"Do you any idea how much money we've lost this past year?" Mike spat, as he stands against the door to my room, while I light up a fag.

"Do you any idea how much I don't give a fuck?" I respond, putting the cigarette to my mouth as I bring the laptop closer to me, lifting my gaze up to his, lazily.

He scoffs in response. "Your twentieth birthday party that you decided to cancel already cost us millions." He seethes and I roll my eyes, gritting my teeth.

"Now you're even more careless. We have another big case coming up next month and you haven't even planned–"

"Alright." I cut him off, pulling the cigarette away as I blow out the smoke. When he just stands there I roll my eyes.

"Close the door on your way out." I sit up on my bed, looking up at him, challengingly.

His jaw tenses, anger clear on his face and my lips tug up into a smirk.

"If you can't handle your leadership you might as well just hand it over to me now, you know I'll do much better." He continues and I cock a brow.

"You're the last person I'd give up my leadership to." I respond calmly, putting the fag back in my mouth, and he glares harder, his nostrils flaring.

"Now get back to work."

Its silent for a moment as he just stands there like a prissy brat and I continue my work, shaking my head as I lean back.

"You've changed." I hear him growl a minute later.

"You were bad enough with that bitch around but now that she's gone you're even worse."

I scoff in response, as I look up at him again. Damn, he was that desperate to piss me off.

I sigh.

"Get a filter, Mike. You seem to be forgetting who you're talking to." I simply respond lowering my gaze to the laptop as I casually blunt out the cigarette.

I hear him let out another growl then hear the door slam a second later.

I let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair, stressfully.

He was right, we had been losing a lot money lately. Especially from missing that important meeting on my birthday but after all the shit that happened before it, I hadn't the will to go on with it and ended up cancelling.

Which of course angered my uncle and Mike from the huge amount of money loss, I didn't really care about that though.

Currently the case we were on was almost impossible to finish without anyone getting hurt or caught from it and that was the most stressful thing from this.

We really needed a firm solid plan if we wanted a successful result.

I sigh again.

The past year has been absolutely shit for me, I still missed Layla so God damn much and there had never been a day where she hasn't been on my mind.

I felt shit for what I did to her. She was such a nice, amazing girl, she didn't deserve me at all.

Because I was just me; I manage to fuck things up no matter what, including our relationship.

Although letting her go was hard for me, it was also for the best and I don't regret that choice.

With me being with her, there was a high chance she'd get hurt, and not just from my toxic persona.

I was fucked up no doubt, I let my feelings get over me, particularly my anger which not only affected how I worked with others, but with my relationship with Layla.

Which is why I decided to man up and fix things with myself. I took the pills Luca gave me regularly and it seemed to make a somewhat impact.

I stopped using my fists to solve situations and used my brain instead. The ends were pretty good, no matter how much someone pissed me off, I managed to control my anger and just got to the information I needed without killing anybody. And I must say it made my job much easier.

The day Layla left the house, I had also.

I felt shit for bringing her there and overall taking her away from her real family- her friends.

It was a selfish move. And to think just a simple warning to her family would be enough for them to leave her alone. Well for Luise anyway.

I had no idea what was going on with Layla and Luise, I guess I was barely there anyway to notice anything.

Although Layla did try to persuade me that it was all her and not me that caused her damage I couldn't accept that. I knew I was a part of what caused her sadness.

For bringing her there in the first place, for letting my anger get the best of me at times and snapping at her.

The guilt was unbearable, and letting her go that night seemed better than letting her go after she had recovered from the news of her grandmother and real mother. Regardless, it had to be done.

Bringing her back to her family from the start was not my original plan.

But my mind was not on her or her feelings at the time. It was on Gerald's suggestion on me staying at their house to receive his grand plan for the hosted night on my twentieth. In which I just cancelled anyway so in the end, it didn't matter.

I was a real dickhead no doubt before my feelings for Layla. I guess she began to change me, she had such a pure soft soul it began to impact my own dark one.

Although I was still a dickhead at times to her, I was even worse before I had met her. I was the pure definition of a devil. And she genuinely changed me to a slightly better man than I was.

Even now I still had my issues. Layla definitely deserved better, and I just had to move on.

So anyway. The day Layla and I had left, I had packed my stuff up. Gerald came to see me and apologised for his wife's doing. He told me to look after Layla and give her the life she deserved.

I didn't tell him I wouldn't see her again but agreed anyway. It was partly the truth. I'd definitely look out for her all the time and make sure she was safe. But I just couldn't be a part of her life again.

Gerald expressed his guilt and told me everything, all I could do was just listen as he ranted. I guess he wasn't the only one who was suffering mentally.

I told him to get help and to think about divorcing Luise. Blunt I know. But it just had to be like that.

He seemed unsure and left it at that.

He then told me he had cut off the monthly payment I was giving to him and his family.

Honestly? I had totally forgotten about that since I never handled my money anyway. It was all uncle John who processed it.

Anyway, he seemed all willing with it. His wife on the other hand? A whole different story.

She threw a massive fit and screamed the whole place down. I had then left the two of them arguing and haven't heard from them since.

And that was that.

I blow out a breath as I type a few things before closing the laptop shut, and pushing it off my lap.

I was trying to organise the 'party' which was going to be set in a couple of months. It was like the one I set out for my birthday but just over a year later with more people invited.

A lot of dangerous people were being involved so we had to be cautious.

I flip my phone out as I dial uncle John's number. A few rings the call connects.

"What?" He snaps and I scoff in response.

"The fucks your problem?"

He scoffs back. "You."

"Are you forgetting who's business this is?" I grit out.

He was acting like he owned the whole damn thing.

I get that it was him who trained me to get at this point. But it was still under my name after my father's. He wasn't even involved in this business. He had no right to get mad over this shit.

"I'm just looking out for you, boy." He snaps. "You've become reckless and one of these days you'll get yourself killed with this carelessness." He continues.

"You need to up your game, you know how dangerous it is with all these people you're working with. You can easily expose something with just a click of a button if you're not careful–"

"I know, John. I'm not an idiot." I close my eyes. Running a hand through my hair. "Things are going alright, slower, but we still have plenty of time."

He sighs, aggravatedly and after a moment he speaks.

"You need to stop thinking about that girl and just focus."

I pause, gritting my teeth.

"Who the fuck said I am?" I keep my voice calm. He talks again but I cut him off with a shake of my head

"Look, John. Everything will be okay, I'll pay for your ticket and we'll look through the plan together and you can tell me what you think, yeah?"

He lets out a grumble before releasing an aggregated sigh. "Okay, boy."

I nod in response, as I stand up to my feet. I go to hang up but I hear his voice again.

"One more thing." He sighs, tiredly.

"What?" I head over to the bathroom, undoing my tie.

"Jack's coming over too. Bout time you guys mend things–"

"What the fuck?" I stop on my tracks, narrowing my eyes. Who the hell does he think he is?

He lets out a loud breath. "You're 21 now boy, grow up. Your parents wouldn't be impressed–"

"Why the fuck did you invite him?" I snap, clenching my fists. "The place is going to be filled with criminals, he–"

"He's 19, he'll be fine." He cuts me off, hardly.

"Y'all need to talk things out and fix things. You can't hide from eachother forever, you're brothers for God's sake."

I stay silent, running a hand over my face in frustration as I release a grunt.

"He already agreed to see you. He has his break around the party time anyway, so it's a good opportunity." He continues and after a pause he says.

"Your parents–"

With a shake of my head I end the call. Fucks sake.

"Killian?" I whisper through the dark, playing with the chain around his neck staring at his face. He was on his side facing me, his gaze glued on his phone where the only light was coming from.

He hums in response, his gaze flickering towards mine.

"I can't sleep, can you?" I ask.

"No." He responds, then raising a brow as my thoughts wonder off.

"Let's go out." I whisper and his eyes flash with surprise.

"At 2am?" He questions and I nod excitedly.

"Whenever I had sleepovers with my friends back in England we always had night walks. It was so fun." I say, pulling my hand away from his neck as I sit up, glancing down at him expectantly.

He narrows his eyes but then shrugs. "Where do you want to go?" He asks and my eyes light up.

"We can go to that field ahead and walk around. And then lets stargaze." I say, not caring how corny I sounded.

He hums in response sitting up, his ashy blonde hair was a mess as he ran his hand through it. "Where's my shirt?" He looks around the bed.

I quickly pull it off my body. "Found it!" I throw it on his face as I quickly get up and get my own shirt from his wardrobe.

I turn around and find him standing in front of me and I smile sheepishly, putting the shirt over my head.

He chuckles. "I have a feeling my missing shirts have something to do with you." He smirks, his eyes glinting with amusement and I release a giggle.

"Don't worry, you can borrow them anytime." I grin and he rolls his eyes, shaking his head.

We exit the house and I turn to him.

"Last one to the fields smell like rotten pigs." I shriek as I race towards it. I hear him chuckle behind me and before I know it, he's ahead of me.

"Hey that's not fair!"

"Layla!"

I'm suddenly snapped out of my sleep, the duvet being pulled away from me and I groan. What the hell?

My eyes peel open, Matt's face greeting my sight as he pokes my cheek and I growl.

"Bitch."

His brows fly upwards. "Slept on the wrong side of the bed?" He questions and I scowl.

"What are you doing here? What time is it?"

He scoffs in response a smile playing his lips. "It's nearly 10am." He says and I growl.

"Why so early?"

"Ask the clock."

"Shut up." I turn on to my side, grabbing the duvet from him as I cover my face with it.

"Off day again?" He asks, questioningly.

And after a long silence I respond. "I'm on my period."

He clears his throat awkwardly. "Oh."

"Mhm."

Silence.

"So no clubbing–"

"Matt!"

"Alright!"

I roll my eyes. Him and his obsession with clubbing.

After some more silence, I pull the duvet off my face, and spot Matt's lanky frame at the corner of my room, bending down to something.

"Yo, what's this?"

I lean up on my arms, tilting my head as I try to look at what he's looking at.

"You tell me."

I hear some crinkling.

"Is this like one of your painting canvas's?" He says. "Oh cool, it's sticky."

"What? Show me." I narrow my eyes.

He turns and my eyes widen when I see a nighttime pad stuck right on his forehead a big goofy smile on his face.

"This is sick." He exclaims.

I can't help it but to then burst out laughing.

"That's for periods, dumbass."

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