♕Harley Anderson♕

Danté shakes his head, looking down at the ground in frustration. I sigh, noticing his worry and frustration.

"You're not mad I want to help, are you?" I question him and he looks up at me so quickly, I would think he snapped his neck.

"No, I'm just ecstatic." He replies sarcastically. I frown to myself, crossing my arms over my chest in defense.

"They've done a lot for us Danté." I whisper feverishly. "The least I can do is help them. If I didn't agree to go get Ariela back with Lina, chances are that I was gonna have to go to the Slithers and help them cease control from the gang's house anyway. It was a dead end. Lina needs everyone else to go to the gang... they're going to need it."

"Do you get it that Jack wants you dead Harley? You're a traitor! He'll see you once and shoot you without a thought!" Danté shouts in a whisper and I know he's more frustrated at the situation than at me. I walk to him, clasping his hands in my own. His chest heaves up and down and I cup his cheek.

"I'll make sure he won't see me." I try to reassure him but not even I can guarantee that. "What are you going to be doing? You're not going with Ray and them to the gang's house right?"

Danté nods his head. "I am. They need as many people if they want to be able to storm the building and take control. We all know Slither members won't hesitate to shoot whoever they can."

"How can you be upset that I'm going to go help Lina when you're walking right into the lion's den huh?" I ask, feeling a little irritated at Danté. I don't try to hide the scowl on my face.

"You shouldn't be getting involved at all. You should be staying here."

"And you must do all the work?" I snap. "I need to help too!"

"And if you need to kill someone, then what huh?" Danté states bluntly. "Are you going to do it?"

Looking him dead in the eye, I say: "No. Which is exactly why I'll make sure it doesn't go there."

Danté shakes his head, looking down at me with a locked jaw. "You're relying too much on luck and hope Harley."

"It's what I've relied on for my whole life and I'm still alright. I think I can cope." Comes my snarky remark before I turn on my heel, leaving the garage before I say something I don't want to and don't mean. As much as I hate arguing with Danté, I don't have time to try and sort things out. Right now, I have more important things to do.

Like talking to Katalina and planning how the hell were supposed to get Ariela back.

****

Ramiro stands at the head of the table, silently listening to what Lina says. His hand rests on his jaw while the other is tucked under his arm. Adrianna stands beside me, quietly absorbing Katalina's instructions.

"Jack won't have Ariela outside, she'll be in the warehouse and only after his men have contacted him and let him know that we've given Persephone back at a different location will he give her back. Those are his terms and I'm not keen on trying to negotiate. That means that you and Harley," Katalina looks at Adrianna and I, "need to get into that warehouse and get Ariela as soon as possible. There will be at least two other guys there so you need to knock them out. Quietly. So that Jack thinks I'm alone and he has the upper hand. After that, you get Ariela out of there so I can get rid of Jack."

Looking between Ramiro and Lina, I ask: "Don't you think Bruno should be with us? You don't know how easy or hard it will be to get rid of Jack."

Lina shakes her head. "No, Bruno needs to be with everyone else. If there's going to be a bloodbath, it sure as hell is not going to be King's blood. I can handle myself." Her tone leaves no room for negotiation and I don't bother to try persuade her into thinking a little more logically. Ramiro seems to find no problem with the plan and so I'm led to believe it makes sense. I'm not aware of what is planned for everyone going to the gang's house so I can't exactly argue.

However, for a split second, I wonder if maybe Cyrus will accompany Jack. Would they really let their leader go to an exchange like this without any protection? Does it mean that Cyrus will be there? I shake my head to myself. It would make more sense for Cyrus to be at the gang's house since he's second-in-charge. My gut clenches at that.

Will he be okay?

Or will he die?

A part of me says it's not my duty to worry about him but another part says it's okay to still care a little.

"So everyone understands?" Lina questions, glancing at all of us. We all nod in silence and I'm extremely grateful that Adrianna will be coming with me. She's a thief. Hopefully she'll know how to get in and out of the warehouse without any struggle.

"Perfect." She says, leaning against the table in front of us with her hip. "We'll be leaving in an hour."

Adrianna nods in acknowledgement before leaving the room and I'm about to do the same when Lina calls out to me. I stop with my hand on the doorknob, raising an eyebrow to her in silent question. This whole time, Katalina has been emotionless- except for the short moment she cried in the basement- but now, I can see the hurt. It's her duty to be strong for this gang but she's also a mom. A mom worried for the life of her daughter and it's clear that she's more affected by this than she leads on.

Slowly, she walks towards me and before I can respond she's embracing me tightly. My surprise means that I take a few moments to conjure up a response but when I do, I hug her back as tight as I can. She may basically be a leader of this gang but she's also my friend and I care about her. She was the only person who was ever nice to me when I first got dragged into this mess. Katalina has a good heart. She deserves the best, along with her brother and daughter.

"Thank you for been willing to help." She whispers, voice thick with emotion and I pull back to smile at her. The glossy sheen of her eyes tugs at my heart.

"I owe it to you." I reply and she shakes her head.

"You don't owe me anything."

"I do." I insist, holding her arms gently. She watches me for a second before biting on her cheek.

"Please just make sure that you get Ariela." She blinks rapidly, "Please."

I frown, nodding my head without hesitation. "I promise Lina."
Katalina nods her head as if she's trying to convince herself to believe my words and she lets go of me, taking a step back. I offer a shaky smile, glancing at Ramiro who is frowning deep in thought before I leave the room.

****

They look like an army. Everyone who is going to the gang's house have guns in hands, a red or good bandana somewhere on their body to show that they're a Kings member. There's people I've never seen before climbing into their cars and I watch as Bruno pushes Persephone who has her hands tied behind her back to a car. She doesn't put up a fight but when she sees me watching her from the steps of the house, she smiles a bloody grin. I scowl back in response, only tearing my eyes away when she's pushed into the backseat of a car.

My gaze slides over everyone until it lands on him. Danté talks quickly to Keva before nodding. The bombshell walks away and as if sensing my gaze, he turns to look at me. Our eyes meet and I feel myself relax a little. Walking down the stairs, I stalk across the gravel to him. He leans his side against his car, a blank expression on his face. I purse my lips as I look up at him. Within all the chaos and all the talking and preparation to storm the Slithers, Danté offers me a sort of peace and I don't need to try block the thoughts that have passed through my mind during the day.

"Please be careful." Is the first thing I say. Danté frowns at me, eyebrows drawing together in worry.

"What's wrong?" He asks, stepping forward and cupping my cheek. I inhale a shaky breath.

"I... I can't lose you Danté. Please be careful." I'm not naive enough to think that people won't die today. There's people who are going to walk in and never walk out and I can only wish, only hope, that Danté won't be one of them. I don't know if I'll be able to survive without him.

Tugging me closer, Danté looks down at my eyes. "I'm not going to die today Harley."

"You don't know that."

"Listen to me," he says, reaching out to wrap an arm around my waist, "you're not going to lose me alright? I know what I'm doing. Things may go smoother than we think so don't stress too much about it."

It's hard to blink away the tears. "What if you're relying too much on hope and luck?" I throw his words back at him. They may have worked for me but maybe they won't for him.

He offers a smile that settles my nerves ever so slightly. "Sometimes it's the only thing we can rely on."

Pursing my lips, I nod and let Danté wrap his arms around me. The embrace is filled with a hundred different emotions- nervousness, anxiousness, worry, concern, hope, love. It would be so easy to just be able to stay in his embrace like this forever- warm and cozy and in a place I feel loved. But all good things come to an end and when Ramiro tells them to move out and Danté lets go of me, I kiss him as hard as I can. He responds almost immediately and I put the feel of his lips to memory. Pulling back, I rub my thumb over his jaw.

"I love you."

The smile I fell in love with makes an appearance, and he leans forward to press a kiss to my forehead.  "I love you too."

When Danté steps back from my embrace, I immediately miss his warmth. With one last lingering glance, he climbs into his car. They all begin moving out and I let out a breath when I see Danté's Mustang exit the gate.

"It's time to go Harley." Adrianna says from behind me. She already has her leg in the car and I nod. Lina is already sitting behind the steering wheel and I take in a deep breath, walking over to he car and slipping inside.

Without knowledge of where the warehouse we'll be doing the exchange is at, I don't know how long it takes us to get there. However, I don't mistaken the thick and tense atmosphere in the car. It makes my heart stick to my throat and I sigh. Katalina seems confident in the plan and that gives me a sense of confidence and security. I've never done anything remotely close to this but Lina has and if she's happy with what we've discussed, I'm assuming its because we came up with a good plan.

It feels like it's both within a blink of an eye and a few hours that we pull up to the warehouse. There's no pause except for when Lina says: "Stick to the plan, let's go." Adrianna and I climb out of the car quickly, shutting our doors silently before Lina drives into the parking lot.

The warehouse consists of a simple block building with a fence around it and the parking lot. Trees surround the building but there's none in the parking lot which means Adrianna and I are hidden behind the trees. I hear Lina switch the car off before I hear her door opening and shutting. Adrianna and I, on the other hand, stick to the wall of the building and slowly walk to the side of it that has a door. It's in an odd place as the door faces the flowerbeds. However, I see two guards standing by the door with a gun in their hands and I gulp. I press my back further against the wall. My brain can't seem to find a solution to the problem however, Adrianna is ahead of me when she picks up a small pebble and throws it into the bushes.

The two men perk up at the nose, and I hear them shuffling around.

"Did you hear that?" One whispers to the other.

"Yeah. I think someone is in the bushes."

"Let's check it out."

Mud squelching under their boots rings in my ears as well as twigs snapping and Adrianna turns to me, leaning closer to my ear before saying: "You take one, I'll take the other." With a thumping heart, I nod my head and we both sprint towards the men. Adrianna hits the one with the back of her gun and he falls to the floor unconscious while the other turns to look at us, raising his gun and taking aim.

"Hey!" He shouts and I kick the gun out of his hand, putting all my self-defense lessons to use, and the gun hits the mud with a thud. The man's feline eyes snap to the gun and he lunges for it however, I'm just as quick and jump on him so that he falls down. The impact hurts my knees but I'm grateful that the gun is still out of reach. If he pulls the trigger, Jack will know something is wrong and everything will be a fail. Knowing that this man is stronger than me, I take the nearest rock I can find and hit him as hard as I can on the head. A grunt is heard before he stops squirming beneath me. Blood trickles down his head and I drop the rock, scrambling to my feet before looking to Adrianna who seems as out of breath as me.

"You did great." She smiles but I gulp, looking at the man's body who is no longer moving.

"Is he still alive?"

Adrianna crouches beside him, pressing two fingers to his pulse. For a few seconds I feel like I'm going to be sick with the thought that I just killed another man but after the thief shakes her head, I let out a sigh of relief. She grabs the set of keys from the guy she knocked out before slipping her hands under his arms and dragging him to a tree that she leans him against.

"Help me with the other guy."

I do as she says, grunting at the weight of the man before putting him next to his partner. His blood stains my shirt and I try to ignore the smell as Adrianna slips the key into the hole without a struggle. I try and get my hands to stop trembling but it gets harder the more I focus on it so I remind myself what's on the line here instead. The door unlocks without a problem and Adrianna pushes the it open. We enter the room, closing the door behind us. In the center of the room, sitting on a thin blanket and playing with a doll is Ariela.

My first response is to look for any injuries but she seems fine, not a scratch in sight. However, she looks up when we enters, fear flickering across her face for a moment before she stumbles to her feet and comes running to us.  I drop to my knees, embracing her in a hug and holding her close, letting out a sigh of relief since she's alright.

"Let's get her out of here." Adrianna says and I nod, pushing a strand of Ariela's hair behind her ear. She looks at me with her big eyes and I feel anger that Jack would hurt such an innocent and young child. However, Adrianna lets out a lot string of curses when she tries to open the door.

"What's wrong?" I ask in a panic and she grunts, inserting a key back into the door.

"The door automatically locked and now I need to find the right key."

"Be quick." I whisper and she nods, the sound of the keys jingling in the room. I notice a murky window then and I walk towards it after place Ariel back on the floor. I peek out, making sure that Jack can't see me. Even through the layer of grime on the glass, I see Lina standing a few meters away from Jack with her arms hanging by her sides and her hands balled into fists. With Jack's back facing me, I can only imagine him smirking in his sadistic ways at Lina while he finds joy in hurting her.

At first Lina's face is a certain kind of calm rage and I feel my own rage sizzling beneath my skin. However, something like panic flickers across Lina's features for a brief moment and my eyebrows pull together. "Adrianna come here for a second. I think something is wrong."

"I can't, I need to get the door open." She replies and I turn away from her, looking back out the window. Lina says something although I'm not sure what and then Jack is pulling something out of his waistband and raising his arm up to Lina. For a few seconds, it feels like everything happens in slow motion- she looks passed Jack and towards the window, our eyes meeting for a brief moment, before the sound of a gunshot goes off and her body drops to the floor.

A gasp escapes me as I see her crumpled up figure, lying on the floor and not moving. Tears spring to my eyes and when Jack walks to her, taking aim again and shooting once more, I cannot contain the strangled noise of despair that leaves my throat. My vision blurs as tears fall out of my eyes and my whole body shakes.

She's dead, she's dead, she's dead. Katalina is dead.

Suddenly, a hand is clamping down around my mouth, pulling me to the floor. I shut my eyes closed, my body wracking with silent sobs.

"We don't have time for this Harley." Adrianna says in my ear, her voice growing more hasty. "Jack will be here any minute and we need to get out, okay? You need to pull yourself together. Can you do that?"

Opening my eyes and blinking away the blur, I nod. Adrianna removes her hand from my mouth and runs back to the door. I wipe furiously at my eyes, noticing Ariela crying too as if she already knows her mom is dead although I doubt she could even understand that. I grab her toy and pick her up just as Adrianna says:

"Yes! The door is open, let's go."

Relief floods my system and we make a dash for the door however, Jack appears with a smirk in the entrance. Gunshots go out and I drop to the floor, holding Ariela to my chest and covering her. I will not let her die today. I will not let her face the same fate as her mom. She trembles in my arms and I block her ears to try protect her from the horrible noises of gunshots ricocheting in the room. My own ears ring and it takes me a moment to realise that the gunshots have stopped.

I look over my shoulder to see Adrianna on the floor, blood pooling around her while Jack looks down at the liquid. I'm almost certain that she's dead until she groans, holding onto her leg. This seems to be of no interest for Jack because he pulls his eyes away from Adrianna and settles them on me.

And I really wish he didn't.

Adrianna is shot, Katalina is dead and I don't know how I'm supposed to get both Ariela and I out... killing Jack might lead to my own demise. I'm all alone on this and nobody is coming to help because they think we have this under control.

"Fancy seeing you here Harley." Jack smiles, walking slowly towards me. With a heart hammering in my chest, I pull Ariela tighter towards me as I sneer at the man. He laughs. "You really shouldn't have come here. I mean, I was going to find you eventually and get rid of you but you really just moved up the date."

A sudden onset of exhaustion washes over me and I realise how tired I am of running. Of running from my Jack, my past, my mistakes. I've done such horrible things but I'm a good person and I think I deserve to catch a break. I don't want to die. There's so many things I want to do with Danté, like design the interior of a house, get married and have a family. I want to come home from a good day at work and take long walks on the beach with him, our hands intertwined and sand between our toes. I want to meet up with Audrey and giggle and laugh as we get our nails done and go shopping before we meet up with Caleb and Danté for dinner. I want to have more movie marathons with Olivia and have her stroke my hair in her motherly love while I cuddle Mia in my arms as she chews on a packet of skittles I bought her, Coco snuggled on the couch by her feet. I want to stare at more sunsets with Ramiro and eat ice-cream out of the tub. I want to read more books and poems, and watch more movies and listen to new songs. I want to laugh more, cry more, feel more. There's so many more things I still want to do.

I don't want to die. All this time I thought maybe that would be better- it would stop all the pain. And now that I have death looking me right in the eyes, I realize I don't want that. I want life. I choose life. But life has not been kind and for that, I will welcome death with open arms and a gentle heart just in case death is everything life wasn't.

"Then why don't you do it?" I spit, emotions spilling down my eyes. I stroke Ariela's hair, hoping to keep her calm. The last thing I need is for her to freak out. If I die today, I hope she makes it out. And forgets this day. I don't drop my gaze from Jack's cold stare. "You already killed Lina when you didn't need to. Why not just end me?"

A scoff escapes him and he shakes his head, a smile playing on his lips. "Wheres the fun in that? You don't deserve an easy death after you betrayed my gang."

I shake my head, grinding my words out through the tears. "I deserve a painful death, yes. But not for what I did to you. If anything, I should be pardoned because of it."

Jack cocks his head to the side, watching me like I'm some sort of scientific experiment. "You could've been just like your brother y'know. Useful, innovative, loyal, smart, ruthless... and yet you chose this cowardly path. You could have run the world with your brother by your side. Cyrus knew the right decisions to make and that's exactly why you're here and he's not. Instead he's helping me run a million dollar empire."

"Don't speak about my brother!" I scream at him. My voice echoes back at me. The tears taste salty as they meet my lips. "You're the one who turned him into the monster he is today. And I hate you for that. You stole my brother from me." I cry out, the pain pouring into each syllable I say. "You took away the only hope I ever had. And I hate you for it. I hate you Jack and I hope that you die and rot in hell. I hope that those last few seconds you live you'll go through everything you've put others through. I hope you suffer." I sneer. "I hope you rot because you're a piece of shit."

My words have struck a cord it seems because all amusement in Jack's face is gone. Slowly he stands back up to his full height.

"Well, unfortunately for you, you'll be the first one rotting."

"Fuck you." I shout, even when he's pointing a gun at me. "Fuck you!"

The trigger goes off and I flinch, eyes fluttering shut. I wait for the pain, the burn. The light at the end of the tunnel. For something, anything. But nothing happens. When I open my eyes, Jack is lying on the floor in front of me, the person responsible for taking his life staring down at him.

Scrambling to my feet after picking Ariela up, his name escapes me: "Cyrus." But he isn't looking at me, he's looking down at Jack's now lifeless body with a certain kind of pain I can't understand. When he meets my gaze, I don't know what to say other than: "Why on earth would you kill him?" This could have very bad consequences for Cyrus. No, it will. Killing your gang leader is worse than leaving the gang. It's not just betrayal... it's a lack of respect and power within the gang itself.

Heartbreak is written across Cyrus's features. "I couldn't let him kill you and I know there's no use in trying to talk Jack out of something. I just... I had a feeling something wasn't right so I left the gang's house and tried to get here as fast as possible." His eyes flicker down to his leader's body before he looks back up at me.

I blink at him. Cyrus, my brother- the person who abandoned me, broke my heart and then did it all over again, the person who broke me, has saved me today. He spared my life. He left the gang's house where he needed to protect them from Enrique's ambush to come save me.

"Thank you Cyrus." I whisper hoarsely. "Thank you."

He shakes his head at me. "Don't thank me Lee. I'm your brother. It's not supposed to be surprising that I would come. But I'm sorry I've made it like that anyway. You deserved a better older brother. I'll never forgive myself for hurting you Lee. I regret it every day. Every. Single. Day. And I know you don't believe it but I really am sorry. I'm sorry I left you all those years ago and then let Jack do this to you... I am. But I love you. I love you so much. I just need you to know that."

A sob escapes my mouth and I walk to Cyrus, throwing my arms around him. He hugs me like he used to when we were kids and I cry softly because I forgive him, I do. But things will never be the same again. They can't be.
"I love you too Cyrus." I tell him and he pulls away, looking down at me.

"I couldn't lose you." He whispers. "Not to Jack."

I chew on my lip to suppress my cries.

"You need to get out of here. Take Ariela and go. Go as far away from Concord as you can. I'll make sure all evidence of Frank is removed and the case remains cold. Just... go okay? Go and find the life you want Lee. The life you deserve."

Nodding my head vigorously, Cyrus offers a shaky smile, tears of his own dropping down his cheeks. My brother let's go of me and I take a few steps back, breathing in deeply before wiping at my eyes. I pick Ariela up who is cowering on the floor and hold her close to me while she cluthes my shirt tightly in her hands.

My eyes stray to Adrianna. "Is she dead?"

Cyrus bends down to feel her pulse before shaking his head. "No."

"I'll help you put her in the car." He says and I open my mouth to say something before he cuts me off, "and I'll make sure Katalina remains here... so that you can do whatever you feel necessary with her body."

I don't have the courage to say anything about that and instead leave the warehouse. When I walked in, I never imagined things going so badly.

"Shhh, I'm taking you home okay." I tell Ariela as I strap her into the passenger seat. Thereafter, I open the back door so that Cyrus can place Adrianna in the back. Blood stains his hands but he pays it no mind.

"She's shot in both legs." He tells me after shutting the door. I nod, staring at my brother for one last time. I needed this. I forgive him. I still love him. But I cannot forget what he did and, honestly, I'm okay with that.

"Goodbye Cyrus."

He smiles, "Goodbye Harley."

Turning  away from my brother for the last time, I climb into the car.

•••
So this was a hectic chapter... and also an incredibly sad one to write. I don't even know what to say...
What do you guys think of it?

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