The song for this chapter is Vipers - Dylan Fraser.

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Celeste

"Are you fucking kidding me right now, Zayn?"

Our time in paradise, naturally, was cut short by a forced intrusion from Zayn. In all honesty, he looked like he hadn't slept much in the few days that we'd been cooped up in Harry's condo. The bags under his eyes were much darker than usual and I could see the tension in his shoulders when he sat hunched over on his chair in the balcony. His fingers were running through his hair in an erratic fashion, shortly followed by him pinching the bridge of his nose when I yelled at him for bursting the sacred bubble that had been comfortably engulfing me for the few days prior.

Harry wasn't too pleased by the intrusion either, however, I guessed he'd been expecting it at some point by the way that he knew that Zayn was the one at the door. He stood next to me on the balcony, his arm wrapped around my lower back as he exhaled some smoke from his cigarette before passing it over to me. I kept my gaze fully locked on Zayn as I took an inhalation of the nicotine and waited expectantly for an explanation.

"Hello to you too, Celeste. I hate to burst your perfectly formed bubble here but whilst some people have been playing a game of vacation, some of us have actually been working. Now, if you'd care to take a deep fucking breath, I have something that you'll want to see."

The words came out of Zayn with a sharp cutting edge, one that would have left someone bleeding with the sharpness of the tone. I took another inhale of the cigarette before nodding once in understanding. I did feel a twinge of guilt for going off on Zayn; I should have known that he wouldn't have shown up without a reason, but I couldn't help wanting to keep this fantasy that Harry and I were living in hidden for as long as possible.

Zayn nodded back quickly before averting his eyes from the two of us to his hands that were resting on his knees. I sensed his knuckles whiten ever so slightly from the force of his grip that he had; his jaw also clenched as he contemplated his next words very carefully. Observing his mannerisms, I knew that whatever was coming next wasn't going to be a baring of good news. I flicked the cigarette out of my fingers and kept my gaze on him, my stomach twisting in tight knots as I waited for him to come out with whatever he had bottled up inside. Harry squeezed my back slightly in comfort as we waited patiently for Zayn to collect himself.

Zayn cleared his throat once before he leaned back in his chair and began with, "Okay. So, there truly isn't a simple way to come out and say this to you, Celeste. I just want you to know that everything that I'm about to tell you has been hidden from you for a reason."

My jaw clenched instantly at the mention of the word 'hidden'; my throat closed up and forbid me from responding to Zayn's statement. I simply stood there with my jaw clenched and my gaze fixed entirely on his as I awaited to have my heart shattered by someone I care about, again.

When he gathered that there wasn't going to give him a slither of a response, Zayn continued.

"There's been an operation going on behind your father's back for some time now. It's not an operation run by the police or any other law enforcement so as far as I'm personally aware there's no set-up to be concerned about there, not that I've heard of anyway. The operation was originally set up by your mother, Celeste. I was involved in the later stages of the operation, shortly before she died. I wasn't involved in the major discussions, nor the intricate details that went on between her and other families, but we did exchange conversations a few times. In one of the conversations, she confided in me about her worries that surrounded you. She was concerned that you would end up tangled in your father's web of deceit; that you would end up falling off the deep end because you were too trusting of him. She gave me a letter to pass onto you in the event of her death, Celeste. She knew she was going to die. I know that this is a lot to take in right now, and again I need you to know that I was carefully instructed as and when to give you this letter, but I need you to understand that what we're walking into isn't as simple as we may have thought. The hits, the lies, the malice, the deceitfulness of this entire operation is so much more complex than we ever could have anticipated. If we continue down this path then your safety is automatically jeopardized and the bounty that's on your head is only going to increase to a higher price. We need to plan strategically for what could happen. I understand, Celeste, if you never want to speak to me again after all of this is done but you need to know that my only priority has been keeping you safe. I made a promise to your mother. One that I vowed I would never break."

The whole world went black to me as soon as the words escaped Zayn's lips.

What once used to be the eyes of one of the only people I felt like I truly trusted, turned into the eyes of a complete stranger.

His irises were displaying signs of desperation and urgency; an urgency for me to understand that everything he had done had been for a reason but I couldn't see past the unfamiliarity of the deception that was seeping out from the crevices. I felt Harry's grip on my waist tighten as I stayed dumbfounded by what had left Zayn's lips but the gesture went unacknowledged as my silence filled the air with a loudness that was as penetrating as the highest shriek. I could feel my mouth get progressively more dry as the seconds ticked by without a word being shared between the three of us; my throat practically closed up and prevented me from being able to speak so much as a syllable. My body felt heavy, the weight of the situation bearing down on me the longer I looked into Zayn's eyes yet I was unable to look away. I could feel my legs begin to slowly give way beneath me as I sank down against the railings of the balcony, Harry's grip on me causing him to sink down with me as I rested my head back.

I tried to open my mouth but the pressure on my chest was too much for me to be able to push past.

It was like my whole being was a prisoner.

I was numb from the inside out.

Zayn had never once broken my gaze. He was twirling a ring on his finger as he waited for me to process everything, his eyes no longer transparent like before. I couldn't bear to look at him but I wanted him to know.

I wanted him to know that his two-minute dialogue had completely shattered every single element of trust that we'd formed.

"Celeste. Say something, angel."

Harry's words came out as smooth as honey as if he knew that the wrong tone could make the whole ordeal a bloodbath. I turned my head slowly, breaking my connection with Zayn as I connected irises with Harry at the side of me. I searched his eyes for some form of an answer to everything but I saw nothing other than sincerity.

"Did you know?"

The words left my lips in a rasp, my mouth dry from the shock as I kept my focus on trying to get answers. I leaned away from Harry's grip on me, my instincts kicking in and telling me that something was off about the entire situation.

Had Harry brought me to the condo to sweeten me up for Zayn?

Had the two of them known about my Mama all along?

Had everything been a lie?

Harry shook his head relentlessly, his eyes flashing with betrayal as he tried to process how I could have ever reached that conclusion. "Baby, no. I swear I didn't know about this. If I'd have known I'd have told you."

I wanted to believe him.

I really did.

I tried.

"Why are you looking at me as if it's a fucking reach for that to be the case, Harry? Why is everybody fucking lying to me? You both expect me to believe that my own Mama was the leader of an organization working against my Papa? The woman who raised me was against him? Really? Does that sound fucking logical to either of you?"

The dryness that had once coated my mouth was suddenly gone as I felt the familiar rage seep through my bloodstream and course through my veins. My hands began to shake as I kept my gaze fixated on Harry, the man who had promised me that we were a team.

The man who made me want to trust.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes and took a few deep inhalations of breath before exhaling them slowly. I could sense Zayn fidgeting around in the chair opposite where Harry and I were positioned, clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation that he had caused by barging in and spewing out the absolute absurdity that he did. I couldn't process any explanation for why the two of them would come up with something that was not just absurd, but cruel.

Did they not have any value for my feelings at all?

Did they even truly care?

"Celeste. Trust me when I say that I know how all of this sounds. I know that it doesn't make one tiny bit of sense as to why your mother would be involved in an operation against your father, but I can promise you that none of it is a lie. I have the letter that she left you. You can take it to a handwriting expert if you wish, or even read it for yourself and see that it's in her handwriting. There was no gun to her head when she wrote it; she wrote it out of love and desperation to keep you safe. The promise that I made to your mother is one that I'm not making up. The coincidental aspect of me being friends with Harry, Seth, André, and Niall is exactly that. Coincidental. The main focus here is trying to understand who sold us out and who orchestrated that hit. I've told you this information about your mother because the closer that we get to answers, the more things are going to unfold and I don't want any surprises coming to light that you don't know about. This is the only thing that I was hiding from you, Celeste. The only reason I hid it is because I promised your mother I'd wait until the time was right to give it to you. When all of this is over I promise I will explain absolutely everything to you. If you choose to discontinue our friendship then I'll respect that. Please, let me keep you safe and keep my promise to your mother. Harry had absolutely nothing to do with this. It's all me."

The words were sincere. I knew that they were.

I just couldn't shake the feeling of betrayal that was consuming every inch of me. Regardless of whether Zayn's semi-explanation was the truth or a lie, I couldn't ignore the fact that he'd been withholding information from me about my own family. The fact remained that someone who I'd deemed as close to me had been deceiving me.

Deception was as worse as striking a knife through my chest.

In fact, the knife would have hurt less.

I wasn't prepared to allow the emotions that were circulating around my insides to consume me a moment longer; I stood up and straightened my posture from my previous slumped position on the floor of the balcony, clearing my throat as I made my way over to where Zayn was sat. His eyes never left mine as I made the short journey and proceeded to crouch down so I was eye-level with him. My face showed no display of emotion as I kept my composure to deliver my statement.

"I don't want to see the letter my Mama wrote for me. I don't want any more elaborations on what was taking place before her death because none of it matters to me right now. Perhaps when this is all done I'll entertain the thought that she knew what my Papa was up to the entire time and died a hero's death but right now, at this very moment, none of that is true. If she knew what was going on and decided to form some form of anti-Delgado organization to take him down then why did she wear his dirty money in the form of pearl necklaces and Louboutin heels? Why did she travel in his private planes and dress me in the best designer brands if all she truly wanted was justice to be served? Why was she seen hanging off of his arm? Perhaps she was doing us all a service by keeping up her appearances but that bridge has yet to be crossed, and the facts are yet to be discovered by the only person who should matter in this situation. Me. You may think that you've been doing me a service by keeping this information from me, Zayn. You may think that you've fulfilled my Mama's last dying declaration of keeping me 'safe' but all you've done is break the foundation of our friendship. You had me believing that what's formed between us is an organic friendship between two people who share similarities, yet you've somehow known of me this entire time. Why let me suffer in the dark and mourn my Mama's death alone? Why not step up if you were there and you knew her? Why let me crumble under an oppressive household roof when you could have been a friend in my time of need? I'll be civil with you, Zayn, for the sake of this mission that we have to conclude but as soon as it's over there's no conversation. There's no explanation. There's no justifying what you've done. You've broken the one value that means anything to me; trust. I can't live a life with a friend who has hidden such a crucial part of my life from me. Anything that you have to say is a fruitful attempt at redemption because I can't trust what you say. I can't trust that you're being honest with me anymore."

Zayn's face remained as expressionless as it had been the second I crouched down in front of him; his gaze locked on mine as he took in every last word that left my lips. I didn't spit them out and I didn't lace them with the venom that had been burning at my skin to break out. I delivered them exactly how I had intended to; painfully calm and collected.

I wanted him to feel as hurt as he'd hurt me.

I stood up from in front of him and swiped my cigarettes off the table at the side of him, not sparing him or Harry a second glance as I walked back into the condo and closed the sliding door behind me. There were no more feelings of hurt or betrayal left for me to feel. I was completely subdued by numbness that I was positive a bullet could have flown through my chest and I'd have felt nothing. The concept of the woman I loved the most in the entire world being the mastermind behind an operation that was set up to bring down my Papa was a concept that I didn't think I could ever fathom. Yet, there was a feeling coursing through my body that was telling me that Zayn had no reason to orchestrate such a cruel lie. However, that feeling was overshadowed by the logic that Zayn had no official loyalties to me and perhaps I had just treated him with respect because of the nature of the world I'd been raised in.

With a multitude of thoughts swarming through my mind, I fell back onto the couch and placed my feet on the coffee table. I plucked a cigarette out of my box and placed it between my lips, raising my lighter to light it before taking a drag and allowing my eyes to close at the feeling of the nicotine filling my lungs. I couldn't contemplate how I had gone from floating on cloud nine, feeling closer to Harry than I ever had before, to descending further into the pits of Hell in a matter of twenty-four hours. I knew that the reverie that I'd been sharing with Harry was destined to dilapidate at some point but that didn't stop me from feeling like we were reaching the end.

We weren't destined for a happy ever after.

It wasn't the cards that we'd been dealt.

As if he could sense my spiraling thoughts, the door leading to the balcony slid open and revealed Harry; his jaw tensed and his posture rigid as he walked over to the couch where I was sat. I opened my eyes as soon as I felt the couch dip at the side of me, taking an inhalation of the cigarette before he plucked it out of my fingers and brought it to his own lips. You could have cut the tension in the atmosphere with a knife but there wasn't a chance in Hell I was going to be the first to admit my wrongdoings and miscalculations regarding Harry being involved with Zayn's deception. I could sense that he was contemplating his next moves very carefully by the way his jaw keep tensing and relaxing in periodic intervals.

We sat in silence for a few moments longer before he eventually cleared his throat and leaned forward to discard the cigarette into an ashtray on the table.

"I understand why you're hurt, Celeste. What Zayn did was an incredibly shit thing to do but there's a reason why he did what he did. You might see it as the ultimate betrayal of your trust, which to an extent it is, but you need to remember who was there for you in one of the most life-threatening times of your life. To completely discard an entire friendship over one breach of trust is an extremity, even for yourself. I understand that there's an unwritten rule of loyalty in this world but there was no lie on his behalf; just a suppressing of information. He didn't do what he did with malicious intentions. He did it because he made a promise and you know how much a promise means in this life. You have such a golden heart, angel. Don't let it be tainted and disintegrated because of something that was out of your control. I don't expect you to forgive him straight away, or even at all, but for you to strip away his right to explanation because you believe it can't be fixed is you doing everything that you hate your father for. Stripping away a person's identity because you can't have control over a situation."

The words struck me right in the chest, despite Harry delivering them in the gentlest way he could. His hand had made its way to my thigh and his fingers were tracing the skin with little circles as he allowed me to process his words. There were elements of truth in his statement, that much I could admit, but there were also elements of falsifications that I couldn't comprehend. I tilted my head back so it was resting against the cushions on the couch, my gaze meeting Harry's as he mirrored my own actions.

"There is an unwritten rule of loyalty, and a promise does mean everything, but there's also an unwritten code of honesty between your partners. Perhaps I have stripped him of his right to a fair trial because I believe it can't be fixed but he stripped himself of that right first by not being honest from the start. No matter how hard I try, Harry, there will always be elements of my Papa in my characteristics because before anything I'm a Delgado. The control that you say I don't have over this situation, I have in my decision making. The golden heart that you refer to is evident to you, and once was evident to Zayn, because I chose to let you see that side of me. Underneath it all is a bunch of vipers, seething venom and slithering to the surface to protect me when my heart gets hurt. Never mistake my kind heart for who I am, Harry, because that's not always the case. I choose to let you see that side of me because I trust my judgment on your character. Break it and the same vipers that cut off Zayn will cut you off too."

Harry nodded as he contemplated the meaning behind my words. He kept tracing patterns on my thigh as he broke away from my gaze, staring into the distance as he swiped his tongue across his lower lip. There were thoughts swimming around in that head of his; thoughts that I would never have access to, yet thoughts that were making me rethink every single decision that I'd ever made when it came to the two men that were occupying the condo just by the way they made Harry's jaw tense.

"The decisions that you make, baby, are decisions that are going to stay with you for the rest of your life; whether your life ends tomorrow or in fifty years from now. You own every aspect of the decisions, as you said, but as your partner in all of this, I don't want the decisions you make to result in your mental decline. I'm in no way calling you fragile or delicate, fuck you're the strongest woman I know, but there are aspects of you that are soft and delicate, angel. That's not a bad thing because your ability to stay soft in the situation that you're in is a strength within itself. I just want to make sure that the choice you're making is being made with your head and not your heart because in this world your heart can result in a fate much worse than you ever could have predicted. Nothing that you ever do could make me hate you, baby girl. Whatever decision you make has my full support but I wouldn't be giving you honest advice if I didn't tell you that I think Zayn doesn't deserve the treatment that you're giving him," Harry spoke softly, his gaze falling back on mine as I listened to what he said.

There was an authenticity in the words that Harry said, an authenticity that was rare for him. I had only ever seen Harry be this transparent when talking to me in our private moments. He didn't deliver authenticity when dealing with the outside world; only the few people he kept close to him throughout it all. Harry was highlighting the severity of the mental decline in the instances of rash decision-making, especially in the uncertainty of the world that we lived in. I knew that tomorrow was never promised in the criminal underbelly of Los Angeles.

I knew that better than anyone.

Was Zayn a tie I wanted to cut loose?

Was I thinking with my head or my heart?

I swung my legs over Harry's, his hands falling on top of my thighs as I kept my head rested against the cushions on the couch. I threaded my fingers through his hair as I kept my gaze fixated on a blank wall in the condo, my breathing becoming shallow as I tried to process everything that had just occurred in the last hour. Harry remained patient with me as we sat in a comfortable silence whilst I tried to reach a conclusion, even if it was just a temporary conclusion.

"There isn't a concrete conclusion for all of this, Harry. I know that it may appear as a rash decision to completely sever the ties of my friendship with Zayn, perhaps it is, but right now I can't move past it and I can't completely forgive him for keeping the information to himself," I replied to him, my fingers still working their way through his locks as I spoke my truth.

"You don't have to fully forgive him, angel. Nobody is asking that of you, nor expecting it. Do you not think that he deserves a fair trial when all of this is over and done with? You may have Delgado characteristics that make you like your father, but that doesn't mean that you have to act on them. Fairness is a virtue that we hold dear to us in this fucked up world, baby. He deserves to be treated fairly and given a chance to explain himself," Harry responded to me, his words gentle and honest as he kept his gaze on mine.

I allowed his judgment to run through my mind several times before I slowly nodded and stood up from my position on the couch slowly. Before I could fully stand up, Harry took ahold of my hand and pulled me back down next to him before he connected our lips in a slow and gentle kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck during the exchange, his hand releasing mine before he cupped my face between his palms. He broke away after a few moments, resting his forehead against mine as he connected our gazes once more.

"You will always be a powerful woman, angel. Your coldness, your impulsiveness, and your judgment of character are what make you a bad-ass but they can also quickly become your downfall. I'd rather attend a screaming match between you and Zayn than attend either one of your funerals," Harry whispered out, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead once he'd finished.

I nodded once before standing up and interlocking our fingers again, beginning to walk outside to the balcony where Zayn was still sat on the same chair I'd left him in. He had a cigarette hanging out of his lips and his hair was disheveled, no doubt from how often he'd been running his fingers through it in distress. As soon as he heard the sliding door open he snapped his head round to meet my gaze. I still wasn't one hundred percent on board with everything Harry had said in the condo but I could see the sincerity behind Zayn's eyes when he looked at me.

I let go of Harry's hand as soon as I stepped onto the balcony, making my way over to one of the chairs that were positioned next to Zayn's. On my way, I plucked the cigarette out of Zayn's mouth and placed it in my own before dropping into the chair. I flicked my hair over my shoulder and locked gazes with him as I exhaled some of the smoke. Harry sat in the other chair and folded his arms as he kept his gaze fixed on the two of us expectantly, waiting to see who would make the first move in a form of semi-reconciliation.

"Are you going to sit there and stare at me or are you going to tell me what we're going to do next? The sooner this is over, the sooner you get your chance to explain what the fuck has been going on through that head of yours for the past however many years," I said, watching Zayn's expression change from uncertain to confused in a matter of seconds.

"Nice kitty," Harry spoke out, earning a sharp glare from myself out of the corner of my eye.

Zayn cleared his throat before sitting up from his slouched position and placing his hands on his knees before he began, "Cora and Niall are working around the clock to try and locate the identities of the man and woman at your father's luncheon, the one we attended whilst you were unconscious. So far they have a few leads but nothing has shown up to concretely solidify the two as Lana's mother and father. We were certainly correct about Antoni not being blatant in his work. Whoever he had at his luncheon isn't showing up as obviously as we may have thought in identification. We have Cora and Niall scouring through records, CCTV footage, police files, and everything to try and secure facial recognition. André and Seth have been using muscle to try and draw any information out of any remaining previous employees of Antoni's, which is very few, as well as any distant associates from other crime families or gangs. Matteo has been working alongside me to try and retrieve any other information we may have missed through financial purchases, weapons, or drug exports to any locations that haven't appeared before. Truthfully, Antoni has everything deadlocked. There are hardly any traces of him anywhere, other than what he wants to be discovered."

Harry's face was as concrete as stone before he spat out, "What about the attempted hit?"

Zayn shook his head before he leaned back and responded, "Nothing but dead ends."

I scoffed at the mention of the dead ends, at the mention of nothing coming to the surface in regards to finding out what the fuck was going on with my Papa. I flicked the cigarette into the ashtray before leaning back on the chair and looking between the two men who were watching my every move as if I was a bomb that was seconds away from detonating.

"Of course my Papa has everything deadlocked; he's not who he is through luck. He knows we're closing in on him. The identification of the Lucrezzá's is the first step in cracking who is involved with what and why. If we can source the identities of the Lucrezzá's then we can use tactics to draw out what they're involved in and why. The hit isn't something that we can just source. If I know my Papa, I know that this all is a game to him. It's a web of interlocking factors that form the final endgame. We need to take this one step at a time. If we try and focus on different aspects all at once it won't come together to expose what we need it to. We need to have all eyes on the same prize," I spoke out, realizing how crazy and manic it all sounded in the moment but realizing that it made perfect sense to the two most unhinged people I knew in front of me.

Harry nodded before he responded with, "Celeste's right. We can't have our eyes on different pursuits. We need to use our individual outlooks to work together to take it one step at a time. If we band together we can crack this thing quicker than if we try and tackle different pursuits. We can't treat Antoni like he's on the same wavelength as us. We need to crack him by cracking everything he's ever created."

"That's easier said than done, H. The man's relentless. He's cold-blooded. He kills everything that stands in his way of growing his empire," Zayn exasperated, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.

I shook my head at Zayn's words, a low chuckle escaping my lips as I replied, "That's partly true but there's a flaw in your thinking, Zayn. He thinks he has it all planned out but there's a factor that he always seems to forget when he formulates his plans."

Zayn furrowed his eyebrows as he questioned, "What's that?"

A slow and sinister smirk spread across my lips as I crossed my left leg over my right and stared at him dead in the eye.

"He raised me to think exactly like him."

****************************

Zayn

What was I supposed to say?

No word in the English language would ever suffice in terms of describing how I felt when I witnessed the way she completely came undone for him

Not the physicality of it all; the emotional and mental unraveling that occurred when he so much as glanced in her direction.

It was something that I would never experience because subconsciously, although she may not have known it, she was committed to him.

There was nobody else for her.

Nobody could ever compete, nor compare, with the way he made her stomach flutter like a thousand butterflies escaping from a cage with the frantic flapping of their wings.

All I could do was watch.

All I could do was endure the fact that I had now taken the position of the bad guy; a position that I was more than content with claiming if it meant that at the end of it all she would be safe.

Bringing her the news that I knew she would perceive as false was a decision that I had to make because although she believed that we were nowhere near the end of this relentless pursuit against Antoni Delgado, we were closing in with a rapidness that she wouldn't be anticipating.

The Devil was luring us to his layer as each day passed with such urgency that it wouldn't be far-fetched to draw the conclusion that he wanted us to shatter him.

There were agencies in place to ensure that the empire would never shatter, not so long as Celeste was alive to claim the role as heiress of the blood-bath that Antoni had been building for years prior to her birth.

She was correct in concluding that Antoni had an endgame.

How could a man like him not see beyond the wake of his death?

He had it all plotted out.

One thing that I knew for certain in all of this was that Celeste was at the center of it all, unbeknownst to herself.

She would be pursued.

She would be hurt.

She would be broken.

Perhaps this was her destiny.

Perhaps we could have prevented it.

Perhaps we could have protected her better.

All of the 'perhaps' meant nothing in the end.

This was the beginning of the end.