+Liam's POV+ (Warning: Suicide Attempt Happens)
The bullet lands in his heart as bright red blood spills all over his dark blue carpet. I put the gun in his right hand because he is right handed and stage it to look like suicide. I grab my bag and jump out the back window without looking at what I just did. My phone rings but I ignore it, I don't need any of those fuckers giving me anymore assignments right now. A guy can only take so much and after talking to Raleigh, this fucks with my head even more.
"How was it?" Aiden asks once I get into the black Jeep that he parked two blocks down.
"I thought something was going to go wrong so I called Raleigh and shit, I miss her man. I miss that. Having a family, friends, living life and not just surviving. Once all this shit is over, I'm walking away from this gang shit for good. I know Ryder worked hard to make it powerful and strong but we helped keep it that way. I just don't think all that money is worth it anymore, you know? Or even the thrill." I explain to Aiden, just letting all my thoughts flow out of my mouth. I buckle up and he starts the car and soon we are on our way back to our personal hell.
"I think you called her because you weren't sure if that was the last time. You don't know what those fucking idiots have in store for us. For all we know, they could be planning to kill us. Walking away is what's best for you, Liam. You want to have a family and there's nothing wrong with that; no one blames you for wanting that. There comes a time where we have to ask ourselves, what do we want the most?"
"I'm scared I'm not going to make it back to her, Aiden. I'm scared that you won't get to see Ethan again. I'm scared they are going to kill us and no one would know. I do want a family and they can't give it to me, only she can. The thing I want most is to live a life with her and with a sense of family. I didn't have that growing up but they were my friends and they were the closet I ever gotten. Then Ria came and we lost, all of us did. Time is the one thing that we'll never get back."
"Honestly, I don't think we are going back soon. I think we are trapped but that doesn't mean we should give up. We both have things to fight for and that is time with people we care about. Neither one of us wants to waste anymore. But we probably will miss a lot more than we wish." Aiden admits and I sigh, knowing he's right. Just as I'm about to speak, something catches my eye.
"GET DOWN!" I scream as I immediately try to duck under the dash as Aiden slams on the brakes and the bullets fly through the now shattered windshield. I close my eyes and cover my head with my hands and arms. But my head still slams against the dash and everything goes dark.
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There's ringing in my ears and a pounding in my head. I feel stinging pain on my hands and arms. It just all hurts. I try to open my eyes but fail so I try again and see Aiden laying in his seat with blood dripping down him with bullet holes all over his body. His eyes are still wide open and I try to reach to him but everything hurts.
"A-Aiden?" I ask but it comes out rough and barley above a whisper. No! No! No! I try to reach for him or a phone but I hear traffic and a loud horn. The car rams into my side, throwing me on top of Aiden and everything goes black again.
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"How do you think he's going to react when he finds out what happens?" I hear someone ask, his voice annoyed but worried.
"You are the fucking idiot who ordered it! And now h-he's dead!" Another voice yells and by the sound of it, she's sobbing.
Fuck my head hurts! Well everything hurts but my head is pounding! What the hell happened?! There's like stinging pain and just other pain. My whole body just hurts. Hopefully someone gives me something to make it stop.
"No! I told you it was a rouge idiot who I personally took care of! Now, you have nothing to worry about! Next time we try to get a warning across, no one...valued will suffer or die." The first person says.
"You've taken care of it?! HE'S DEAD, LUCAS!"
"Yeah, I can see that! Did you tell Janice, yet?"
"No. Did you...did you get rid of his body yet?"
"No, I figured you'd want one last goodbye. Plus I think that we should just send it back with Liam." The first person tells the second in a whisper but I still manage to pick it up. I open my eyes and see Lucas staring at Cassandra. Lucas has ripped jeans and a button down blue shirt that isn't buttoned up all the way. Cassandra wears jean shorts and a loose white blouse. She holds tissues and her eyes out full of tears. What the hell happened?!
"Oh you're awake!" Lucas says as he catches me looking at them with confusion.
"What happened?" I ask, touching my head but my arm is pulled by an IV. My head is aching.
"What do you remember?" Lucas asks slowly.
"I remember telling Aiden to get down and then-"
Aiden lays in his seat with blood dripping down him and bullet holes all over him. His eyes are still open.
No! That's wrong! That's not what happened! Aiden is alive! He's okay! But no matter how hard I try, that image replays in my head over and over again. It echoes and I can't stop it.
"We have to sedate him! He's going crazy!" I hear someone say but it's barley heard over the rushing of sounds of gun shots and car horns. I feel a sting in my arm and I see a doctor sticking a needle into my arm. I try to reach for him to make him stop but it's all blurry. Then everything is silent and it's pitch black.
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"How are we supposed to talk to him if he goes absolutely crazy each time we do?" I hear someone whisper.
"He just needs time to get his thoughts together." Another person responds.
"How long will that take?" Yet another voice asks. Why are there so many people around me? Their words are making my headache worse.
"It's different for everyone."
"Okay, but why is he strapped down?"
"For his own safety as well as the safety of others."
"Is he going to wake up soon?"
"It's hard to tell. Does he have any other family besides you two?"
"Yes but for personal reasons they are unable to be here." A female explains and the voice sounds like Cassandra's but that can't be right, can it? She's not here. I'm with Aiden and they are avoiding each other. AIDEN! My eyes fly open and I look around the bright hospital room in panic. I notice I'm strapped down to the hospital bed.
"NO! WHAT'S GOING ON?! WHERE IS AIDEN?!" I yell, trying to get loose. I have to find him! I have to prove my thoughts wrong and that he's okay!
"Shhh! Just relax and try to breathe." Someone tells me and I turn to see it's some Asian guy with a white lab coat on and holding a clipboard. Doctor alert.
"Where's Aiden?!" I ask him, still trying to get up but feeling a little more calm seeing the doctor and knowing he has answers but will also get rid of all this pain.
"We'll get to that but how about we go over what happened to you." He suggests and I nod my head, knowing that means painkillers or something to help this pounding in my head and all this sharp but like pushing pain.
"Okay so your have a concussion, it's a miracle that it wasn't worse. The glass shattered and got stuck in your hands and in your arms, that's going to hurt for a bit. Most of it didn't need stitches but some of it was really deep. You broke two of your ribs and bruised the rest. For the most part your legs seemed okay; they are just really bruised and will hurt for a while but nothing is broken. I'm going to give you something to make the pain go away but it's going to make you go to sleep, you okay with that?"
"Yes, thank you doctor." I tell him with a smile on my face, feeling grateful. He adds it to my IV but I look at Cassandra and Lucas. Cassandra wears a pair of black athletic shorts and a purple and blue athletic T-shirt. Lucas wears gray joggers and a light blue hoodie.
"Where's Aiden?" I ask no one in particular, just hoping someone will give me an answer. My eyes start to fall because of the drugs but I try to force them open so I can get an answer.
"We'll talk when you wake up again." Casandra promises me, taking my hand and giving it a slight squeeze.
"N-No, tell...me n-now."
"Sleep well, Liam." Cassandra tells me with a small smile but I see the tears in her eyes and deep down I know the truth. Aiden is gone and there's nothing I or anyone else can do to bring him back. Tears start flowing down my cheeks and my eyes can no longer stay open. I drift into darkness for what seems like the millionth time.
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It's been a week of being in the hospital, awake that is. According to Cassandra and Lucas, I've been out for a long ass time. All I can think about is Raleigh, how it's even more time wasted and not with her. But then I remember Aiden; I'm alive and I should be thankful for that. I need to stop thinking about the time that I'm missing and just focus on the time that I have left with her. None of us are getting any younger and we should all be thankful for the time we have with loved ones, even if it's limited.
"How you feeling today?" Cassandra asks walking in wearing jeans rolled up a little at the bottom and a cropped loose white and blue tie dye shirt. Isn't it hot outside? Wait, what day is it?! WHAT MONTH IS IT?!
"What day is it?" I ask her and you can hear the hesitation in my voice. Cassandra sighs and walks closer to the bed, she sits down next to me on the bed and looks down.
"August fifth." I hear her mutter and I can't help but gasp and let out a small scream. THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE! IT HAS NOT BEEN TWO MONTHS! SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME SHE'S LYING!
"That's not possible." I try to tell her as I try to count back the days but I can't.
"I'm sorry, Liam."
"AIDEN HAS BEEN GONE FOR TWO MONTHS AND NO ONE CALLED ETHAN OR HAD A FUNERAL OR ANYTHING?!"
"A-Aiden's ashes are sitting...in my r-room."
"IN YOUR ROOM?! WHY THE FUCK WAS HE CREMATED AND WHY THE FUCK IS HE IN YOUR ROOM?!"
"Look Liam, I didn't know what else to do! I couldn't have him as corpse because it wouldn't be fair to you or his remaining family to miss him being buried! So yes, he was cremated, properly, might I add and different people pitched in for everything so when all of you are ready, he can be lowered into the ground. If you don't like the urn case, we can get a different one. And everyone significant can put something in with him." Cassandra explains and I sigh with my eyes closed, trying to process her words.
"Hey, you feeling better today?" Lucas asks as he walks in, sunglasses on his head and wearing ripped jeans with a dark blue polo shirt. He pairs his outfit with white Vans, like the flat ones (I don't know what the hell they're called, but he seems to pull them off).
"A little bit, I guess. Did...did Aiden's body get destroyed in the accident? Is that part of the reason why you cremated him?" I ask, thinking about the accident.
"No. The vehicle hit you two on your side, not his." Cassandra answers, but she looks out the window with a faraway look in her eyes. It's silent for a few minutes as Cassandra continues to leave reality and Lucas sits in the chair next to my bed. But he doesn't say a word and neither do I.
"Hey, guys! Liam, I brought you flowers!" Janice yells as she bursts through the door, all bubbly and wearing white jeans and a yellow blouse. She has a sunflower bandana wrapped around her poofy hair. Very bright. How is she so happy?
"You're in a good mood, today." I tell Janice and she shrugs but there's a small blush on her cheeks. She hands me the flowers and sits on the chair next to Lucas who seems more than thrilled.
"Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! I found Rosa and Blake's son!" Janice says, reaching into her yellow small backpack thing. She pulls out a tablet and hands it to me. I look at it and my eyes pop out of my head! Staring at me is the boy I saw at the cafe! It says that he's staying with Rosa's grandmother because they went off of the grid after they lost their daughter from Ria. She was only twelve.
"Well shit! They were at the cafe!" I tell everyone and they all stare at me in shock.
"Are you sure?" Cassandra asks, coming out of her own zone.
"Of course I'm sure! They were in front of me in line!"
"We have to find them and bring them back to the family. But I don't know where Rosa or Blake is." Janice mutters, taking her tablet back.
"Any other updates?" I ask, hoping that there is. It's been years since the Ria thing and there are still so many people that we haven't found.
"Negative. If anyone changed their names, I shall find a paper trail and trace it back. If they disappeared, I will find them. This has gone on for far too long, I'm going to put an end to it. We have all lost too much for this to continue." Janice mutters and I have to agree with her. All of us have lost something with Ria knocking on that door all those years ago. She taps away on her tablet as if it were her laptop and she was in a FBI movie or something.
"You okay, Cassandra?" I ask her, looking at Lucas and Janice lose themselves in the search. Cassandra hesitantly looks around and offers me a small smile but I know that look in her eyes; the one where she's thinking hard and is a million miles away.
"No, it's all my fault Liam." She whispers to me and I look at her in confusion. How is it her fault? What is her fault? She sighs once she sees that I don't get what she's saying.
"The accident, the bullets, everything. I shouldn't of made you go and I shouldn't of made Aiden wait for you. You have to know that I never imagined that this would happen. I loved him, Liam. I know it doesn't seem like it because I had been ignoring him since the airport but I was hurt. My heart hurt and it made me unreasonable and I'm so sorry for that. It hurt so bad that I didn't want to listen to what he had to say because I was scared that if I did, I'd come running back and based on what I heard, it was toxic. Liam, I loved him. I loved him." Cassandra explains and her voice starts breaking on the last few sentences. By the end she was sobbing.
I just sit and stare at Cassandra sobbing, absolutely shocked. I've never seen her break down like this. She's not one to talk about her feelings or emotions but here she is sobbing in front of me. I don't know how to handle it. For once I take a real look at her. She's broken. She had just acted like she wasn't to keep people away.
"I'm so sorry Liam! But I-I can't do this anymore! The guilt is eating me alive and the pain is killing me! Every time I close my eyes I see his body with bullets in it! Then I think of my own family! I've lost people, Liam! They're dead because of me! And now Aiden is another person I loved who died because of me! I-I can't. I can't! I can't!" Cassandra yells but then starts muttering "I can't" over and over again under her breath. I can tell that her sanity just snapped. She's losing it and it's not slowly anymore, it's picking up speed and-
"CASSANDRA NO!" I yell as loud as I can, hoping I can get through to her and stop her before it's too late. But the look in her eyes is a far away place so when the gun is pulled out of her packet and in her hand, I stare at Janice and Lucas, hoping they can stop her because I'm stuck in the bed. They look at me and then look at her, rushing into action.
"NO! CASSANDRA, LISTEN TO ME! DON'T DO IT!" Janice yells, trying to grab the gun as Lucas tries to hold Cassandra down to make her stop fighting.
"No! You don't understand! I did it! I killed them! I have to go! I have to go! I can't live with this! I can't!"
"Let us help you!"
"No one can help me! I'm broken! I'm a monster! A murderer! I ruin everything I touch! I kill everyone I love! Can't you see, I AM A MONSTER?!"
"You're not a monster! Your mind is just confused right now because of all the trama but we can help you, you just have to put the gun down!" Janice tries to reason with Cassandra and when she stops for a second, Janice takes the gun and Lucas holds her arms pinned down.
"I'm going to go tell the nurse. Don't let her near anything that she can k-kill herself with." Janice orders, her voice shaking slightly. I'm shocked. Like so shocked and just scared. I'm scared for Cassandra's life and mental health. Hopefully someone out there can help her.
We all just sit in silence me still not fully processing everything and Lucas holding Cassandra down so she doesn't find another way. Let's be honest, if she truly wants to kill herself, she'll find a way and there are many. Believe me, I know. After a few minutes a small petite blonde nurse rushes in wearing Marvel scrubs and black crocs with a needle in her hand. She starts speaking fast to Lucas, who listens to everything she says as he moves out the way for her to stick the needle into Cassandra. Cassandra of course screams and tells the nurse that she's perfectly fine.
"Shh, honey. You'll feel better after you wake up." The nurse tells Casandra, trying to calm her down as she still fights and cries.
"No! No! I don't want to wake up! They didn't wake up! Why should I?!"
"You're going to be okay, I'll help you. I can help get you through this but the first step is realizing that you can't blame yourself as well as finding acceptance of the past. You can't change it, so there's no sense in trying."
"I don't want y-your h-help." Cassandra says as her eyes close and she falls asleep on Lucas. He let's go of her and the nurse looks at her with sad eyes.
"Do you mind if...you can carry her to one of the rooms? The doctor is in the middle of something and told me to bring her to the room but there was no one else to-" The nurse rambles on so Lucas places a finger to her lips with a smile.
"I'd love to." He tells her as he picks up Cassandra and follows the nurse out of the room. Janice shuts the door behind him with a huff and starts mumbling under her breath.
"What's your problem?" I ask Janice and she just gives me a dirty look.
"Men are such idiots."
"You can't just call all men idiots. That's like me saying that all women can't communicate. It only applies to a few people."
"Fine, you and Lucas are idiots."
"Why?" I press, knowing sooner or later she'll either tell me or snap.
"You don't get it, of course you don't. Why would you? You got everything. You never had to fight for the attention from the person you craved the attention from. You never had to think that you weren't good enough or why they chose someone else over you because they never chose you."
"I may understand that better than you think. My mom didn't give a fuck about me! She didn't care! And Raleigh at first wanted nothing to do with me. We went too fast and it caused us to fall apart and now we have to fix it. It takes time."
"In the end you still got who you wanted." Janice says, looking at the door with a faraway look in her eyes. Suddenly, everything clicks into place.
"What happened between you two?" I ask Janice and she shrugs but there's a blush on her cheeks.
"A night of magic is all in going to say."
"Oh, I get it. But why are you upset with him now?"
"Because he's chasing after that nurse!"
"He's just being helpful and friendly."
"No! He's trying to get with her! I bet they are going at it now!" Janice yells at me and I almost roll my eyes at how much she's overreacting.
"He's not doing that. After what happened between you two and how he reacts around you, it's clear that he's crazy about you."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because a guy knows." I tell her with a shrug.
"Sure you do. Anyways, we've decided what we are going to do with you."
"Really?" I ask, my heart racing a million miles a second. This is what I've been waiting for. No more games; just straight up answers. Janice smiles and says the words I've been waiting forever to hear.
"You're going home. You're going home to Raleigh, Liam."
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+3,870words+
Hello everyone! How are you all doing? I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy! Thank you so much for still reading this book, it really means a lot to me. I love all of you!
What do you think will happen next?
Did you expect this to happen?
How do you feel about Cassandra's crisis?
What do you think about Lucas and Janice?
Does Lucas have a thing for Janice?
Will Liam actually be allowed to leave?
How will Raleigh react?
How will Ethan react when he finds out about Aiden?
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT!💖