Legacy // H.S

33.

'Io morirò da re-eh'

*

It started small. A few stories dropping out of nowhere. Nothing too dramatic, but enough to get the public interested and some names under scrutiny. Then it grew, and we became more ambitious, and suddenly every paper in the country was talking about it.

How London's police became the criminals, read one story.

Who are The Rodolphos, and why do they matter? Wrote another.

Their plan was to attack us with their friends when we least expected it, but from the moment we went into business with them we had started collecting evidence. Liam was working overtime on it, hacking into confidential records from the authorities and any device linked to the gang we could track, pulling together a wealth of resources we could leak to the press to make sure their opportunity to take us down was no longer feasible.

And in that time, I moved to make sure our current allies were happy and secure, and to bring on board some more. All while Hugo's next plot against us fell through.

In the process, we've been able to form somewhat of a barrier around us, one that allows the few people still working at the moment to put all their focus on the heist. We've begun importing some equipment we'll need, some tech I hardly know the name of but something Liam says is integral to his part. There have been more weapons, more training equipment, and a lot more diamonds. The vehicles we'll be using also arrived, with a team working on preparing them with whatever systems Liam will need.

Between this, Claude has taken me under his wing, Niall tagging along too, and we've become quite the trio. Last week, we robbed a jewellery store not far from the one I worked in, a few days later from an antique shop that had some rather important artefacts Claude had been eyeing up. Niall has dragged me along to many of his pickpocketing activities, teaching me his ways and offering a distraction from the solemn atmosphere that surrounds the rest of the group.

Zayn and Babz have been up North helping his family and arranging the funeral. We've made sure they're secure there, though, a fleet following their every move and Liam keeping track of those we know to be working with Hugo in case he tries to attack them.

Harry isn't in London either. Instead, he's gone to see his mum and sister. Losing Zayn's dad seemed to worry him so much that he insisted on being around them and making sure they were safe. The few times he has returned to the city for work, it's been brief, because he's convinced leaving his family alone will result in their deaths too.

If he lost his mother and Cara, I'm not sure he'd ever truly recover. They're his whole world. Without them, it would be like he has nothing to orbit anymore, floating through space with no purpose.

I've done what Claude told me to do, though. I've taken the reins; I'm manning the ship. Every day, I fill Harry in on the details of what we've been up to on our end, but he doesn't seem to engage much. He says he just likes to listen to me talk, to remember that I'm still here, because sometimes he worries I'll slip away too. Often, we find ourselves just falling asleep over a call and waking up to the sound of the other breathing.

But this is how it must be right now. Someone must lead, and for better or worse, it's fallen into my hands.

My legacy.

I often find myself wondering if my father ever wanted this for me. If he planned to tell me about his grand life before I was born. If I was ever supposed to follow in his footsteps. Did he want to train me, too, or was he already doing that without ever telling me? Everything I know is tied to him, constantly guiding me and teaching me. Sometimes, I convince myself this is how it was supposed to be. That perhaps he knew one day my curiosity would get the better of me and I'd stumble upon something I shouldn't know. In that instance, he'd tell me everything, and I'd finally learn who he really was.