Plausible Deniability

Ashton and his crew sit at the table by the time Niall strides in, Aila tucked carefully at his side. It’s a display of unity. It says they are a team, and no one can change that. No one would survive if they try to destroy what Niall and Aila have built together.

Niall helps Aila sit at his right, and Zayn takes his left. The others stand behind the trio. Ashton dips his chin and winks at Aila, and she represses a shudder. And Miss Bride? I’m not this cuddly with people who actively work against me. Niall frowns at Ashton but doesn’t reprimand him. This isn’t the moment for it.

Once introductions are made, Niall exhales sharply. “As you may know, my fiancée was taken. Irwin, I don’t know if Hemmings told you—”

“I know everything that goes on with my people.” Is that respect on Ashton’s face?

“Then you know I borrowed his expertise to help find her.” This must be what Ashton meant when he said he and Niall had worked together before. Aila swallows thickly and turns back to the conversation. “I appreciate that. Both his help, and you allowing it. Can’t say I’d do the same if I’d been in your shoes.”

“Wanted you to owe me,” Ashton says with a shrug before his eyes narrow. “Don’t think it’s sentimentality, Horan.”

Niall snorts, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t dream of insulting you like that. Your help is the only reason I didn’t immediately say ‘no’ when you wanted to meet with Aila. What you said you wanted from us.”

“You’re blathering. What’s your point?”

“My point is I was willing to entertain the thought instead of telling you to piss off,” snaps Niall. Ashton smirks—he’s gotten under Niall’s skin, and everyone here knows it. “I’ve discussed it with those whose opinions matter. We’ve spent hours looking at the situation from every angle we could find. We... We came to the conclusion this could be beneficial for all of us involved.”

“What do you need?”

Niall hesitates, reaches for Aila’s hand. She lets him take it, and his fingers shake minutely around hers. She hates that she can’t read him. Loathes Ashton for noticing Niall’s preoccupation when she didn’t. Her fiancé sighs and leans toward her.

“You don’t have to be here for this, darling.”

“I’d like to see you try to make me leave,” she responds. Her voice rings out over the table, meant to be a warning for those gathered. She will never leave Niall’s side, it says.

Someone across the table stifles a laugh, but it goes ignores. Niall nods before turning back to Ashton. She listens with rapt attention as Niall explains they’d finally gotten information from the men who’d abducted Aila. The men had cracked after the fifth broken finger, after Tania’s dagger left rivers in their skin. They pleaded for death, but it didn’t come for a while.

Their boss only ever called from a burner phone listed countries away. The men couldn’t give more, and they never will.

Niall says Louis has looked into everything ever since. Even with the suspicions, they couldn’t make a move without hard evidence.

“You know as well as I do we can’t risk our numbers simply on suspicions. The war would never end. And even you wouldn’t sacrifice your citizens in a fight they’ve no part in.”

Ashton leans back in his seat. The muscles in his biceps ripple as he crosses his arms over his chest, and he scrutinises Niall closely. “Strickland?”

“He violated the truce we’ve upheld for decades. Leave each other alone, focus on our own. But that bastard put his hands on what belongs to me. I want him to burn.”

Aila shivers at the frozen growl. Niall looks nothing like the sleeping angel she knows. He hadn’t looked like this even after he rescued her. She never thought she would fear him this fiercely. Now, though... Now she’s terrified.

She glances at Ashton, eyes widening with horror at the sight of his smile. Sharp and cold, it holds nothing but the thirst for blood. He taps his fingertips against the table.

“Count us in. Always thought the fucker could do with being taken out. Never moved before. You’re right, I don’t enjoy the thought of innocent people dying. He has no remorse for sacrificing his entire population.”

“We’ll obviously divide up the assets,” Niall says. He pauses when Ashton asks when they’ll strike. “It’ll never be soon enough.”

The darkness in his eyes, the set of his lips, petrifies Aila. She knows it’s for her. It promises retribution for what happened to her. She belongs to him—as much she wants to believe she’s her own person—and the thought is as comforting as it is frightening. She presses the side of her foot to Niall’s and stares at the metal tabletop. He squeezes her hand.

He continues, “The quicker I see his corpse chucked into a hole, the quicker I’ll be satisfied.”

“We’ll figure out a plan of action on our end,” promises Ashton with a quick look at his group. “Meet back here next week?”

Aila swallows and draws in a steadying breath. She speaks before Niall can: “Won’t they know something is up if we keep coming here?”

“Why, Miss Bride, I do believe you’ve made a valid point.”

“I might know of a place.”

“Oh?” Ashton raises a brow. His smirk mocks her. “And where would this be?”

“My friends and I would go hiking when we first moved in together. It was a—a bonding thing, I guess. There’s an abandoned house about two miles off the trail. It looked to be in good shape, so it might be possible to… use it… Why are you lot staring at me?”

Niall hides his smile, leaning over to kiss her temple. “Alright. Irwin, we’ll arrange a date when we’re free.”

Ashton nods and stands. It effectively calls the end of the meeting, and he gives Aila a once-over. She meets his gaze steadily, though her stomach churns.

“I told you we’d get on well, Miss Bride.”

“I don’t like that he likes me,” she whispers once he and his group are gone.

“You did beautifully, darling,” Niall replies as he tugs her to her feet. Her knees buckle when he kisses her, hard and graceless and full of an edge she can’t place. “Now let’s go home.”

“To fuck,” mutters Tania, ducking when Niall reaches out to smack the back of her head. Her laughter echoes off the steel walls, and Aila cards her fingers through Niall’s hair.

“She isn’t wrong.”

With a smile, she swallows down his groan as their friends exit the warehouse.

Two days later finds Aila leading thirteen people through the woods. She never knew how far onto Niall’s property she went—Hell, she didn’t even know it was Niall’s property—but she knows it now. The canopies overhead soon swallow any hint of sunshine, and the birds sing eerily in the descending darkness.

She shivers in the gloom, stepping closer to Niall’s side. She forgot how ominous the woods could be. The discomfort only grows with the silence from the others. Niall laces their fingers together, cursing when his foot catches on a root. The man to her right—Luke, her brain supplies, the one who’d caught Paisley’s eye at the shelter—grins at her.

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad I could help bring you home.” He pauses, leaning forward to shoot a quick glance at Niall, then continues in an undertone, “Mostly because your fiancé would have killed me if I failed.”

Thick, floral-print curtains and cream walls. Two hulking men keeping watch, muttering under their breath with eyes trailing her body as she curled up in the armchair. The hushed conversations about whether to obey or go off-plan. She shudders at the memory.

“I’m really fucking glad to be home. Wait, should you even be talking to me right now?”

Luke shrugs as Niall snorts. When she looks at her fiancé, a smile plays at his lips, but he pretends he isn’t eavesdropping. She frowns and turns back to Luke.

“Just consider this fostering good relationships.”

Aila can’t stop her smile and nudges him with an elbow. “I suppose the least I could do is encourage it after the help you’ve given us.”

Silence falls again, but it’s comfortable. Less creepy even as they head deeper into the woods. A bird screeches before taking flight, and Ashton calls from the back of the group:

“How much further?”

“Shouldn’t be long,” she responds after a moment. She’d expected someone else to reply before realising—they were waiting for her. She is the only one who knows where the house is.

Aila can’t help but wonder why Niall doesn’t know of its existence. The house is on his land; he should have known it existed long before now.

She pushes away the thoughts and skims her gaze across the trees at the edge of the path. There. The enormous ‘7’ Angel carved into a trunk, noting the seventh tree on their trek. Aila points to the right, and everyone dutifully follows the curve.

“Are we sure we’re going the right way?” Ashton shouts as she leads them off the trail.

She rolls her eyes and shoves brush out of the way. “Feel free to wander off at any time, Irwin. I’m sure you’ll have fun trying to find your way back. At the very least, we’ll not have to listen to your whining anymore.”

She hasn’t ever heard Yuri’s laugh, but she knows it’s him. Especially when he apologises in accented English for his outburst. Niall casts a look at Aila from the corner of his eye, and his lips twitch into a small smile. She sways into his side before stepping into the clearing.

The house looms suddenly in front of them. Decrepit and covered in moss, it’s far more shambled than she remembers. Rotting limbs and leaves litter the ground, and rocks and mushrooms note the perimeter. She chews on the inside of her cheek then turns to face everyone.

“We’re here.”

Niall frowns as he stares up at the house. “I remember this place.”

“You’ve been here?”

“I—I think so. Yeah, Ma would bring me and Greg here when we were kids. Whenever Da came home injured while we were in Primden.” He huffs out a laugh, shaking his head. “Can’t believe I forgot about it.”

“It was a while ago,” she says with a shrug. Of course he wouldn’t remember it decades later.

“Well, if this isn’t ominous,” Ashton drawls, hands tucked into his pocket, and Aila turns her attention to him.

“Look, I said it would be here. It’s here. I’m so sorry it’s not up to your standards, your royal highness.” At her waspish tone, he smiles. It only angers her more. She continues, “It’ll give us a place to meet away from the warehouse, so shut the fuck up and accept it.”

His chuckle sends her stomach roiling. “As I’ve said before, you’re feisty. No wonder Horan wants to marry you.”

“Nope, it’s the sex.”

“Darling,” groans Niall, clapping a hand over her mouth. “Stop talking.”

Despite the fire in her blood, Aila grins against his palm and kisses the skin there. She promises in a muffled voice to keep her mouth shut. He raises a brow but uncovers her mouth. She stretches up to whisper in his ear.

“I’ll make it up to you later.”

He barely bites back a low groan.

The four guards move as one toward the door. It creaks and gives way, opening on lopsided hinges, and Ashton leads his crew to one side of the clearing. Niall stays to the other. Branches clatter together around them, and the birds squawk as they watch the group standing still.

Alistair steps back out onto the rickety porch first. It’s acceptable, though I’d watch where you step. Floor looks like it’ll cave at any moment.”

Calum’s face curls up in disgust, but he still traipses inside with the rest of the group.

Aila scrunches her nose at the musty odour and wood that groans beneath their feet. Cobwebs hang from every corner, some expansive enough to touch the floor. Rotten wallpaper rolls over the walls, and the wind whistles through the windows long shattered. The wood sags in the centre of the room. She grimaces when something squeaks, scurries across the floor.

Why did it have to be rats? Why not unicorns or something equally less disgusting? She doesn’t speak of her regret. Ashton would win, and she cannot allow that.

Ashton and Niall meet in the middle of what used to be a parlour. Scrutinise each other. Reluctantly shake hands.

“Thought about what we said?” Niall asks. His voice fills the room with more chill than the gloom.

“Hard and fast.”

Niall nods succinctly, shifting his stance. As relaxed as he will ever be in front of Ashton. “We figured sending a message first was a good idea. Make him fear what’s coming long before it does.”

“She on board?” questions Ashton with a jerk of his chin toward Aila.

She steps to Niall’s side as he reaches for her. Her words echo in the mildewed silence: “I am.”

“Gonna get your hands dirty, Miss Bride, or sit out while others do the work for you?”

“That’s enough, Irwin.” Niall glares when all Ashton does is chuckle.

Aila squeezes her fiancé’s hand. “I’ll do whatever is expected of me.”

Ashton grins. The sight freezes her to the bones, and he approaches until he’s mere inches from her. He doesn’t seem to notice the way everyone reacts. How Yuri steps forward to grab Aila’s arm, to pull her from danger should the need arise.

“Even if it means killing someone? Slicing their throat and watching the life leave their eyes?”

She hesitates, seeking out Niall. He stares back with pain etched in every facet of his face. He doesn’t want this for her. He wants her to hold onto her innocence. But how can she allow him to risk health and life for her if she won’t do the same for him? Blowing out a breath, she meets Ashton’s eyes. His brow raises sharply.

“If it comes to that, if I get the chance, yes. They targeted my family. They held me captive for three days. They made me terrified I would die or they would do worse than kill me. They risked my life for whatever this Strickland dick has planned. Why shouldn’t I get justice for what they did?”

Even Aila is surprised by the conviction. The hard cold in her voice. She thought it would be a lie told only to get Ashton to shut up. But the words feel right on her tongue, in her chest. Despite what she told Niall when she accepted the proposal, she knows now it’s true—she can take someone’s life it means protecting the people she’s grown to love.

“Darling...”

She ignores the pleading in Niall’s voice and lets her lips quirk, lift at the corner. There’s no amusement in the action. “I don’t take kindly to someone willing to kill me to hurt the man I love.”

Ashton nods then turns to Niall. Aila steps back until she’s with the others and listens as the two leaders plan. Strickland will lose his street-watchers first, the ones who see and report on everything happening in North Primden. The ones who ‘take care of business’ when Strickland deems the matter too unimportant to handle it himself.

He murdered the family who took Tania in. Their blood is on his hands.

“I have a question.” To Aila’s surprise, even Niall looks annoyed at her speaking up. He gestures for her to continue. “Who gets the honour of killing the bastard?”

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes, won’t we?”

The meeting adjourns moments later, and Aila once more leads thirteen people through the woods. Ashton seems to trust she knows where she’s going this time. He keeps his complaints to how long it’s taking, instead of questioning her ability. Niall doesn’t speak to Aila on the trek.

At the edge of the woods, Ashton nods sharply then leads his crew toward their territory—the docks and cliffs that house his own. Tania waits until they’ve disappeared from view before rounding on Aila.

“You can’t do this.”

Aila gapes and forced herself not to shrink from the harshness of Tania’s voice. “And why the Hell not?”

“Aila, you… You don’t know how much killing someone changes you,” whispers Tania. The fight seems to have left her. Now, she’s smaller, softer, more pleading. “You’re—you aren’t prepared for the blood on your hands.”

“If I don’t do this, I don’t truly belong, do I? You lot do it all the time.”

Niall tries to interject, tries to stop the fight before it begins, but Tania speaks right over him: “We grew up with this! You’ve lived life an ivory tower. The worst thing that ever happened to you is your fiancé cheating on you. You never knew what happens in this city. Hell, have you ever wondered why there’s no South Primden?”

“That’s enough, Harrison,” snaps Niall, but Tania shakes her head.

“You aren’t ready for this, Aila.”

Aila trembles, though it’s more from rage rather than fear of the expression in Tania’s face. The ice in her voice. “Why are you trying to dissuade me from this? I thought you of all people would be proud of me for making this choice!”

“Because I don’t want this for you!” Tania shouts. Even the birds fall silent. “I told you when I told you about my life. None of us want you to lose what makes you, well, you.”

“And I’m trying to fucking help protect you. You’ve done it for me, so why—?”

“Because you’re a fucking child!”

Aila’s head snaps back. She stares at Tania with wide eyes, and her heart pounds painfully beneath her ribs. How dare Tania say that? She clenches her hands into fists, spitting out a ‘Fuck you’, then turns on her heel. Niall’s cold voice follows as she storms off.

She heads further west instead of east. Away from the manor and toward the house she used to share with her friends.

Footsteps close the gap, rustle the grass and fallen leaves, and Aila ignores the person approaching. Even if they are someone intent on killing her, she doesn’t care. Let them take her life. She’s too angry to give a damn about anything.

“She didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Yes, Liam, she did. She thinks I can’t handle this.”

Liam sighs, touching the back of her arm. “You have to understand. None of us want you to have to do this. Niall said all you’d do is help with the bar and planning. We don’t want you to lose your innocence simply because you think we expect it of you. We don’t.”

“Well, that’s just stupid, isn’t it.” She comes to a stop and whirls to face him. “You have to understand. I spent my childhood not belonging anywhere. My own family couldn’t understand me. They loved me, sure, but my YaYa is the only one who tried to know me. But I wasn’t like my brother. I wasn’t like them.

“I did okay in school, but I had no friends. I read all the time instead of socialising with anyone. I knew I was never special enough to fit in with others. Now I have a place I could belong. How can I fit in here if I’m not willing to do the same thing?”

Liam watches her closely, eyes narrowed and lips pinched thin. Finally, he sighs and runs his fingers through his nut-brown hair. “Just know that if you do this, you can’t ever go back.”

“I’m not going back anyway, so what’s it matter?”

Despite the confidence, Aila can feel herself second-guessing her decision. She refuses to give it away, to expose the truth, so she gives a succinct nod and resumes walking. Leaving everyone behind.