Tate

   I was in a dark room, the only lighting in it being a singular lightbulb hanging down above me.

It was cold, and my body felt numb. 

   I went to move my hands but realized that they were tied behind my back in the chair I was sitting in. My heart rate began to quicken and my breathing was erratic.

"H-Harry?" I croaked out weakly, barely managing to get the words out due to how dry my throat was.

   I heard a laugh coming from the corner of the room.

"No, Tate. It's not Harry. I'm afraid there's no one here to save you this time," they chuckled.

   I could only see the outline of their body, and I squinted my eyes in hopes of making out some sort of facial feature. 

  "Who are you?" I asked hesitantly.

"I am someone who you have stolen something from," he replied, with a smug tone to his voice. He sounded older, maybe in his forties or fifties. 

   I was perplexed by his answer, wondering what on earth I could have stolen from this mystery man.

"I-I didn't take anything of yours," I squeaked, my voice coming out scratchy and hoarse.

"Yes, yes you did. Something that I have been trying to find for quite a while now, actually. But don't worry, I like to repay people, so, today...I am here to take something from you," they spoke, their voice sending shivers all over my body. 

   I heard the sound of footsteps, and eventually, a door was opened, revealing two more people. I strained my eyes to see who they were as they walked closer to me, the only sound being their feet hitting the ground, and the faint creaking of the lightbulb above me, swinging back and forth.

   The figures stepped into the light and I felt my heart drop right down to my feet.

"M-Mom?" I croaked out, feeling tears beginning to form in my eyes.

   She looked disheveled, and her cheeks had bruises on them. Her eyes looked weak, her hair seemed as though it hadn't been brushed in days. 

"Tate, baby," she exclaimed, reaching out to touch me when the man who had entered with her jerked her back by her arm.

"Hey! Get your fucking hands off of her!" I growled, beginning to rub my wrists raw on the rope that they were tied in.

  The voice from the corner of the room laughed menacingly.

"Now, now, Tate. Let's behave. I wouldn't want your mother to have a worse death than I already have planned for her," he sneered, and at this point, my heart was no longer dropped down to my feet, it felt as though it had left my body, and melted right through the floor. 

  "N-No!" I sobbed. 

He tutted from his cowardly position in the corner. 

"Then tell me where it is," he demanded, his voice eerily calm.

"Where what is?" I cried out.

"Stop playing fucking games with me!" He screamed, causing me to shrink back in my chair, and my mother to wince.

  "I-I'm not, just tell me what it is you want, please, I'll do anything! Just let her go-"

"Enough!" He yelled. "Kill her, now."

  "With pleasure," his accomplice muttered, reaching down to pull his gun out of his holster. I watched and rattled around in the chair, uselessly flailing around trying to break my way out of the chair. 

   He turned off the safety on the gun and cocked it, pointing it at the back of my mother's head.

My mother closed her eyes and I watched as she stayed silent, tears flowing down her face as she grimaced in agony, waiting to be killed. 

  And I couldn't do anything to stop it. I couldn't help her. 

My eyes widened as the man put his finger on the trigger, and my mom opened her eyes, looking to me. I watched as she mouthed her final words to me.

"I love you."

The man pulled the trigger, and I heard the blast of the gun ringing in my ears. 

   I let out a scream that I think could have been heard across the world. It was full of agony, anguish, pain, fear, and heartbreak.

"No!"

I shot up in the bed, panting. I reached my hand up to my forehead and wiped off beads of cold sweat, pieces of my hair sticking to my skin. 

   "Tate! What happened? Are you okay?" Harry asked, sitting up next to me in the bed, concern flooding his face.

"I-I...I just," I trailed off, letting out a breath of relief that it was just a dream, but still unsettled by it.

"I had a dream...a nightmare actually...that I was kidnapped by some mystery man. He was demanding that I returned something I had stolen from him. He wouldn't tell me what it was, and I had no idea. He got angry and he brought my mom in and he...and he killed her," I finished, my throat feeling just as dry as it had in my nightmare. 

  Harry let out a sigh, reaching out one of his arms to rub my back, which I could feel was speckled in sweat just like my forehead. 

"It was just a dream, Tate. Your mom is fine. Abel has been keeping me updated every day since we got the death threats. We are keeping an eye on her, I promise," he answered, and while it comforted me a little bit to know that she was being monitored, I still wished that she didn't have to be involved in this at all. She didn't deserve it, neither of us did.

  I let out a few shaky breaths, trying to calm myself down. I turned to face Harry. The early morning light was streaming in through the windows, I guess we had forgotten to close the curtains last night. The light was dancing across Harry's face, his hair was tousled and his eyes looked paler than normal, going from their usual rich emerald green to a faint jade color, and it almost looked like they had flecks of grey and brown in them. 

    I scanned his face and saw a small bruise forming under his jaw, from where my attacker had punched him. I suddenly remembered the marks on my own face, that I had looked at in the mirror last night, the marks that made me cry as I wondered how my life had gotten to this point so quickly. I self consciously put my hand gently on my neck, turning my face away from Harry slightly.

 "Hey," he whispered, and I felt his finger lightly hook under my chin, turning me back to face him.

  "You're beautiful, you know that? These marks...they don't take away from that. I wish you didn't have them, it makes me sick that someone put their hands on you like that, but you're still just as lovely as you've always been," he spoke, the sweet words falling off his lips taking me aback. 

   "T-Thank you," I replied, feeling my cheeks growing warm. 

He smiled at me in response.

"Oh, by the way! I have some news that may cheer you up a little bit, we're going to see Abel today," he spoke, watching in amusement as a grin spread across my face.  

  "Really? Why?" I asked, happy to talk about something other than the fears that seemed to control my life every day.

 "We are going down to my...headquarters, I guess. We are going to get a private plane and plan how to get your dad's journal from your uncle's," he explained, and my face fell.

"You're...you're not going to hurt him, are you?" I asked weakly, and he furrowed his eyebrows at me.

"No, we are not. I won't let any harm come to your aunt and uncle. That's why we are going to meet with him and the other boys today so that we can plan a risk-free mission."

   My heart thumped at the mention of the other boys. I was okay with Niall, but Will made me all kinds of unsettled. He hadn't done anything to me, but something about the way he looked at me made my skin crawl.

 Harry must have noticed because he reached a hand out to touch my arm lightly.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing," I lied, faking a smile, beginning to push the covers back.

  "I'm going to take a shower, when are we going to head out?" I asked, trying to quickly change the subject.

He frowned at me, clearly not buying what I was selling. "We can leave after you shower," he answered, studying my face and trying to figure me out. 

I wouldn't give him enough time too though, I nodded and quickly shut the door, going over to the shower and turning it on, getting in, and washing off the sweat from my nightmares. 

  I decided to not wash my hair since I did last night, so once my body was clean, I turned off the shower, getting out, and wrapping one of the plush hotel towels around my body. I went to the counter to get my clothes when suddenly, I remembered that I didn't bring them in here.

"Shit," I whispered. 

  Okay, it would be fine, I'd just quickly run out and get my bag, and then scurry back in here. No worries.

   I sighed and opened the bathroom door, beginning to walk out, but I was stopped as I ran right into Harry, my body smacking against his. I tightened my grip on the towel, gasping as I looked down and saw him in only his boxers, my face burning bright red.

  "Tate! What are you- uh," he sputtered out, looking just as flustered as me.

  "I-I'm sorry, I forgot my clothes," I muttered sheepishly, trying to avert my eyes anywhere but his crotch area, my eyes briefly catching sight of the outline of his manhood, causing me to blush even further. 

  He was also trying to avoid looking at my body, which was covered only by a towel that seemed to shrink with every second that passed. Without saying a word he went over and grabbed my bag, avoiding eye contact with me as he brought it back over and held it out to me. 

 I quickly snatched it out of his hands, mumbling another quiet apology as I slipped back into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

   I pulled out a pair of underwear and a bra, putting on both of them, before sifting around in my bag, finally settling on a pair of black jeans with a grey t-shirt, slipping on my beige jumper over it. I put on some socks and then looked in the mirror, wincing at the marks on my neck. Most of the marks on my face had faded overnight, except for one on the left side of my cheek, still faintly red.

  I reached into my toiletry bag and pulled out some concealer, lightly dabbing it across my skin in attempts to hide it a little bit. Once I was satisfied, I placed the concealer back in the back and grabbed my jasmine and bamboo perfume, spritzing it across my body, inhaling the familiar scent that always managed to provide me with a little bit of comfort. 

  I put all of my things up and exited the bathroom, finding Harry, dressed this time, thankfully, standing by the door with his bag already over his shoulder. He walked up to me and grabbed my bag, looking me up and down.

 "You look nice," he spoke, and I smiled at his kind words.

"Thank you, you too," I replied, gesturing to his typical all-black ensemble, which he always managed to make look amazing.

 "You ready to go?" he asked.

"Yep!"

We exited our room and headed back downstairs, being met by Esther, who once again gushed over us.

"Oh, you two look lovely this morning! That sleep did you well!" She remarked, giving us a wink.

"Yes, it did! Thank you for being so helpful!" I replied, and I meant it. Esther was the kind of woman who just instantly made you feel like she was your grandmother, she radiated comfort and compassion, and I was glad that I had met her.

  Harry paid for our stay and we both thanked Esther.

"You two are welcome to come back and visit me anytime!" She called out, and we turned back at her, smiling and waving as we exited the inn.

   We got in the car and Harry pulled up the GPS on his phone, punching in an address I didn't recognize, but I assumed it was the place where he worked. 

   I wasn't dreading the long drive as much as I was the last time. After what happened yesterday, Harry really did make me feel safe. I saw that he was willing to kill for me and that he would anything to make sure I was okay.

  His arms around me last night felt as though they could shield me from all of the harm in the world, an impenetrable fortress that he built just for me.

   I felt like Harry was like a rosebud, and with each day that passed, he opened up more and more, revealing the beautiful petals that he had inside him. I just had to remind myself, that even though the flower was beautiful, even though the aroma was sweet... if I wasn't careful...

 I could still prick myself on the thorns.

AN: I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED THIS CHAPTER AND I HOPE YOU ARE EXCITED FOR THE NEXT ONE! WHO IS EXCITED TO SEE ABEL AGAIN BECAUSE I KNOW I AM! Also, Tate's nightmare was so sad and scary, my heart hurts for her! I hope you guys enjoyed it! Thank you for everything ily all so much! Don't forget to vote and comment and let me know what you think! xx I'll try to have Chapter 27 up today as well!