My fingers trembled slightly as I replaced the plastic hairbrush into my bag. I had already tidied up the room, not that there was much of a mess in the first place. In my procrastination I had managed to fold and refold my clothing about ten times before finally realizing that it wouldn't have mattered if I was squishing every inch of material into my suitcase--I was leaving either way.
When the idea had first sprung to my mind three days ago, I wasn't keen on acting on it. I knew that I was on a massive, powerful gang's hit list, and stepping one foot out of my protection could be dangerous, but last night had convinced me of my plans, and I'd spent most of the night figuring it all out in my head.
Prior to my revelation, the house had been quiet. Once the boys had dealt with Rydian, who I supposed was the man that shared the news that Gemma was alive and captured, they'd found me stark still just where Harry had left me. They got little explanation past my lips, but I knew that Harry must have enlightened them, because every look I received was now sympathetic and sad.
I stayed up in the room appointed to me most of the time. Only once or twice did I venture through the mansion, but it usually left me lost or uninterested. I barely saw anyone. Niall always brought me food and Louis, Zayn, and Liam checked on me routinely. Liam even attempted to play a game of cards with me once, but when he noticed how out of it I was, he quickly left me to my thoughts again.
Men had been in and out. I could hear them all talking downstairs sometimes, and once they'd started yelling and Zayn had been forced to come sit with me for about a half hour. That was the most time I'd spent with any of them in these past seventy-two hours, and I hadn't seen Harry once.
I caught a glimpse of him moving down the stairs when Niall had brought me food two days ago, but he didn't stop and he didn't look back. I didn't go after him.
Everything was like a repetitive, lonely cycle that left me staring at the blank walls and beige bed sheets. I was depressed, but my plan had pulled me out of that horrible robotic state I'd succumbed to and opened my eyes to the bigger picture.
If you looked at the little bubble I was in, you would see five gang members protecting some girl, and hopefully you wouldn't delve any farther into the story because it got rather messy, but if you looked at the rest of that bubble, you would notice that that girl's simple thoughts might just help fix everything.
It was a long-shot, but I was willing to take the risk.
I was going to leave.
Eavesdropping on Louis and Zayn's conversation had been easy enough, and after gathering that some gang was showing up here to form an alliance with Harry's group, I knew that all five of the boys would be occupied for a decent amount of time, which would give me the opportunity to make a run for it.
At first, I had failed to see how this would help. I was weak, and I knew that the criminals that were after Harry and his gang, and surely me as well, could easily outwit me, but when I'd woken in the middle of the night with that stunning epiphany, I realized that it didn't matter what happened to me. This was for Harry.
Louis' words rang clearly in my mind from three days ago: You're standing there telling us that youknow what you're doing but you can't control yourself.
Harry was out of control. He was unstable. He was broken. Those were facts. At first, I thought that I could try and fix him, but I was too weak for that. I couldn't do it in the way I had once assumed that I could. I couldn't ease his demons out of him. No, that was a task that would probably end up getting me killed if I did it the way I'd originally presumed.
But there was another way, and it was simple: remove myself from the picture.
By leaving, Harry would still have to deal with Sykes, but he wouldn't have to worry about keeping me safe in the process. I would go straight to Elijah as soon as I left and ask him to fly me to Australia. I had always wanted to go there, and nobody would be able to find me. I would leave a note to explain my absence, and I would finally be free, and so would Harry.
