The song for this chapter is She's Lost Control - Joy Divison.

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* TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains themes of torture, violence, blood, and the mention of death. If any of these themes trigger you then please don't read further & look after yourself. *

Celeste

The fine line between good and evil was so blurred that my moral compass was swayed by my desire for fire and my need for morality.

I couldn't fathom that the line was so easy to cross when it came to morality and revenge; the two could quite easily coexist peacefully if the person is morally balanced but it's easy to lose sight of what you set out to do when you're swayed by the desire to retaliate. It's so easy to succumb to the firey pit that burns in the depths of your stomach when you're face to face with evil.

Some may say I'm evil reincarnated.

My response; what's so evil about justice?

There is this unreliable narrative surrounding the essence of what is good and what is evil. People have this deranged concept that in order to be truly good you have to allow people to walk all over you and kneel at the feet of God. You are to kiss the nails that pierce his feet to the holy cross and surrender yourself to complete submission. They have this delusion that a man in the sky loves them unconditionally but only under certain conditions. They believe that God's love is eternal but only if you are worthy of his eternal love.

If not, then you will be condemned to the pits of Gabriel.

Or should I say, Lucifer?

Whatever way you look at it, there are elements that work beyond the realm of our consciousness that steer us down the path of good or evil. We all have choices in this life; some of them we make subconsciously, some of them we own outright and make without any swaying or negotiating with the elements from the beyond.

Regardless, none of these factors matter when you're stood on trial at the end of it all.

God won't take into account the possibilities of corruption, malice, subconsciousness, or consciousness when you're facing the judge. Eternal and unconditional love will be nowhere to be seen when you're condemned to the pits because of the choices you made beyond the control of your own consciousness.

The pits will be scolding the skin of your body that you spent every day submitting to your God as he sits back and enjoys the show. You'll be squirming away with the blood-curdling screams escaping your lungs as your body leaks out every single ounce of reconciliation that you've ever spoken. Every 'Dear God, I'm sorry' pouring out of you as you writhe around begging for mercy.

Your mercy will never come.

You've been condemned.

The regard that you had for a man on the cross that mocks you from his position of power will vanish; although the power that he leaks is a mockery within itself because he leaks it from a position of total submission. He's nailed to a wooden cross on display to all of us for being a savior by dying for our sins.

There is no power in that.

It's a death sentence.

I would rather be steered down a path that will lead to total damnation and feel like justice had been served than live under the illusion of total salvation for being submissive to the concept of faith.

Faith in a false God.

I was thinking about the concept of good and evil whilst I was riding shotgun down the stretch of road leading to Luca's apartment. I was toying with the concept of salvation and damnation as I watched Harry's knuckles continuously flex and relax on the wheel. Zayn was sat in the back with a cigarette twirling between his fingers as he looked restlessly out of the window.

You could cut the tension in the car with a knife.

I kept my composure completely under wraps as I stared down the stretch of road from behind my sunglasses; my posture was in top form as I kept my face as stone-like as one of Medusa's victims. I could sense that there was malice and deception lacing the very oxygen that I was breathing in, the way that the two men closest to me were unable to utter a word was an indication that key components of our case were being sealed shut from myself.

I knew Luca was dead.

I knew that Harry and the boys had killed him.

I knew that they would do everything in their power not to tell me.

I knew who fired the order.

I knew that they didn't know that I knew.

I knew a lot of things they didn't have the courage to tell me.

There was no element of surprise when the knowledge fell onto my lap that night several months ago in Haze; the document was fully sealed and classified, per Matteo's direct instructions to deliver them to me in such a condition. We spoke over vodka on the rocks, cigarette after cigarette getting lit then discarded as the hours rolled along with an oblivious Harry not even remotely aware of who I was at that point. I knew that he had intel on me of course, well before he even knew who I was or what I was about, hence why Matteo was so eager to get me the classified documents that I required to plan ahead.

I have deceived you all up until this point but it's vital that my secret comes to light before we continue.

Luca had to go; that was inevitable.

Luca's loyalties spanned far beyond my father, well beyond the entire crime syndicate that he directed and controlled from the comfort of his desk. The only way to gain access to the encrypted files that I needed was to remove Luca from the equation; doing so wasn't difficult, Matteo planted incriminating evidence of him deceiving Papa on a database only Papa had access to so Papa would order Harry to kill him, therefore proving his loyalty.

Quite simple really.

When the deed was done, Andre swiped the hard drive from Luca's being when the boys weren't looking, giving it to Matteo to give to me. It was dangerous for Andre to be playing both sides, truly it was, but I ensured that Andre would get an immunity deal if this whole operation came to court if he testified against the same men he was driving get-away cars for.

The hard drive had everything on it I needed as evidence against Papa.

It's a shame I ended up falling in love with my enemies in the process.

I truly tried my hardest not to buckle at the knees at the feet of them.

There were still things I didn't know.

Things that I knew would threaten to break me if I let them.

All I knew at that moment in the front seat of that car was that I was as close to Hell as I'd ever imagined.

"Celeste?"

Zayn's voice broke me out of my trance as I glanced at him through the mirror, "Hm?"

"We're here."

I cleared my throat and adjusted my sunglasses before I swung open the car door and slammed it behind me whilst the two men followed suit closely behind me. Harry's hand placed itself on the small of my back as I led the way to Luca's apartment; I couldn't help the feeling of complete serenity at that moment, the way that his fingers molded so perfectly into the base of my back was a feeling that I don't think I would ever forget, regardless of the outcome of this situation. Zayn was still hostile towards me, his body language said as much, but he placed his hand on the top of my arm as we made our way to the elevator.

Actions of guilt.

Once we stepped inside the elevator, one of them on each side of me, I removed my sunglasses and hit the button for the basement. Harry pressed the palm of his hand into the base of my back as he turned his attention towards me slightly with a confused expression on his face. Zayn mirrored the same facial image as I kept my gaze fixated directly in front of me, my face as stone-like as it was in the passenger side of Harry's car.

"What's going on, baby?"

The words left Harry's lips in an unwavering manner, yet laced with an intricate trace of nervousness as the elevator began its descent into the depths of the apartment complex.

"It'll all become clear soon."

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw an exchange of petrified glances take place between them both, Zayn's hand still resting gently on my arm and Harry's still at the bottom of my back. I knew that the both of them weren't completely oblivious to the fact that I was well aware of Luca's death; I was the one that orchestrated it after all, but the severity of the situation wasn't one that they could have even been remotely aware of until the elevator dinged and the double doors slid open to reveal a sight that they wouldn't have conjured up in their most horrific nightmares.

"Ally?"

My stiletto heels hitting the grimy basement floor ricocheted off of each wall as I strode over to Lana, her composure completely shaken as she observed me making my way over to her with a look of complete disbelief painting her picture-perfect face. Both Harry and Zayn were stood just outside of the closing elevator doors as they kept double-taking over 'Ally' who was sitting and gagged to a chair with Matteo and André standing on guard at each side of her.

I stood behind her, my eyes piercing both Zayn and Harry's irises as I placed my hands on Lana's shoulders, ensuring that my nails were digging into the skin as I kept my gaze fixated on the two men in front of me. A low chuckle left my lips as I shook my head from side to side, not one hint or trace of morality left inside of my being as I drank the sight of them quivering in their shoes drop by drop.

"You know boys, it's not nice to lie to a woman. Especially not a woman who's smarter than the both of you combined."

The words leaked from my lips with so much sickness that they made the colour drain from both of their faces in a second. The disbelief washed over them with such a fluid moment that I almost would have missed it had I not been fixated on the two of them in front of me losing every drop of the power that they had deluded themselves into believing that they possessed.

"Celeste. We can explain," Zayn began as he took a feeble step forward to try a pathetic attempt at reconciliation.

"Take one more step forward and I will personally bound and gag you to a chair myself," I spat out, causing Zayn to stop dead in his tracks before placing one foot in front of the other.

Harry hadn't even bothered to try and speak in defense of himself; the evidence that I knew more than I'd been letting on was right in front of him. His eyes never left Lana's; the same eyes that he'd been looking into on his secret check-ins in parking lots and hidden locations, reiterating information to her that had been confided to him by me. Every single piece of information had left his lips after he'd kissed mine, laced with my lies and my deception, reiterated and remolded by his malice and hunger for power.

The unrealistic part of me wanted nothing more than for him and Zayn to run over to me and tell me it was all hysteria; none of it could be true, right?

I wanted them to question my insanity; it must be hysteria right?

I wanted them to tell me I was nothing more than a bored woman with a need for power and validation because my Papa had failed in providing that for me my entire life.

Unfortunately, for me more so than them, that could never be the outcome of the situation that presented itself to them through my own sick desire at having the upper hand in every situation. Lives were on the line, blood was bound to be drawn that would cause the water that threatened to drown us to turn red, hearts were going to be trampled on and an empire was on the line.

I turned to Andre and nodded once, quickly averting my gaze from the two men in front of me to him before turning my attention straight back to them. Harry's gaze shifted from Lana to me for a brief second; his irises penetrated mine to display to me a look of absolute pain that threatened to pierce my heart that I had to condition to be bulletproof for this moment. My back suddenly burned with the remembrance of the way his palm felt against my icy skin, a hint of warmth yearning to scold with familiarity. I returned the look with the same cold demeanor I'd carried so far as André stepped in front of Lana and removed the gag from her mouth, a deep gasp for air leaving her lips as she locked eyes with both Harry and Zayn in front of her.

"What the fuck is going on, Celeste?"

The question came from Harry this time, his fists clenching and flexing at the side of him; a cloud of guilt showered over him as he had the courage to lock gazes with me, desperate to know how much power he'd lost in the minutes we'd shared in the basement of the apartment complex. Andre took his place at the side of Lana whilst I began to massage my hands into her shoulders with my gaze piercing Harry's.

"As you both might have realized, Luca isn't here. But you both knew that would be the case, didn't you?"

Harry never wavered his gaze from mine as he drawled out the word, "Evidently."

A sinister chuckle escaped my lips as I laced my arms around Lana's neck gently, my lips dangerously close to her ear as I replied with a hushed, "Did you hear that, baby? They knew."

Lana's response was to shudder under the hot breath that hit her neck before she whispered out, "Please don't hurt me, CeCe. I can explain. We're best friends, remember?"

Another quiet laugh emitted from my lips as I wrapped my arms around her neck tighter, restricting her ability to breathe by a fraction as I rested the side of my head against hers whilst I locked irises with Harry again; the venom was seething through his body as his jaw clenched harder in frustration at the situation being dragged out longer than it needed to. I observed Zayn mirror his exact image as he took in the situation and tried to break it down to make sense in his head. There were too many stones left unturned that it left them with a futile attempt at regaining the upper hand that they believed they could regain. I lowered my lips back to Lana's ear as I responded, "We were best friends, baby. Were. Care to elaborate and fill me in on your secret meet-ups with Mr. Styles here?"

Zayn chimed in with a cold and callous, "You have to let her breathe for her to speak, Celeste."

I raised my attention to the second part of my triangle and chuckled out, "Of course. How could I forget?"

I released my grip from Lana's neck before holding my hand out to Andre who began to fumble with his belt. Harry, unbeknownst to the situation that was about to plan out, kept his gaze fixed on André and clenched his fists, and began to strive forward before Matteo stepped in front of him with a gun pointed directly to his chest. He held his finger against the trigger and cocked his head to the side.

"I don't think that choice would earn you your forgiveness, Harry. Step back."

A slow smirk etched itself onto the corners of my lips as I watched Harry step back, utterly defeated and writhing with so much anger that I could see the veins stand out on his forehead; a display that he was losing his sense of self as the minutes ticked by him. André cleared his throat, his belt in his hand as I reached out my own hand and wrapped my fingers around the leather. I positioned the belt around Lana's neck loosely, to begin with, watching her posture stiffen up as the leather hit her neck.

"Listen very closely, baby girl. I'm only going to say this once. Every single time a lie leaves those pretty little lips of yours, I'm going to tighten the belt. If this results in your death just know I will feel no conscious remorse or guilt. Let's see how much of a pathological liar you truly are, hm?"

The words leaked from me with such a sickly sweet lacing of honey that I could sense the atmosphere shift; I knew that had the situation been different and not resulted in the persecution of both Harry and Zayn that they would have worshipped me like I was their Venus, bowing to my feet and yearning to lick every single drop of sin from me.

Lana nodded against the leather to display her understanding as I kept the belt wrapped around her lightly, but with enough pressure that it made her shudder.

"So tell us all, Lana. What were your meet-ups with Harry about?"

Lana closed her eyes slightly before she exhaled a shaky breath and said, "They were check-ins."

I pulled slightly harder on the belt and tutted quietly, my gaze never shifting from Harry as I responded, "I'm going to need a bit more than that, princess. Think harder. What could you possibly want with Mr. Styles here?"

Lana choked out a pained whimper as she replied with a strangled, "They were check-ins to see how the mission was going. We had intel on your Papa and Harry had been ordered to take him down through getting close to you. Everything was monitored. I had no choice, Celeste."

I saw the pain instantly flash in Harry's irises as Lana spilled his dirty secret; he'd been set up to use me and infiltrate the Delgado empire by whatever means necessary. My fingers tightened around the leather that was close to gagging Lana completely. One harsh tug would have snapped her neck instantly under my grip; André placed his hand on my forearm to release my grip slightly, my fingers obliging as I tried to shake the red from consuming my vision. Another sickly laugh left my lips as I focused my gaze on Harry with clear sight.

"We always have a choice, baby. Don't get that aspect twisted. Tell me more about this intel that you had. You've been family to me for years, surely you wouldn't willingly bite the hand that's fed you all of these years?"

"Your Papa has been on the watch-list of the FBI and CIA for some time, as you're aware. He's always gotten away with it, no matter the extremities. My father was sick of being on the back burner, always getting the shitty jobs and the shitty end of the deal. He made a deal with the FBI. He promised to provide them with the intel needed to take your father down. The evidence. My father couldn't do it on his own; not with all your Papa's men taking crazy oaths of loyalty to him to prove their worth. He needed external sources that he wouldn't question. That's how he came across Zayn."

My gaze instantly flickered to Zayn; his gaze was averted to the ground as he held his hands behind his back with a look that I can only describe as pure pain etched onto his features. His jaw was clenched with resentment as he hunched his posture. Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he drank in the words that Lana had said.

Something wasn't adding up to him; there was a discrepancy.

"What do you mean that's how he came across Zayn? Tighten it. I want to hear this," Harry ordered, his features flashing anger as I drank in the sight of him in front of me.

I wrapped the belt around my knuckles as I pulled it slightly tighter, "You heard him. Speak."

Lana's hands pulled against the restraints behind her back in a reflexive motion to try and loosen the leather around her neck before she choked out, "Zayn worked for your Papa years ago before your Mama died. He was there the night she died. Or should I say the night your Papa murdered her?"

My grip on the leather slacked as I felt the weight of my legs give way beneath me slightly. It took all of my strength to not collapse into a heap on the floor; I'd always had my suspicions that Papa had something to do with Mama's death, but to outright hear that one of the men I'd considered one of the closest people to me over the last few months was working for the same man we'd been trying to take down at the time of her murder tore the last remaining bit of humanity that was inside of me away. André hooked his arm under mine to prevent me from hitting the ground as Matteo stepped in to take over the belt around Lana's neck. My whole world was spinning on its axis as the clouded vision took over once more and prevented me from being able to see anything clearly. I could faintly make out the rage that was consuming Harry's features as I rested my head back against Andre's chest to try and stabilize myself.

"Celeste. You need to get up. You need to finish this," André muttered quiet enough that only the two of us could hear it.

The words swirled around in my head as I felt my head dip back slightly further. Matteo glanced down at me and nodded once as I connected my gaze with his; a mutual understanding of what needed to be done passed between us. My legs were still weak but I managed to pull myself up as I connected my gaze with Harry's once more. He looked genuinely as shocked as I was at the news that we'd just been informed of, enough so that he managed to step forward without an attack off Matteo again by shooting him a warning glare. Harry's fists clenched at the side of him as he stepped in front of Lana, whose face was paling at the sight of Harry towering over her with such a demonic presence that it genuinely left me breathless. He crouched down so he was eye level with her, his fingers cupping her chin as he pulled her head towards him to cause the leather to tighten around her neck more.

"So, Lana. You had me playing both sides. Fair enough. You had the upper hand there, darling, I'll give you that. Congratulations. Yet, you didn't care to tell me that my fucking best friend was working for the enemy? Had intel that could have shortened this whole thing? You made me use her," Harry pointed to me behind Lana's head before continuing, "You made me fucking use her for this intel that you had all along? You made me torture myself every single fucking day with the pain that I was going to cause her when all of it was fucking unnecessary? When all of the fucking intel was there for the taking? I fucking fell in love. I fucking put my life on the line for a mission that was out of my fucking control all along!"

Harry yanked the leather harder, his jaw clenching as the venom and the rage coursing through every single vein caused him to spiral further and further to the point of no return. Zayn was paling more and more as each word spat out of Harry's mouth with so much resentment that I felt like it was directly targeting me. I had the urge to step forward and pull him away but Andre grabbed me by the hand and yanked me back with a quick shake of his head.

I needed to let this play out.

I had to.

"The mission was never out of your control, Harry! I never told you to fall in love. I told you to infiltrate the inner circle. You let your emotions cloud your judgment. Something I told you to never fucking do. How do you expect to be a mob boss when love clouds your judgment? Antoni had you playing a puppet on a string and you let him because you have no single thought of your own. Zayn had the intel. Zayn always had the intel. He prolonged telling Celeste because he was in love with her too! How could you be so fucking blind-sighted by that? She made you both fall in love with her because Daddy never did. Daddy never loved his precious princess! Could you imagine? Not loving Celeste fucking Delgado? Always being the second-best because she comes first, of course. She knew Luca was dead all along because she ordered the fucking hit. How could she take down Daddy with his lapdog in the way? Then you became the lapdog. The potential king to the queen. The tainted queen who would reign crueler than her own father. She's conditioned to be just like him, Harry. But you know that, don't you? You know your sweet angel baby isn't sweet enough to turn down the chance at being supreme. There's always going to be blood on your hands as long as you let them get away with it. They needed to go down, Harry. They need to be stopped."

Lana's declaration of morality lingered through the air for a few seconds before the elevator dinged and caused us all to turn our attention to the three figures in the elevator; Seth, Cora, and Niall. Cora was the first to step out, her stiletto heels making the same ricocheting noise as mine did as she pulled up her black latex gloves further whilst Seth and Niall followed behind her. Zayn's eyes flashed with panic as he stepped out in front of Cora, halting her descent further.

"Cora. You need to leave. Now."

His words came out urgent as he placed his hands on her shoulders in a desperate attempt to make her turn back around. She cocked her head to the side as she finished adjusting her gloves, her piercing feline eyes never dropping from his as she stood motionless.

"Scared that I'll bring up your dirty secrets? Get out of my way, big brother. I'm already aware."

Cora pushed Zayn out of her way as Seth and Niall exchanged panicked looks between each other, Cora's descent towards Lana clearly causing some uneasiness between them. Cora reached Lana a few steps later, her head cocking to the side once more as she took in the sight of a breathless Lana beneath her. A few quiet tuts escaped her lips as she pushed Harry out of the way, causing her to take the leather material between her fingers as she pulled on it harder than Harry ever could; her stiletto heel dug into the middle of Lana's legs as she pulled on the leather, causing Lana to writhe in pain beneath her.

"What an honor it is to be the one sending you to the grave, Lana. I don't believe we've met. I'm Cora. Unfortunately for you, I know who you are. So listen very closely, bitch. I'm only saying this one time. Tell me who the fuck the Lucrezzà's are. You can tell me my idiot of a brother knows, but clearly, this one left him a bit perplexed so something tells me you're only giving us half of the story when I know there's way more. Who are the Lucrezzà's and what was the purpose of Celeste's Mama's rebellion group? I advise you to make your response sharpish before I stop being so nice."

I heard Seth whistle behind her at the venomous tone that left Cora's sweet lips; a tone that was a combination of malicious and sickly sweet to the point where it made everyone in the room hang on to every last word that left her lips. Lana was biting her lips in such pain that it caused them to leak trickles of blood, her tongue swiped across her lips before she let out a deep breath in a futile attempt to regain composure.

"The Lucrezzà's don't exist. It's a code-name for Marion and Enzo Delgado."

Cora snapped her attention to me, a perplexed look flashing in her eyes as she kept her grip on the leather and her stiletto between Lana's legs, "Who are Marion and Enzo?"

Confusion swarmed my brain as I attempted to digest the information, shaking my head as I replied, "There is nobody in my family called Marion and Enzo."

Harry stepped behind Lana's head as he yanked her back by her hair, a pained choke leaving her lips as he spat out, "You better start telling the fucking truth or so help me God I am going to take the personal pleasure in ripping out what's left of your heart."

"I'm not lying, I swear! Marion and Enzo Delgado are Antoni's other twin children. He had an affair with Andrea Bellarí years before Celeste was conceived. Marion and Enzo are the original heirs to the Delgado Empire. The original Lucrezzá's were assassinated by an order from Antoni himself; they were very wealthy socialites with their investments in hundreds of illicit activities, a threat to Antoni and his Delgado empire. It's believed that Andrea and Antoni had been having an affair ongoing for years before Celeste was conceived; a birth that Celeste's mother ensured happened to make Celeste heiress. With Antoni having heirs that were half Bellarí blood-line it made Celeste the true heiress of the Empire. The rebellion was formed to ensure the assassination of Antoni, Marion, and Enzo; if none of them lived then Celeste would claim the throne. Of course, Antoni was well aware of the ploy and ordered the hit on his wife. If Antoni has been meeting up with Marion and Enzo then no doubt he's onto every single one of us in this room, including his daughter."

Harry kept his grip firmly on Lana's hair as he turned his attention fully to me, a look of pure disbelief taking over his facial features as he locked his gaze on mine. My head was swarming with the intel that Lana had poured out, my hands beginning to shake as I ran my fingers through my hair. Cora's gaze also secured itself on me as a manic smirk began to etch itself onto my features. Zayn had a look of disbelief that mirrored Harry's, his hands clenching into fists at the side of his body as he tilted his head back in an attempt to process what was going on.

I made the first move; I stepped around to face Lana as I ran my fingers down Cora's back in a soothing motion more for my own benefit than for her own. Harry kept his irises penetrated on my every move as I tilted my head to the side for a brief second before I struck my hand across Lana's face in a harsh slap. Her head jerked to the side as much as Harry would allow before I let out a wry chuckle that vibrated through my entire being in euphoric bliss.

"You may have coerced Harry to play me. You may have even made Zayn deceive me. Look at you now. You've spilled everything you tried so hard to conceal. We might have had the same end result of taking my Papa down but you wanted to drag me down in the process. Tear me from what's mine. Let me tell you something, baby girl. Let yourself hear it good and clear because these are the last words you'll ever hear before I let Cora take the breath from your body. Never fuck with a Delgado."

The words leaked from my lips with so much venom and malice that they made Cora shudder slightly under the touch of my fingertips on her back. Harry etched a slight smirk on the corners of his lips as Zayn came and stepped behind Lana at the side of Harry. He glared down at her with so much resentment on his features that it made his jawline clench with disgust. He hooked his fingers under her chin as he leaned down and snarled out, "Night, princess."

I tapped Cora's back once as a signal before she pulled harder on the belt to jerk Lana forward as she began to choke her. I stood up and pointed to Zayn and Harry to direct them to follow me to the corner of the basement, my whole demeanor, and presence, enough to make a nun commit a sin between the walls.

We left Cora and the other boys to deal with Lana whilst we made our way over to the corner of the basement out of earshot of the others. My blood was still boiling with the intel that Lana had leaked about Harry, Zayn, my Papa, my Mama, my apparent other siblings, as well as the whole operation in general. I turned to face them with a look as cold as they'd seen in the car on the way to the complex; my gaze was glaring over the two of them as I folded my arms across my chest.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't put a bullet between both of your temples."

Zayn shifted on his feet before being the first to answer my question, "I fucked up."

I snorted before I cocked my head to the side with a patronizing response of, "You fucking think?"

Zayn let out an exasperated sigh before he continued with, "Let me fucking finish. I fucked up. Yes. Harry fucked up. Yes. You also lied and deceived us. You knew about Luca because you ordered the hit. You had a goal of your own. You wanted to take down Antoni before we crossed paths. Now is not the fucking time to start forming enemies between us. You can hate us, Celeste, but I can certainly say that I had no clue that Lana's father had a goal of taking you down too. Yes, I knew about the identity of Lucrezzá's but I couldn't tell you about that because it would have blind-sighted your view of the operation. I would have never put you in immediate danger. Ever. Certainly not at the orders of Lana's father. I'm on your side, Celeste. Your father needs to go."

Before I had a chance to respond Harry added to Zayn's input with, "I fucked up big time, too. I would have never deceived you had I known the real you from the beginning. You started out as a mission, Celeste, but what I feel for you now is far from a lie. I would throw myself in front of a fucking bullet for you without hesitation. That time I almost lost you was the worst fucking time of my life. My biggest regret in life is lying to you from the beginning. You're my angel. When all of this is over and done I understand if you want to fucking kill me. I understand if you make it your life's goal to put a fucking bullet through my skull. I'd take it. I'd take anything you inflicted on me if it meant that I died at the hands of the woman I love."

Both of their confessions of remorse and deception circulated my brain as I kept my gaze fixed on both of them. The two men who meant more to me than anything in this fucking world were also the two men who deceived me. The two men who were meant to protect me were the men who put me in danger of myself. The spiraling feeling that had been tormenting me through the last however long we'd spent in the basement was consuming me again. My vision was blurring and going cloudy as I sank back against the wall whilst my heart pounded out of my chest. Both Harry and Zayn stepped forward in a reflexive manner to try and stop me from sinking further as I tried to make out the words that were leaving their lips. My eyes darted around the room as I made out Cora, Seth, Niall, André, and Matteo make their way over to us with concerned expressions on their faces. I felt Harry's hands cup my face and Zayn's fingers run through my hair as I let out manic breaths to try and inhale any oxygen I could; my heart rate was increasing as each second went by, the noises around me fading away to the point that I didn't hear the elevator ding.

A gunshot.

Screams.

Blood splatter on my face.

Zayn.

Darkness.