𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐃 // 𝐇.𝐒.

69.

Chapter 69

My head pounds. The pain comes in waves and they get stronger by every second that passes. When I open my eyes, it stings. I have to close them again as another pang hits me.

I can smell the sea and I can hear horns from a distance. I then force myself to open my eyes again and this time I see windows, high and with broken shards of glass. Daylight pours through and it's too bright I have to squint.

I'm in the abandoned warehouse, I quickly come to the realization, the one Harry told me Dante has been occupying. Zayn has brought me in and as I sit here, I can only hope he's far gone by now.

I tug my arms forward, but I find out my hands are tied. Secured with a zip tie behind a metal pole, I grunt from how tight it feels around my wrists.

"Jo? Testing. Can you hear me?"

The earpiece has managed to stay in place and I'm relieved as I hear Finny's voice. But I don't respond. I scan the room, a little breathlessly, and then I see a familiar face.

A face that has changed a bit. I think the man before me has lost weight when his cheeks are more sunken than usual. He's smaller and he doesn't look too well. If I didn't know any better, he looks like grief.

Louis stands there. He looks at me, but he remains silent. He's never silent, from what I remember.

I hear my name through the earpiece again, but I can't answer.

"You," I say to Louis. "Vampy, isn't it?"

His eyes shift away from the nickname I said. He then reaches behind him. For a minute, I brace myself for a weapon, but he takes out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

After watching him light his cigarette, I cock my head to one side. "Hello?" I try to get something out of him, but Louis smokes to purposely ignore me.

I heave a sigh before taking another look around. I'm in a spacious room with stone walls that keeps the ground I sit on cold. I then see the door, but it's right behind Louis. I curse to myself as I try to figure out a way to leave. I'm already upset that I can't use the razor in my shoe to cut me free when my hands are behind my back.

"Hello?! I'm talking to you!" I let my frustration out as Louis just stands there. "What the hell happened to you? Don't you always have something to say?"

He inhales his smoke, not reacting to my words at all.

"I know what happened." I tug my hands and I ignore the pain that comes with it. "You failed after that little stunt you tried to pull on me in Mexico. How much shit did you get for that?"

Louis leans off the wall. Again, he doesn't answer me but my words seem to affect him by the way he tosses his newly burnt cigarette. He then turns and I'm surprised to see him go. He leaves me alone in this room and I huff when I try to use friction to help me break from the zip tie. The rust on the metal just might help.

"Angel, it's me," I then hear Harry and I stop just to make sure it's true. "If you can't answer me, don't. Just know we're here. I'm here."

I look around the room again, but I don't see any cameras or anything else that would indicate I'm being watched. "I—" I begin, but then I hear static in my ear followed by a pinching sound that induces a stronger pang in my head. I tilt my head only for the earpiece to come loose. I quickly regret moving my head at all when it falls onto the floor. "No, no, no," I mutter and I feel the heat in my cheeks from the horrible turn that has come my way already.

I lift my head the moment the door opens. This time it isn't Louis in the room. I tighten my jaw as I watch the man I had been afraid of for the longest walk with ruggedness in his steps. Being the second time I've seen him in person, he looks the same but with much longer hair.