Hostage

28. "We found her father"

A breathy intake of breath left my lips as I opened my eyes, only to be met with Harry's battered face. Last night it was dark enough to hide the various colors currently splattered across Harry's skin, but now, as the soon peeked through the curtains and illuminated the room, it was painfully obvious that Zayn had put up one hell of a fight against Harry.

Despite him still being asleep, I brought my hands up to run across his smooth skin, fingers light as a feather because I was afraid I'd hurt him. Harry began to stir from his sleep as I ran my thumb over his split bottom lip. His eyes darted open quickly, wide and panicked as he snatched my wrist up from his face.

"Sorry" He mumbled upon my confused stare. "Bad dream" He justified, dropping my wrist. My hand went back to his face instantly, running over his purple jaw. He hissed and jerked away from my touch, glaring at me. "Ouch" He said dryly.

"Are you okay, Harry?" I asked him simply because he was hurt and when he was hurt, either physically or mentally, I was hurt. I don't think I've come to terms yet at the depths I would go to protect Harry.

Like seriously, I lied to the police. I lied to people who potentially could have been my escape. My road to freedom. But just one look from Harry had me running back into his arms. I felt safe with him. He would always keep me safe.

"Yes, Rae. I'm okay" He answered in a whisper. His voice was raspy and deep, and I could feel it in my toes as he spoke.

"Do you have any other cuts? Do I need to bandage your knuckles?" I reached around my back to grip his hand, leaning away from his chest so I could see his hands.

To my surprise, they were already all wrapped up.

"Lexi did them for me last night" He said somewhat hesitantly. I could feel a tiny bubbling in the pit of my stomach. Lexi helped Harry? Lexi? Harry was mine why was she touching him.

"She's already got a boyfriend. Chill Raleigh" Harry laughed above me.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

~*~

"He wants to help" Niall reasoned.

I was still on edge with Spencer. On one hand, he is my brother and he always will be. However, he is also part of a very aggressive gang that tortured and raped me.

But he didn't know they did that

"What?" Harry growled, staring at Niall like he wanted to slit his throat.

"He could be so useful Harry. He's high up in their rankings. He's got information. We could take this gang down"

"Our goal isn't to wipe them out Niall, it's to find Raleigh's father and prove to them that I did nothing so they don't fucking kill us all"

Niall ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "Harold" He snapped, and I watched Harry tense in front of me. "We've already broken into one of their houses and taken Rae from them. They're obviously not going to just let us off the hook once they see her father"

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT" Harry barked back, slamming his fists down on the table.

My eyes glanced over at Spencer, who was sitting quietly in his chair despite no tape covering his mouth. He gave me a concerned look, mouthing the words 'are you okay'. I didn't respond, snapping my gaze back to Harry.

"We're sticking to the original plan of finding Raleigh's father. Don't trust a single thing that comes out of his fucking mouth" He spit, pointing at Spencer. Despite Spencer and Harry's somewhat progressive discussion yesterday, Harry still resented Spencer for turning against his own sister.

I padded quietly over to Spencer, and he remained silent as I pulled up a chair in front of him, crossing my legs and arms consciously.

"Raleigh I didn't know what they did to you, I swear it. Now I- Harry told me some stuff and I realize now that ....well -I realize now that maybe he's not the bad guy. Maybe it's us"

Congratu-fucking-lations you idiot. You figured it out.

"And if I'd known what they'd done to you. I would have killed every last one of them, I can promise you that" He nodded, keeping his voice a near silent whisper.

Harry and Niall were still having a heated debate, and I'm pretty sure neither know I snuck over here.

"You held a knife to my throat. I was trying to save you and you tried to kill me" My voice wavered as I spoke, my mind flashing back to just a week ago, when my own brother turned on me.

"I wasn't going to actually hurt you, Shrimp" He paused, glancing at me as the nickname slipped passed his lips. "I was- I was angry when I found you in the condition you were in. I expected you to be beaten and as slim as a stick and just-broken. But then I see you all glowing and radiant and happy here and I couldn't fathom why."

I glanced back at Harry quickly before turning my attention back to my brother. "I was being told you were being tortured and they were cutting off your fingers and shit like that" He said, shaking his head. "That's why I was such an asshole those first few days"

"But you still held a knife to my throat"

"I really needed you to come with me Shrimp, and I figured the only way that would happen was if I threatened them. But obviously that didn't work in my favor" He laughed humorlessly, glancing at me.

"Do you wanna know how I joined?"

I shrugged as if I could care less. My trust for him was still teetering.

"Dad forced me to. He said that when he died he wanted me to take over. So he began training me when I was twelve. Every Friday through Monday we'd work and work and work. I could shoot a moving target at the age of thirteen. And I became a murdered at fourteen when he took me with him to some kind of raid or something."

"You knew?" I hissed. "You knew all along but you didn't say anything. Not to me. Not to the police. You did nothing! You let him lie to me and tell me he was a fucking doctor when-"

"He threatened to kill you" He spoke hoarsely, and I could see the tears gather behind his eyes. Surely we'd had Niall and Harry's attention since I'd raised my voice.

"He said if I told anyone, even mom, he'd slice your throat while you slept. I was terrified Rae!" He wanted to reach out to me, I could feel it.

It's what had me cutting his ropes free despite the protests behind me. As soon as I was free he wrapped his arms around me, one hand tangling in my hair and the other securing my body against him.

"I missed you so much, Shrimp" He whispered, and I squeezed him tighter. I hadn't realized how much I missed my family until now. Now, Spencer was all I had left.

"If your plan this entire time was to lure him in by using Raleigh as leverage, it won't work. He doesn't give a shit about his family. You're gonna have to find something else because he'd let her die without blinking" I still held onto Spencer for dear life as he addressed Harry and Niall. I knew as soon as I let him go they'd take him and tie him back up.

I just wanted to hold him for a couple more minutes.

~*~

"I just don't know if we can trust him" Harry spoke tensely, his hand coming up to brush a stray hair away from my face. I was trying to engage in the topic of discussion, that topic being Spencer, but I could only focus on the words floating around my mind right now.

I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him a fucking lot.

"Harry I have to tell you something" I interrupted whatever he was saying, pushing myself up from his chest so I could run through the door to escape if I wanted to.

"Okay" Harry spoke hesitantly, sensing this was something heavy. He pushed himself up to rest against the headboard, crossing his fingers in front of him.

"Okay well-" I glanced over at him to see his eyebrows drawn tight. His features were harsh, as if expecting some kind of terrible news. Oh my god. Okay just spit it out Raleigh really quick. 3 seconds. 1... 2... 3...

"I love you"

~*~

"He didn't say anything?" Eleanor mumbled in shock.

"No he just walked out of the door silently. Zero facial expression" I said dejectedly.

I don't know how I tricked myself into thinking Harry would actually show some sort of emotion towards me after I'd finally admitted the words. What did I expect from him honestly?

He wasn't gonna grin and smile and say he loved me back before kissing me romantically. This wasn't a movie, and that wasn't Harry's personality at all.

He was harsh, cruel, indifferent.

"He just stared at me for a couple of seconds before walking out of the room"

Sophia sighed and clicked her tongue. "Well if there's one thing I know-"

She was interrupted by the sounds of screeching tires around the corner. Her eyes widened as she spotted the car, and she turned to me immediately, wrapping her arms around me and shoving us to the ground.

I let out a petrified scream at the sound of bullet shattering the glass windows of the store behind us, covering me face with my hands and allowing Sophia's body to shield mine.

I couldn't hear Eleanor, but I could hear her screaming bloody murder. And it wasn't until I opened my eyes that I figured out why.

Sophia rolled off of me, leaning to her side to cough up blood. Her back was covered in blood, soaking right through her think T-shirt. Every time she breathed blood gushed from the wound.

"Oh fuck. Fuck" I cried, peeling my cardigan from my body and wrapping it around her stomach. I think this is what I saw Harry do when he got shot in the arm before.

"I don't know what to do. What the fuck do we do?" Eleanor cried, her shaky hands pulling out her phone to dial Louis' number,

~*~

Harry

"She was protecting Raleigh. Apparently some guys tried to fucking shoot them on the street -which is another thing we need to talk about by the way. Sophia got shot in the kidney's, El fucked her elbow up but she's fine. Raleigh hasn't left Sophia's side since" Liam spoke quietly to me, gesturing towards the kitchen, where Sophia was laying on the counter, Raleigh at her side, clutching her hand despite Sophia's lack of consciousness.

Sophia was rushed into here about four hours ago, and everything had been stressful ever since. Today has just been stressful in general.

First I had to fucking deal with Spencer again and decide whether or not to trust the bitch, then Rae goes and tells me she loves me like some fucking school girl. And now I'm facing the fact the she could have been killed if it wasn't for Sophia.

Fuck. Can a guy get a break?

"Harry!" Before I could give Liam a response Louis was pushing me back into my office, slamming the door to encase us in privacy.

"Lou what the hell I-"

"We found him. We found her father. We found George."