*The song for this chapter is Gangster - Labrinth.*

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*TRIGGER WARNING: this chapter includes themes of violence & death. If these themes trigger you then please don't read on & stay safe.*

Celeste

"Are you being fucking serious with me right now, Luca?" I yelled down the phone, trying my hardest to maintain the order of the bar on probably the busiest night we'd had in a while at Haze.

"What the fuck do you want me to do, Celeste? Tony's cars completely wrote off! He and Adam are being rushed to hospital as we speak!" Luca fired back at me down the phone, making me stop my tasks to pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration.

"So I'm a doorman and barman down on my busiest night? Fucking terrific!" I shot back at him.

I was too angry at that moment to comprehend the severity of the situation that Luca was telling me. I knew it wasn't his fault, nor was it Tony or Adams, but my anger and stress were overtaking me and preventing me from thinking rationally.

"Fuckin' real nice, Celeste. You're leaking compassion right now," Luca sarcastically drawled at me, making my blood instantly boil more.

"Well unless you're planning on coming and filling a position then get fucked, Luca," I shouted down the phone before ending the call and slamming my phone on the bar.

I ran my manicured nails through my hair before proceeding to place both my hands on the bar to steady myself. I took a few steady inhales and exhales, shutting my eyes in an attempt to try and level out my mood. I knew I should have called Papa but the thought of his voice ringing through my ears was enough to cause me to physically dry heave. After our conversation in his office less than a week prior, I still wasn't on full speaking terms with him. We made a few exchanges in passing but nothing more than that.

Was I fuck involving him and his narcissism in the situation I'd found myself in.

Standing myself back upright and shaking my previous anger off, I took a quick glance around the club and made a mental note of the staff I had on duty. All dancers were present, five bar staff and two security on main doors. Ideally, we could have done with more security on main doors and the upper VIP section, but it was too late to call any more men in at such short notice. We'd have to make do with what we had.

I adjusted the tight black bodycon dress that hugged my body before making my way to the front doors of the club where my two security men were guarding the doors. My stiletto's tapped on the club's flooring as I approached them, my face telling a thousand words upon my arrival.

"Tony and Adam have been in a crash. I need your word that you'll be on duty fully tonight. Tony isn't going to be here to keep your asses in check, understood?" I spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, my eyes flickering between the two men in front of me.

Both of them nodded their heads in unison, hands behind their backs as they replied, "Yes, ma'am."

I nodded a simple quick nod before turning on my heels and returning to the main floor of the club. I knew I would have to be jumping between helping the bar and maintaining order in the books; I knew I could have called Lana in for an extra set of hands but it was too far into the night for her arrival to be worth my time.

I was confident in myself that I could make it work with the limited resources I had. I was almost certain that Papa's conversation with me regarding my impulsiveness and skill set was the driving force behind my determination to succeed in this night running smoothly.

Well, as smooth as possible given the bumps I'd already had to fucking deal with.

I continued my rounds on the main floor, ensuring that the dancers and the clientele were as happy and content as they could be given the circumstances. The drinks were coming out as quickly as possible from the bar staff and the clientele seemed happy enough, allowing me a chance to do a quick sweep of the VIP section before returning to the bar. Taking the stairs to the VIP balcony two at a time, I plastered a fake smile on my face as I made my way around the booths of our most highly paying clients.

"Evening, gentleman. How are we tonight?" I ask politely, making sure that my smile translated over to them in a professional manner.

The clientele in this booth were close associates of Papa; I'd dealt with them hundreds of times prior to this interaction. They paid good money to be treated to the highest, classiest degree that my club had to offer. The gentleman in the VIP section were the ones that I had to pay the most attention to in order to have a successful night and keep the books right. The money that they spent on the dancers and liquor was a large majority of the earnings that we made at the end of the night, whereas the main floor just kept a steady cash flow. It was these clients in our VIP booths that swiped their credit cards for tabs longer than my arm.

"Everything's swell, Miss. Delgado. Will your father be making an appearance tonight?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. He has other obligations. Can I get you anything else?" I replied to the gentleman closest to me, collecting some of the empty glasses that littered the table.

"Another few whiskey buckets would suffice, Miss. Delgado. Put it on my tab," he requested, handing me his credit card from the inside of his suit jacket.

"Of course, sir. I'll have one of the girls bring it up."

I turned on my heels and made my way back to the stairs to head to the bar, keeping my eyes on the dancers on the stage to check that everything was running smoothly still and that the men weren't getting too rowdy.

There was nothing worse than a rowdy man who had liquid confidence.

Suddenly, I collided chests with a figure that seemingly emerged from absolutely nowhere, causing me to almost lose grip of the whiskey glasses I had stacked in my hands.

"I think you should be paying more attention to where you're walking, Miss Delgado."

The low, gravel voice rang through my ears and made my breath instantly hitch in my throat. I snapped my head up instantly, locking eyes with Mr. Harry Styles whose face read a look of his usual cockiness accompanied with a side smirk.

"I think given the business of this night Mr. Styles, the ball is in your court to ensure that you step around me when I'm walking down the stairs with a hand full of glasses," I replied as calm and composed as I possibly could.

"Maybe so, but your clumsiness will be your downfall. I daren't think about the outcome if you had bumped into one of those Wall Street men," he retorted, his signature smirk spreading wider across his face.

Was this man for real?

"Have a wonderful remainder of your night, Mr. Styles," I sarcastically replied to him as I began the remainder of my descent down the stairs.

"The same to you, Miss Delgado. Watch your step."

I rolled my eyes, making the wise decision to not turn myself back around and throw one of the many whiskey glasses directly at his arrogant face.

Making my way over to the bar, I rang the order for the VIP booth through the cash register and proceeded to put together the two whiskey buckets.

"Ariel!" I called over to one of the dancers who was making her way past the bar as I placed the credit card on the tray.

She smiled at me as she made her way over to the bar; her bubbling personality was absolutely infectious, along with her stunning smile. Ariel was one of our best and most loved dancers, her ability to be able to hold the attention of every single person in the room and do it with such ease was one of the things I loved about her.

"Take this to booth one in the VIP section, would you please? Keep any tips they give you, they're generous with their change," I told her, a sneaky smile playing on my lips as I slid the tray over to her.

"Gotcha, Celeste," she replied, taking the tray and moving her way towards the staircase with a sway of her hips.

Once Ariel had taken the tray, I let out an exhale before doing another double-take of the bar and the main floor. Things seemed relatively under control for the time being, which allowed me to go into my office and do an update on the books. I slipped out from behind the bar and grabbed the office keys, making my way to the back of the club when all of a sudden I found myself frozen on the spot.

Gunshots.

Bone-chilling screams echoed around the one bubbling atmosphere of Haze as people began to duck for cover and protection. I frantically felt around my body when the sudden realisation hit me.

I was unarmed.

"NOBODY FUCKING MOVE!"

I spun around instantly, feeling the adrenaline course through my veins as I darted my eyes around to find the culprit of this invasion. My vision was blurring with the panic rising through my body, knowing that my chances of surviving this attack were dramatically decreased by my lack of weapons and protection. Shaking the blurriness from my vision, I managed to fix my gaze on four men whose identities were hidden by balaclava's covering the majority of their faces. The realisation that my two security men were most likely gunned down at the entrance hit me, meaning that I was the only one here with any chance of saving everyone.

"Everybody stay down," I shouted out into the club, emerging myself from the darkness of the back of the club.

The eyes of everybody in the club turned to face me; my presence making many of their eyes widen at the boldness of my current move.

I didn't have a plan.

I'd be lying if I said I did.

"Celeste Delgado?"

The question came from the man who I assumed was the head of the operation. He held his gun with a firm grip, pointing it directly at my face as I walked closer to him.

"Who's asking?" I responded, my voice not even slightly wavering as I stopped a few spaces in front of him.

He let out a chilling laugh at my statement, the other men behind him keeping their guns pointed at different areas of the main floor. The front runner of the operation placed both of his hands on his gun as his finger hovered over the trigger.

"That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble," he spat at me.

I took another step forward so the end of his gun was pressed directly against my forehead, my gaze fixed directly on his as I let a slow, sinister smirk spread across my lips.

"Then do it."

Before he even got a chance to process my statement, I kicked my leg up instantly so my stiletto heel knocked the gun out of his hand and connecting with his face. The impact of my kick caused him to fall back on the floor and hit it with such force that it caused his accomplices to stagger back.

"Everybody out!" I shouted, lunging across the floor to try and scramble for the gun that was knocked out of the masked man's hand.

I heard the frantic screams of people around me bolting for the door of the club, along with gunshots echoing and bouncing off the walls. I slammed my body on the floor in an attempt to crawl to the gun, the cold floor sticking to my skin as I edged my way closer as quickly as possible. My attempt was futile as I felt a shoe make direct contact with my hand, causing me to scream out in pain at the impact.

I averted my gaze to the culprit of my pain, my eyes connecting instantly with a pair of brown eyes. It was the eyes of the man whom I'd kicked in the face just seconds before, his head cocked to the side as he towered over me. If he wasn't shielded by his balaclava, I'd have guessed that he was sadistically smirking.

"I'm going to take such joy in putting this fucking bullet through your brain, bitch."

I didn't break eye contact with him as I watched him put the gun to my head.

This time he had all the power.

He knew that.

I could see it in his eyes.

As I prepared for my fate, I heard a gunshot come from behind me.

The man hit the floor before I could even comprehend what was going on. I heard several more gunshots ricochet around the room, resulting in the rest of the masked men hitting the ground. I felt a pair of strong arms circle around me, causing me to instantly start thrashing around to try and escape the grip of whoever held me.

"Celeste. Calm down, it's me. Come on, we need to go," I heard the low voice say into my ear.

Harry.

"Get the fuck off me!" I yelled out, trying my absolute hardest to escape his grip that only got tighter around my waist.

"Celeste. Listen to me. I need to get you out of here. You're injured," he replied to me, his voice calm and composed in my ear as I tried to level out my breathing.

I looked down at my hand that was most definitely broken, the swelling looking like it was worsening as time went on.

"Okay, but get the fuck off me," I simply stated, shaking out of his grip that had loosened at my demand as I got to my feet and took in the absolute massacre that had occurred around me.

He walked alongside me, leading me towards the entrance of the club where I was greeted with the bodies of my two security men laid lifeless on the floor. I turned my head away and kept my gaze forward, feeling Harry place his jacket around my shoulders as we entered the breezy Los Angeles night. My fingers gripped at the material, the numbness taking over my body as I registered what had just occurred in my own club.

I kept my gaze on whatever was in front of me, sliding into the passenger side of Harry's black Porsche as he held the door open for me. He entered the driver's side a few seconds later, turning on the engine and the heating.

"You're okay, Celeste. You can trust me."