NIALL
"Come on, Styles. Pick up! Bloody hell!" Niall mumbled into his phone. It was almost midday and the organization was busy trying to locate the two missing masqueraders. The three bodies had been cleaned from the office floor. Only the bloody stains remained on the red carpet and walls, they looked like someone artistically splattered wine all over the soft floor.
Louis sat at his desk, a cloth in hand as he polished his gun. His face held a bored expression as he examined it, making sure it was polished and shining to perfection as he lounged in his chair. His sharp, stubble-covered jawline stood out as he clenched it in anger and his feet were propped on the wide mahogany desk, his black and white vans on full display under the grey suit he had decided to wear for the day. Niall's eyesight constantly flickered to him as he held his phone to his ear and paced the wide floor area at the front of Louis' office.
With a sigh, Niall placed his phone back in his pocket. He had reached voicemail almost ten times and attempted to contact Styles on his earpiece more times than he could count without receiving any contact.
The plan had failed. It seemed Chloe had decided to spare no life in an attempt to protect herself from Styles. Niall knew that if she had sent Zayn to finish the job, things were getting serious and she truly feared whatever Styles would do to her when he got his hands on her.
At the masquerade Niall has seen a couple all too familiar faces, and upon passing on the message of Zayn's return to headquarters, all he had received on the other side was two gunshots and a shout before the connection shattered completely.
He had returned in a stolen car to discover Louis had fatally shot three of his own men, the bullet-proof window (which caused the bullet to ricochet and bury itself into the forehead of a portrait of the Queen on the opposite wall) and the microphone Niall had been connected to, as well as a vase of lilies on the desk.
Niall huffed, sitting down in the rotating chair in front of Louis' desk, spinning around a couple of times before facing Louis, noticing he was still staring at his gun with his brows furrowed.
"There's still no answer." He informed Louis, and he received no answer in return. Instead, Louis turned his face to look at Niall, he looked incredibly bored and his eyes were dull as they washed over Niall. Niall sighed as Louis placed his gun down on the desk.
"Tommo, look- Elena and Harry are missing and I don't even know if they got out alive! I had to fucking get out and run and the last thing I saw was Harry shooting the bloody light bulb..."
He sighed, giving up. Louis simply turned his head back at the revolver on the desk and began fumbling with it.
In all honesty, Niall had no idea what was wrong with Louis. At first he thought it was just Zayn's betrayal, but there was something else in his eyes whenever he looked at Niall. Something in his past haunted him greatly, something that pained him more than just the murder of his family.
"Lou, come one. We must find them! Styles is one of your closest friends for god's sake! Zayn is fucking-"
"Niall," Louis warned, his eyes flashing dangerously as Niall pushed his buttons. Niall huffed, ignoring the deadly look in Louis' eyes as he continued, spitting the words out with no mercy.
"He's going to come for you! You need to get your shit together and stop wimping over the past! It's-"
In one swift motion Louis leapt up, cocking his gun as he aimed it directly between Niall's eyes, causing him to shut his mouth and straighten his back, Blue eyes wide, but emotion controlled. Niall stood quite still, his arms remained by his sides as he glared at Louis and received one in return.
Louis stood stolid, his hand was still as he held the gun. "Do not," his voice was soft and he dragged the words out at a threatening pace. "talk to me like that, Horan. I may be your friend but I'm also your fucking boss. I own you."
Niall clenched his jaw, standing in the centre of the room as Louis continued to point his gun directly between his eyes.
There was a sharp snap and the door opened as Harry stepped in, taking in the scene before him before he ran his fingers through his long hair and calmly looked at Louis. Antonio, followed behind, checking the scene before Harry sent him away with a flick of his hand.
"What the fuck, mate?" He sighed. Niall felt like laughing at his calm demeanour as Harry slowly peered at the bloody carpet.
Louis simply shrugged, lowering his gun and placing it in his desk drawer.
There was a small patter of feet and Elena walked in, her dark hair was tied in a messy bun on the back of her head and her black dress twisted oddly on her body as her eyes darted all over the room, stopping at the blood and grimacing. She stood timidly by the door.
"Hello Love," Niall grinned at her. She smiled back at him before standing beside him against the wall on the side of the desk, walking across the carpet on her tip toes to avoid the blood. She dropped her heel to the floor before looking at the man sitting at the desk.
Louis observed them all, his face still empty of emotion as Harry stared at him, his bottom lips between his fingers and a scowl on his face. "Louis get your shit together." Harry said simply, mirroring the empty stare Louis was giving him. Louis sighed, placing his left hand on the desk and absentmindedly thrumming upon the wooden surface. Harry scowled.
"Oh, come on you over-dramatic bastard." He scoffed.
Niall crossed his arms, frowning at the scene in front of him. If Harry could not get through to him, nobody could. Harry let out a cold laugh, waving his hand in the air.
"Well, I had a small chat with Liam," he mumbled carelessly, most likely hoping for a reaction out of Louis. He got a reaction out of both men in the office.
Niall inhaled, "Payne? The bloody tech guy? I thought he died?"
Louis groaned, placing his head in his hands, "You've got to fucking with me, mate."
Harry looked up, as if he were surprised by their reactions. Niall remembered Liam all too well. He came in a few years back, working in technology before Louis decided his physical build and intelligence suited well for an assassin.
Harry looked at Niall, "What do you mean he died? What happened?"
Niall uncrossed his arms and sighed, remembering the day all too well. "The weapons factory. He was one of the four assassins sent in. We suspected he died in the explosion."
Louis shook his head. "Correction, Payne turned out to be a pussy and did a runner long before they even got inside the fucking factory," he said dryly.
Harry sat up straighter, crossing his legs as he glanced at Louis, "So you mean he was one of the men sent in? Why did he run?"
Louis sighed, he seemed more down-to-earth again, but Niall could still see the empty look in his eyes, the mysterious sadness that has been uncovered along with the return of Malik. He sat at his desk silently, his long, slender fingers running along the wooden desktop as he thought.
In the chair in front of Louis, Harry waited patiently, while beside Niall, Elena studied his side profile. The way she looked at him made Niall curious, as she had not once taken her eyes off his curly head the entire time they had been in the room. Even if Niall himself or Louis had talked or made an obvious movement she simply watched Harry, silently.
Niall didn't know what their relationship was. When he asked Styles how he came to be searching for Chloe with her he simply said she was 'just the first person he met when he got out' and 'he couldn't let her go because it would give away his whereabouts.'
Louis' answer pulled Niall back to the present as he stood staring at Elena.
"It was Liam's first mission, wasn't it Niall?" Louis asked. Harry frowned, the tips of his ringed fingers dragging his bottom lip out before it popped back into place. His green eyes, Louis' blue ones and the golden ones of the only woman in the room were staring blankly at Niall, all awaiting an answer..
Clearing his throat, Niall nodded as Louis continued talking, "Yeah, he had been trained for six months, doing very well. His man-to-man fighting and gun skills were outstanding so I figured it would be good for him to get to see some real action. Instead he took off, he just couldn't kill. All communications were cut and we got a quick report from Barnes saying he had left before we were cut off from Spencer too. He had knocked Spencer -his partner-unconscious and ran."
Harry glanced quickly at Elena before frowning, "So what now? Is he with Malik?"
Louis nodded, "I suspect so, they had history."
Niall frowned, "What do you mean history?"
Louis grimaced, "Back when Zayn worked here, I had Liam arrive. Zayn did dealings while Liam was in tech before he moved up to become an assassin. They liked each other. They would say loved but I doubted it, they were both just experiments for each other."
Niall frowned, this was new to him. He had met both men before while they worked here, but he never really talked to either of them. Harry on the other hand nodded as if he realised something.
"Liam was incredibly protective of Zayn when I talked of him."
Louis nodded and pointed his finger at Harry, "Yes, I suspect Payne ran off and after Zayn betrayed me, Liam joined him."
"When I asked if he was still working for Chloe, he looked incredibly disgusted," Harry mumbled, glancing at Elena, "but Malik seems to be with Chloe so then they all must be working together."
"Well Zayn's in charge of his lot, so Payne will be following him around like a lost puppy, whether he liked Chloe or not," Louis replied, "Malik killed Kane because Chloe knew you needed him, even though he was working with them. Niall told me what he said. I suspect she had so much power of Kane's people and organisation that shes taken over now, by removing Kane. Chloe has gotten herself into bigger things than just conning and drugs, she wants all the power."
Harry nodded in agreement. There was silence in the room as the men thought, trying to think of more hints to the puzzle that was Liam, Zayn and Chloe. Elena stood in silence as Niall observed her from the corner of his eye, Harry's gaze constantly flickered to her too.
Niall crossed his arms, frowning slightly before speaking to Harry, "So mate, what happened? After the masquerade?"
Harry raised his eyebrows and let out a puff of air, "Well, we got out through the kitchens and basically just ended up walking around." He glanced at Elena, before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a bundle of wires and an iPhone, Niall raised his eyebrows at the noticeable chunk missing from the phone.
"I accidently crushed the earpiece and my phone got fucking destroyed by a bullet." He explained, running his fingers through his hair and sitting back in his chair. Louis frowned, gingerly picking up the earpiece.
"Mate, these cost me a good couple of thousand each," he mumbled, "I got the best on the market and not so you could trash 'em."
"Sorry Lou, sometimes risking everything is more exciting."
Louis smirked, "sometimes. You're never careful, you fuckwit." Harry laughed, nodding in agreement as Niall chuckled.
"So we lost all communications, and ended up in a bar," Harry continued. He was laughing now, as if he were telling a funny story to his best mates, not telling a story of near-death to a Mafia leader. "Elena went to the bathroom and Liam arrived, his partner held Elena while he sat with me. We had a small chat, I hadn't seen him since he worked for Chloe. All he said was basically just threats from Zayn."
Louis leaned forward, his eyes held curiosity and intelligence, "Was there anything specific that he said?"
Harry let out a breath of air, eyes flickering down at the desk instead of to Louis' face. "Just threats, mate." He shrugged.
Louis glared at him, "You're lying. He said something, and you're hiding it. You may be my friend but you know what I do to people who lie to me, Styles." Harry's eyes flashed and he let out a cold laugh, "I know Tomlinson, but you would never be able to do that to me."
Louis gritted his teeth, "Just say it, say what he said."
Niall's eyes flickered back and forth between them as there was a short silence. Elena let out a long breath of air, her attention turning to her bare feet. Niall could feel the anger radiating from Louis at Harry's reluctance to share the information he so dearly wanted to hear.
Harry sighed, rubbing his face with his hand before meeting Louis gaze, holding it for a few beats before speaking.
"All he said was 'tell Louis, a message from Zayn. He really liked the Fizzy drink.'"
Niall sucked in a gasp of air at Harry's words, expecting to duck for cover at any given moment as he knew Louis would not take the threat well. Louis' past and pain that was referenced in those words was powerful and he had a violent way of dealing with his anger.
Louis jumped up in a matter of seconds, pulling his gun up as he pulled the trigger quickly, taking no particular aim as he fired. Niall stood still with his head bowed and arms slightly raised as it went off, swearing under his breath. Elena let out a loud shriek as the bullet buried itself in the Queen's breast, barely an inch above her head.
"Fuck!" Harry yelled, standing from his chair as he glared at Louis, throwing his arms in the air. "You could have killed her you idiot!"
Niall walked forward, pulling Elena to her full height from where she had cowered in shock. "Bloody hell, Lou." He mumbled, placing his arms around Elena's shaking figure. "Something tells me she's been through quite a bit tonight and that definitely didn't help."
Harry walked forward, "He's right, it's not the first time she's been held at the barrel of a gun this evening." He pushed Niall away, pulling Elena into him as he glanced back at Louis.
"And guess what Lou, she killed the last person who did that."
And with that Harry gently steered Elena out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Niall raised his eyebrows, turning back to Louis' panting figure.
"I like her already."