Vindicated (Camren)

Chapter 19: Syndics

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"Why didn't you say a thing?" Niall hissed at Ariana in a fit of rage. "Why didn't you tell us that Alejandro broke out of jail? You could have said something, Ariana!"

"And then what?" she shot back as calm as possible, leaning her back on the wall by Camila's bed. Leveling up to the amount of drama surrounding Niall's atmosphere could be just as stressful. "I tell you something, and then what? Are you going to stop him? Are you going to call the police? Is that what you could have done if I told you so?"

"I-I..." he stuttered at the unexpected series of question until he regained composure and glared at her once more. "Well, if you thought Camila would never find out about you kidnapping Lauren, then you were absolutely wrong. Now there is no way for you to win that bitch. Do you think Camila would ever forgive you for this? Chances are she'll never talk to you again. Maybe she won't even want to see your slutty face ever again. That's right. She doesn't love you, Ari. She never will. Camila loves Lauren. You can kill that girl for as many times as you want, but she would always have that one single person you desire in this whole goddamn world."

"I get it!" Ariana yelled out to make him shut up. Did Niall really have to rub all those things on her face? It was already hurtful enough that she got to witness that love story with her own two eyes. But when the awful truth was voiced out the way this guy did, it was just too much to handle. "I love Camila, but she will never love me back. I fucking get it, Horan! Happy now?"

Niall threw his hands in the air in pure frustration, "Then why the hell did you kidnap Lauren?"

"Because I want to save Camila! I want to save them both. Alejandro gave me an order. He told me to kidnap Jauregui's daughter. What do you want me to say? 'I'm sorry, sir, but I can't do that because your greatest Phoenix happens to be in love with your enemy's daughter'? You think he would be okay with that? He was already on his way home when I got his call. Even if I was brave enough to tell him 'no', you know that the first thing he would do is kill Lauren."

Finally, for an instance, Niall had shut his mouth.

"So if you can tell me now, in all honesty, that you would have killed him if I have told you about the call, then fine, I owe you an apology... because a dead Alejandro would have been the only prevention from all this. But if you're just going to say some more shit, then just shut the fuck up. You know from the very start that I was tasked to keep an eye on the girl. You didn't say a word to Camila either, did you?"

Dinah who was seated at the bed gasped in shock while Stan who had been quietly contemplating things in a corner found the revelation interesting enough to direct his eyes on the quarreling duo for the first time since they arrived at Camila's room to wait for the brunette.

"You did not say a thing," she seconded as a matter of fact. "You knew all along that this slut was involved in the mission? You didn't tell us about it."

Niall placed his hands on his hips in disbelief. Why was he the one forced to take the hot seat this time?

"So now I'm the bad guy?"

"What happened to our new code, Niall?" questioned Stan. "I thought you agreed with me when I said that we are now sworn to protect each other - just me and you and Dinah and Camila..."

He paused for a considerable time peering over the foreign member of the group.

"...and, I guess, now Ariana, too."

She snorted, "You don't have to pretend like you care about me."

"Stop bitching around, will 'ya?" Dinah scowled at her. "Just because Camila dumped you doesn't mean nobody else could care about you. You better get used to having three extra people around from now on."