Through the Dark (Sequel to Taking Chances)

Chapter Forty: "Fever"

God, I fell off the face of the Earth, didn't I? I'm sorry about that. But I knew I had to get a chapter in at least to makeup for the silence. It's short & probably crappy, but I do believe I'll be posting another either today or tomorrow. Please enjoy!
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Brielle
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The first thing after deciding that it was best to let Louis help us, I phoned Charlotte. She and Uriah were the ones who had the hold on Judie, which meant finding out about how this would work was going to be on their plate.

I didn't exactly like that idea, especially considering my state of mind concerning every situation like that. But Niall insisted, despite my protests. He refused to trust Louis without the minds of Charlotte and Uriah at work, too. So really, I had no choice.

She nearly sputtered when she heard me say the words, "Louis is here."

"What did you just say?"

I had to explain that Louis wasn't always on Liam's side about everything. I told her what Louis told me, about the cliff, about hiding, and coming back because Judie had come for him. I couldn't believe the words as I was saying them, nor could I accept that I was actually wanting Louis' help. But I knew, deep down, that we'd never beat her without his help. We needed to trust someone this time, not deal with it on our own.

"Brielle... I'm no so sure about this," she said, her tone cautious. Thankfully, I had expected it.

"I know that Niall failed last year because Liam was always one step ahead, but Louis is different. He's got experience with this kind of thing. He will keep her one step behind. He'll keep us alive. He's our only chance."

"What if you're wrong?"

"What if I'm right? Would you rather not risk this and have us lose everything? Or would you rather die knowing you tried?"

"I'd rather no one die at all."

"So let's do this," I breathed. I could feel the desperation for her to believe me, to let this happen building in my chest. "Come on. Don't make this harder for us."

"It's not that I'm being stubborn about his help, Brielle," she scolded. "You, of all people, should understand how ugly this could get if we put our trust into the wrong person."

"And I'm telling you that we can trust him. Charlotte, this is our only chance."

She didn't say anything for a minute, no doubt fighting the war inside herself. To trust Louis or not to trust. To let him help or not to let him.

Niall was pacing, his expression angry, frustrated. He kept looking back toward the door of the bedroom as if Louis was going to come through it and hold us hostage. Thankfully, though, Louis had left and promised that he'd be in touch to see if he was needed. I almost asked how he would do that if we had no way to contact him, but I realized it was Louis. This was the man who worked for Liam, who did all his dirty work when Liam didn't feel like it (which was more often than not). Louis was capable of getting to me when I had no idea where he was. How else could I explain the moment Liam called at the hotel and told me he knew about Harry and Claire being there?

Louis was good at his job. If I could trust anything about him, his efficiency would be it.

"Fine," Charlotte finally said. "We'll use him."

I closed my eyes and exhaled in relief. "Okay... okay, good."

"But Brielle, we have to keep our guard up. Should his intentions be sinister-"

"I know... we get rid of him." The thought scared me. What good would it honestly do for us if we became what Liam represented?

I nearly came down that path. Niall tried to stop me and it resulted in an accident in which I was in a coma. I didn't want to start down that path again. I didn't want to chance being just like him.