[NOT EDITED]

HARRY'S POV

~~Recap~~

"Ready for surprise dear "best friend" Let's have a look" I said while everyone in the room were holding their breath, I can feel it.

"You can come in" I ordered and in came--

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~~ BACK TO PRESENT ~~

"Surprise" I said while I saw Stephan's jaw dropping to the ground, eyes wide open with shock. He was stunned. I smirked again, oh this isn't even the start and I had him stunned. What will happen when he'll know the "truth".

"I guess you are too surprised to even talk my dear "best friend". C'mon tell me now, are you happy?" I teased him even though I know once he will get his tongue back, he'll have my neck in his grasp. Nope, he won't be able to, it's not easy to have your hands on me. I'm UNTOUCHABLE.

"Hey Chris, Tessa you can have a seat. Come sit here" I said while pointing towards the couch I was sitting on. They complied and sat on the other end.

"How?" is all Stephan said while he was still in some kind of daze. So he wanna know.

"Oh so you wanna know? I thought you were doing just fine with assuming things, weren't you steph?" I questioned. He snapped his head towards me as if he just realised something.

"Wh-What do yo-u mean by that?" he stuttered, now he is playing innocent with me. Not gonna happen bro.

"Playing innocent I see, weren't you playing "best friend" role with me this whole time while backstabbing me just because of some stupid reason, which didn't even happened because of me in the first place. You yourself pinned your assumption on me without even knowing the truth, when you were the only one who caused all this drama you asshole" I snapped yet kept my cool, I can't afford to lose myself in this revenge- revenge game. It wasn't even my fault.

I'm just hurt that I was framed as a bad guy, when all I did was saved a woman, who was being assaulted by her own boyfriend. Was it my fault that I tried to save someone's life? was it my fault that I felt bad when I saw all the scars on her body? or was it my fault that I found her all most dead on her bedroom floor, when she was left to bleed and die?

"Let's tell you the truth. Tess, you'll be okay yeah?" I asked her while she held onto Chris hand for support and nodded. I smiled softly, she is like a sister to me. I'll do anything to protect her.

[⚠️ Warning:- mention of violence scene. Please skip if you are uncomfortable with it]

--------- Flashback ---------

It was a dark night, rain was heavily pouring on the windowpane making it so pleasant and blissful for a girl who was standing by the window, her long blonde locks falling up to her waist.

Anyone who would look at her will only say that she was the most happiest girl because she'll always smile and be cheerful but what people didn't knew was the scars that she's been hiding since so long under her long sleeves or turtle neck even when it was burning hot outside.

The scars and the pain that she kept hidden from the world, for what? For love. Love, four letter words that goes way deeper than just usual feelings anyone can have, that makes you do crazy things, that makes you feel alive, loved, wanted. Strange that a mere four letter word can make you give life or can make you take one. She was in love, love with a monster.

"Tessa, where the fuck are you?" Came a voice that held nothing but anger.

Stephan came storming into their bedroom, Tessa caught whiff of alcohol from his shirt. It's like he might have drenched his shirt in alcohol. How come? Not a clue about that.

"You motherfucker slut, you are whoring behind my back. You bitch, how can you do this to me?" He caught her by her hair, yanking it in his painfully tight grip making her scream in agony.

He slapped her hard making her head turned towards the other side. She was sobbing hard, her tears were falling helplessly yet she didn't make a move to fight back. All because of this motherfucking so called "love" which was maybe one-sided or maybe not.

He slammed her onto the wall next to window, her head came into contact with the hard brick and started to bleed. She was breathing heavily. He again pushed her onto the floor while continuously kicking her stomach or ribs, wherever he could. It didn't matter, didn't matter that she was his girlfriend, that she had been waiting for him to comeback home so they could have dinner together, didn't matter that her love for him was pure without selfish needs.

This wasn't how her life use to be, they were happy, very happy. They always use to be like couple goals for their friends and to the outsiders. People use to praise them about how good they look together but it all changed when suddenly Stephan's behaviour started to change, he started to distances himself, he was rude, he use to snap even when she use to ask a simple question such as "how was your day" or "did you eat" .

But she didn't knew anything, he started to change because of what happened with one of his friend, his friend's girlfriend left him because she found someone who was wealthy and it wasn't even the most shocking. The most shocking thing was that it was their own other friend, who was wiling to give her a high class life. Wasn't it lame? Yet he still got paranoid about losing her.

Harry wasn't yet introduced to tessa, as Harry was out dealing with his mafia shit for two years, but tessa use to listen when Stephan use to brag about how his best friend is everything for him. Stephan had the habit of noting the numbers in his diary with their respective names.

One day when this all insecurities started to take a toll on Stephan he came home drunk and that was the first time when he raised his hands on Tessa. At first tessa use to take it, she use to never talk about it the next day because Stephan use to apologise for whatever he did.

After few months, she thought maybe Stephan had some brain problem, maybe that's why he use to behave like this. That's why she decided to talk to Harry, no one knows Stephan better than his best friend. So she searched for Harry's number in diary and decided to call him.

"Hello" she said, still unsure if she didn't right or not.

"Hello, who's this?" Came a rough yet stern voice. It did made her feel like disconnecting the call yet she thought she is doing it all for Stephan.

"I'm Tessa, Stephan's girlfriend" she replied. There a brief pause on the other side but shuffling could be heard.

"Oh, yeah steph talks about you all the time. I'm so sorry i didn't got to meet you personally as I'm out for some work" he said knowingly. She was relieved that he wasn't making this awkward for them to actually have a talk.

"Yeah i Know Stephan told me that you were busy, so it's not a problem" she replied, she wanted to ask him directly but it would make her look like a fool, like what will she say "hey I'm Stephan's girlfriend, does Stephan have some mental problem?" Well yeah sure, it will look so cool right?!

"Say, why did you call?" Well wow, he doesn't beat around bush. On the point, yeah.

"I just wanted to ask something about step, is it okay?" She asked him, somehow she felt like she needed his permission to ask anything, he has that vibe that made her to ask first. She didn't know.

"Yeah sure, go ahead" she sighed

"I'm sorry if I'll. Offend you or anything but does Stephan has some mental problem?" A chuckled can be heard from the other end.

"Yeah i know he behaves like a mental man but i don't think that it counts as mental problem" he wasn't understanding her question correctly. He thought she might be just kidding.

" No seriously. I'm serious, does he have any mental issues? " She asked again.

"No" came the stern voice, that made the hair on the neck stand in fear, it was scary.

"Why do you think such way? and only truth" again she complied and disclosed everything that happened with her as if she was under some kind of spell.

"Why don't you leave him?" He asked

"Because i love him" was the only reply she could give.

"You want me to talk to him or help you get out of there?" He asked again, even he was shocked that he was willing to help someone but he just felt this unknown protectiveness towards this girl.

"No, no I'll manage" she replied

"Okay, but if you'll feel like you are in danger just call me and I'll help you" he said and a soft "okay" was heard after that the call was disconnected but both of them didn't knew that someone was eavesdropping on their conversation from the very start.

That was the start of the revenge, revenge that wasn't even valid, revenge that was going to change many people.

That day, she was left to bleed on that floor but she managed to call Harry and inform her about what happened. He call Chris and informed him about what should be done. That's how Tessa was saved and was currently living with Chris.

As soon as Stephan got to know that Tessa has escaped he was on killing spree. Now all he wanted was revenge. Revenge from his best friend. He thought Tessa was dead and Harry might have killed her as he wasn't aware of what he did with her last night. He once have heard Tessa talking to Harry and she thought maybe they were having affair and now when Harry was bored of her, he might have killed her.

Well, were is the logic here? Don't know yet this is all he could come up with.

I mean How can harry kill her? Just because of single phone call they were having affiar? Or harry got bored of Tessa even when he was out of country for his work and decided to kill her? He didn't even saw Tessa's body then why did he concluded that, she was dead?

No answers yet he concluded what his mind wanted to conclude. Most fucked up mind, i know.

-----End of flashback ------

-Another recent flashback -
(Chapter 18)

"Hey Chris, everything okay there? I mean is she okay, you're taking good care of her right? I didn't called you because we've never been under attack for a long while now but as it has happened, i just wanted to make sure everything was okay with you guys?"

"Everything okay boss, we're all good. You don't need to worry about this at all, I've everything under control and yeah I'm taking absolutely amazing care of her, so no worries about that either and please be careful, as far as i could see, i think we have a mole in our system, so watch out and thanks for asking boss" Chris replied.

Harry was asking about Tessa and this chris is the same chris who works for Scar aka Niall...

-----End of flashback -----

"So how was it Steph, how was it to be like when you hated me for things that i wasn't even aware of doing? How was it to blame me for something i never wanted to be a part of? How was it abuse your own girlfriend?" Stunned and silence was all there was.

One secret out few more to go.....

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I'm so sorry i left you all on cliffhanger last time but here it is... I'm filling it now... Few more chapter and then I'll be finally done... The cat is now out of the box... Few more secrets left and then we'll say goodbye to this book... I still don't know when I'll update but hopefully soon..

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter.....??!!

Any guess on what other secrets are about? Think and let me know, till then enjoy Loveliess..❤️