Zayn Malik
"Good morning, I know this is terrible timing but I just got a call and we need to talk." Ash didn't even give us any time to react before she blurted out her words, looking directly at Cleo now. "Liam's in L.A."
"What the fuck?" Cleo and Harry said at the same time, and they really shared one brain sometimes, it was scary and fascinating to watch.
Harry told me that he explained a bit of the Liam situation to Ash after Cleo was kidnapped, just saying Liam had a vendetta against his family and Cleo's because of the trafficking, which was why he was trying to get them killed... and it wasn't a lie.
But Ash had no idea about Cindy or the list, or about Anne and how Harry discovered the truth about this past. She knew the necessary, and knowing that Liam was the one behind the bounty idea made it easier for Ash to keep an eye on things for us.
She was one of the most influential dealers in L.A. and she had only grown stronger over the years we hadn't been to the west coast, especially since she took over her grandfather's place. Ash had a lot of contacts, which meant eyes and ears everywhere.
Sometimes I forgot that Harry's family used to have the same kind of power back in New York, which was so weird because now it had all crumbled down and their names were rarely brought up. The Styles and the Horans had simply lost all their power, their names were whispered and people were scared of the attention they had drawn with the whole FBI shit.
But now they assumed I was a replacement and the last thing I wanted was to take over after Desmond or Harry, that's why Tais was handling things for me while I was away. And I planned on quitting very soon so I could focus on my daughter.
I did a pretty good job in convincing everyone that I knew nothing about Harry's whereabouts back when he and Cleo ran away, though. Since I was the one who handled the drug deals and I was one of Harry's closest friends, everyone just assumed I would want to lead now that Harry was 'out of the way', and it was easier if they thought that because it kept me safer.
Amber helped me too or else the FBI would've gotten to me if they knew how close I was to Harry, but she always kept my name out of her reports, and to them, I was just some random man that worked for Desmond among the many others. Their focus wasn't on me though, so that was a good thing.
Fuck, and to think I woke up in a great mood because I watched my daughter falling asleep last night. There was always a fucking problem, I had no idea how Harry and Cleo handled it.
I also talked a bit to Amber, asking if she'd heard anything new, as much as I hated asking her this type of questions when she was with the baby. It felt wrong to bring work into this but we still needed her.
She said she didn't know about Liam and that the FBI was being too quiet, which meant we had to be careful. They could be onto Harry and Cleo or coming up with a new plan to get them. Thank god cops were rarely effective.
If Liam was in L.A. it could mean that he found out Cleo and Harry were here, maybe he only knew they were in California before this. But now after two failed attempts of trying to get them killed maybe Liam heard the rumors and decided to come here to check or maybe to speak to the people who had an eye on the reward.
Either way, I just knew this was one of the few things keeping Harry and Cleo in L.A.. Anne used to be one of them, but now that was handled.
Well, Amber told me she went back to London because like it or not, she was still under the witness protection program and she wasn't even supposed to be in the U.S..
I was so proud of Harry for talking to her and facing his past, watching his development just made me feel so happy.
His situation wasn't easy, the fact he was literally trafficked was still shocking to me... but the way he handled it was admirable and I knew Cleo had a big impact on his growth. To be honest, he probably felt relieved that he finally found out the true reason behind his fear and episodes, as awful as it was.
