It was understatement to say that I was scared by the sight of Nathan bleeding at my doorstep. It was more like being frightened and at the verge to pass out.

Hazel noticed that I was taking a long time at the door and followed me. Her scream was most likely heard by all of our neighbours and made me jump in surprise too.

"What in the hell?" Her hands went up to her head and she started swearing.

"Ellie...please let me in."

He said my name with such agony that it took me out of the state and I bent over, helping him to stand up and I got him inside the house before someone else could notice him.

"What are you doing, Ellie?"

Hazel was still panicking and was too scared to touch him, due to her fear of blood. I'm surprised she's still conscious after she took a look at the red spot on his shirt on the right side of his abdomen.

I let him lean against the wall as he pressed up his bleeding wound with his palm and I moved my attention to Hazel. I needed to get her to calm down so she could help me before he would bleed down on the carpet.

"Hazel, listen to me." I smiled reassuringly as her eyes focused on me and I took a hold of her shoulders.

"We were attacked in the morning at Nathan's place."

I could see the confusion and shock on her face. She was panting and her eyes widened at my confession.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier, Ellie!? How did that happen? Nathan, what did you do?"

I put my finger over her lips to shut her up. Mateo was still asleep upstairs, that's only if he didn't wake up by Hazel's scream.

"It's a long story. Now, help me bring him to the bathroom. Fiona will kill me if he ruins her favourite rug with his blood."

It seemed like she was processing everything and finally she nodded at me.

"Jesus Christ, Hazel, stop dramatising."

A voice from behind interrupted us. It was Nathan that looked at the edge of his strength. His eyes were almost closed and his breathing was irregular.

When did he decide that he had the approval to talk back?

"He's an àsshole. Why would I help him?" Hazel suddenly announced and crossed her arms in front of her chest which made Nathan laugh, but that only led to him coughing and he became even weaker.

Really?

They will fight now?

"He's still a person, Hazel. We can't let him bleed to death, can we?"

She started to understand how serious that situation was and sighed before helping me guide him to the bathroom and sit him down on the toilet.

"What are we supposed to do now? I don't know how to heal a wound." She said, making me think too and I chewed on my lip from the nerves. She had a point.

"We need to call an ambulance." I said as final decision, but Nathan interrupted me.

"No..I can't go to a hospital. They will find me."

"Who are 'they'?" Hazel asked, looking completely lost.

I was kind of confused too.

But I assumed he was talking about Antonio and his people.

"Antonio's gang is after him."

That caused Hazel to gasp and Nathan chuckled, but it came out more like a yelp from the pain he was in.

"It's not just them." He added up, leaving me shocked how he could still talk.

"What did you get yourself into, Nate?" I asked as I kneeled down and pressed a towel against his wound to prevent it from bleeding more. He growled from the pressure I put and shut his eyes closed.

"What are we going to do?" Hazel asked and I could see she was at the end to start panicking again.

I heard my phone buzzing in my back pocket before I could answer her and when I took it out, I was the one losing my shit.

"Fiona is coming back. She cannot see him here." I said fast and looked up at her while she was dealing in 911. She stopped in the middle of it and her eyes shot up from her phone to me.

"Maybe it's for the best."

"Hazel, she will freak out and ask me questions I don't know the answer to."

I said and we both simply stared at each other.

That's when I realised it was too quiet.

I looked towards Nathan and his head was tilted back while his hands were dropped by his sides, he looked lifeless.

"He passed out...I hope." I gulped and my eyes started watering from the fear of him being dead.

I reached up and tried to find his pulse. Luckily, he was still alive and I sighed in relief.

"This is crazy! Ellie, what do we do?" She was almost crying now and I had to wipe my own watery eyes.

"Take him to the hospital, Hazel. I will clean up and come too. I can't leave Mateo alone." I tried to seem stable, but my trembling voice gave up on me.

Hazel didn't say no more and we somehow took him to her car without dropping him and breaking his head on the pavement.

She drove off and I hurried back inside. There wasn't blood anywhere except on the tiles and around the toilet. I grabbed a sponge and luckily, it started to come off. My heart was racing from all the events, but I tried to hold on.

I knew that it would end bad if I panicked and did nothing.

I didn't want to do any harm to Nathan.

I hoped he would be fine.

***

I heard a knock on the door after I checked up on Mateo and made sure he's still asleep.

I went downstairs and opened the door. But to my surprise it wasn't Fiona.

No no no.

Panic started raising up again and I hurried to shut the door closed, but his foot stopped it from happening.

"Ouch? That wasn't necessary, Ellie."

Nico pulled his foot back and did a small push with his hand and that was enough for the door to open and he came inside like no big deal.

"I would've come in whether you let me in or not."

***

— Hospital —

~ Hazel

Nathan has been unconscious through the whole ride and he was in a room at the hospital.

The doctor said that the wound was still fresh and he didn't lose a lot of blood.

I couldn't help, but wondered what happened. Ellie wasn't telling me something and I was worried about her.

I didn't want her to get hurt too.

"Ellie?"

A voice interrupted my moment of thinking and I turned around.

Nathan was trying to sit up and I hurried towards him.

"Ellie..is going to come later. You should lay down." I answered hesitantly.

It's been an hour and she's still nowhere to be seen. Maybe Fiona was still on her way back home.

"I'm in a hospital?"

I nodded my head and he let out a sigh. Despite my attempts to keep him laying down, he sat up and removed everything attached to him.

"What are you doing, Nathan?" I raised my voice in shock and tried to hold him back.

"I can't stay here. They're probably on their way already." He was panting only from standing on his feet.

This boy was out of his mind.

"I swear if you mess Ellie into this."

"Too late." He said with a smirk and walked towards the door, his hand clutching the side of his torso. I made an effort to stop him, but he managed to push me away even in this weak state.

I felt anger taking over me just looking at him.

"You know what? You deserved that bullet. You made Ellie suffer and now you have to feel pain too."

With those words he turned towards me and his hand shot up to grab my neck. His eyes gave out hatred as he tightened his grip around my neck, somehow finding strength to stop my breath.

"I never really liked you, Hazel. You were talking bad about me behind my back. But the naive Ellie never believed you."

That was the last thing my mind proceeded as a sentence from him even if his mouth was still moving, before my eyelids felt heavy and everything went black.

***

— Fiona's house —

~ Ellie

"Whatever you're looking for now, I can assure you, it's not here."

Nico walked in the living room, despite my attempts to stop him.

"I know damn well that Nathan was here."

That took me by surprise and I went silent.

He turned around to look at me and smirked in victory as he saw my face expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I tried to cover it up and he just rolled his eyes before continuing towards the bathroom.

"Wait!" I said in panic since the bloody towel was still there.

Damnit Ellie. Why didn't you throw it out?

I jumped first in front of the door and put my hand on the handle.

"You can't go in there."

He raised an eyebrow and became even more suspicious. I gulped thickly and held on the door handle tighter.

"The bastard is in here, isn't he?" He chuckled in disbelief and made a step forward, glueing me to the door.

"It's not like that."

I was interrupted when he put his hand over mine and forced the door open. He let out a frustrated sigh as he figured out there wasn't a human inside meanwhile I pulled my hand back as fast as possible, but his sight fell to the floor and more specific to the towel.

"They managed to aim him, huh?"

He stepped away and he was walking around again, searching over the house.

"What are you talking about? I thought it was your people."

Then he stopped in his tracks and spun on his heel to face me again. His head tilted on the side and he studied me.

"You know."

I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Maybe I do. But not from Nathan."

He was talking about the gang, wasn't he? Only if he knew that the information I had, was not enough.

"I was starting to think you're stupid for not being curious even the slightest. Seems like it's quite the opposite, bella."

Another voice cut in and I jumped in surprise.

Antonio was standing a few feet behind me with smooth suit and amused smirk.

When did this house become an open public place?

"Get out of the house!" I tried to sound harsh while saying that and hoped that would put some sense into their heads, but they didn't react at all.

Of course, I couldn't scare off some gangsters like that.

"Did you find him? I'm afraid Martinez are right behind us."

Martinez? That's new.

They exchanged looks and Nico shook his head.

I sighed and lifted my hands up in defeat.

"I'm calling the police."

When I announced that, they both decided to give me their attention. Antonio made couple of steps and in a matter of seconds he was towering over me, the storm in his blue eyes making me instinctively step back, but he took a hold of my arm.

"Don't even think about involving police." He said so dangerously low, that chills went all over from my spine down to my toes.

I couldn't form a sensible sentence for a whole minute.

This man gave me those scary vibes and I didn't think I would want to be on his bad side.

But at the same time they really looked like the bad guys in this.

"So, now be a good girl and tell me, where did you hide Nathan?" He said completely calm and I looked over his shoulder for help, but Nico was gone and I was left alone with him.

I managed to laugh out loud and put my hands on his chest to push him away, but his reflexes were faster and he grabbed my wrists, startling me from the fast reaction and the firm grip he kept on.

"Let me go."

"I don't want any tricks. You wouldn't want the things to get ugly, bella."

There he goes with that name again.

He let go of me and started walking towards the kitchen as he heard a sound.

I needed to get rid of them as fast as possible. Fiona could arrive any minute.

"You need to leave." I exclaimed as I followed him.

"Not until you tell me where he is." He said as he opened the door for the back garden and walked out to probably double check.

"I can't. You will kill him."

I used the moment to grab the first thing I saw as defence weapon: a knife.

Perfect.

I hid it behind me as he walked in again and I hesitated what to do.

"Not immediately. But he will most likely end up dead." He said with a shrug and I gaped at how casual he made it sound.

He was coming closer and closer and I was becoming nervous holding the knife behind my back. He noticed that and he pulled on my arm, revealing my weapon. His eyes widened, but then he let out a laugh and shook his head.

"You're something else, Ellie."

He knocked the knife down before I could react and his face became deadly serious.

"You're an idiot." I spatted back and it seemed like he got angrier and more impatient with every second passing.

"Let it be the hard way then."