CONVERSATION AND MUSIC BUZZED in the air, vibrating through the floor as various partygoers mingled with champagne flutes balanced in their jewellery-clad hands.
A certain pair of silver heels clicked against the solid floor, yet the noise was undetectable over the indistinct chatter. The woman carefully made her way through the crowds, feeling her floor length dress brush against her ankles as she walked.
Her delicate brown curls bounced gently with every calculated step. Her eyes darted around the apartment with deadly precision, like a hunter seeking out their prey.
The cold metal of the throwing knives strapped to her thighs ignited chills throughout her legs, only serving as a constant reminder of what she was there to do ─ what she wanted to do.
Natalie Shaw was determined to put a very large wrench in Dominic's plans, but more importantly, she was determined to continue to avenge her brother-in-law with the help of her family.
Though, a small voice in the back of her mind was whispering that her path of vengeance was also for someone else ─ herself. Natalie King reminded her that she deserved justice too, and thanks to her siblings and mother, she had the exact skill set for the job.
And if the woman really focused, there was another, much younger, voice within the fray: one that still held out hope for the redemption of her biological older brother. Natalie Toretto wished that it hadn't evolved to this, and that Dominic hadn't truly meant to condemn and endanger his baby sister and─
"Is everyone in position?" Xavier King's familiar voice questioned from the small, concealed earpiece wedged in Natalie's left ear, effectively cutting off her thoughts.
"Deckard and I are waiting next to the elevator. Standing by for the signal." Hattie Shaw answered firmly, glancing at her brother, who leaned casually against the wall beside the elevator with a briefcase clutched tightly in his hand.
"Headed to the systems room now." The voice of Alice King came next whilst the woman approached where Tej and Ramsey waited, completely oblivious to the threat coming their way.
"Waiting for Toretto on the main floor." Jakob Toretto confirmed, catching Natalie's eye as he spoke; he was also milling about the party, trying to find his older brother and keep an eye out for any of his crew.
"Well, you know exactly where I am─" The sarcastic Nick King spoke up from beside Xavier, only to grunt when his brother's elbow was driven into his gut. "Ow, what the fuck did you do that for?!"
Natalie couldn't help but roll her eyes in amusement and attempt to fight the smile tugging at the corner of her glossed lips. Though, her face quickly became stoic when she spotted two familiar figures milling through the crowds: Toretto and O'Connor.
It wasn't long before she also spotted Roman Pearce, who was looking around amazed whilst sipping on the champagne in his hand.
"Toretto, O'Connor, and Pearce are all on the floor." She spoke discreetly, notifying the others through her earpiece. The first two were headed towards where Xavier and Nick were, whilst Jakob tailed them, leaving her free to stay where she was.
Natalie turned around, just to make sure she hadn't missed anybody, only to spot a familiar head of black hair on the balcony above.
Letty Ortiz observed the party with a champagne flute in hand, periodically taking sips whilst she listened to her team's chatter in her earpiece. Her gorgeous red dress clung to every curve of her upper body, before the fabric flowed loosely down to her feet.
Despite Natalie's longing stare burning into her skin, the oblivious Ortiz woman turned away from the balcony railing to gain access to the Prince's bedroom.
Unable to help herself, Natalie made her way to the stairs, climbing them elegantly whilst she spoke to her family.
"I'm going after Letty on the upper level." The woman spoke with determination seeping into her tone ─ she wanted, no, needed, to see if her best friend was alright. Mia had filled her in on bits and pieces of Letty's life with the Torettos, but it would be nothing in comparison to the Ortiz woman telling Natalie herself.
Leaving the bustling party behind, the familiar click of her heels was now audible over the distant chatter of partygoers as she approached the Prince's bedroom. The woman slowed her steps, cautiously approaching the ajar double doors.
Gently pushing one open, Natalie caught sight of the unconscious bodyguard propped up on one of the pillars, causing her to let out a low whistle.
Letty's head snapped towards the noise, her heart almost stopping dead in her chest from fear that one of the guards had found her. The woman clutched the wire cutters tighter, despite them not being an effective weapon, before fully registering just who had walked in. She gasped in surprise at the sight of the figure across the room, prompting her to stand from her crouched position next to the bed.
There Natalie stood, her silver strapless dress tightly hugging her upper body and flowing down to the ground. Her tanned leg peeked through the slit in the dress and displayed her strappy silver heels. Her eyes glinted with amusement, but also concern as she stared at the Ortiz woman.
"I'm impressed." Natalie mused, glancing at the knocked out guard before meeting Letty's shocked gaze.
"Natalie..." The Ortiz woman muttered emotionally, dropping the wire cutters and sending them clattering to the ground, before rushing over to her best friend (well, as fast as she could in her heels).
Natalie began to walk forward, meeting Letty halfway with open arms. The two wasted no time wrapping each other in the tightest hug they could muster, with Natalie's arms going around Letty's waist and the Ortiz woman's arms encasing her shoulders.
Letty buried her face into Natalie's hair, almost crying in relief when the familiar scent of her best friend's perfume consumed her, as well as the familiar hold that she had missed more than anything.
The past year had been completely crap without Natalie Shaw by her side. Yes, Dominic and his family had been perfectly welcoming, especially Mia, but their disappointment surrounding her lost memories had been suffocating.
They didn't trust her enough not to run off, despite them being under the impression that Owen and Natalie Shaw were both dead. There was always at least someone by her side, mainly Dominic, the supposed love of her life, which made it impossible for Letty to reach out to the one person she truly wanted to spend her time with.
Despite Letty's only memories of Natalie being their time in London last year and the little snippet of their trip to Greece, the Shaw woman was her ultimate source of comfort ─ the only home that she knew and loved.
The Ortiz woman tightened her hold, wanting more than anything to stay there forever.
"I've missed you so much." Letty whispered, causing Natalie to grip her even tighter.
"I've missed you too... more than you know." The Shaw woman whispered back. She closed her eyes, trying to absorb the moment and burn the memory into her brain, as well as push back some very sudden tears.
Gently pulling away, Natalie placed her hands on Letty's shoulders and searched the woman's eyes for any signs of hurt or discomfort. She wanted to make sure that the Toretto crew had been treating her well. Even though Natalie loathed their guts, she hoped that they would take care of Letty the best that they could.
"Why didn't you call? Or text?" She asked desperately, watching as Letty looked away in remorse, before Natalie scoffed in a joking manner, "Hell, even sending a carrier pigeon with a note would've been better than complete radio silence."
The Shaw woman flashed Letty a small smile, trying to reassure her that she wasn't mad, just curious about her lack of communication, (okay, maybe she was a little bit mad, but Natalie would never admit that and risk pushing Letty away).
Just as Letty opened her mouth to respond, the double doors crashed open, smashing into the walls to reveal four guards ─ three in uniform, and one in a party dress.
Natalie instinctively shoved Letty behind her, shielding her with her body whilst grabbing one of her four throwing knives.
The woman twirled it with her nimble fingers, cocking her head to the side as the guard in the dress (the head guard, Natalie assumed) smirked in a threatening manner.
"Ladies," Natalie said mockingly, "don't you know never to barge into a bedroom without knocking?"
The head guard scoffed, cracking her neck as she spoke.
"Don't you know never to break into a bedroom that doesn't belong to you?" She said, taking a few steps towards the two women.
Natalie hummed, tilting her head for a moment before shrugging.
"Touché."
And then chaos ensued.
MEANWHILE, BACK WITH THE main party, Jakob watched as his sister climbed the grand stairs, her glittering silver gown sparkling with light as she moved.
"I'm going after Letty on the upper level." Natalie explained through the earpieces before disappearing around a corner and out of sight.
As much as he wanted to follow her to make sure that she would be alright, Jakob knew that his older sister could handle herself ─ hell, he felt bad for anyone that would try to get in her way.
The Toretto had originally been tailing Dominic and Brian, but they had come to a standstill, forcing him to try and blend in with the crowd. He had swiped a champagne glass from a passing waiter and took small sips whilst intently watching his brother.
Although, his glass nearly slipped from his hands when he caught sight of the woman that had just walked up to Dominic and began talking to him.
"Ana?" He muttered under his breath, shocked, and as though she had heard him, the woman's head turned in his direction.
Iliana Starling felt her beating heart stop dead in her chest and the colour drain from her already pale face when she locked eyes with Jakob Toretto.
Butterflies fluttered violently in her stomach at the sight of him, making her feel giddy yet nauseous at the same time. His hair was perfectly swept back, and his suit was tailored to his muscular, toned body. The man's face provoked emotions the woman had spent the past seven months trying to forget.
Forcing her eyes back to the Toretto that stood directly in front of her, Ana quickly excused herself in a way that wouldn't prompt any questions or suspicion before making her way over to the man who had stolen her heart.
Jakob Toretto's heart was pounding out of his chest as he drunk in the sight of the love of his life ─ her red curls were parted to the side and framed her perfect face; the dress that hugged all of the right places stopped just above her knees, showing off her toned legs as she sauntered towards him.
Seven months ago, Iliana Starling had chosen to shatter both Jakob Toretto's heart and her own with little-to-no explanation. All she left was a note at his bedside with four words:
IT'S OVER. I'M SORRY.
Despite scouring country after country to try and find her, Jakob remained alone and confused about what went wrong: was it him? Was it something he did? Did something happen to Ana?
He had spent months wishing he knew what had gone wrong, and it seemed that his wish was finally coming true.
Ana wandered past him, nodding her head in the direction she wanted to go and motioning for him to follow. Without hesitation, Jakob began discreetly tailing her, carefully weaving through the crowds whilst his eyes remained locked on her bouncing red curls.
The pair finally turned a corner, which revealed a set of double doors. Ana cautiously grasped the handle and pushed one of the doors open. Seeing that it was an empty room with no guards, the woman opened the door wider to allow both herself and Jakob to walk through before gently pushing it to a close.
Taking a breath to compose herself, Ana turned to face Jakob. The man's face was as stoic as he could manage, but his eyes were a different story ─ they held so much hurt, heartbreak, and pain that Ana couldn't bear to meet them for more than a few seconds at a time.
The woman's eyes darted to the floor whilst she brought a hand up to her ear. She removed her earpiece and placed it on a small decorative table to her right, ensuring that Toretto's crew couldn't hear a word that was said. Realising what Ana was doing, Jakob proceeded to do the same, except he slipped it into its little case, which had been in his jacket pocket.
The two stood in silence for a moment, before the Toretto spoke the one word that viciously ran laps within his mind.
"Why?"
There was no need for any more detail; the Starling woman knew exactly what he meant, and her heart ached in her chest at the thought of having to lie to him.
But she had no choice.
"I don't love you anymore, Jakob," She spoke with a lump in her throat. "And when I figured that out seven months ago, I left in the middle of the night ─ I thought it would be less painful for you."
Her stomach rolled with guilt when a lone tear rolled down his cheek; she wanted nothing more than to rush over and brush the tear away with her thumb, all whilst cradling his face in her soft hands. She wanted to explain it all and beg for forgiveness. She wanted to confess that she still loved him, and that she always would. Oh, how she wanted to feel his lips on hers, feel his hands on her hips, and feel his fingers tangled in her hair whilst he smeared her worn lipstick across his lips.
But her wants were nothing compared to what was at stake.
Jakob knew that the answer Ana gave him was a lie ─ he knew her tells and habits better than he knew his own. As for right now, the Starling woman was tapping her index finger and thumb together rapidly, which was her tell for lying.
"Tell me the truth, Iliana." Jakob demanded. The use of her full first name almost made Ana flinch; nobody called her that anymore, and it cut deeply to hear it coming from the lips of the one person she loved more than anything. "Please."
"I-I don't know what you want me to say─" She began, shaking her head and furrowing her brows, only to gasp when familiar hands cupped her rosy cheeks. Her green eyes met his brown, and she felt her knees go weak beneath her.
"Tell me that you don't regret leaving that night." He said, desperate to see if she still believed there was even a slither of hope for them. "Tell me that there was no other reason for you walking away."
Jakob Toretto gazed down at her as if he had the most precious thing in the world held between his two calloused hands, and Iliana Starling wanted nothing more than to remain in his hold forever.
Unfortunately, their forever had already fallen apart.
Gently grasping his wrists, Ana forced herself to pull Jakob's hands away from her face, before placing them down by his sides. Forcing her stare to harden and burying any emotions that may have overtaken her features, the woman held his broken gaze.
"I have no regrets about that night. I wasn't happy with you, and I didn't love you, Jakob Toretto. Leaving was entirely my choice... and it was the right choice."
It felt like poison had coated her tongue and spewed from between her lips. Her lies not only killed her, but they completely destroyed Jakob.
Unable to bear witnessing the damage she had caused, Ana swiped her earpiece from the table and rushed from the room, leaving a shocked and shattered Toretto behind.
The woman placed her earpiece back in its rightful spot, only to curse under her breath and rush towards the systems room.
JUST AS JAKOB AND Ana had slipped into the empty room, Alice King had arrived at the door of the systems room, where Tej and Ramsey were working to override the security system.
Silently opening the door, Alice peeked her head around the corner, only being able to hear the voices of her two targets instead of seeing them. Moving further into the room, the woman spotted both Tej and the recently rescued Ramsey ─ both of them had their backs to her, making Alice smirk to herself.
Yes, she could've had the element of surprise, but could she resist being a little dramatic?
She was a King, after all.
"Oh, you're just making it easy for me now, aren't you?" She mocked, relishing in the shock that flooded both of their faces as they whipped around to face her. "Come on, they couldn't even spare one crew member to make sure nobody, y'know, attacks you both?"
Alice pointed between them and shrugged, dramatically sighing as though she felt bad for the pair whilst walking towards them.
"Well, I suppose with Han gone, you are stretched pretty thin." She pouted, before suddenly and swiftly grabbing Ramsey's hair and slamming her head into the glass cabinet next to her.
The woman dropped to the ground, groaning as she clutched her now bleeding head.
Tej didn't waste a moment before trying to jab Alice in the stomach. The woman simply caught his wrist and twisted, forcing the man to turn around and allowing Alice to kick him in the back of the knees. Tej groaned and dropped to the ground so that he was kneeling, but used his free hand to grab Alice's leg and pull as hard as he could.
The woman gasped when her back hit the concrete floor, the fall having winded her, but she quickly recovered and gained her footing at the same time as Tej.
Little did she know, Ramsey had been discreetly asking for backup through her earpiece from the moment Alice had left her on the floor.
The King woman stamped her heel down onto Tej's foot, making the man double over reflexively, which allowed her to grab the sides of his head and drive her knee into his chin.
The man tumbled backwards, having been knocked out by the blow.
Alice turned back around to Ramsey, who was sitting on the floor with blood dripping down the side of her face.
"Now, where were we, darling?" She grinned, taking a step towards the cowering woman, only to be pulled backwards by her shoulders.
Ana Starling turned the woman around, smirking at the faux shock on Alice's face. They really should've become actresses ─ missed opportunity, Ana joked to herself.
The two began to exchange realistic yet light blows, not wanting to hurt each other, but also trying to prevent their alliance from being discovered.
Whilst the two "fought", Ramsey managed to open the vault for Dominic and Brian, who were encountering a major problem of their own.
Alice shoved Ana away, causing the woman to pretend to slam into one of the server units. It gave the King woman the perfect opportunity to dash out of the server room and away from the 'three' members of Toretto's crew.
SHORTLY AFTER JAKOB AND Natalie had diverted into their own missions, Roman Pearce had caused his loud (and embarrassing) distraction, allowing Dominic and Brian to sneak away to the vault.
Nick nudged Xavier, gaining his attention, and nodded towards the pair. The older brother nodded in response and the two tailed after Toretto and O'Connor.
The pair were oblivious to their pursuers as they walked into the room containing the entrance to the vault. Brian was a few steps behind Dominic, allowing Xavier to grab the collar of his suit jacket from behind and yank him to the ground.
Brian grunted, having landed harshly and getting taken by complete surprise.
Dominic turned at the sound of a struggle, only to find two unfamiliar men behind him ─ one was dragging Brian even further backwards so that he was against the wall, whilst the other was fixing his cuff links nonchalantly, like nothing was even happening.
"Stay down, Brian." Nick whispered, making the O'Connor man question how this supposed stranger knew his name. It took him several seconds, but he finally recognised him from the background of one of Natalie's video calls ─ he was Nat's brother.
Before Brian could respond in any way, Nick stood from his crouched position and walked towards his brother. Xavier was still fiddling with his sleeves, whilst the Toretto was furiously glancing between the older brother and Brian, who was still on the floor.
Seeing as Xavier wasn't making any moves to attack Dominic, Nick took it upon himself to throw the first punch. It was a mean right hook that landed right on Toretto's jaw.
Pain flared through his knuckles and struck along his forearm, but Nick couldn't care less. Dominic stumbled back, clutching his bleeding lip before wiping the dark red on his black suit sleeve.
"That was for Owen." Nick's British voice announced, smirking proudly at the red mark consuming Toretto's jaw.
Xavier then pounced forward, swiftly dropping to the floor and swiping out Dominic's legs with his own, sending the man crashing to the floor.
Sharp pains consumed the Toretto man's back, forcing him to groan and stay put exactly where he was.
The older King strolled towards him, looming over his fallen body before raising his foot and bringing it down abruptly on Dominic's nose.
A sickening crack resonated throughout the room, along with Toretto's yells of pain.
"And that was for our sister." Xavier seethed, referring to Natalie as his and Nick's sibling.
Despite the blood gushing from his nose and over his mouth, Dominic found it within himself to speak. Oh, how stupid could the man be?
"I don't even know who your sister is." He groaned, clutching his, probably broken, nose.
Nick let out a low whistle and crossed his arms across his chest.
"Now, that was definitely the worst thing you could've said." He winced, his playful manner seeping through as he spoke.
Before the bleeding man could question why, two large hands grasp the lapels of his jacket and pick the man up, before slamming him into the nearest wall.
Xavier's knuckle-white grip only tightened as he held Dominic against the wall, trying so very hard not to just put Toretto out of his misery there and then.
"You don't get to forget everything you've done, and you certainly don't get to forget Natalie Toretto." He seethed, his face only inches away from Dominic's bloody one. The red only got darker when the man's face blanched; he had realised just who he was dealing with ─ the King brothers.
Nick, ever the troublemaker, decided that he would rile Dominic up ever further.
"He meant Natalie King─shit, sorry, it's Natalie Shaw now, right brother?" He spoke sarcastically, putting extra emphasis on their sister's last names.
The thought of Natalie having moved on, and found another family... found better brothers, filled Dominic with an indescribable rage. It coursed through his veins faster than any car, and radiated off him in waves.
He clenched his jaw and fists, completely seeing red as he shoved Xavier away from him and struck him as hard as he could.
To his surprise, the King simply took the hit, his head whipping to the side, before the man chuckled as he wiped the blood from his split lip.
"Oh, you're going to have to hit a lot harder than that." Xavier taunted, only to feel Nick rush past him and launch himself at Toretto.
The younger brother threw punch after punch, before forcing his way behind Dominic and kicking his knees out. The man dropped to his knees, giving Nick the perfect opportunity to wrap an arm around his neck and pull.
All of the air escaped Dominic's lungs, and none could get back in ─ Nick's grip was too tight, causing the man to claw at his arm in a poor attempt to get free.
Brian, who still remained on the floor, knew that this was crossing the line, and that he had to do something to help the man he considered a brother. Leaping from his seat on the ground, the O'Connor tackled Xavier, sending them both toppling onto the hard, glossy flooring.
Nick, who had become temporarily distracted by the two, loosened his hold the smallest amount, but it was enough for Dominic to get the air and leverage he needed. Toretto grabbed Nick's arm with both hands and threw the man over his shoulder and onto the floor in front of him.
Both brothers don't waste a second before rising to their feet, rearing their arms back and throwing punches at Brian and Dominic.
Somehow, Nick ended up against the O'Connor, so he aimed to simply knock him out and not injure him too badly. Xavier, on the other hand, was throwing everything that he had at Dominic, hoping to seriously injure him.
Both Toretto and O'Connor were losing so badly that Dominic was yelling for Ramsey to open the vault through his earpiece. Unfortunately for the King brothers, the vault doors slid open and they were both shoved back, allowing Dominic and Brian to dive into the vault and for the doors to close before either brother could reach them.
BACK IN THE PRINCE'S bedroom, the three guards in uniform darted out from behind the head guard and towards Letty and Natalie. The one on the far right was unfortunate enough to be Natalie's chosen victim ─ the woman threw the blade in her hand, sending it soaring across the room and into the shoulder of one of the guards.
Said guard yelled in pain, collapsing to their knees as they pulled out the blade.
"Rookie mistake." Natalie chastised sarcastically, before turning her attention to the two remaining guards in uniform.
"Do you want the one on the left or the right?" The Shaw woman asked over her shoulder, not daring to take her eyes off the quickly approaching enemies.
"The left works fine." Letty nodded, stepping out from behind her best friend.
The guard on the right ran up to Natalie, immediately attempting to roundhouse kick her in the face. The Shaw woman leant back, narrowly missing the boot colliding with her face.
Natalie dashed towards the woman, and used the guard's bent leg as leverage ─ the Shaw woman stepped on her thigh and placed her hands on the guard's shoulders, allowing herself to boost herself up and wrap her legs around her enemy's neck.
The momentum allowed her to swing her body around and cause the guard to lose balance, sending them both toppling to the floor. Natalie met the floor hands first, allowing her to roll off her disorientated opponent, who smacked their head into the hardwood floor.
Not wanting the guard to get back up (but not wanting her to die, either), Natalie retrieved her second throwing knife and stabbed it into the outer flesh of the woman's thigh. The uniformed guard screamed, reaching for the wound. The Shaw woman left the blade buried in the wound, knowing it would give the guard a better chance at survival.
Natalie got up just in time to see Letty knock out her guard in uniform, but also get taken out by the head guard, Kara.
Kara slammed Letty's head into one of the stone pillars, rendering the woman unconscious and causing blood to pour down the side of her face.
"Great, another traumatic brain injury and round of amnesia to deal with." Natalie remarked sarcastically, pushing her hair up into a bun and securing it with a hair tie from her wrist.
"Thank God you both showed up." The final guard spoke, raising her fists defensively. "These parties bore me to death."
Kara lept from her place and towards Natalie, causing the woman to roll out of the way before rising to her feet again. The guard threw a right hook, making the Shaw woman duck. Natalie then landed three rapid punches to the woman's stomach, which sent the guard stumbling back one or two steps.
Without wasting a second, Natalie threw a punch at her face, only for Kara to catch her wrist and scoop one arm underneath the Shaw woman's right thigh. The guard raised her opponent onto her shoulders before throwing Natalie into the wooden lattice.
Wood splinters rained down on the Shaw woman as her back collided with the wall, before she dropped to the ground and smacked her head. Her hair had fallen out of the bun, clouding her vision. Pain flared from the base of her spine and stretched all the way to her skull, making the Shaw woman want to just lie down and sleep. Unable to rest even for a moment, Natalie shuffled backwards, just narrowly missing Kara's fist flying towards her face.
The Shaw woman rose to her feet, only to stumble back when stabbing pains blossomed across her cheek. Kara reeled her fist back, going in for another punch, only for Natalie to strike a kick to her stomach.
Nothing seemed to hurt this guard, because she was barely affected by any of the Shaw woman's attacks.
Natalie forced her spinning vision to focus as she tackled Kara to the ground, landing on top of her and throwing punch after punch to her face. She only managed to get three hits in before the guard flipped them over and struck Natalie's face repeatedly, whilst gripping her neck with her other hand.
Desperate to stop the pain and save her life, Natalie frantically reached for one of her knives and drove it into the woman's side. Once, twice, three times, before Kara let her go.
Natalie groaned as she stood, stumbling into a pillar as she tried to subdue the dizziness consuming her head. Somehow, Kara seemed almost completely unfazed by her stab wounds and grabbed the Shaw woman by her shoulders before shoving her into one of the sofas.
The furniture toppled over, along with Natalie, sending her rolling onto the floor. Stumbling to a stand, Natalie's shoulders were grabbed again, so she grabbed Kara's shoulders back.
The two pushed each other without letting go and ended up stumbling towards the exit of the bedroom. Kara used one hand to grab Natalie's neck and shove her into the wall. The Shaw woman gasped, her spine igniting like it was on fire.
Forcing all of her weight onto Kara, the two tumbled onto the ground, with Natalie rolling to a stand and the guard not even a second behind.
The two exchanged blows before wrestling each other, ending up closer and closer to the balcony railing.
Natalie pulled out her final knife and in complete and utter desperation, she drove it directly into the woman's abdomen. The Shaw woman managed to shove Kara off her and towards the railing.
Knowing what she had to do to finish this, Natalie ran towards the wounded guard and used both feet to kick her, and send Kara toppling over the balcony.
The guard landed on the DJ booth, which crumbled under her wounded body, whilst the momentum of the kick allowed Natalie to remain on the balcony and simply crashed onto the balcony flooring.
Groaning, Natalie felt ache and pure pain consume every inch of her body, causing her to lay there and simply rest for a moment.
It was then that she realised that there was no chatter coming from her earpiece, not even from Nick, prompting her to reach up and check for the small device.
"Oh, fuck my life." The woman grunted, not finding her earpiece where it was meant to be. It must have fallen out during her fight with Kara.
Forcing herself to a stand, Natalie stumbled back towards the bedroom, not only for her earpiece, but mainly for Letty ─ the Ortiz woman took a really tough blow to the head.
Using the walls for support, she finally made her way over to her best friend, who was beginning to stir from her involuntary sleep.
"Hey, Letty, we've gotta go." Natalie spoke gently, lifting Letty's arm over her shoulder despite her back screaming in protest.
"Lia?" The Ortiz woman murmured, making Natalie's heart stop dead in her chest. That was Letty's nickname for her when they were teenagers, but present Letty wouldn't know that, unless...
"You're okay, Lets, I've got you." The Shaw woman grinned, and despite their current physical injuries, it seemed that some mental ones were healing.
THE SUPERCAR BROKE THROUGH the final gate in the vault and screeched to a halt before it hit any of the partygoers. Dominic revved the engine at the sight of the elevator doors sliding open ─ Deckard Shaw and an unfamiliar blonde stepped out, armed with heavy-duty guns.
Walking into the party, Deckard raised his gun into the air and fired, sending anyone who wasn't involved in the war between two families scattering. Once they had a clear path to the red supercar, Hattie began open firing on the bulletproof vehicle, and Deckard quickly joined in.
The car began speeding towards them, whilst two guards attacked the siblings. The opponents were quickly taken care of, though not quick enough. Dominic turned the car so that the rear end would hit both Hattie and Deckard.
Thinking quickly, Deckard shoved his sister out of the way and took the hit, rolling over the roof. He landed harshly on the hard floor, but quickly recovered and moved into a crouched position, continuing to fire at the car.
Hattie, after recovering from her shock, climbed to her feet and rained bullets down on the vehicle that had hit her brother.
Deckard switched to the explosive function, firing explosive devices at the car but missing, and hitting various walls and furniture. The supercar was headed toward the window, so both Hattie and Deckard shot an explosive at the rear end, which only catapulted it further and sent it into the next building over.
"Nat wasn't kidding, he really is batshit crazy with cars." Hattie spoke in both surprise and somehow annoyance, before both Shaws turned away from the now shattered window in search of the rest of their family.
Xavier and Nick came waltzing in from the room next to the vault, sporting a few marks and bruises, whilst Jakob and Alice walked towards them looking just as they had arrived (despite the latter actually fighting).
Deckard was instantaneous in noticing the absence of his wife, causing him to question her whereabouts.
"Where's Nats?" He asked, concern written over every inch of his face. It almost entirely subsided when he heard heels clicking on the marble flooring, though the steps were inconsistent, almost as though she was stumbling.
Turning towards the noise, the group finds Natalie doing her best to walk whilst supporting a semi-conscious Letty, and sees her sporting all sorts of bruises and cuts.
They all immediately head towards the pair, with Alice taking over as Letty's support and Deckard acting as Natalie's.
"Why do I always get the difficult shit to deal with?" Natalie complained, referring to her fight with Kara. She winced as her head pounded from the many blows she took, but thankfully, the pain subsided relatively quickly.
"Are you alright?" Deckard asked, tilting Natalie's head towards his face so that he could make sure he got an honest answer.
"I'm fine, really." She smiled, pressing a gentle kiss to her husband's cheek.
The group headed towards the elevator, wanting to leave and prepare for the inevitable attack that they would face within the next day, considering Toretto's crew now had God's Eye.
"I'm assuming Letty's coming with us then?" Nick questioned, making everyone turn to the now-steady woman.
"I mean, if you guys don't mind..." Letty trailed off, looking at Natalie for confirmation. The Shaw woman simply smiles and offers an open arm, which Letty gladly settles herself under.
The group stood in silence for a moment, waiting within the elevator, before the chattiest person decided to break the peace.
"I think Xav broke Dominic's nose." Nick revealed, chuckling to himself. It wasn't long before everyone was quietly laughing, revelling in the small victory within the company of their family.
HAYLEY WRITES...
i fear there's quite a lot to
unpack here...
so how are we feeling about
this chapter? especially with
the whole ana & jakob
situation. why do y'all
think ana really broke up
with jakob? 👀
i hope you enjoyed this
chapter!
please let me know what you
think! i love love love reading
your comments and ideas!!
also, here are some of the
dresses that some of the girls
wore:
^^ nat's dress (without the train/extra fabric at the back)
^^ ana's dress
^^ alice's dress
^^ hattie's dress (but with a slit at the side)
anyways, until next time :)