Count my cards, watch them fall
Blood on a marble wall
I like the way they all
Scream

I was always following orders, ever since I was a child.

My father was the one to blame for building that compliant part of me. I was just a kid when it all started, and trust me when I tell you it wasn't pleasant at all.

It was snowing a lot and my father told me to clear the sidewalk. Of course I was just doing normal things any seven-year-old would do, so I refused. He got mad, he never took the pills for his anger issues. He hit me, and it only took a broken nose for me to understand.

My mother had been mistreated by my dad too, so she decided to put a restraining order and leave both of us. I didn't care, because she wasn't good either. She smoked and drank and did drugs. I'm pretty sure I was a mistake.

I had ditched my parents as soon as I turned eighteen, and I had been told my mom died from overdose and my dad practically killed himself while driving drunk at dawn. Did I give a fuck? Not one.

My sister was the best thing in my life. Her name was Lucy and she was so pretty, but she was killed by her boyfriend at fourteen. I didn't understand how I let that happen, since I was supposed to protect her. But her boyfriend was abusive, and I just wished I got to spend more time with her.

Having the parents I had, it was easy for me to sneak out and go wherever I pleased. They couldn't care less about my whereabouts every night, so I took the opportunity and started going to bars when I turned fifteen.

I bought drugs too. In the beginning I only smoked marijuana and organic cigarettes because they affected less my health. But then family struggles got worse and I stopped caring about myself. I had swore my sister I'd never try synthetic drugs, but she was dead now and my life had no sense anymore. So I tried opioid drugs, like fentanyl, hallucinogens, like LSD, and dissociative drugs, like coke or heroin.

I became a fucking addict.

But there was no one in my life that cared about me. I was only eighteen when I found myself completely alone, because I didn't even have the necessary strength to go to a bar. I developed depression and a depersonalization-derealization disorder.

Sometimes, I would just lock myself inside my own mind and I didn't even know who I was anymore. My episodes usually lasted a couple of hours, where I just curled up on the floor, but sometimes they lasted up to two days. I had no idea what happened during these periods of time, but I knew I cried a lot because I would wake up with damp cheeks. I was lost within my mentality and no one was there to snap me out of my trance, so I just suffered.

My body was in my room, but I wasn't there at all. My thinking would torture me, because I relived old memories that I had tried to bury deep in the back of my mind. It was really hard, and the episodes hadn't stopped yet. I was used to them by now though.

But at some point, this guy just... appeared. I was nineteen, young and stupid. He didn't even tell me his name, but he somehow knew I was an addict. So he kinda took me under his wing.

He taught me everything I knew now, which was fighting, using weapons, hacking and a bunch of other stuff. Not good stuff. I had killed more people than I wanted to admit.

But I hadn't chosen this life, so now I had to cope with it. I always wanted to be a normal kid, with normal parents and normal thoughts. That wasn't possible and it was too late to fix me.

My skills were flawless and unmatched. I was kind of like the guy's personal killer, even though I knew there were more people working for him.

There was this dude... he told me what the other guy wanted me to do and I complied, because that's all I knew and all I had ever learned. To follow orders.

At first, I was scared of what it could do to me. But then I realised how all of this just made me numb... and what was better than not feeling anything at all?

Was it better than having to suffer over past wounds? Yes, it fucking was.

I had no idea how my boss had found out about this so quick, but he knew someone was trying to interrupt his delivery. One of the guys in the chain trade informed him about the current situation; a guy and a girl were trying to get the diamond.

I had to take a fifteen minute train trip to get to Wolverhampton immediately and stop them from achieving their goal, but I couldn't kill anyone unless they attacked me first. Typical FBI modus operandi.

The bar was Steam & Rye and I just knew this was going to be hard. I had no idea how this two people looked, except for a vague description that pointed them as a short girl with black hair and a tall guy with curls. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

I stepped into the bar with a superior air, making sure everyone knew they shouldn't mess with me. No one did, luckily.

The people were annoying me the closer they got, and some girls even tried to seduce them or some shit. I pushed them away reluctantly.

I was in a bad mood ever since I had been told I had to get on a train at midnight to catch sone stupid ass couple that thought they could mess with my people. They seriously had no idea who they were dealing with.

Finding them wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The minute I glanced at the striptease lounge, there she was, on stage.

I had to admit it, the way she moved and her body were extremely teasing. But I was polite and this wasn't what I was here for, so I limited myself to lean against the wall and try to intimidate. Damn, she wasn't budging her gaze away.

Her boldness was making me question her purposes. Maybe she wasn't as stupid as I thought. Maybe she actually had a plan. What if they retrieved the diamond? My boss would kill me. Literally.

As soon as she looked away, it took a quick glance around the area to locate the guy. He was tall, with brown curls and chiseled features. Handsome.

He was tense, never looking away from her body. Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? Were they killers? What the hell did they want?

I looked at her but nowhere at the same time, too invested in my thoughts to pay attention to my surroundings. It was hard to focus with all this loud music blasting through the speakers, but I needed to formulate some theories to have an idea of what was their job here.

The guy with the diamond had left already, but not the previous delivery. My guess was that they were here for him, so I needed him to leave this pub.

The first option popping in my mind was the one of distracting the two of them so that they didn't reach him. I had to do something in order to keep them away.

But once again, the fearless air she emanated was a problem. She wouldn't budge that easily and I knew that, but it was worth the try.

I was too deep immersed in my thinking that I didn't even noticed the music had stopped. The girl was already leaving the stage and the guy was following her, so it was my chance.

I waited one or two minutes so that nobody found me suspicious and then I followed their paths, spotting them next to the cocktail bar.

The girl was with her back to me, and her ass looked so good in that tiny underwear... maybe I could forget my cover for tonight and-

Alex, what the fuck.

With no hesitation at all, I walked towards them, ready to interrupt the nice chat they were having. I swirled my tongue on the toothpick on my mouth and watched as their figures became bigger to my eyes.

The girl's body was so close to me, and I couldn't explain how good she looked. Her black hair cascaded down her back and-

"Hey, guys." I talked, making them both look at me immediately. "I'm Alex, Alex Turner."

I then stuck out my hand for them to shake. The girl just stared at me with her eyebrows arched, raking her eyes up and down my body in suspicion. The guy was the one to shake my hand, and I could see the hesitation in his movements. Clearly, he was much more insecure than the girl.

"I'm Natalie Perkins, and this is Harry Styles." She talked, pointing at each of them. "Can we help you?"

It was the moment. Now or never.

"Yes, actually. Lenard wants you to give another show. Apparently, people like you." I lied.

Lenard was the strippers' manager, and I knew him from the other times I had come here. Of course it was always under other... circumstances.

Natalie's arms were crossed over her chest, and the way she squinted at me was enough to let me know she didn't trust me. Harry stayed quiet all the way through, probably not knowing what to say.

"I'm up for private dance. A guy requested me."

Shit.

If she was talking about their target, I didn't know what my next move could be. It was already hard to convince them of backing off, how the hell was I supposed to convince them not to kill some random dude?

My only option right now was to keep on insisting about the pretended dance she had to do, and pray to god she believed me.

"Lenard's orders, not mine." I shrugged, trying to show myself nonchalant. The truth was - all of my cells were fighting not to let me think about what my boss would do to me if I didn't get this done. "You can do the private dance later."

"The guy's waiting for me." She wasted no time in chuckling, almost interrupting me mid-sentence. She was so fucking adamant. "So I'd appreciate it if you told Lenard I can't right now. He out of everyone should know how everything works."

And suddenly, an idea popped up in my mind.

It was the easiest choice, and I was stupid enough not to have thought about it earlier. Well, I was never good at planning things. I was more of a field guy.

I could've just talked to the dude and tried to convince him of leaving the bar. It was dangerous for him here, and he had to trust me.

He wasn't one of my boss's workers, so he didn't know me, but did I have a choice? No. So it was either stopping it before it started or allowing things to go to the next level.

"As you say so." I smiled dryly at her before walking past them.

I hurried my pace towards the private rooms because I knew he would be already there. My boss had texted me earlier saying the guy would be wearing bright green clothes. This had to work.

The music made the floor vibrate and, once again, I had to skip a bunch of ladies that were trying to seduce me. I wasn't trying to be rude, but I needed to get this done as soon as possible.

My senses had sharpened and I could even hear the tapping of my boots against the floor over the loud music. The private rooms were so close, but yet they seemed so far.

My breathing kept quickening the longer I thought about my boss doing something to me. He never did because I always achieved my goals, but he always threatened me too.

I could feel the thin layer of cold sweat on my hairline and my pulse was so fast. It felt like my heart was going to break out from my chest any moment from now.

I couldn't let someone lay a finger on me again, not after everything I had suffered. I didn't want to reopen old wounds, I didn't want to have a panic attack, I didn't-

And I finally reached the door.

I let out the most relieved sigh as I walked into the room without previous warning. It was a very ample place, the walls covered in red velvet and a burgundy rug on the floor.

The room smelled of pure sex and I didn't even want to think about everything that happened within this four walls.

The dude turned around to look at me. At first, a small smile was plastered on his lips, but he furrowed his brows almost immediately when he acknowledged my presence.

"You have to get out of here." I said before he could open his mouth, making sure he caught my seriousness.

"Who the hell are you? Why? No, I'm waiting for a girl!" He blurted out all at once.

"That girl isn't who you think she is. She's dangerous and you're a target, you-" I started explaining, but he cut me off.

"Me? A target? Please! Why would they want me?" He chuckled cynically.

"I don't know, but I was sent here for a reason, you need to get out before-"

The door behind me bursted open, two figures popping in with weapons prepared on their hands.

I wasted no time in fumbling for the gun on the back of my pants, clicking the hammer and aiming it right at them. And I wasn't surprised at all.

Too late.

With no hesitation at all, I shot my gun. The bullets didn't hit them, because they were quick to hide behind the walls. I didn't stop though, because I needed them to stay there so that I could talk.

The man behind me squealed in horror, and I knew he was trying to hide somewhere. As long as he didn't escape, everything was fine.

"Why are you here?" I yelled the minute I ran out of bullets, quickly grabbing the reload from my pocket.

But Natalie was quicker when she popped out from behind the wall and ran towards me. She was barefoot and still only on her underwear. This would be hard.

"I ask the same thing." She said before grabbing the arm which I was holding the gun with and somehow managing to get on my shoulders.

How the hell had she done that?

Harry stayed under the doorsill, not knowing what to do. Natalie was trying to knock me out with her arms, and she was really strong. But I was stronger, so I was fast to raise my arms and grab her shoulders. In a swift move, I pinned her against the floor and straddled her lap.

"You'll have to answer first," I answered back out of breath, right when I aimed my fist at the side of her face.

I hit her, not strong enough to make her pass out. But the sudden sting on my back told me she had just kneed my spine. I doubled over in pain and she took the opportunity to turn me around so now she was on top of me.

She threw punches everywhere on my face, and I somehow managed to dodge some of them, but the rest went all straight to my nose and I couldn't help but think about the first time my dad hit me.

No.

I stopped her fists with my two palms and I used my whole strength to push her back. She fell on her ass to the floor and I used to the distraction to grab my gun and aim it at her.

"Don't move or I'll shoot." I said, holding the pistol close to my face. But it wasn't long till I heard the noise of another gun hammer; Harry was pointing his gun at me.

"Don't move or I'll shoot," He stated my words.

Well now I was doomed.

I wasn't going to surrender that easily. I had to do something about this. I couldn't shoot Natalie because Harry would shoot me, and if I shot him then there was a slight chance he shot too and the bullet hit me.

But shooting Harry was the safest option. So that's what I did.

The fastest I could, I turned around so now the gun was pointed at Harry. I didn't even checked to see were I was aiming at when I shot, and I knew I didn't hit him because an annoying pain on my side made me double over.

Harry had shot back and he hadn't missed.

"I told you not to move," He said, his deep voice sounding muffled to my ear.

"Why do you want this guy?" I asked, using my whole strength not to fall. I saw Natalie standing up and walking towards me, though my vision was blurry.

"We're not answering anything to you." She frowned at me with a playful smirk and stood right in front of me. "Sweet dreams."

Her cynical smile was the last thing I saw before she hit me in the head with her bare fist. The force she used was too much.

And suddenly, everything went black.