Liam cleared his throat and straightened his shirt, after he looked outside the wide restaurant-windows. Just when we all thought this crap was over, Mark came barging in again. Maybe he was only about to say some final words, try to make peace with us? Or maybe, he was here to tell us something even more terrifying than the last time, or try to threat us with an even worse threat than the last time? Either way, I couldn't let Liam do it alone. I stood up to come after him, but Liam shot me an ice-cold gaze.

"You're not moving, okay?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but Liam was faster.

"I know you feel guilty, but let me handle this."

He turned his back against us and looked out again. I couldn't see a single person out there, but Liam cleary did. He stroked his tiny mustache, and went out. As soon as he was gone, I stood up again and packed my things together.

"Kath, you heard him.." Louis said.

"I don't care, I can't leave him out there."

He boys stared at me.

"Who's coming with me?" I asked.

Harry instantly stood up and took his coat off his chair.

"C'mon, babe." He said in a low, sad tone and pushed me ahead of him.

Slowly, we opened up the door. And just as carefully as we opened it, we closed it and started walking on our tiptoes. We saw Liam walking towards a streetlight in front of him, where now both of us could see the shadows of a gang.

"Harry.." I whimpered and squeezed his hand. "What are we going to do?"

He brought up his hand to my mouth to shut me up, and then held me.

"We're going to be quiet, and listen to what they have to say. Then we'll decide what to do, okay?"

I nodded, and started to walk towards them, while holding hands. We decided to walk up to a brick-wall, which probably was close enough to hear their conversation. Once we got there, they had already started talking. We could see Mark getting close to Liam, far too close.

"Your little prank.. did you think.. get away this time.."

We only heard a few words, but the ones we did hear, wasn't sounding good. Suddenly, Liam flinched, and even though we were standing metres away, we could hear him gasp.

"What did just happen?" I whispered.

"Shh!" Harry whispered back.

"More prepared.. how is it gonna be.. we're serious.."

"What are they talking about?!" I whispered.

"I don't know, but we'll find out soon!" Harry hissed.

Suddenly, Liam took a deep breath, and said some things we could only hear half of.

"I'll do it.. meet me here.. no, tomorrow.. don't hurt her.."

What was happening? What was he saying? What did he just agree to? And why? I was desperate for answers. I felt sick.

"Harry, we gotta go back to the restaurant!" I whispered and I could feel him nodding.

We walked really fast and quiet back to the restaurant, and sat down on our previous seats.

"So?!" Niall asked.

Their eyes were huge, and I saw desperation in there too.

"He will tell us, he's coming in a minute." Harry hurried to say, right before Liam opened the door and stood behind his seat.

"We.. we gotta go home.." He said, sounding stressed.

"What just happened?" Zayn asked.

We all stood up and followed him to the doors.

"I'll tell you once we're back at the college.." He said quiet. "Okay, they're gone, but still. We gotta run to the bus, okay?"

We all nodded. And ran.


"So, tell us!" Louis said and closed the door.

We were back at Liams dormitory. He dropped all his stuff on the floor, and sat down. He ran his hands through his hair, as his legs were shaking.

"He.. I.. I gotta.." He stuttered.

He seemed like he was looking for the right words.

"Just tell us what he said, man." Zayn said and sat down next to him.

"He said that they had found out about how we got her out of there, but that it wasn't over.. He said that they had found my other sister, Ruth, and that they were real this time. They were more people at her house, and that they were better prepared this time.. If I didn't give the money to them before Sunday night, they were going to kill her. They said that they were drop dead serious.."

I held my hand against my mouth and felt my tears coming. But Liam was surprisingly calm.

"I.. I told them that I would bring them the money, tomorrow.." He mumbled.

"Well are you?" Louis asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm taking my car tonight, and leaving."

"Where?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"To Ruth. I'm not gonna do it like the last time, I'm not leaving her."

"Okay, but dude, you gotta think this through! They're like twice as big as you, and.." Harry started.

"No offence, Harry, but I'm not taking advice from you again." Liam interrupted him.

"That's pretty.. mean.." Harry said low.

Liam sighed and closed his eyes.

"I didn't mean that.." He said. "It's just that I feel so powerless over here, I gotta go there and do something.. I'll figure it out.."

Harry nodded.

"But you can't just go there, you'll get killed!!" I said.

"Well, then I'm just gonna have to hope for the best. If I die, at least I did it out of bravery."

He looked me steady in my eyes. I wanted to scream at him, and shake him until whatever was wrong with him somehow got out of him. Didn't he understand how dangerous this was? Didn't he hear himself?
But I couldn't decide what he should do. He had taken a decision and I had to respect it, even though it was stupid. So I nodded. I guess I still felt bad for how we made the decision for him the last time. This time, we wouldn't. I looked at Harry, and I knew he felt the same. He nodded too.

"Okay, good." Liam said.

He started packing, and we just watched him.

"I leave as soon as possible, to go and get her. The long drive there should give me some time to think about what I'm going to do. And when Mark and his little gang realize that I'm not coming, it's too late, and I can turn him in, and I'll come back."

He kept telling us how he would solve this, but it sounded more like he was talking to himself. I bet he had never done anything this dangerous before, and it probably made him nervous and scared. I know I would've been.

"What are you going to use as evidence?" I asked.

"Besides the two victims? Well, I filmed a little from the security cameras, and that will be enough. I was going to hand it in to the police right away, but then the dinner happened, and well.. Thank God I didn't. Plus, I can show them the textmessages."

I nodded quietly. I couldn't belive he was actually going. That he was actually leaving.
As it was getting later, the boys said goodbye. Eventually, it was only me, Harry and of course Liam left. The clock was 11:04pm.

"Should we go, babe?" Harry asked and stroke his hand on my back.

I looked back on him. His plump lips were closed, and his green eyes shined in the dark room. I loved him, I loved how he had been through this whole thing. I had lately found a side of him that I'd never seen before. I took his hand from my back and held it in my hands.

"Yeah." I said and stood up.

I wanted to get out of here, and have a good night's sleep. Just ignore it all, forget for a moment. But if I left, I didn't know if I would ever see Liam again. We therefore decided to meet before he left, he still had a ton of things to pack and get undone.

"See you tomorrow." Liam said and hugged me hard.

"Promise?" I whispered.

"Promise."

I nodded and backed out of the room, towards Harry. They had given each other a friendly hug, like all the boys had.
What now? Would Liam survive? Was tomorrow, if even tonight if the plans changed, the last time I saw him? Not knowing a single thing, was a helpless feeling. But not being able to do anything about it, took helpless to a whole new level.

Notes

Hi guys! Holy crap, it's been a while! Well, I'm not gonna come with the same old excuses, even though it's true. I'm gonna write at least one more chapter, so don't worry! Not even I can end the story like this, I HAVE TO continue, haha! By the way, it's snowing! Yay!! See you soon. Love, A.

Would you respect Liams decision, or would you try to change his mind?

What do you think/hope is going to happen?