White shirt now red, my bloody nose
Sleepin', you're on your tippy toes
Creepin' around like no one knows
Think you're so criminal

"Hi, Alex." Harry answered, and I was lying if I told you I couldn't notice the nerves written all over his face.

I knew they had thought about the possibility of me showing up, but, judging by his reaction, they clearly expected me to be long-gone dead or shit. I mean, I did almost die, but I was stronger than to lose myself so fast physically speaking.

Emotionally speaking was a whole different topic.

I had no idea what to expect about this, but the only thing I knew with clarity was that I couldn't fail this time. If I did, it would be strike two and I'd only have one more shot to defeat Harry and Natalie. If I didn't achieve my goal, I was a deadman walking.

"Look, I'm going to be really straightforward about this. It's your choice if you want to listen or not, but be aware of the risks you're putting both yourself and Natalie through if you choose not to." I raised a warning eyebrow at him and he didn't say a word in return, so I continued to talk. "You two have to leave right the fuck now."

"I think you're the one who has to leave. Remember? I shot you once, and I won't hesitate in doing it again," He was quick to answer, and I felt my lower lip trembling at the violence hidden in his voice.

"I'm not alone this time." I said quick and sincerely, hoping that got a reaction out of him. It was true, I wasn't alone.

I had brought Alissa together with me.

"Who are you? Why won't you let us do our fucking job in peace?" Harry shook his head, choosing to ignore my previous statement, and I was dying to know what his next move would be.

Maybe he really was capable of killing me remorselessly, and it'd be my fault if Alissa died too. Fuck, I should've never dragged her into this mess together with me in the first place. I hated feeling so lonely, it forced me to make impulsive decisions that risked so many lives. Everything was always my fault.

"I asked that question before and you didn't answer." I shrugged my shoulders as I scanned the place with my eyes, spotting Natalie within a bunch of people. Shit, she was looking back.

"How about this? You answer first and then I'll tell you. I don't have all day for this shit, I'm busy." He rolled his eyes, but I was good at reading nuances and I could see he was very on edge at the moment.

I raised both of my eyebrows at him, letting him know I wasn't going to accept. He huffed in frustration, turning around to look at Natalie. I followed his gaze, but I was surprised when I didn't spot her anywhere. She was gone... and so was Gaten Marina.

My eyes widened in realization that she had been even quicker than I anticipated, I had to hurry up if I wanted to catch her before she stopped the acting and actually killed the guy. I couldn't fail, not this time.

My boss reminded me so much of my father.

"Fuck it." Harry said, making me snap my eyes back at him. He left his stool, leaving me alone in the bar and getting lost amidst the chaos of heads and fancy attires.

I stood up and followed him, trying my best not to move my gaze from him since the place was flooded by a multitude of people drawing all together. Apparently, Harry knew very well where he was heading to and what he was doing, because we soon arrived at an empty hallway where Natalie already had Marina pinned against the wall.

"Natalie." Harry acted casually, completely unbothered by the man. "Alex is-"

Well, I had tried my best to stay quiet, but I had accidentally stepped on an empty candy wrapper that had no right to be there that made Harry freeze in his tracks and turn around. We met eyes for a brief second before he closed his, clearly annoyed by my presence again.

"Can't you just fucking leave!" He yelled, throwing his hands in the air before running towards me and tackling me to the floor faster than I thought he would.

My assumption was that he was slow, and I thought this because of his great amount of... muscle mass. Well, apparently, I wasn't good at presuming things and I had to stop because I was underestimating too many people that could actually kill me without even having to pull the trigger.

I fell on my back and felt the annoying pain of my gunshot wound spreading all over the left side of my torso. I knew the stitches would come loose if Harry hit me anywhere near the bandage, so my focus was solely on taking him down before he turned the tables.

He sat on his knees straddling my lap and held my wrists on top of my head with one hand before throwing his fist to my nose with the other. I could already feel the blood pouring out downwards to my mouth as memories flooded my mind-

No.

Focus, Alex, you got this.

I kneed his spine and he arched his back over in pain, so I took the opportunity to switch roles. Now, I was straddling his lap, and I made sure to punch him enough times to bust his lip and cut his cheekbone.

I wasn't expecting him to be so strong, but he was, and he somehow managed to stand up and throw me on the floor during the process. But before I could get on my feet again, someone was already grabbing Harry by the neck from behind.

And I recognized the bracelets and the dark skin, it was Alissa.

My thoughts were all over the place as she attempted to knock out Harry, but the loud sound of bones cracking made me turn around to see Natalie had punched Marina hard enough to leave him unconscious and she was now running towards us.

She wasted no time in grabbing both of Alissa's arms to pull her away from Harry, and her strength was unavoidable. Natalie was tiny, but yet she managed to be so fast and strong at the same time that I was really surprised the first time she fought me.

But suddenly, she froze.

She had now gotten a glimpse of Lis' face and her whole anatomy was glued to the floor like cement. My brows furrowed instinctively, my brain too overworked to understand. What? Did they know each other? What the hell was going on?

Alissa didn't react the same though. She took the opportunity to punch Natalie's stomach and the way she doubled over and screamed in pain was enough to let me know Lis had either used a lot of strength or she had hit a very vulnerable spot of her abdomen.

Meanwhile, Harry and I just stood there in utter shock like two dumbasses.

But something got into Harry, because I heard him murmur a loud 'fuck' before running over to Natalie and grabbing her shoulders so she could support herself. Her eyes were screwed shut and she was hugging her own body, but I never expected her to recover so quickly.

"You bitch!" She yelled, running over to Alissa once more and leaving Harry frozen behind her.

This time, he reacted quicker and turned around to me, wasting no time in punching the side of my face. I was so confused and stunned, and I didn't know if it was because of the blow or the fact that a lot had happened in less than five minutes.

My brain was working slower now, but I felt a pair of hands around my neck and that forced me to gather all the strength I could to ignore the annoying pain all along my body and at least try to fight back.

My vision was slightly blurry, but I could see Harry's face flashing violence and anger while he tightened his grip on my windpipe. The air was barely making it through and the lack of oxygen was making me dizzy, but I managed to head-butt him and make him stumble back.

I looked to the side only to find Natalie straddling Alissa's lap and pounding her face with no mercy at all. My first instinct was to go help her, completely forgetting about Harry. So I ran towards the two girls and used my whole strength to grab Natalie by her shoulders and harshly throw her back.

Alissa's face was busted open and drenched in blood, but she was alive, so I quickly pulled her up by her arm and guided her to run towards the door with me. I could see the neon green lights portraying the word 'exit' so close, but my ears were ringing so loud that I could barely keep up with myself.

Luckily, I got us both out of there alive. I was in better condition than Alissa was, Natalie had really taken off her anger on her and I still couldn't figure out why.

I had failed once more. I only had one more chance and I couldn't blow it, I didn't want my boss to kill me. I never thought I'd be here, considering this possibility, but it was time for us to attend our last resource:

Zayn Malik.