This chapter was written forever ago, and instead of rewriting it, I'm just gonna post it even though it's kinda messy— forgive me.

Happy New Year guys, I love you all and wish you only the best for 2020 ❤️

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Thalia Lively Castillo

I quickly look away and avoid eye contact with Roman in fear of getting another memory. This wasn't the time nor place for me to be dragged to my past. The goal for the rest of the night is to steer away from anyone involved with my previous life.

"Let's dance," I say to Nathan once a slow song comes on and people were already with their loved ones in the middle of the room.

"What—oh okay." Nathan didn't have a chance to agree or disagree since I was already leading us to where the others were dancing.

I wrapped my hands across the back of his neck and he rested his palms on my waist, both of us preferring to be close to each other as we danced nearly a centimetre apart. I looked up into his green eyes and suddenly every single one of my worries disappeared as I got lost in his gaze.

"What are you thinking about?" He asks, clearly seeing straight through me and noticing the raging thoughts I had in inside.

Instead of answering, I simply kissed him. And just like that, the raging thoughts stopped. He returned the kiss almost immediately and my body reacted with butterflies. I hope this feeling lasts forever, the feeling of being completely and utterly in love with someone. Knowing that there's this one special person in the world that chooses you and only you out of millions.

In my eyes, love is a crazy concept. Some may consider love simply an emotion or a transaction, but love can be occasionally stronger than that. The power it holds is still unknown to some people, which is insane to me. Something so broad yet so limited. Some people live their entire lives never experiencing love and I always thought I'd be one of those people.

Bad people don't get happy endings, that's just the way it is.

"I know that guy," I blurted, not caring about keeping it in anymore. He looked at me confusingly until I went more in detail. "The one to our left, in all black, by the door, drinking wine, looks like he'd rather be anywhere else rather than here." I try to specify.

He nonchalantly looked over and very clearly picked out the person I was talking about. I could tell he was doing his usual observation in the manner of a couple seconds.

"He was apart of The Code, is that how you know him?" He asks.

"How did you know he was apart of The Code?" Now I was confused, all Nathan did was look at him and he already gathered that information. I seem to underestimate Nathan's ability to draw conclusions within seconds just by observing.

"He has The Code tattoo on his arm," Nathan shrugged. I looked over and sure enough he had a tattoo on his exposed forearm since his sleeves was rolled up. "And I've met every current member and he isn't one of them so he must be a previous member," he explains as if he's talking to a nine-year old, and quite honestly now I'm realizing anyone could've made that assumption.

"Yeah, anyway, I, uh, remembered him. When he first came in, I got a memory, flashback, or whatever." I stumble on my words, not really wanting to tell him that I remembered a past lover.

"What did you remember?" He asks calmly.

"We were, uh close... when he was in the code," is all I say for him to understand, Nathan wasn't stupid though. And by the look on his face, he pieces together the pieces.

He nods slowly and now I'm trying to avoid his eyes. "That's good, you're remembering, faster than before." Is all he responds with.

"All this means is that my past is catching up to me, not only mentally but now physically too." I look over at Roman who looked highly annoyed by the man who was trying to have a conversation with him. "Megan?" I say out loud in a baffled tone once I see her walk up to Roman and interrupt his conversation.

"The fuck is she doing here?" Ethan spawns beside me, giving me a heart attack in the process.

"E, stop doing that." I hold my chest as my heart speeds up.

"Sorry, babe." He winks at me then takes a step away from me once he meets Nathan's protective piercing eyes.

"How does Roman know her?" I ask out of curiosity, and if he was acquainted with her then maybe he isn't a good guy.

"I don't think he knows her actually, by look on his face at least." Nathan detects.

And in a matter of seconds, Roman looks up at the three of us as if he felt our gaze on him. Ethan and I quickly looked away and pretended like we're looking at something else but Nathan didn't even budge, he simply stared right back at him.

Not that I expected him to do anything else.

"Drinks, anyone?" I ask nervously, trying to escape the awkward situation, especially because now Roman was fully aware of our presence.

"Did you forget you're underage?" Ethan chuckles.

As I ignore Ethan, I slowly look up, and sure enough, Roman's still staring at me. I stare back, mainly because now there's no point in hiding. Megan quickly caught on and followed Roman's line of vision which led to Ethan, Nathan and I. She smirks deviously and waves at us with the flicker of her hand.

"She irks my soul," Ethan comments.

"You're not the only one," I mutter.

"I'm not worried about her, look Ethan," Nathan directs Ethan to look at the fashionably late guests who sent a chill down my spine almost immediately. I froze in my spot, as did many.

The leader of the group was a man with dark skin, powerful ocean eyes, a chiseled face with such sharp features that they could practically cut you if you got too close, he had dark hair, and lastly, towered over almost everyone as he stood at a good 6 foot-something build. He was wearing what I could only assume was one of the most expensive suits known to man, and his fellow comrades wore the same.

In conclusion, they looked frighteningly rich. Both frightening, and rich. Very rich.

I seemed to have zoned out since I didn't even realize the rest of The Code members (well the ones that mattered anyway), were now with us, each evaluating the party crashers.

"They couldn't have been invited, those are the last people Darren would want to see." Will states, keeping his angry facade attached like always.

"That's the point, look around," Nathan counters. "The room is filled with enemies of The Code since time, all in one room, excluding The Mob. Darren needed them all here to bait out who's in affiliation with The Mob." Nathan easily states the obvious that majority of us didn't comprehend from the beginning.

"It's the easiest way to see who we need to watch out for and if we're lucky, someone will slip up eventually." Carter stood next to Nathan, both of them keeping their confident stances as they calmly let their eyes scan the room back and forth.

"Who are they?" I query.

"That's Malachi Bates, one of the most infamous hitmen in the world." Carter answers first, focusing in on the leader of the group.

"Darren's family took him in when he was a kid; his family left him behind during a raid years ago. The scar on his neck is from that night when Darren, also being a kid at the time, tried to kill him because he thought he was a bad guy. Little did he know, that would soon be his best friend." Lincoln also explained the backstory of Malachi.

"So, what happened?" My curiosity was at its peak once again.

"Malachi killed someone very close to Darren, not on purpose that is. The person got caught in the crossfire during one of Malachi's manhunts." My heart churned as I imagined the scene.

"Besides that part... that man is my hero. I mean c'mon, he's literally singlehandedly took down one of the strongest cartels in Mexico." Ethan fan-boyed.

"Which is what makes him valuable to anyone who would want people dead." Darren's voice made us all turn to see him behind us, also watching Malachi and his men. He didn't hold any anger or sadness in his aura, he seemed quite calm actually. Which scared me.

"You think he'd be working with The Mob?" Emmett questions.

"No," Darren looks to Emmett. "But if there were anyone in this world that would not only know everything about my life but my vulnerabilities too, it'd be him. They need him."

"He's the bait," Griffin connects the dots. "Malachi's practically a ghost, it's hard to track him but with him here, this is the perfect opportunity to strike a deal." He finishes.

"I'm glad you're all caught up, we'll talk about all of your cluelessness later but for now, you're all on the lookout." Darren orders. "And secure all of the exits," he looks specifically to Griffin, Ajax, Will and Lincoln.

And with that, half of us dispersed in different directions. I, of course, followed Nathan since I felt most safe next to him... especially since we were in a room full of professional... murderers?

Was I a murderer? Did I attend things like this regularly? Have I met half of these people before?

Questions ran through my mind as anxiety strikes in my gut and builds its way up to my mind.

"Thalia," Nathan's voice made me halt and focus in on him as he slide his hand to hold the side of my face. He analyzes my expression and kissed my forehead when he sensed my nervousness. "Don't worry about anything, it's gonna be okay." He says to me then pulls me along with him like before.

That somehow gave me a sense of relaxation, just knowing I had someone like Nathan there for me if things were to go wrong.

"Ethan head to the front," Nathan ordered him and without hesitation, Ethan abided. "Carter, control room with Lincoln," he looked towards Carter who nodded and went off into the luxurious staircase. "And you," he looks towards me. "I would stay with you, I swear but I need to go with Darren and Aiden for a bit. Stay with Riley and Emmett, don't leave their side until I come back, okay?" He gives me a pointed look.

"Woof," I set my hands out in front of me as I pretended to be a dog, listening to his orders like everyone else. After he gives me a deadpan expression, I give a better answer. "Kidding, but yeah, yeah. Don't leave their side, got it." I smiled innocently.

"I'm serious Thalia, these people could recognize you or know you from the past. You can't trust anyone, especially here. I'll be back soon." He kisses me quickly before nodding at Emmett and disappearing into the crowd.

"On the bright side, the food is amazing." Riley states while digging into her full plate of sweets.

"I need a drink," I mumble, crossing my arms and looking around the room of unfamiliar people.

"You want to get intoxicated in a room full of gang members and hitmen that would love to take advantage of a vulnerable drunk high school girl?" Emmett questions with such a soft tone that the seriousness of what he was saying went way over my head.

"That doesn't sound too bad... I could go on a little adventure, ya know?" I answer jokingly.

"Yeah, you'll end up in Mexico where they'll traffic you to Russians." Riley added and now I was subconsciously sliding closer to Emmett and Riley as I nervously laughed out of fear.

"Aha, ha, ha..." I trail off and by this point I was directly beside Emmett.

"We're just kidding," Emmett looks down at me amused. "But that does happen... quite often now that I think about it." He mumbles but once he sees my wide eyes he tries to save himself. "No, I mean, it would never happen to you. If these people don't already know you, they will soon, now that you're apart of The Code. They'd never touch you knowing you were tied to Darren or Aiden. Plus, you'd kick all of their asses." He nudges me with his elbow with a wink.

"This is different, I've only ever encountered high school boys... and people smaller than everyone in here." I say as a very muscular man walks by me.

"Age doesn't matter in the game of violence," Emmett shrugs. I suppose he was right about that. I mean he, himself, is an example of that. Nathan, Emmett, Ethan, Carter and Austin have all been dragged to the dark part of the world at such a young age that violence is morphed into their life. They may be young, but they are also deadlier than most guys in here. They must be, otherwise why would Darren ever think about working with them? Darren is a billionaire mafia leader, I doubt he'd have time to babysit high school students. He trusts them, regardless of their age. He knows they're capable.

I don't say anything back, I just nod and continue looking across the room, almost as if I was expecting something to happen.

I look over at Riley who was strictly focused on the food in front of her, clearly seeming like she couldn't care less about what was happening around her as she devoured various sweets. "Having fun there?" I ask her.

"Oh yeah baby," she nods. I manage to let out a chuckle regardless of the overwhelming anxiety creeping around in my mind.

"Are you not... scared?" I ask her another question, wanting to know if I was the only one feeling out of place.

She swallows her food quickly before looking up at me, then looking around the room. "I mean, yeah. I'm more worried than scared though." Her answer somewhat comforted me. I knew that they boys would get us to safety if something were to happen, but they can't control what happens all the time. Anything could happen in the matter of seconds. Time is the deadliest enemy in all causes.

I let her answer sink in but it didn't get rid of the bad kind of butterflies in my pit of my stomach. I felt uneasy, tense, and ironically so, out of place. I can't imagine this being my lifestyle in the past, I just don't feel the connection that this is what I used to be apart of.

I'm so tired of constantly trying to blend back into my past, trying to recover my memories and find myself. I keep bouncing back and forth from moving on and taking ten steps back into the past. It's almost like the universe is playing monkey in the middle of my life, and I'm the monkey.

"So what, we just stand back and wait?" I ask Emmett who nodded slowly.

"I mean, unless you want to bait out the person yourself." He shrugs then quickly looks at me and shakes his head repeatedly. "No, don't do that. Stop thinking about it... stop... no seriously stop. Oh god," he shoves his face into his right hand as I look around the room and contemplating taking matters into my own hands.

"I'm not that stupid, ya know..." I mumble and scan the room, trying to pick out the suspicious men.

"Okay well at least stop staring at the men with guns in their waistbands," Emmett replies and grabs the top of my head, pushing it to look at him.

"I'm not going to do anything, we both know how that would end." I roll my eyes. "But I might as well play a little game called 'which one of this murderers is going to turn against us'... I heard it's really fun." I shrug.

"Oooh, I've heard of that one. Great for game night with the family." Riley says while nodding at me. I couldn't help but laugh, along with Emmett who shook his head at the both of us.

"Okay, so who's suspect number one?" Emmett caves in and joins our game.

"That guy in the maroon suit, he looks like he'd be willing to do anything for money, I mean look at his begging eyes." Riley answers, making us look at guy she's talking about. She was right about him, he did seem like the type to do anything for extra money. He already looked wealthily as it is, but some people are always greedy for more.

"Okay, good pick." Emmett approves of the contestant. I personally didn't think it was that man, he did seem hungry for money but he flinched whenever someone around him got too close, meaning he's either scared or knows something is about to happen.

"His bracelet..." I mumble as my eyes zone in on his wrist, seeing a familiar silver bracelet.

"What?" Emmett asks, not hearing me clearly.

I didn't answer Emmett right away, instead I looked at Riley's wrist where I remember seeing the same bracelet the first time I met her. She didn't have it on anymore.

Riley and Emmett were both looking at me oddly, waiting for me fill them in on my thoughts. "He has the same bracelet as Riley, and as my mom." I got a quick flashback of a picture of my mom with the same bracelet, that was supposedly passed down to me.

The bracelets had the same silver band, Riley's had charms all over it but his only had two that stood out. A cross, and the letter X. They all had the letter X on them.

"What?" Riley looked genuinely confused then looked over at him again, but this time he was looking right back at us. My heart dropped once we made eye contact and it took him a minute, but a smile slowly creeped onto his face as his eyes scanned my features. My stomach twisted around in disgust as I uncomfortably shifted closer to Emmett.

Before I could ask Emmett to leave this spot in the room, the man was on his way towards me. I looked at Emmett with alarmed eyes which caused him to hide me behind his back, leaving his arm out in front of me to hold me away. Riley moved to my side and looked at me with concerned eyes and I attempted to give her a small smile but my lip only twitched up slightly instead.

"Ms. Castillo, is that you?" The mans raspy old voice made me look up at him shyly.

"Who's asking?" Emmett answered for me, looking unfazed by the mans presence.

"A family friend." The mans eyes flickered to Emmett briefly then snapped back to me, the creepy smile returning to his face.

"I don't think I know you," I say, trying to stop this conversation early.

"Ouch," he brought his right hand to touch his chest where his heart was, feigning pain. "Don't remember me, that hurts. Especially considering I was so close with your mother, tragic what happened to her by the way." His voice held no emotion whatsoever as he spoke. When I didn't respond he continued on trying to lure me into his trap. "You don't have to be afraid of me sweetheart, I practically helped raise you. Plus with that recovering brain of yours, I can offer some help." He took a step forward but Emmetts warning eyes made him stop in his tracks. "Should've known the famous Thalia had bodyguards." He sighs, holding his hands up as he took a step back.

"I don't need your help. I don't know you and don't want to." I don't care what position he played in my life, I didn't trust him and I knew he was lying.

"Well seeing as I'm the only person from your past that knows more about your life than you do, rejecting my help isn't exactly smart, little Thalia. With your entire family dead, that is." Once he said that, my eyes narrowed at him. He didn't know Aiden was alive. Did anyone?

"I didn't lose much of my memory, thanks for the offer but I'm good." Is all I say before giving Riley and Emmett the signal to leave.

Once we start walking away he raises his voice to stop us in our tracks. "And Riley, don't think I didn't notice you." And with that, Emmett sped over to the man, stopped nearly a centimetre away from him.

"You're one more word away from being dead, you do realize that don't you?" Emmett's voice flowed calmly but his eyes told an entirely different story.

"I'm just trying to catch up