A/N: Here's chapter 39. Enjoy, people.

Iris wasn't sure how she escaped. One minute, she was standing in the hallway with three dead bodies. The next, she was outside the gate, breathing heavily. Her jeans were ripped and streaked with blood— she wasn't sure if it was her own or not— and her jacket had been lost somewhere behind her. Dark hair striped her vision and she pushed it back with a shaky sigh.

"You okay?" Tracy asked, hunched over and sucking as much oxygen into her lungs as she could. "We barely got out of there."

"Yeah." Iris squatted and rocked back on her heels. "I feel nauseous." A vague memory of a young man with brown hair being blown up by a small grenade she'd thrown— courtesy of Tracy— entered her mind.

"That's normal."

"And dizzy."

"Also normal."

"And I feel angry."

"That's no— wait, no, that's not normal." Tracy bent down until she was able to look Iris in the eye. Half of her pink hair had escaped its hold and she tucked it behind her ear. "Why do you feel angry?"

Iris sat down and tucked her knees under her shin, the dry leaves crunched under her weight. "I didn't find anything about Meredith."

"You found out she's not here. One place checked off hundreds is progress." Tracy locked her arms around Iris and pulled her up. "You know what you need to do now, right?"

Iris flinched, dread pooled in the pit of her stomach. "What?"

"You're going to need the help of your brothers."

***

"This is a bad idea." Iris gritted her teeth, rubbing her hands across her arms to generate some warmth. "A really bad idea."

"Possibly, but it could also be a really good one. You and Jax are going through a rough patch, I'm pretty sure you've exhausted your favours from the other two, and there's no way in hell Harry would let you do this personally. Your brothers are your only choice as you can guilt them into helping." Tracy eyed the mansion, nose crinkled in disgust. "So this is where you grew up, huh?"

"Yep," she muttered, taking a deep breath. "The gilded cage."

"Well, good luck." Tracy clapped Iris' shoulders. "I'm off now. This sounds messy and, frankly, I'd rather be at a café eating a blueberry muffin than get in the middle of this. Text me when you can, okay?"

"Yeah, I will. Thanks for everything. I'll be in touch soon." Iris pressed her sleeve over her mouth and tried to swallow her rising panic.

The guards noticed her first. One with a beard pulled out a walkie-talkie and whispered something as Iris approached the gate. Within seconds, the doors of the mansion opened and six boys spilled out, practically shoving each other out of the way to get to the front.

"Where were you?" Elijah yelled, grabbing her shoulders. "And— and why are you covered in cuts? Hey, did you have a fight with someone? Did you win? Is there a body we need to dispose of—"

"Later." Although she hated herself for it, Iris gripped his forearms to pave a path back to reality. "Please?"

Elijah exhaled and nodded, the hard lines I. His face softened to something almost human. He glanced at his brothers. "Alright, here's the story we tell parents: we were hanging out, and decided to play tag. Iris tripped and got injured. To divert attention away from her? Brandon will scream in agony from his own injuries."

"But won't Mum and Dad see I'm not hurt?" Brandon asked.

Elijah nodded. "Oscar, do it."

Oscar stomped on Brandon's feet and punched him in the stomach.

Brandon groaned, going down like a sack of potatoes. "I've been wounded! Critically wounded!"

"Calm down, I didn't even hit you that hard." Oscar rummaged through his coat pocket and pulled out a small, dark circle. "Here, have an Oreo."

With trembling fingers, Brandon accepted the peace offering.

Iris blinked and clicked her tongue against her teeth. "Okay... um, where are David and Lisa?"

"After talking with Wright, they left to go to some... fancy gala thing," Damien responded, not looking up from his phone.

"And Alex?"

"Escaped while we were looking for you."

Iris swore and pinched the bridge of her nose. I swear, I'm having some sort of headache every day. "Alright, fine. Is there anywhere we can talk? I have something to tell you... all of you."

Julian nodded. "Yeah, we can go inside and—"

"No." Iris took a deep breath. "We need to go somewhere more private, where no one can hear us talk... how do you boys feel about getting a McDonald's?"

**************

Sorry for the long wait! For some reason, I couldn't upload the chapters properly. I promise to be more active now!

Fun fact: this chapter was originally the last chapter of the old version :)

Hope you guys liked it!

Stay safe and thanks for reading :)