𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐃 // 𝐇.𝐒.

44.

a/n: I realize there's some confusion in the comments since many of you are reading multiple fics at once. thought I'd share a quick recap of what's going on! I apologize if the plot has become complex. It's something I've been working towards and I hope it all makes sense soon. much love!

RECAP

Before fleeing to Vegas with Jo, Harry had gang members, Louis and Liam, clean up the crime scene of when he had killed August, Jo's obsessive ex-best friend who attempted to kill the both of them. While in Vegas, Harry was then told to use Jo in gang leader Dante's laundered money scheme that he originally had no intention of including her in. Though, in a gang where he's expected to prove his loyalty, he deceived Jo. After discovering her suspicions of Harry running off with her 400,000 dollar check were correct, she's devastated. There's more to the story, however. Since Harry's abandonment, Jo has become entangled in another scheme. Louis, without Harry's knowledge, has been giving her tasks to complete in exchange for money—the laundered money of her fake jackpot winnings. Like Harry, she's discovered she has no choice when he hangs August's death over her head. A month later, Harry's back at her door with a child he's desperate to help.

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Chapter 44

Falling back into my old habits, I'm running on no sleep. It's not my fault when Harry gave me a lot to think about. I stayed up and before I knew it, ember rays from a sunrise peeked through the glass doors of the balcony.

Then Louis called.

With the phone tightly held to my ear, I slipped out of my apartment for only a minute to grab my mail from the secured boxes on the very first floor. "Hold on," I mumble to Louis as my shoulder replaces my hand to keep the phone against my ear.

"Yeah, yeah... Did you get a good night's sleep, love?" Louis asks with a menacing chuckle.

No.

"I did," I lie as I unlock my mailbox. Then, gathering all the stuffed mail I had, I sigh when I begin to look through it. "I think I got it."

"Did you? Send me a photo of the passport. One of inside the booklet and another with a closeup of your headshot. I missed your pretty face."

I roll my eyes. By now, I've grown used to the harassment of Louis's comments. "Have you?" I ask, shutting my mailbox to lock it. "I would think you wouldn't miss me as much knowing you're watching my every move, allegedly."

He chuckles again as I hold my phone. Across the mailbox room, lies the laundry room. I walk into it just so I can use the surface of a folding table. Dropping my mail above it, which elicits the sound of a slap, I hold the phone to my ear with my shoulder again.

"Pretty, I am watching your every move. Like right now, I'm watching you."

He might be bluffing, but I look around anyway. Though there's no one in the room here but me. "Oh, yeah?" Playing along, I lift an envelope that might contain my passport and I open it. "If you're watching me like you say you are, what am I wearing?"

He sucks in a breath as I dig my hand into the opened envelope. I then pull out the navy booklet and that's when Louis says, "If I'm being honest, I wish you weren't wearing anything."

Perv.

I hold back a huff and only hum as if I was submissive to him. "I'm going to send you the photo of my passport now."

"Good. Don't forget you'll be rewarded for it. I'll call you again right after I see the pictures, babe."

I lower my phone the moment Louis hangs up to allow me to send him the photos. I open the booklet and look down to see the final product. When I had been filling out the forms for this passport, I'd been nervous. I couldn't concentrate or keep still when Louis's threats kept poking at my spine.