FicWad

Zayn never thought of their city as being a large one. He'd visited quite a few cities for business, and their own had always seemed small in comparison. He had his favorite coffee shop, his favorite grocery store, his favorite liquor store all in a few blocks radius. He lived his life within fifteen minutes of everything unless he wanted to go uptown for a night out. Their skyscrapers weren't as tall, their roads not as wide, their traffic not as bad as other places.

But when you've lost something, someone, the city seemed gigantic.

They started at their old house (still on the market and empty). Zayn burst through the front door and straight up to what was Liam's old room. It was clean. Almost eerily so. The bed was smooth and tucked. The Master tore through the drawers and closet for signs of life, but everything was empty. The bathroom was devoid of personal touches, except the painting Liam had picked up at the craft market a few weeks after he’d come here. They’d left it because it was too big for their new place.

Zayn walked up to it, remembering Liam's wide smile as he came through the front door with the huge piece dragging along the floor under one arm. Now, he reached up, running fingers over the brushstrokes, before gripping both sides of the thick wooden frame and lifting it off the hook that held it up. He shimmied with it out of the bathroom and tucked it under his arm as he went down the hall to his room, stubborn as it banged the wall and caught his foot making him stumble.

He left the painting at the door and went inside. "Liam?" he called fruitlessly. His room was the same, but not his anymore. The agent selling it must've thought his style wasn’t likable enough, because the sheets, curtains, and decor were all different. Where he'd left a heavy bust of Henry David Thoreau, there was now a freeform glass blowing piece. He momentarily had the urge to throw the glass thing across the room but resisted and instead went back out to the hall.

Niall and Harry were coming up the stairs. "There's nothing in the theatre or servants hall," Niall informed. Then they tried Liam's (and Zayn's) coffee shop. Then the theatre before Niall reminded him that Liam wasn't here for pleasure.

They knew where they had to go.

They'd started with the house because it was the safest. As far as they knew, no one knew they were in town. Coming back could get them all in trouble with the wrong people. The company was next. Hopefully, Marcus didn't spend any time there - despite his new role as CEO and chairman - and the employees could still be loyal to Zayn and Niall.

Both Niall and Zayn donned hats and sunglasses as they parked the car and walked into the lobby. People were milling about, paying them no attention. Zayn went to the desk and cleared his throat before asking, "Is Marcus in?"

"Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist asked without looking up.

"Um, no, but I-"

“Mr. DeWare is unavailable without an appointment."

"I know that line, Jeanine. I taught it to you."

The girl finally looked up and her eyes went wide. "Seriously, Mr. Malik? Oh my god. You shouldn't be here."

"I know. Is Marcus here?"

"No, and you better be glad he's not. He's in a foul mood," she blurted before catching herself and pressing her lips together.

The words hit Zayn like an arrow to the heart. "Is everyone okay? You're still getting healthcare and all that?"

Jeanine scoffed. "So far, Mr. DeWare doesn't care enough to make any changes as long as we're making him money, but he's got people in the building that, you know, spy on us."

Niall leaned in and whispered to Zayn. "We don't have time for this, Zayn."

The girl leaned over and looked at Niall. "Hi, Mr. Horan. How are you?"

The sparkle in her eye was unmistakable. She was always a fan of the blond Irishman. "Hi there."

"He's good," Harry answered for him. "Being taken and all." Louis rolled his eyes.

Jeanine had the grace to look reprimanded and sat back in her chair. Zayn ignored the green-eyed lad and leaned across the counter. "Has Liam been here?" She looked suddenly sheepish. "Jeanine?"

“I’m not supposed to say.”

“So that’s a yes.”

"I mean, he came through here like a few hours ago, refused to leave until he saw Mr. DeWare - who happened to be here for the first time in like three weeks, mind you - and they left together. But I'll tell you, neither one of them looked very happy. Like, mad."

"Liam. My Liam. Left with Marcus. A couple of hours ago."

"But not like that. Liam would never."

“Obviously," all four men said at the same time.

"I don't know what he wanted. You could go upstairs and see if anyone else knows. But, like I said, be careful."

Zayn tapped the desk. "Thanks, Jeanine. Can I get a key to the exec floor?"

Jeanine looked to her left, her right, and across the lobby floor before reaching under her desk and pulling a key from a drawer. "Have it back to me in ten. I’m totally going to lose my job."

"You're a saint," Zayn praised.

They shuffled over to the elevator, trying to be as inconspicuous as they could in a hat and glasses indoors. No one got on the lift with them so they relaxed back against the metal and inserted the key before pressing the top floor.

"Why would Liam leave with Marcus?" Harry asked, hand twined with Niall's.

"Whatever it was, it can't be good," Louis assumed.

Zayn huffed, "Yeah, thanks for that, Lou."

"Not like that. Just...yeah, okay, sorry."

The elevator dinged and the door swooshed open. Zayn took the key in hand and led the group onto the floor. Familiar faces filled most of the offices. Unfamiliar faces stood at the edges of the room. Zayn tried not to look like a criminal, sliding his glasses off his face and on to his shirt. The office at the end of the room, Zayn's old one, was dark.

The dark-haired Master stopped at a desk he knew. "Clark."

Clark looked up and his mouth dropped open before quickly recovering and looking slowly to a man standing at the corner of the room. "Hello, sir. What can I do for you?"

"Jeanine told me Liam had been here," Zayn whispered and Clark nodded. "Do you know why?"

"I'm sorry, sir. That's not my area, um, but I'm sure Kelsey could help you." He looked with purpose over Niall's ex-assistant's desk.

"Thank you," he murmured.

Niall slipped in front of Zayn and drummed on the desk and hummed, "Kelsey, dove."

Kelsey didn't look up, but her fingers froze mid-word on her keyboard. "If I look up and Harry isn't with you, I'm going to ignore you and go back to work. Because you're the bomb, Mr. Horan, but I'm only willing to lose my job for Harry."

Harry smiled wide and leaned over, elbow on her desk and chin in his hand. "Hey there, gorgeous."

"Harold, my sunshine."

"Oh, I like her," Louis offered.

"You guys shouldn't be here," Kelsey warned.

"Yeah, we've heard. But we need to ask you something important."

"Yes, Liam was here."

"And he left?"

"With Marcus," she confirmed.

"Why?"

Kelsey started to answer but snapped her mouth shut as a thick man in a dark suit walked by. "We can surely change that appointment for your boss, sir. I understand how important his business is here." The assistant started scribbling blindly on a piece of paper while she smiled up at Harry. "Let me send you down to our marketing department and I'll let them know you're coming." She slid the piece of paper across the desk and picked up her phone.

"Thank you," Harry said with a little more gusto than was necessary for an appointment change.

She just nodded and pretended to press some buttons on her phone. "Have a good day, sir." The man walked away and so did the four of them. They didn't look around, didn't speak, until they were in the elevator. Doors shut, Harry opened the folded piece of paper and read out, "'Make a deal' and then something like 'sun square'. I don't know, I can't read it."

“She never had great handwriting,” Niall recalled.

Zayn snatched the paper away and read it over again. "What kind of deal would Liam go to the most dangerous, powerful man in the city for? What did he need so badly he couldn't tell me?" Zayn crumpled up the piece of paper and shoved it in his pocket.