something that wouldn't have me sniffing for more. They prescribed me some medication that was low dose, not addictive. Thankfully.
As far as Anna went, she was told she couldn't have a lot of medication at this point. They set her up with an appointment to come back in a couple of weeks to do an ultrasound. It would tell us exactly how far along she was because as of right now, it's just a guesstimate.
After we gathered our things, we went up to see Niall. It was turning close to midnight, Pete had texted me telling me that they got rid of everything. I thought about not going home, about maybe booking a hotel room, or finding a different house. There were so many factors, I didn't know if going home was going to benefit us, and I didn't think that Anna would want to go back home either. I knew her too well.
Pete had brought it up. Relocating. The only thing was that I didn't know if I should bring it up with Anna first, or if I should wait. With her being pregnant and in the early stages, I was frightened for anything to happen to ruin the pregnancy.
When we hit the second floor, we walked to Niall's room. Anna was nervous, she kept mumbling about being scared to see his face. I wasn't there to see Niall getting beaten like a pulp, but Anna saw it all. Dread sat in my chest when I thought about it, how his face looked while we carried him to the car.
I just hoped that he was in better condition now.
"Do you think he's awake by now?" Anna mumbled nervously, chewing on her lip.
"Probably not, love. He'll be out for a bit," I said softly, squeezing her hand, "He should be awake by tomorrow though. I'm sure of it. He just needs some rest."
She nodded as we entered his room. Rina was the only one in the room, sitting besides his hospital bed. Niall's chest rose and fell, it was a good sight to see. However, his face was a different story. Niall looked like Niall, but his face was busted up and bruised. His lip split in two different places, a stencil on his nose that was blue and purple. One black eye. Cuts on his cheeks.
"Oh, Niall..." Anna whimpered, covering her busted lip.
Rina turned her head towards us, straightening in her seat.
"Gracie left a bit ago," She said quietly, her eyes tired, "Pete came and got her. He's taking her home and coming back to see Niall."
"I understand," I said, taking a stand next to Niall as I sighed, "It's been a rough day."
Anna took place at the end of his bed, one hand on his shin, as she studied the bruises and cuts on his face. I reached out, taking her hand, kissing it for comfort. Rina kept her eyes on Niall, one hand in his.
"We almost lost him," Anna whispered, swallowing, "The entire drive up here I thought he was dead. I thought we lost him."
"Good thing Niall is too stubborn to die."
I turned my head, Pete stood in the doorway. He didn't look as emotional as we did, but still there was a small bit of sadness in his eyes. Of course Pete would never want something to happen to his mates, but he was better with his emotions than anyone in this room. Level headed.
"Is Gracie–,"
"She's at mine," He nodded, "And you two are more than welcome to stay at mine tonight. I have an extra bedroom."
"Yes," Anna said, frowning, "Thank you. I don't think I want to go home right now."
Pete pushed himself off the doorframe, entering the room. He glanced towards Niall, sighing softly.
"We cleaned up as best as we could," He said, glancing towards me, "You can still tell there was a break in, but at least there's no blood or bodies."
I nodded.
"And Ajax?"
"We're making our move soon," Pete mumbled, face deadpan, his jaw feathered in movement, "In the next couple days. It's going to get ugly."
"I imagine we have a lot of sleepless nights ahead of us then." I said tightly, trying to keep my head high. Trying to stop staring at the woman I love, carrying my new-growing child.
"Ajax is moving everyone from London to Madrid. They will be here by tomorrow," Pete said quietly between the two of us, "Sixty men."
"Good." I kept my gaze on Niall, frowning.
Anna tugged on my hand, rubbing her eyes tiredly. I turned to her, squeezing her hand.
"It's late," She said softly, "Can we come back tomorrow?"
I nodded, kissing the top of her head, "Of course," I turned to Pete, "Is it okay to head to your house?"
"I'll meet you there." Pete hummed.
I kissed Anna's hand, "Come then, love. Let's get you in bed."
It was half past two in the morning. I took Anna to bed and laid there until I couldn't any longer. I was there to make sure she felt safe enough to fall asleep, and when she eventually did, I left the room. I found myself sitting on the couch, orange dim light in the corner that barely lit up the room.
A pipe in my hand, it was Niall's, and I ripped on it until I felt high enough to shut my mind off. The room was hazed in a thin layer of smoke. I'd always thought about how one day we'd have to do this, but I never thought the day would come so soon. It felt surreal. I had to be brave though, and while I didn't feel nervous, I felt as though I was scared for Anna and our unborn child.
If I ever lost them, I don't know what I'd do.
Burn the entire city down, maybe.
Burn myself down with it.
A click echoed through the door. I turned my head, Pete entering the house. He closed the door, looking into the living-room as he passed by. He stopped in the doorframe, staring at me for mere moments, then eventually came and sat next to me with a heavy sigh.
"Fuckin' hell." Pete grumbled, rubbing over his face.
"You're telling me," I grumbled, sinking further into the couch.
"Where's Anna?"
"She's asleep, finally," There was a beat of silence, I looked at Pete and barely smiled, " 'M gonna be a dad."
Pete's eyes widened. For a minute I didn't know what his reaction was going to be, until he wrapped his arms around my body and pulled me into a tight hug. I chuckled quietly, patting his back softly.
"Alright, alright." I mumbled softly.
"Fuckin' hell, congratulations, mate," Pete smiled wide, but it wasn't long till it faltered and fell, "Shit, what worse timing."
"Don't remind me," I cleared my throat, closing my eyes as I dipped my head back on the couch, "Don't wanna think about it. Can't think about it, Pete. If anything ever happened to her..."
"Nothing is going to happen to her," Pete defended sharply.
"We say that, but if you saw what happened at the house," My voice croaked, biting down on my quivering lip as I shot him a glance, shaking my head, "Can't even begin to tell you the sick thoughts that went through my head. The shit I wanted to do to every single one of them."
Pete shrugged, taking the pipe from the table, lighting the bowl, and drawing slowly. He coughed out a cloud of smoke, hitting his chest as he sat it down.
"That's always been you, H," Pete said, voice lazy, "You've always been the kind to tear people apart like that when they fuck with the people you love."
"Don't wanna be like that anymore," I said, chewing the inside of my cheek, "I don't want to live this life anymore. When it's all over with, I want to take Anna and leave Madrid."
"Is that why you were talking about Italy?" Pete asked, tilting his head, "Because that would be a hell of a business opportunity for us."
"No, Pete," I waved my hand in the air, "I don't want to expand. I don't want to be a part of any of this anymore," I shuffled my hips, turning towards him, "I want to save up the money I've made with Ajax and leave. Anna wants a normal life and I have a kid on the way. I need to think about me and her now."
"I've always put Anna last," I said tightly, "Since I got this job. Since I started working with Ajax. A lot of our relationship was damaged because of it. I want to leave once it's all over. If I make it out..."
"Don't say shit like that, c'mon," Pete pushed my shoulder, giving me a look, "Don't start the whole 'if I don't make it, if I do make it', we are going to have it in the bag. This shit is going to be easy with the amount of people we have on our side."
"Yeah, well," I grabbed the pipe from his hand, "You don't know what's going to happen. Nobody knows."
"I'm not going to let you die," Pete said, watching as I lit the bowl up, "Listen, H..."
I coughed, "Don't start," I blew the smoke out.
"No, I want you to hear me out," He said, furrowing his brows, "I've got some shit to say," I stayed silent, allowing him to go on. He took a deep breath, "Listen, H, when we first started seeing each other again, I gave ya some shit," He shifted in his seat, shrugging his shoulder, "Just thought that...dunno, just thought that you were the same. That you hadn't changed and I was a dick to you at times, but I want to say that..."
"Come on, Pete–,"
"I'm proud of ya, mate," Pete swallowed harshly, "Getting out of London and at least trying to get your shit together. You're grown up now, just like me, but I think you're doin' it sort of better."
I smirked softly, rolling my eyes.
"Love you, brother." I pushed his shoulder.
Pete laughed softly, "You too, brother."
I sat quietly on the couch for a bit until it was almost four in the morning. Pete and I just smoked and talked about what little good memories we had. When I felt my eyes burn and my body start to ache, I departed and went to bed.
Getting to sit down with Pete and have a nice chat with him was a bit healing. Got to say what needed to be said, things that we never got to say to each other. It felt nice to decompress, to feel like for a second things were alright.
I hoped for more days like that.
Entering the bedroom, Anna laid with her legs sprawled on the bed. I supposed she didn't even notice I was gone, or maybe she did and liked the extra leg room. Either way, I climbed into bed slowly, trying not to wake her up. Anna was on her back, head tilted the other way.
I had dug out some spare clothes earlier that Pete had and we changed into those. Just until we were able to get our clothes from the house.
A shower was the last thing on our mind that night. We just wanted to lay in bed. Even taking a shower and washing off everything wouldn't change what happened. We were exhausted, we just wanted silence.
I rested my head on my arm, looking down at Anna's stomach with a pleased smile. I placed my hand onto her stomach, rubbing it slowly as I pushed myself against her body, cuddling my face into her neck. I pressed a soft kiss to her skin.
"I would do anything for you and our baby," Tears pricked my eyes, "You two are my world."
And even though she couldn't hear me, maybe the baby could. Or however that worked. I was too excited to think about it. I was thinking about the times I would get to lay my head on her stomach when the baby is able to kick and move, and get to talk to them, and feel their kick against my mouth as I gave them kisses.
There was a whole new future ahead of me. Before tonight, I thought about how it was just going to be me and Anna, but now it was the new family we created. I used to think about walking into the city with just Anna, now that picture morphed into us with a stroller. Of course, I'd be the one pushing it. Or summers where I'd take the little one to the swimming hole. Or to a petting zoo.
There were many things I thought of that made me excited for the future.
It was a weird feeling. I used to dread the future.
Now, I can't wait for the future.
Despite me begging Anna to stay at Pete's, she decided to go to work. Gracie helped her do her makeup to cover up the marks on her face and her split lip, and Pete gave her a button up and some pants to wear. They were the same size anyway.
As much as I wanted Anna to stay here, she wanted to go to work. She wanted to take her mind off everything and go to work. Act like everything was normal. So, I sat in the kitchen with Pete and had a cup of coffee with some eggs and grits.
We had to meet with Ajax today, then when Anna got off work we were going to visit Niall. I kept my phone close in case Rina texted me that Niall woke up. As far as getting our shit from the house, that was something else we had to do. Get our cars moved over and whatnot.
It was going to be a rather busy day.
After I took a long shower, I got dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. Cleaned. We were able to throw them in the wash so I could wear them.
"What time do we have to meet Ajax?" I asked.
"In a couple hours," He sighed, "Do you want to swing by yours first? I can't have you driving around with blood stained clothes. Even if it's clean."
"Yeah, smart idea."
Throughout the drive to my place, I kept thinking about Anna. Even if I tried to push it to the back of my mind, she was still there. I was surprised at how quickly she wanted to go back to work, but proud of her for being able to hold it together. Even if Anna had a smile on her face, I could always tell when she was faking. This morning, she was faking it very well.
We approached the house, the screen door was utterly fucked along with the main door. It was half open when we arrived, Pete said because the hinge had broken during the fight. I believed it, I remember watching Niall and the other man stumbling outside. That was until I almost got a pistol to the head.
I walked through the door, examining the place, gun in hand. I didn't want any more surprises. I almost couldn't tell that the house was broken into, but there were very few places around the house where the furniture had moved from the struggles of the other men.
"I tried to clean up the best I could," Pete said.
I lowered my gun, letting out a shallow sigh.
"I appreciate the effort."
In the bedroom, I started packing up everything. As much as I could fit into four suitcases, anyway. I remembered to grab Anna's skin care items, along with our toothbrushes and shower items. I wasn't going to bring any personal items that may hold sentiment, that was until I caught a glimpse of Anna's family album out of the corner of my eye.
Grazing my fingers against the spine, I sighed. So much of this brought her painful memories, but she loved to look back at them. I bit my lip, grabbing the book and throwing it into her suitcase. She could never say that I didn't try, or never tried. Even if she wanted to burn the book later, I would be the one to dig the hole for the burning.
"Got everything?"
"I believe so," I huffed, zipping up the last suitcase.
"Great, Ajax is on his way to the warehouse. We need to leave soon."
"Help me load these bags." I nodded towards the other suitcases, pulling two off the bed.
We headed outside, throwing the bags into the trunk. Pete closed the trunk, sighing, and leaning against the car while his eyes gazed at the house.
"So, is this the end of an era?" He asked, nodding towards the house, "This house?"
I shrugged one shoulder, "Madrid may be the end of an era," I said, placing a cigarette between my lips, but never lighting it, "I'll take me, my mom, and Anna out of this place. Somewhere we can start over."
"Don't blame you," Pete looked in the backseat where I put my mum's urn, "Are you going to spread her ashes anywhere?"
"I don't know," I hesitated, cigarette bouncing between my lips, "I haven't thought about it. Think I'm too selfish to spread her anywhere."
Pete pushed himself off the car, nodding.
"You did your best," He told me, giving me a once over as my eyes glazed, "I think you know that, but sometimes it's nice to hear it."
I cleared my throat. I didn't want to get emotional, not before this meeting. I lit the cigarette, blowing the smoke out.
"Let's get this show on the road."
At the warehouse, we sat at the table. Many men were surrounding the room, armed. Most of the men I couldn't even remember by their face, but others I'd vaguely remembered passing by in my dazed states at the club. Some new, some old. Either way, they were probably surprised to see my face again, they might've thought I was dead in a ditch somewhere.
"Two days," Ajax said, setting his cup on the table, it was filled with liquor I was sure, "And we invade the cult's space. If you can't be ready in two days time, then you will most likely die," He stood, the chair screeching on the concrete ground as he pushed it back, "I'm confident in our plan, given that it was short notice, but if things go smoothly then there will not be any civilian casualties."
"And if there is?" Veronica asked, "Then what?"
Ajax glanced towards Veronia, then paced back and forth.
"Then we will return them to their families for proper burial, of course we would make sure they are compensated greatly," He clenched his jaw, stopping in front of the table, "We expect them to be heavily armed. They obviously don't play by the rules and by now, no doubt they have more men than we do," He inhaled sharply, taking the crystal glass in his hand, "We'll have ten men with three vans. While we enter the village, they will be moving everyone out of the area and into the vans."
"What if they refuse?" Pete asked.
I tapped my finger, focusing my gaze on Ajax. His plan sounded good so far. The logistics needed some tweaking.
"They won't," Ajax shook his head, "Because our men will be disguised as the cult. Red jumpsuits," He pointed towards the men behind us, "Familiarize those faces, boys. If you kill one of our men, that is going to lessen our chances of success," He looked towards me, specifically, "When we first arrive, we need to be stealthy at first. Try to take down men as quietly as you can, that will lessen the chances of a full war breaking out."
"Why're you looking at me?" I scowled.
"Because you have a temper, Harry." Ajax scolded lightly, "We don't need you losing your shit during this."
"But what if they see us coming?" I asked, forcing a sweet smile, "Then what?"
"Then you fight," Ajax raised his voice, "And pray to whatever you believe in that you don't get killed."
I tapped my fingers against the table again, gritting my jaw. Ajax was right though, if we wanted this to go our way, we had to sneak in. A thought crossed my mind that they would expect us to come, though. That thought was a bit worrying. If they expect us, then we have no advantage.
"We need to push it back." I tried to argue softly.
Ajax's brow perked, "Push it back?"
"They have to be expecting us," My eyes wandered the table, meeting Niall's and Pete's, then gazing back to Ajax, "They probably know that we are going to strike in the following days. We need to push it back."
"You have a point," He crossed his arms, tattoos peeking out from his sleeve, "But we can't risk it. We need to move now before they get more violent. I'm well aware they want Anna, but we need to prioritize the people's safety too. They have the power to kill them all just out of fuckin' spite."
"That's likely, but they will be prepared." Veronica agreed with me.
"And who knows what kinds of weapons they have?" Pete cut in, "They already do illegal shit, they probably have fucking landmines around the area to blow us up the second we try to move in."
"That's true," I nodded towards Pete, "Why wait? Either we do it tonight or push it bac–,"
"No," Ajax raised his hand, pinching his brows together tightly, "I appreciate the input, but I've already mapped this out. We move in two days. If you can't handle the fight, then you shouldn't have started it by making a deal with Angela."
My teeth clenched together tightly, rolling my eyes. I shook my head as I pushed my chair back, scraping the floor along with it. I needed some fresh air. I placed a cigarette between my teeth, walking out of the front door. The warm breeze greeted me as I perched against the wall and lit the stick.
I inhaled harshly. I needed to quit these damned things.
Ajax was never going to let me live down the deal I made with Angela. I sometimes hated that I did it, but I was desperate to save whatever small family I had left. He wouldn't understand that, not when he had the power under his fingertips. Ajax was always going to be more powerful, have more connections, he's never had to lift a finger in his life. It was almost insufferable.
Once Ajax had built his operation, he'd never do hard work again. I wouldn't lie, he had a big head about himself, but he was much worse when I first met him. An asshole. He used to scare me only because I knew he'd have someone put a bullet in my head if I acted up.
Which I acted up a lot. I was pushing my luck with him. In some sort of way, I always thought he was fronting me all those drugs just to rack up the bill and have a reason to kill me later.
But later never came, and then I fled the country and never looked back.
So, I guessed Ajax kind of tolerated me.
The door flung open beside me, making me turn my head. Pete had a crooked smile on his lips, but it faded when he saw the scolding look on my face. He sighed, kicking the door closed.
"Don't get in that kind of mood," He taunted, letting his back hit the wall next to me, "You're a dick when you're grouchy."
I rolled my eyes, "I'm not in a mood. Not yet anyways." I mumbled.
"Ajax knows better," Pete swallowed, "I know you don't wanna hear it, but if I thought this plan wouldn't work then I'd fight it, but he really knows what he's doing."
"How would he know?" I grimaced, hissing, "He's lazy. Utterly lazy. He's not the one going in with guns, we are."
"Because," Pete started, "It's happened before," And when I shot him a look, he waved his hand, "Not the same, obviously. Couple years ago, can't recall the year. There was a local gang that wanted Ajax's head on a fuckin' stick. For a while, I wasn't nervous..." He trailed off, looking down at his shoes.
"Well, that was until they showed up at the club," He said quietly, "I suppose you could guess how that went down. Bodies everywhere, blood that kept reappearing on my hands no matter how many times I scrubbed them with boiling hot water."
"I didn't...I didn't know, Pete." I frowned.
"You didn't ask," He shrugged, sighing, "But it's not anyone's fault. Not even Ajax's. It was a rivalry and because of that, people died, but Ajax and our guys went in shortly after the attack."
"And? What happened?" I let the smoke bellow from my lips.
"We're here, aren't we?" Pete smirked, tilting his head back as he looked at the sun through his sunglasses, "A day that I feel the sun on my skin, I feel lucky. I feel very lucky that I get to see another day, but if I died then it wouldn't be a bad thing."
"Don't talk like that," It sent shivers down my spine just thinking about it, "You're gonna make it. We're all gonna make it out."
"I'm not planning on dying," Pete chuckled, "I plan on getting out alive. Fixing Gracie's family and if she wants to move back to her family's house then that's alright too."
"You care a lot about her, don't you?" I smiled tauntingly, "Never seen you with someone for this long."
There was a blush on Pete's cheeks. It was true, however, the entire time I've know Pete he never really dated anyone for more than a week. Part of me believed that he had some sort of underlying trust issues, maybe commitment issues. It was hard for Pete to show emotion, not that it was a bad thing, but it left a lot of people guessing what he was thinking.
However, since Pete started seeing Gracie, he's come out of his shell a bit.
"I love her," Pete sighed, biting back a smile before shaking his head, "She's a good girl. She really is. I can see why Anna is friends with her, why there are so many people around her. It's because she has a genuine soul. In a world full of darkness, she kind of lights it up. Makes it...less dark."
"Love?" I tossed the burning stick to the ground, stepping on it, "Never thought you'd ever fall in love, but anyway. I'm happy for you. Gracie is a good person. You two deserve each other, even if she did kidnap you and make you reach your breaking point." I joked tauntingly.
"Yeah," He elongated, chewing on his lip, "It was hard to be mad at her. The initial reaction wasn't...it wasn't me. I suppose it was jarring a bit, so," He shrugged his shoulders, "We talked about it and I understood her concerns."
"What were her concerns?"
Pete laughed, "That we were doing some shady fucking shit. I'll give it to her, she hit the nail on the head. She wasn't wrong and I don't blame her for thinking that we were trying to..."
"Yeah," I cut him off, "I know."
"I've never even really been a boyfriend like this," He sighed, "Am I doing it wrong? I feel like I am. Keeping shit from her didn't feel good, felt like a shitty boyfriend."
"Join the club," I chuckled quietly, "I'm sure all of us felt that way."
Pete pushed himself off the wall, stumbling back before grabbing the handle of the door, opening it halfway.
"Want to play some good cop, bad cop?" Pete held the door open, nodding inside, "I have to milk some information from that guy from the cult. Might take some things off your mind."
I shrugged, "Sure, why the fuck not?"
"I call good cop."
"You always do." I rolled my eyes.
The room had emptied except for a few people who were standing around and talking. Ajax was nowhere to be seen, nor Veronica. I shook off my nerves as Pete pulled the door open, following after him inside the room. The man sat in the same chair we left him in, his head tilted back and eyes closed. I almost felt bad for this kid, but we never knew who went into the cult with a good heart or a bad one.
I didn't want to assume either, but I had to get the information one way or another.
"Wake up, sleepy pants!" I roared through the room, echos bouncing off the wall.
The man jolted awake, panicked, wide eyed as he looked up at the two of us. I smiled, clasping my hands together as I moved towards him. I stopped a few feet away from him, noticing the sweat above his brow signaling that he was nervous. Or it was too fucking hot in this warehouse.
"Let's talk." I smirked wide, eyes slanted darkly.
The man started to hum under the duct tape on his mouth. Pete walked towards him, ripping the tape off his mouth, the ripping sound echoed as a loud yelp slipped past his lips.
"Fuck!" The man groaned, chest heaving.
"I'd save your breath," I said, tapping my foot on the ground, "You'll need it for later. That's if you don't cooperate."
The man stared wide eyed, a grimace on his face.
"Harry likes to play with his food before he eats it," Pete added, leaning over the man, "But I don't. So, you answer all my questions and Harry won't fuck with you. Got it?"
"You two are going to hell." His voice was hoarse.
"God, I hope so. I always preferred warm weather," I said sweetly through a smile.
"What's your name, mate?" Pete created space, there was a warm look on his face. He was trying to make the man feel comfortable so he would give us more information.
However, we were met with silence.
"Do you like to walk?" I asked loudly, brows raised. The man nodded and I leaned forward, "Yeah? I do too. So, talk, or I'll make sure you never walk again."
"My name–," He choked out, squinting his eyes, "My name is Edwardo."
"Edwardo." I sang softly, nodding my head.
"Nice name, Edwardo," Pete complimented, searching his face, "Now, I'm gonna ask you a few questions about that little church you run with."
"I'm not telling you shit!" He screamed, "You will ruin everything! Ruin our plan!"
Here we go again...
"Plan?" Pete asked. Even I had tilted my head.
We were ignorant when it came to what exactly they had planned. We had no idea what their motivation was either. As far as we knew, the church was doing this because Angela was fucked in the head. Mentally insane. Were there any solid reasons why she would be rounding up people and isolating them away from civilization?
"You will ruin our innocence," Edwardo said thickly, narrowing his eyes as he leaned forward in the chair, the rope tight around his torso, "Ruin our chances at salvation. God needs us, and you are the demons that the Devil sent to plague this earth."
"For someone who doesn't want to say anything, you're sure as shit saying a lot," I kicked myself off the table, starting to pace around his chair, ultimately stopping behind him and grabbing his hair and pulling his head back. He looked at me. "Tell me the plan and you live, simple."
"Kill me," Edwardo's eyes glistened, "Kill me and I will come back tenfold with the army of Angels! We will fight for God by his side! When the rapture comes, you will–,"
I rolled my eyes. What the shit was Angela feeding these people?
I wrapped my fingers around his throat, squeezing to shut him up.
"What are you talking about?" I watched as his face reddened, smirking wider.
He gasped, struggling in the chair. I still held his throat for a few more moments. Pete sighed, giving me a look. I relaxed my fingers. In full honesty, I didn't want to hurt him. I didn't want to kill him either. I just needed him to believe that I was willing to hurt him for information.
But if it came down to it, I'd have to bust a few kneecaps.
"The plan–!" He exclaimed, gasping for breath, "God told us–," He jerked his head away from me, and I let him, "God told us to build his army, to send him Angels for when the war comes."
"The war?" Pete asked, giving him a look of disbelief, "I'd wonder what Niall would have to say about that."
I chuckled quietly.
"What war are you talking about?" I asked, grabbing the back of his neck tightly.
He hissed, "Ezekiel told me–God came to Angela in the dead of night. He wants us to send him Angels. When the rapture comes, we will have an army to defeat evil when hell is released on Earth."
"Is that why you're killing innocent people?" I hissed, clenching my jaw in disgust, "Because of...?"
"We do not kill innocent people, they give themselves to God. To show they are worthy, they give their lives for him," He argued, almost as if what they were doing...what he was doing, seemed to be the only way. As if it was normal.
"Let me get this straight," Pete interjected, gaze to the floor and hand raised in the air, "These people are...killing themselves for God?"
Edwardo's eyes darkened, a Cheshire Cat smirk spread across his lips. Him watching us understand brought him pleasure, he thought he was doing the right thing, that he was going to be the Lord's best friend when it was his turn to off himself next.
"Soon, soon, soon," He started to tap his feet on the floor, "Soon, soon, soon."
"Soon what?" I asked harshly through gritted teeth.
Edwardo laughed to himself in what I could only describe as a man losing his mind. Then he paused. His arms fell and he narrowed his eyes at Pete.
"Soon, you will all be dead," He said above a whisper, it sent shivers down my spine, "And we will take the girl," He said quieter, fingers clenching down on the chair, tilting his head, "And we will kill her and the prophecy will be fulfilled."
I pushed the chair angrily, sending him across the room on the wheels of the chair. I stared as I paced the room, feeling anger flow through me. He didn't need to say who the girl was, we were aware that he was talking about Anna. Pete could tell I was flustered, he put a hand on Edwardo's chair and spun him towards himself.
"What prophecy?" Pete asked sternly, furrowing his brows tightly together.
"She is the reason why evil is in Madrid," He said quietly, rocking himself in the chair, "For us to be free, we need to kill her. God said that a war is coming and that we must send him Angels to prepare ourselves to fight against evil."
I inhaled sharply, giving him a deathly look, "Are people in the church killing themselves?"
Edwardo smiled wide, yellow teeth showing, eyes red and wide as he laughed out. I huffed, straightening my posture as I stalked towards him. Pete stuck his arm out, shaking his head. He knew I was on the brink of losing it on this guy. It wasn't his fault, he was brainwashed, but he knows shit and if he didn't tell us sooner than later, then I'd soon lose my patience with this bullshit.
"Are they, yes or no?" Pete hissed, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Edwardo's face fell.
"The bodies will fall and you will all wish that you followed us."
Me and Pete dragged ourselves into the house after a while. We couldn't get much more information other than Angela having some grand scheme of killing Anna to supposively save people who were desperate for salvation. It made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe that she would talk these people into killing themselves. Why, though?
Why did she want them to do that?
After all, she'd spent so many months building this thing.
Surely once we stepped into the picture, she wanted to spite us. She knew what we wanted and that was for these people to live. From the start, she had known that I wanted them to be safe. My hero complex could be a dangerous thing, sometimes even toxic, but if it saved a life then that's what really mattered.
Angela had to know that not being able to save those people would send me down the bottle, liquid or powder. I tried to ignore that outcome.
"Are you going to visit Niall later?" Pete asked as he threw his keys on the entry table, going straight to the couch to relax.
"Much later," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes, "After the way I had, I need a second to decompress."
Moments later, Anna came padding out of her room. When she saw me, a smile spread wide across her lips as she fled towards me. Even if that smile was forced, still seeing her face so fucked up made me even more angry. As she wrapped her arms around me, I held her tightly and felt the weight lift off me.
"You're home." I breathed her in.
"I'm so happy to see you," Anna wiggled in my arms, chuckling, "I've been thinking about seeing you all day."
"Same, Angel," I cupped her jaw, kissing her bottom lip lightly, "How're you? How was your day?"
"It was...good," She shrugged, kissing along my jaw then rested her head on my chest, "It was nice taking my mind off everything. I painted a lot today."
"Did you?" I asked, rubbing her back, "Did you bring them home?"
"They're drying at the school, but I can bring them home tomorrow," Anna smiled softly, gazing upwards, "They are...dark."
"That's okay," I reassured, "That's okay, Angel. It's just nice that you have an outlet, baby," I paused as I glanced down at her stomach, then pressed my hand against it softly, "How is my little baby? Are they doing okay?"
"Harry, I don't even think it's formed into a baby yet. It's like...a seed," Anna laughed softly, squeezing my hand, "But I did get sick during lunch today, so that wasn't fun."
"Doesn't matter, lovie," I wrapped my arms around her, scooping her up as I walked us towards the bedroom, "It's still my baby. My little seed," I entered the bedroom, laying her delicately on the bed as giggles left her. I kissed her stomach softly, "Poor mumma got sick, huh?"
"Yeah," She sighed, playing with my curls as I kissed around her stomach, then pressed my ear against it, "But I'm okay now."
"I should get a pregnancy book," I said, circling my finger around her stomach, "And then I can know more about what's to come. I want to know everything about you and our baby for the next nine months."
Anna blushed, smiling, feeling her fingers squeeze my curls.
"I love you," Anna told me quietly, nibbling on her inner cheek, "I love you so much, I don't know what to do with it."
"With what, baby?" I smiled, gazing up at her.
"With all this love I have for you," She shook, "It's overwhelming."
I pushed myself upwards, laying on my side next to Anna. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her softly. All day I'd been thinking about kissing her, about holding her, and getting to talk to the baby that she is growing inside of her. If it was up to me, I'd lay here for nine months and talk this kid crazy until she gave birth.
"I love you and our baby," I breathed out, choking on emotion in my throat, "And for all that love, I want you to give me it when it is too heavy."
Anna bit her lip, pushing my curls out of my eyes.
"I hope it's a girl."