Midnight Memories

t h i r t y // e i g h t

"Tears stream down your face, when you lose something you cannot replace." - Coldplay

Silently, Niall and I followed Louis downstairs and into the kitchen, where my dad was sitting stoically at the marble countertop.

"I'm going to run out for a while to fetch the others." Louis turned around to face us, crossing his arms. "While i'm gone, William is going to fill you two in on everything we talked about."

"Why are you going to get the others?" I asked. "Cant we all just go back the apartment and talk about this together?"

Louis just shook his head. "Everything will make sense, I promise. Just stay here, i'll be right back."

"Alright." I said wearily. Although I was getting sick and tired of Louis' constant negativity and his unwillingness to fill us in on any of his schemes and ideas, I was too tired to fight him.

Grabbing the car keys of the counter, he gave us a curt nod before hastily walking out the front door. Sighing, I plopped down in one of the bar stools at the counter, staring expectantly at my father.

"Trust him." Were the first words out of his mouth. "Louis is smart, he knows what he's doing."

"It's not that we don't trust him." Niall frowned. "We just wish that he was more open with us."

"Soon, you'll know everything. But what I can tell you right now is that this thing, this whole battle, is definitely going to come to a head tonight, and that it's not going to be pretty."

"What do you mean?" I asked worriedly.

"It means, that Louis has requested that he has time to talk privately with Sloane Rooney and Derrick Vanderbilt before my police forces intervene. He knows that if we just march on in there with SWAT and FBI and a plethora of officers that Rooney wont hesitate to shoot dead anyone he can before he's apprehended."

"But what's going to stop them from killing Louis the second that they see him?

My dad sighed, averting his eyes down at the granite countertop. "He's going to make them an offer that they won't be able to refuse."

I could feel my throat constricting. I didn't want to know what that meant. I didn't want any part of this at all.

Niall placed a protective hand on my shoulder. "What should the two of us do?"

"You, and the others, are going to go somewhere safe. Me, Louis, and the Miami-Dade PD will take care of the rest."

"So we're just supposed to sit back while you all put your life in danger?" I asked angrily. "We're all involved in this. Me, Ryder, Remy, Paisley, we all have ties to these people. We've all done something to make them angry. So we should all face them together."

"Stella, no." My father shook his head. "This is Louis' battle, and he has insisted that he fights it alone. He doesn't want you there."

"So he's not going to get the others?" I inquired.

Dad shook his head.

I pushed myself away from the counter, standing up. "I'm going to call him. He can't possibly think that i'm going to let him do this alone."

"Stel, listen to your dad. This is what Louis wants. To finish what he started." Niall said calmly. "You should let him, if this is what he truly wishes."

I didn't want to listen to them. I wasn't going to let Louis do this alone. I had once made him a promise, that I was never going to leave him. And despite all that had happened to break us since then, I wouldn't let the same happen to my vow.