"Why does he have this number, Raquel?"

Harry holds me tightly as if to shield me from an invisible danger. I can feel how he shivers, though I'm sure it isn't noticeable to them. For a minute, I feel like this isn't real. The brightly lit kitchen is just a set, Raquel and Max are strangers, and Harry is all a part of a movie. A dream, a nightmare. There's a word to describe to panic that threatens to rise up from my throat, but I don't think about it. I don't think about why she helped him find me, why I thought I could trust her, and I don't want to think about him coming to find me. I want to think, no, live, in a world where Zayn does not exist. I need to believe that it's possible and all I can do is hold onto the hope that someday, that pipe dream will become a reality.

"I can explain, but we need to go."

"No," Harry speaks up, "we're not going anywhere. We're going to catch a flight to California and we're going to leave again," he takes my hand, "we're leaving again because you couldn't keep your mouth shut. You know what Zayn is like, Raquel, you know what it was like for her."

"I had no other option, Harry! I didn't want to do this!"

"But you did, Raquel, I can't protect you from this," Max rubs his temples, soon after giving Harry a pat on the back. "You need to get out of here."

"I need- I can explain, please."

"Come with us," I plead, not letting myself look at Raquel.

Max sighed deeply, "Get her out of here, Harry. I don't want to know how it'll end if he finds the four of us here."

I feel Harry tugging on my hand. "Let's go, Ana. We have to go, they're waiting for us outside. We can get in the car and go. "

We move through out the house towards long hallways to the basement. I don't know how I never noticed how weightless I feel around Harry, but that feeling has been replaced with terror. We walk down a long flight of stairs towards the door hidden in the basement, the only door that will lead us to the car.

As the door is shut and locked, all I feel is his arms around me. I can hardly catch my breath as the driver speeds off, but the only important thing is getting away with Harry. I don't make any little detail important, I don't think of Raquel, I don't think of Zayn. All I want is to be safe as we were, cuddled tight in a hotel room with movies and warm sheets. That's all I care about. It all seems so small in context, how could I not care about being in danger? But it's simple, I don't care.

I look up into his green eyes and press my lips to his, concerned only with feeling him close to me. He responds by lacing his lips with mine, my shaking immediately ceasing when I feel his cold hands on my face.

"He's not going to hurt you."

"I'm scared," I whisper, "This wasn't supposed to happen."

The driver takes a detour and avoids the big streets, probably making it easier to get to the hotel.

Harry kissed my head. "I know, I'm sorry."

"I don't want to keep running," I say, and I realize the weight of my words, "I'm tired of living afraid."

Harry cups my face and looks into my eyes, "I don't want to live this way either. I wish it wasn't like this."

"Did Max and Raquel run?"

My question catches him off guard. "Max used to work for Zayn, Raquel was his girlfriend. She just moved to Berlin a few weeks ago, but I don't know about her. I should've known."

His tone is full of guilt and he looks disappointed. "Not your fault. So Max left? And Zayn wasnt okay with it?"

He nods. "Max knows a lot. Zayn left him for dead and someone found him."

I shudder visibly. "Are we gonna make it out of this one?"

Despite everything else spinning and the security I had built around me crumbling, I believed him. The knot in my stomach made it hard to sit still, but I did. I can almost feel how I felt locked in the house all alone, feel the sting of fresh bruises all over me, I can feel blood trickling down my face just as it had before. And the memories don't go away and neither does he.

"I don't even know."