NOTE: For a better reading, when I point out during the chapter, listen to the song "Close To You" by Rihanna, and then, when I point out again, listen to the song "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails :)

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POV Camila Cabello

*(Play song – Close To You by Rihanna)*

"I want to break up with you."

"What?"

"Lauren, please, don't make this any more complicated for me." I said, feeling my throat knot.

"You're joking, right? Because if you are, it's not funny at all." Lauren said, running her hand through her hair, she was impatient.

I got up from the seat and closed the car door, silencing that damn song.

"Lauren, as much as I like you... As much as I love your touches..." Lauren swallowed hard, listening to me in silence. "As much as being close to you today makes me feel good..." God! I couldn't look at her, she had a bittersweet sadness in her eyes, the green gleamed from afar. "As much as-"

"I told you that I loved you, Camila."

"I know, but-"

"No, shut up! Camila, I told you that I loved you, do you get that? Do you have any idea when was the last time I said I loved someone I was in a relationship with?"

"Lauren..."

"Never! Did you know that I've never wanted to be in a relationship with someone other than you?"

"You didn't date alone, you weren't alone in this, I also wanted this, Lauren..."

I wanted to disappear, I wanted to kneel right there and burst into tears. This was so damn hard.

"Crazy as fuck, huh?!" She said, laughing humorlessly.

"We were never going to work, Lauren, we don't have a future together." I approached the brunette who took a step back, making me sigh.

"I... I opened up to you." A few tears were already falling as she gestured with her hands.

"You trusted me and you can alway-"

"Exactly, I trusted you." The brunette wiped away the tears that insisted on falling. "I should have never opened up to you, I'm such a fool."

"Lauren, this has nothing to do with you trusting me, you'll always be able to trust me."

"Of course it has, today you were super affectionate, and I don't usually like that, but I was enjoying it, I accepted your affection, and all for what? To end the night like this? You're not trustworthy." Lauren wiped away the tears that fell down her face and look up at the sky, taking a deep breath.

"Lauren..."

"No!" She motioned for me to shut up, still staring at the sky, with her hands on her waist. She was trying to pull herself together.

The brunette turned her back to me, with her hands still on her waist, and time or another I saw her wiping the tears that insisted on falling.

"I feel so grateful to have found you." I said, and Lauren turned to face me.

"You made me a better person, you showed me a side of me that I didn't know, Camila." She laughed humorlessly. "Because believe it or not, I haven't had many references of love."

"I want you to find someone." The choked sobs in my throat were killing me.

"I don't want to love anyone else." The brunette had controlled her tears, and she put her hands in her pockets. "I still love you and I don't know what to do with that."

"I... I..."

"Don't worry, I'll try to kill this too."

"I let myself get carried away, Lauren, I gave myself wholly to you, but we don't have a future." The sky seemed gray, and a fog covered the street. The day looked sad, but I... I was falling apart. "We're not alike, and as much as our time together has been wonderful, I'm realistic, we'd be nothing more than badly healed wounds to one another, as we are now, so it's better to break up while there's time."

It was inevitable not to let a tear fall, Lauren was ashamed, I could see that in her, she was blaming herself, punishing herself for having let herself get carried away. I don't think she'll ever f...

"I'll never forgive you." She said, taking a deep breath, and taking over her strong and steadfast posture again. "I'll never want to hear from you again, you're nothing but a selfish spoiled little girl."

"I just want you to understand, we don't have a future, Lauren..."

"And with whom do you have a future with?" She made a long pause. "With Rob?" She shouted, and I could see the vein in her neck pulsating. "While you were in that damned hospital bed, he was in my sister's bed, cheating on you, that's what you want, isn't it?"

Lauren's words hit me hard, my legs wobbled so much so that I had to take a step back to lean against the car door. She could only be bluffing. I took a deep breath, taking over my defiant look again, I couldn't let myself get shaken up, not in front of her, not anymore.

"Then Robert and I are even, Lauren. What did you think? I cheated on him with you, it would be very hypocritical of me to be offended." I said, and Lauren looked me in the eyes incredulously. "So that's that, Rob and I are even and we don't owe anything to each other, and as far as I know, it's the same for you and me." I made a pause and took a deep breath. Lauren was still with her imposing air, but I knew how much she was suffering, how much she was punishing herself for having let herself get carried away. Dammit! "Goodbye, Lauren." I turned and walked into my building, I didn't want to look back, I knew that she was still there, looking at me, trying to understand, but I needed to be strong, and I would be.

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*A few days later* (still Camila's POV)

Empty... My chest felt hollow, my heart was barely beating, my mind was empty, my life was empty, I thought of nothing but of flashes of that night, the night I broke up with Lauren. She made me feel like myself, made me feel like a woman, Lauren was turning into my safe haven. So why all that? Because of fear? Maybe, but one thing was certain... Her words had affected me gravely.

Today was the...? What day, month and year are we really in? I didn't know, the darkness of my room wouldn't even let me know if it was day or night. I remained in that bed for hours, days, it embraced me and comforted me, made me forget about the world outside, if it still exists.

Here I am, lying in my bed, curled up in the blankets, with empty thoughts and a fucking wound in my chest. I felt entitled to grieve, I needed to go through this before pulling myself together.

My throat burned, I was thirsty, but nothing seemed strong enough to make me move from here, but I'm an adult, and even if all I wanted was to stay in this bedroom until I no longer feel the need to punish myself, I had to try harder, to take one step at a time, and so I did. I slowly left the room, dragging myself across my apartment. The stairs were cold, all the curtains closed, but a gap between them allowed me to see that it was night. It didn't matter either way.

I walked to the kitchen, without even bothering to turn on the light. I opened the fridge, illuminating the space around me and making my eyes burn, leaving my vision blurred. Gradually, I got used to the dim illumination that the light of the fridge provided me with. I looked inside it, looking for something that would take the burning away from my throat, finding only an old pizza box, an apple and a jug of water. I promptly took care of grabbing it, pouring myself a large glass, which I brought to my mouth, letting the cold liquid slide freely down my throat, healing what bothered me insistently.

The sound of the intercom rang, startling me. I looked at the device on the wall that kept repeating the same sound. I just stood there, watching the small white device. Whoever it was would give up just like the other. I simply ignored the annoying noise and dragged myself back into my room.

I looked for some migraine medicine in the nightstand, but found the pack of pills empty, I had already taken them all, so I threw in the towel and let the pain take over, lying down, covering myself and returning to the same position. Like in a movie, everything came back, the memories, the fears, the duties. I let the thick tears fall down my face, wondering until when, until when I'd feel like someone's poking an open wound, my wound. I closed my eyes tightly, in the hopes that everything would pass, but it was in vain, I still felt like that... Putting up with the pain until I fell asleep due to weakness.

-----

"Lauren?" I asked, hearing my voice echo.

Everything around was a blur. A thick red layer covered Lauren's clothes, she had blood on her hands, a guilty look on her bright green eyes, and a genuine and relieved smile on her lips.

"Lauren? What are you doing?" Lauren didn't seem to hear me, she just studied her hands that were dripping blood.

"Camila, feel!" The brunette looked at me, smiling.

My mouth felt moist, so I swallowed the saliva that had accumulated. God! It wasn't saliva. A metallic taste flooded my palate, and there was no doubt in my mind that it was blood.

"Blood? Why, Lauren?"

My mind became a blur, and I felt my body being shaken from side to side, so I opened my eyes with certain difficulty, looking at the person who was fighting for my attention. The sound of the TV jumbled with her voice. I had to try hard to focus on the woman in front of me.

"Camila?! Oh my God!" Veronica said, there was a certain desperation and pity in her voice.

"Yes." I said with certain difficulty. My voice came out hoarse after so many days without communicating with anyone.

"What happened to you? Jesus!" The brunette got up and ran into the kitchen. "Where are the things in your fridge?"

"I dreamed about Lauren." I said whispering, my throat burning. "It was more like a nightmare." Veronica wasn't listening to me, just kept grumbling about something that I couldn't understand. "It wasn't her blood, I know, everything seemed so real, so disturbing, so-"

"Camila!" Veronica shouted.

"I wasn't afraid, it was something else..."

It didn't take long, and my friend was in front of me again with a glass of water. My eyes glittered, and I grabbed the glass from her hand, lifting it up to my mouth and drinking with want. The dream was so real that I felt the taste of blood on my lips. Veronica wouldn't take her eyes off me, she watched my every move, as an awkward silence hoovered over us.

"Camila." Veronica called, breaking the silence. I shrugged, the most important thing right now was to control the knot that was forming in my throat. "Camila!" Her voice became more authoritative, and without even giving me time to look at her on my own, the brunette gripped my chin, turning my face towards her. "Look at me and tell me right now what happened to you!"

Veronica was looking at me with hurt and a mix of fury and disappointment. Her breathing was altered, her chest rose and fell violently. I didn't say anything, just lowered my gaze, I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what had happened myself.

"You're not going to talk? Well, I am." Veronica grabbed me by the arms, pulling me up.

"Ouch! Veronica, you're hurting me." I groaned in pain, but the brunette ignored me, just kept dragging me. And I didn't have the strength to fight back.

I only realized where we were when the light illuminated the whole environment, revealing my bedroom. I quickly closed my eyes tightly.

"Open your fucking eyes!" Veronica said through clenched teeth, but I shook my head, so she gripped my shoulders with her hands and shook me hard. "Open your eyes and look in the mirror!" The woman shouted.

Her voice sounded choked, like she was fighting back her tears. What was I doing? She's my friend and she's worried about me. Slowly, I opened my eyes, my vision was blurred, but gradually I could see what was around me. I looked at Vero, there were tears on her face, and the knot that was in my throat broke and I just let the tears run down my face. Veronica pulled me to her, hugging me tight. I buried my face in her chest and let the tears flow freely, washing everything I felt, as my friend stroked my hair in a comforting way.

We stayed like that for a long time, in a comfortable silence, until Veronica broke the silence again.

"Camila." She called me. I almost didn't hear her because of the so soft way in which she spoke. "Do you feel better? Tell me what happened. If that bitch did something to you-"

"No. No, Vero." I pulled my head away from her body so she could see how serious I was. Then I lowered my head again when I remembered the horrible way it ended.

"Then what happened?" Veronica asked with certain desperation.

"Calm down, please." My eyes filled with tears again. "I'll tell you."

Veronica nodded, and I grabbed her hand and took her to my bed, where we lay down. My arms hugged her waist and my head rested on her chest, and then the brunette reciprocated the embrace, snuggling me into her arms.

I told her everything that happened that night, to some extent. I told her about my uncertainty of a future with Lauren by my side, and told her about what she had told me about Rob. Veronica never interrupted me, much less made any remark, just listened to me attentively.

"I just don't feel like doing anything..." I finished amid a sob.

"Honestly... You did the right thing by breaking up with her." I looked at her as I wiped away the tears that still insisted on falling. "Now, about Rob... Isn't her sister too young for him?"

"Ugh, forget about it." I said impatiently. "Everyone has their own flaws." I felt my mouth sour after defending Rob.

"Are you listening to yourself, Camila? You're defending a guy who cheated on you." Veronica made a brief pause and studied me, I was visibly bothered by her words. "Wait... Please don't tell me that you're thinking about getting back together with him!"

"Veronica..." I admonished, too weak to counter her accusations.

"For the love of God, Camila! Rob is an asshole! He's sexist and he's a homophobe, and he cheated on you with a girl who probably doesn't have her period yet." Veronica exploded, letting out everything that seemed to be bothering her.

"We're even, Veronica. I don't know if you remember, but even though I was planning my wedding, I spent most nights in Lauren's bed." I lowered my head and took a deep breath.

The pain came harder, it was as if the wound in my chest had just ripped even more. That subject shook me up severely, so much so that I barely noticed the tears rolling down my face again. I was no longer in my friend's arms, I was standing, pacing back and forth while Veronica looked at me sadly.

"If you came to meddle in my decisions, please, do what the others did and don't even look for me!"

"Are you kidding, Camila? Have you seen how many missed calls from Ally, Dinah and even from Normani you have? We were all worried about you!"

I lowered my head, bringing both my hands up to my ears, covering them. I closed my eyes tightly, and even then the tears escaped freely.

Silence settled between us, and it was only possible to hear my sobs and the brunette's heavy breathing. It didn't take long for me to feel Veronica's arms around me.

"I... I'm sorry, Mila." The brunette apologized in a whisper, depositing a kiss on my head. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I came here to help you, and instead, I'm making things worse."

My arms loosened, sliding down Veronica's waist, and I hugged her back as hard as I could. Vero seemed to be literally holding me in her arms, I felt weak, about to fall.

"It's okay." I said softly. "I think I needed to hear that... I just need some time, I want to get everything sorted out, starting with my mother." I opened my eyes, finding Veronica's. She's visibly anxious and worried.

"Are you sure?" The brunette asked, and I just nodded my head. "I don't want to see you worse than you already are."

"She'll know how to take care of me, Vero, my mother has her opinions but she's not a monster."

"Your mother kicked you out of the house out of sheer ignorance."

"Veronica..."

The brunette stood silently, watching me, and after a while she let out a heavy breath of air. "Alright then, but if she does anything that upsets you, just call me and I'll go pick you up."

"Don't worry, I will. I'm going to take advantage of the days off that Mr. Prado gave me and I'm gonna go there." I soothed her.

Veronica stayed in my apartment for a while. The brunette went to the supermarket, filled my fridge and shelves with food, fruit and water, and prepared a nice dinner. I ate so much, I had hardly noticed how hungry I was. I'll never spend any more days without eating.

After I promised to keep her informed of my physical and emotional state, the brunette left, leaving me alone again. Veronica's concern made me think of Lauren.

How is she? I hope she's not in the same state I'm in, I worry about her, maybe I should call. I stopped in front of my mirror and looked at my reflection, I looked like a real mess. First I have to take care of my emotional state, and only then contact her. I don't want her away from me, even if she can't stand the sight of me. It's been days, maybe the anger has subsided.

I grabbed my suitcase and packed a good amount of clothes, and when I finished, I plugged my phone into the charger. As soon as it turned on, I was able to see more than 100 missed calls and text messages.

God!

I ran my eyes over the calls and texts, and something in me wanted to see Lauren's name there, but it wasn't.

I dialed a number with a certain hurry, and brought the phone up to my ear and waited. On the third ring, the soft voice with a certain Latin accent spoke:

"Hello! Hija?"

"Mom, prepare my room, I need you.

POV Lauren Jauregui

*(Play song – Closer by Nine Inch Nails)*

I dragged the black plastic tarp with Aaron's body with some difficulty. I hated when they were overweight, it made things a bit harder. I entered the place reserved for my work and the screams flooded my ears. I had forgotten to use the gag.

"Jesus Christ, shut your mouth, or I'll shut it myself!" I shouted as I dragged the plastic tarp to the chair reserved for Aaron. "Tayler, say hi, this is Aaron. Aaron, this is Tayler, your game partner." I laughed as Tayler cussed me incessantly. "You're very rude, Tayler."

With much effort and practice, I finally managed to put the unconscious man in a sitting position on a chair facing Tayler. There was a lot of noise in my warehouse, voices and cries for help echoed all over, but I decided to ignore it, after all, Aaron would wake up very soon and I needed to have everything ready.

Can you imagine? Aaron was sitting facing Tayler now, his arm stretched by a hook that was attached to his wrist. And on the other end of the hook? A bucket suspended by a holder, which would easily be turned, letting the contents drop on Tayler's head, but only if Aaron made any sudden movement with his hand. Did you imagine it? I was delighted with the scene. Above Aaron's head there was also a suspended bucket, which would only turn if his partner Tayler also moved his hand.

Inside the buckets there was acid, more specifically, caustic soda with water. The soda in small quantities, like the volume of a bucket, would burn the skin of my preys, severe burns, but if used in large quantities... Well, in large quantities it would be able to dissolve bodies.

"I must say that Tayler and Aaron are my favorite duo. Tayler cooperated well with my game, and Aaron? Well, Aaron didn't even bark. He couldn't either way." I laughed and turned around, going towards my table, grabbing my gloves and my clipboard.

"Why are you doing this to us?" George shouted at me and then started to cry.

"You made a very good question, George." I turned towards them, and quickly studied my clipboard.

I had ten men in my warehouse, ten disgusting beings. This was by far my dirtiest work. I had made duos, one man facing the other. There were five duos, it was a game. They all had buckets with acid above their heads, and they were all shitting their pants, and I was loving every second of it.

"Alright, five of you are awake and the other five are unconscious." Despite the fear stamped on their faces, they listened to me attentively, as if expecting a change of heart, a hope. "When your game partners wake up desperate, you need to keep them calm, so they won't lower their arms and..." I gestured towards the buckets. "Well, you know, so that they don't drop the buckets with acid on your heads."

"You're a sick son of a bitch!" One of them shouted.

"Oh! I'm the sick one here?" I approached the man and studied the clipboard, flipped the page and finally found what I wanted. "Marco! You think I'm the sick one here? Let's see... You've been arrested twice for assaulting your wife, and you were released right away, correct?" The man lowered his head and I hit a slap on his face, causing his arm to sway, and consequently the bucket above his partner's head, but it didn't turn. "That was close, right Mr. Padilla?" The man began to cry.

"I'm sorry, I'll never hit her again!" Marco pleaded, as the others watched attentively.

"Of course you won't." I took a deep breath and looked at the clipboard again. "What hasn't been said yet, is that you raped your stepson, Rupert, right?"

They all widened their eyes, as if everything suddenly made sense.

"Why do you guys look so scared?" I asked laughing. "Did you remember something? Huh?" I walked across the space between them with my hands behind my back. "Did you remember someone you've raped?"

"Please, ma'am, I've never raped anyone." The man at the back drew my attention.

"Of course you did." I said as I approached.

"I swear, I swear I didn't." That's what they'd all say.

"Alex, right?" He nodded his head. "Annie? Fourteen years old? Doesn't ring a bell?"

I inched closer to the piece of shit, and looked deep into his eyes. Something bad hovered in them, and a shudder ran through my body.

A shrill laugh echoed through the warehouse. I looked to the side and Ethan was laughing derisively. I took two steps towards the man.

"You think it's funny?" I asked and he nodded, still laughing nonstop.

"You're a stupid bitch, I can't take you seriously." My blood boiled instantly with that man's words.

"You know what, Ethan?! I'm not going to wait for Michael to wake up." I said, pointing at his game partner.

"Fuck you!" He said, and then spat at me.

I wiped my face with my hands, threw the clipboard on the ground and put on the gloves I had in my pocket. The loud music helped me get into the mood. While Ethan kept cussing me.

"Dialogue isn't really your thing, is it?" I said, holding his arm, the arm that was attached to the hook. Ethan tensed up in the chair with my threat. "Just watch what this bitch can do."

I lowered the man's arm, making the bucket of acid turn and drop on his partner Michael, who was unconscious. The man woke up startled and screaming in pain. I walked away from Ethan and the others, standing in the corner, watching them. Michael, in desperation as he attempted to situate himself, moved quickly, letting the bucket above Ethan's head turn and drop.

I looked at the asshole who had challenged me, and waved goodbye. Screams flooded my ears. And the splatters of acid woke up the other men around.

The ones who were awake, begged those who had just woken up to not move. I laughed, laughed at their vain desperation. They'd all die, but that thread of hope kept them alive.

Gradually, they all woke up, and the smell of burned flesh began to invade my nostrils. Repulsion was inevitable. The two men squirmed in their chairs as they prayed to their God, or whatever they believed in. I sat down on the chair that was next to my table, and waited until they calmed down. Obviously, the men wouldn't melt completely, not yet, but good part of their faces was badly burned.

The mess was made, the game had begun. Half of the men were crying, begging me to forgive them. I'm not God, I don't know if they knew that, but some looked at me as if I was the devil himself, and that was something I liked. I didn't have pity, didn't have compassion, I knew what they had done, and nothing, nothing at all, would make them better people.

-----

After spending a few hours in that warehouse, the smell of burned flesh started to become unbearable.

"What a smelly idea, huh? God, you guys stink." I said, flipping the magazine in my hands.

The bucket had already dropped on two more duos, now only two remained.

"I said that Tayler and Aaron were my favorites, they're holding up so far, and it's been three hours." Time or another I interacted with my preys, they always replied with screaming, sobbing and cussing, I was already used to it. "This is going to give me so much work to clean, but it will be worth every second, you know?"

The others squirmed, struggling in their chairs with their exposed, painful wounds.

"Don't worry, they're going to die." I said to the 'unharmed' men. "There's no solution, they are dead, they just don't know it yet. As for you,-"

When I was about to complete the sentence, I saw Paul lower his arm, which promptly dropped the acid on his partner.

"You killed yourself, you coward." I said and laughed at the poor man who was looking up, waiting for his bucket to turn.

Paul screamed scandalously. Because he was looking up, the acid fell directly on his face and throat, corroding the entire area of his neck, killing him almost instantly. As for his partner, he still felt pain from the burns.

"Paul is a smart guy." I said as I got up and approached Tayler and Aaron. "You know what? I'm bored."

"Wh-hat are you going to do?"

"I'm tired, I want to go home and get rid of this smell of rotten flesh."

"P-pleaase!" Tayler begged, but I ignored him and grabbed Aaron's arm, and as soon as I did, he started to breathe heavily and started to pray. "Please, stop!" Tayler cried out, watching the scene.

"Did you stop when Nathalie asked?" I just lowered Aaron's hand, and he didn't even protest.

The same process was repeating itself. I backed away and looked around the warehouse, it was completely dirty, but every second here was worth it. I still had a lot of work though, those bodies wouldn't dissolve on their own.

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NOTE: Well damn... hehehe :P So... The next chapter is the one that I'm sure you've been waiting for since the beginning lol The title is "Maniac x Deputy Cabello". But don't worry, this fic is far from ending. There are still a lot of plot twists and surprises ;) I just don't know if I'm going to be able to translate the whole chapter tomorrow, cause I'm going to the movies to see Fifty Shades Darker, but anyways, if I don't post anything tomorrow, you can expect it on Saturday. Shiii 'bout to go down!