Songs to listen to while reading:

Lost Without You – Freya Ridings

The Night We Met – Lord Huron

Harry's perspective.

I pull into the garage and put the car into park, resting my head on the head rest while closing my eyes. It's been a long day and I haven't been able to stop thinking about what happened last night with Lexi.

What happens now? Does she regret what happened? Because I know I don't... I need to talk to her.

I climb out of the car, closing the door behind me and locking my car. I enter the house through the garage door, walking in quietly in case Lexi is asleep. It is one in the morning, so she's most likely asleep.

I take my time, unlacing my boots as I sit balancing on the edge of the couch.

"Shut up!"

Someone's here, in my house. I lift my head to listen closer and furrow my eyebrows in confusion, who the fuck is here? Because that definitely wasn't Lexi.

The sound of my Lexi crying snaps me out of my confusion. My body reacts automatically as I walk as fast as I can into the kitchen, opening the draw that holds some of my guns. I ignore the trembling in my hands as I grab the pistol, loading it as I make my way out of the kitchen.

I look around to see how they would have gotten in, there isn't a sign that they broke in. No windows are broken, how did they get in? All the doors lock after a certain time and you need to put a passcode in to open them. This is weird...

Why am I shaking? I'm always confident with shit like this.

She can't get hurt, she can't.

Whoever made my Lexi cry will pay. If they have laid even a finger on her, there will be blood to pay. I clench my jaw and take a deep breath; I need to think rationally or I'll make a stupid decision. I stalk my way up the stairs with the gun pointed, leading my way. I hope I can catch whoever it is off guard. Adrenaline courses through my body the closer I get to where Lexi is.

I walk as silently as possible with my back gliding against the corridor wall, following the sound of the voices. I reach Lexi's room, swinging round with my gun raised and my finger ready on the trigger as I analyse the situation in front of me.

Things seem to move in slow motion after that. Lexi is on her knees, eyes closed and a small smile on her face as tears fall down her cheeks. There are two men standing in front of her, one of them has a gun pointed at her head, ready to shoot her.

A bullet flies 2,600 feet per second, it's a split-second decision that is irreversible.

Thankfully, I'm faster.

I pull the trigger before he does. My bullet flies into the back of the skull of the man pointing the gun at Lexi before he could pull the trigger of his own gun. His body collapses to the ground with a gaping hole where the bullet travelled, dark blood gushing out of the hole almost immediately like a volcano.

My instincts and training take over as I stride towards the second man who is in shock, staring at his dead friend on the ground as the blood begins to pool around his head. I swing my elbow up with force, hitting him in the jaw hard enough for him to collapse out cold to the ground from the brutal hit.

I walk over to where Lexi is kneeling still with her eyes closed. Her whole body is trembling, she's in shock. This is the first moment I've taken to really take in her appearance. She has a black eye forming, her lip is split with blood dripping from the cut, her face is a mess.

She's still a beautiful mess to me.

"Hey sweet girl, you okay?" I speak softly, as I hold her face in my hands as gently as I can so that I don't hurt any of her injuries.

Her eyes snap open at the sound of my voice, "Harry?" she whispers sounding scared.

"It's me baby, you're okay now. I'm here. Can I hug you? I promise I'll be gentle..." I ask her, my voice wavering from the emotions that I don't even know I am feeling in this moment. I just need to hold her, I can't even process the fact that I almost lost her just minutes ago.

Her head nods slightly which is the only indication that I needed, her eyes filling with tears and her mouth gaping open. I wrap my arms around her shoulders, holding her head against me. Her arms fall to her sides as her body begins to shake from the sobs that escape her.

"What happened?" A familiar voice standing behind me catches my attention. I turn my head to look over my shoulder to see who it is.

"Zayn?" I ask, confused as to why Zayn is in my house.

The man who I knocked out starts groaning, holding his head as he rolls around while he starts to gain consciousness.

As much as I want to comfort Lexi, I need to know why they are here so I can stop this from happening again. "Take her into my room so she can lie down on my bed and then call the doctor, she needs medical help." I instruct Zayn.

He walks up to where I am holding Lexi, I loosen my arms from holding her. He puts his arms around her back to pick her up causing her to whimper in pain. "Gently, you fucking dick!" I whisper-yell. I don't want to scare Lexi any more than what she already is.

Zayn slows his movements, picking Lexi up and carrying her out of the room and into my own. It looks like her adrenaline has run out of her body, her skin paling and her eyes look like they are darkening by the second. Her body finally catching up with her injuries.

As soon as they are out of my sight, I turn on my heels and stroll up to the fucker who is fully awake now. I kneel down with my elbows resting on my knees so that I am next to his face. "Who are you?" I demand, getting right to the point.

He starts laughing, showing the blood in his mouth that is lining in between his teeth from the hit I gave him. "Morgan wanted us to come and say hi."

Morgan, the leader of Mendacious. "What the fuck does he want now?" I say through gritted teeth, grabbing my gun and shoving it onto his temple roughly.

"We were here for you Styles but then your little play thing was just too irresistible, I couldn't help myself." The scrawny little shit explains. "Too bad I didn't get a proper go at her."

I can physically feel my blood begin to boil under my skin. I hit him across the face with the handle of my gun. "Don't talk about her. How did you get in the compound?" I yell, losing any type of patience that I had. I need answers before I can kill him and I really, really want to kill him.

He gives a sinister smile, choking on some of his blood before speaking. "You didn't think you could set a bomb off in Morgan's house and get away with it right? We know a lot more than what you think... Just don't trust everyone who is in your life Styles, there are a lot of snakes in the grass."

Is he just saying that to make me paranoid or is he being serious? I understand the first part, I knew what King made us do would blow up in our faces. He wasn't thinking clearly when he made the plan, he just wanted to get revenge on Morgan for stealing a bunch of his drug buyers. But why would this asshat tell me that last part? It can't be true...

"What does Morgan want?" I snap, pushing my gun further into his temple. Morgan must have some type of plan for something if his men are breaking into our territory.

"You're going to kill me anyways so why should I tell you? Just know that we'll be back. King has fucked everything up; you don't even know the half of it. Others will be back for her—"

Bang.

Dead.

He wasn't going to tell me anything and I need to focus on Lexi right now. I get up and step over the two dead bodies and walk to my bedroom, stopping when I reach the side of the bed where Lexi is placed. "How is she?" I pant, glancing between Lexi and Zayn who is still on the phone.

"The doctor will be here soon." Zayn states.

I kneel at the side of the bed so that my face is in front of Lexi's. Her eyes flutter open and lock with my eyes. "Hey beautiful, how are you feeling?" I clear my throat to try and cover the fact that my voice wavered.

"Sore." She croaks, wincing from trying to readjust her lying position.

I climb onto the bed next to her and lie on my side with my head resting in my hand with my elbow bent, "I know, the doctor will be here soon and we'll get you all fixed up. Just get some rest." I lean forward and whisper, my lips brushing against her forehead. I stroke her hair out of her face and leave small kisses on her head to try and comfort her.

After a few minutes, she falls asleep or loses consciousness, I can't tell which one. All that matters is that she is okay and alive right now. I keep stroking her hair, I feel helpless in this situation. I'll wait till the doctor gets here before I try to figure out what the intruder told me. I need to speak to King, he must have something to do with this or at least know what is going on.

I have never felt so panicked before. The power that this girl has over me is beyond anything I can even comprehend. I don't know what that means but this wasn't part of the plan. Caring for her like I do wasn't part of the plan.

None of this was part of the fucking plan Harry.

Authors note:

Have some big stuff coming up in the next couple of chapters, answers to some questions that you've all had since the beginning.

I love you all so much, all your love for my book makes me so happy so thank you for that.

See you in the next one!

~Jess💜