the song for this chapter is "BAMBAM," by Angie and Harrison First :)

   Harry

    "So, are you going to tell me what the fuck this problem is?" Whit snapped, looking at me as if I were a madman, and I don't blame him. I could tell by the way that Whit and Tate were staring at me, and how Niall was glancing at me in the rearview mirror, that I must have had that crazy look in my eyes. 

   I took in a deep breath through my nose, and slowly exhaled through my mouth, before replying.

  "It was a setup. All of it. The alliance was bullshit, everything was bullshit. We have been played to the fullest extent of the word," I began, and Whit looked as if he were ready to kill the first person he saw, and unfortunately, he was looking right at me.

  "Tell me you're fucking joking, Styles. Tell me you're joking," he begged, his voice rising in volume with each word that left his lips.

   I shook my head slowly and watched as a million emotions flashed across Whit's face. I could feel Tate looking at me, but right now, I really needed to focus on Whit. I glanced at her quickly and nodded at her and she slowly nodded in response, relaxing in her seat a bit.

 "I'm not joking. It was all a setup. We are lucky that we noticed that something seemed off when we did, otherwise, Abel might be dead right now," I admitted, and I heard Tate suck in a sharp breath at my words. 

   Whit reached up a hand and tugged at his dirty blonde hair anxiously. "What the fuck happened? What made you realize it was a setup?" He asked, and I knew he was just having a hard time processing everything, and I didn't blame him. 

  "Quinton and Grayson have been working together against us since they discovered that we had come into contact with the software. And apparently, they've had their eyes on Tate and her mother for even longer," I sigh, hesitating as I glanced over at Tate, dreading looking at the horrified expression on her face. 

 Whit scoffed in disbelief. "Great, so we've basically just been doing all of their work for them this whole time?" 

 I nodded and looked down at my lap, wishing that Abel hadn't been in danger, so that I could blow those fuckers to pieces.

 "So, the software is gone. That's it," Whit sighed.

   I felt my throat tighten up and I felt Tate's eyes burning into me, and I cleared my throat before I spoke.

  "Not exactly..." I trailed off, still staring down at my lap. 

 I flinched as Whit's hand lightly smacked my knee, commanding my attention, and I begrudgingly looked up at him.

 "Styles, what the fuck do you mean by that?" He asked with a warning tone.

 I let out a big huff of air and looked at Tate, and she nodded at me to continue.

 "First, you have to promise not to blow my fucking brains out. Because, honestly, you should be thankful that I lied to you, otherwise, we really would have lost the software," I begin, and Whit closed his eyes and sucked in a sharp breath, before slowly letting it out. 

   "I promise. Styles, you know I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to," he admitted, and gave me a small smile, "You boys are like sons to me, I can't imagine losing even one of you, even if we had lost the software, I'm just glad you all made it out alive," he continued, and I instantly felt a weight being lifted off of my chest. 

    "Okay, thanks, Whit. So, there were two journals for the software, one that belonged to Tate's father, and the other that belonged to mine," I began, and I watched as Whit's eyes widened. 

   "Basically, our fathers worked together on this software, for someone else. Apparently, whoever they were working with turned on them, and made the software to be used for bad things, while our fathers originally thought that they were doing something good for the world. Once they found out, they put up all the different passwords and firewalls to keep that person out. They left a letter in the journals to that person, and also to anyone else who might find it, with a warning, saying that no one should have this, and, well, Tate and I agreed with them," I continued, and Whit slowly nodded, processing what I was saying.

  "So, you came up with fake software, didn't you?" He grinned, looking slightly...proud?

  I nodded. "Yeah, the plan was, Tate and I were going to give them the fake software, and then...well, we were going to finish finding the rest of the software on our own, in order to shut it down completely," I sighed, not knowing how he would take the whole shutting down part of our plan. 

   Whit leaned forward to look between Tate and me, a sly grin on his lips.

  "I fucking knew you two were dating," he laughed, and Tate choked on air at his words.

I just shook my head and laughed along with him. 

  "Really, Whit? That's what you got out of all of that? That we are dating?"

He shrugged his shoulders innocently. "I just am glad that I could confirm my suspicions. I knew it was bound to happen from the start. I was kind of fucking with you to see if you would tell me on your own or if I would have to pry it out from one of the boys. I'm happy for you both, truly," he assured us, and Tate's face was bright red.

  "T-Thank you, um, yeah," she fumbled, and I patted her knee.

   "So, when are you guys leaving?" Whit continued, and now it was my turn to be flustered.

"You're...you're okay with us shutting it down?" I asked in disbelief.

  "Styles, one of the only things I like more than money, is revenge. And I can't think of any better revenge than destroying the one thing everyone who is pitted against us is so desperate to get their hands on. We just wasted two months of precious time on this thing, only for it to completely bite us in the ass. Let's demolish this shit, once and for all," he replied, with a mischievous grin. 

   "Wow, I um, I wasn't expecting you to be so cool with all of this," I admitted.

 Whit threw his head back in laughter. "And I wasn't expecting to be fucked over by Grayson, looks like life is full of surprises," he chuckled. 

  We had just pulled up to the Fort, and Will and Abel quickly parked next to us.

 Will looked completely shocked as he stumbled out of the vehicle, and once we all got out of our car, he looked at Whit.

   "So, you know?" He laughed.

  Whit nodded and began walking towards the back entrance.

  "Yeah, I know. And I'm cool with it. In fact, I am elated. Let's get inside and get everything figured out so that we can send the two lovebirds on their way," Whit instructed.

  Will's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "You know about that too?"

 Whit spun around as he placed his hand on the door handle. "I know everything, now, let's get this shit started," he chuckled, and we entered the Fort. 

   Ralph looked at us in confusion as we walked in.

 "You're back already?" He asked, looking dumbfounded.

  Whit waved him off. "Yeah, long story short, we got fucked over, and now, we are going to plan our revenge," he sighed, brushing it off casually as he made a beeline for the elevator. 

   Ralph shook his head in amazement and waved at Tate and me as we walked by.

 "Glad to see that you're all okay," he muttered out, throwing us a wink.

 I spun around and saluted him as we walked by, and he threw up a thumbs up in return.

  Soon, we were all sat around the conference table, just as we were hours before, prior to being completely stabbed in the back.

"So, where's the first place you're going?" Whit asked once I had explained to him the five love languages that we read about in the journals.

"Spain," Tate answered, and Whit nodded, placing his hands underneath his chin and drumming his fingers on his jawline. 

 "And it's just you two? You don't want backup?" He prodded.

I shook my head. "For now, it will be just us, but if we need assistance, we will contact you. I think it will be smart to travel in a smaller group so that we attract as little attention as possible," I replied. 

"I agree, but seriously, if you need anything, you know we can have a private jet to wherever you are at a moment's notice," Whit stressed. 

  "Thank you, seriously. It honestly makes this whole shitshow a lot less stressful now that you are all in the loop," I sighed.

"I have a question," Tate suddenly spoke, and we all turned to look towards her.

   "Yes, Tate? What is it?" Whit asked.

 "Can you all please continue to monitor my mother, and my aunt and uncle? I just...whoever is in charge of all of this clearly has a lot of pull in a lot of different areas, and I just want to make sure that they are safe," she mumbled, and I wanted so badly to just pull her into my chest and rub her back. 

   "Of course, we will continue to have constant surveillance of your family members. If anything even looks suspicious, I will have some team members sent down to check it out," Whit answered.

  Tate smiled her first genuine smile towards Whit, and he returned her sincere expression. 

 I couldn't help but smile too, as I watched the girl that I adore slowly transform all of the stone-cold people I had in my life into giant teddy bears. 

  "So, you guys leave at what time?" Abel asked, sounding kind of sad, and a little scared.

 "We leave in two hours, so we should probably get going soon," I sighed, looking down at my watch.

   Abel nodded sadly, and I watched as Tate leaned over to him in her chair and hugged him. He threw his arms back around her and held on tight.

 "Be careful, okay?" I heard him mumble to her. 

 "Always," she assured him, giving him one final squeeze before finally letting go. 

We said our goodbyes and gathered our things, before finally heading to the door. Just as I was about to push open the door to the conference room, I heard Whit's voice, and I turned my head to face him.

  "Good luck you two, and don't forget, we are just a phone call away," he spoke sincerely.

"Thanks, same to you," I grinned, before turning back and pushing open the door, preparing myself mentally for the long day Tate and I had yet to complete. 

   Once we said our goodbyes to Ralph, we got in my car and began the drive back to my flat to grab our bags before we went to the private airport.

  "I can't believe Whit was so agreeable," Tate laughed, and I chuckled along with her.

 "Yeah, but like he said, the only thing that he likes more than money is revenge. And destroying the software would definitely be a good way to get that revenge," I responded.

   "Yeah, I also can't believe that Grayson was working with Quinton this whole time. Doesn't it scare you that two organized crime groups are paired up with a possibly even bigger organized crime group against us? Do you think that we can handle this?" She asked, her tone becoming much more serious.

  I fiddled with my bottom lip with my index finger and thumb for a bit, mulling over the density of her words before I responded.

  "Honestly? Yeah, it does scare me. But, I also think that we can pull this off. I don't know why, I just have a feeling that we'll be alright," I admitted, quickly glancing over to Tate only to find that she was already looking at me. 

    She gave me a weak smile and nodded her head. 

"Yeah, you're right. We'll be alright."

AN: THE ADVENTURE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! I HOPE YOU ARE ALL EXCITED! ENJOY THIS PEACEFUL LITTLE CHAPTER, BECAUSE THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET CRAZY! PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AND COMMENT! ILY ALL SM!