Bound by Duty | Five Hargreeves

32. The ending always hurts

I rush into the barn, my gaze flickering over to my mother, who was talking to Harlan, the boy having cocooned himself in a ball of blue light. I run upstairs, hoping to find my sister. In the middle of the room was Lila and Five; Five was on the floor, as Lila choked him with her foot, just as he had done to her that day in the warehouse.

"Eat shit and die!" Five chokes out, narrowing his eyes as he looks at her, before grunting and shoving her off of him. The two of them get up, and Five takes a deep breath, readying himself for a fight. "Come on. What are you waiting for? Let's finish this thing."

Lila shakes her head, tears in her eyes as she sniffles. "No..." She whispers, "This isn't gonna be quick. You are going to suffer for what you did." I furrow my eyebrows, unaware of where this sudden deep hatred had come from. She'd never particularly liked him, per se, but I'd never seen her hate anyone this much.

"Lady," Five sighs, shaking his head. "I got no idea what you're talking about."

Lila grits her teeth, before looking over at me with a small smirk. "Well why don't I remind you?" She says, turning to Five as he glances over at me. "Ronnie and Anita Gill." She mutters, her parents.

Five shakes his head, turning back to her. "Mean nothing to me."

"1993, East London." Lila replies, raising an eyebrow as I slowly make my way over to the two. "You hog-tied them and you shot them in the head." My entire world crashes down, my heart pounding in my chest as Lila reveals that it was Five who killed her parents.

Shit.

"The flower merchants..." Five whispers, finally realising who Lila was talking about. I stare at the floor, breathing heavily as I shake my head slightly. "They were your parents?"

Lila scoffs, tilting her head. "And they never did anything to anyone. They didn't deserve to die like that."

"You're right, all right?" Five exhales, swallowing and shaking his head. "I killed them. But I killed a lot of people over the years." I shake my head, looking up at him with glossy eyes. "It was all just a job. All right? That was never personal."

"'Never personal' my ass..." Lila laughs, shaking her head as a single tear falls down her cheek. "Yeah, I've killed. It's always, always personal."

Five shakes his head, "That's why you're not cut out to be an assassin."

Lila growls, pulling a knife from her shoe and jumping towards Five. "You wanna bet your life on that?" I swallow, taking a step back and watching the whole thing go down.

"You wanna blame someone?" Five raises his hands, "Blame The Handler, all right? She faked the kill order."

"Bullshit!" Lila snaps, shaking her head. "I saw the kill order! AJ Carmichael ordered it, and you carried it out!"

"Lila... listen to what I'm telling you, all right?" Five replies, looking up at her with worried eyes. "The Handler gave me the kill order. She came on the job, which she'd never done before. You're Commission. You know execs never go on jobs, but that day in London, she was there. Ask yourself why."

Lila shakes her head, clenching her fists. "Stop trying to muddy the waters."

"I never realised what she was up to at the time, but..." He exhales shakily, looking up at her. "Now it all makes sense. She never cared about your parents. She was looking... for you."

Lila swallows, shaking her head. "Wh... but... but Philippa... she—" She turns to me, and I look up at her with teary eyes.

I take a shaky breath, shaking my head. "My father never killed my mother..." I whisper, and Lila shakes her head. "Mom did..." I cover my mouth with my hand, looking down at the floor.