14.

Donna wakes to an incessant buzzing, the sound intensifying when she tries to lift her head. The task is too much though, and she focuses on opening her eyes instead, blinking in Landon's form sat in Harvey's leather-studded chair across from her. She isn't bound, but her body feels like dead weight, and she takes several deep breaths, the need to move spurred by adrenaline pumping through her chest. She doesn't want to be seen as vulnerable, even though right now she is, and stubbornly presses her fingertips into the hard surface below her. The room spins viciously, but Landon's soft chuckle ignites her determination, and when she's finally able, she shoots him a steely glare.

"I can see someone isn't a morning person." He taunts, checking the time on his watch. She was out longer than he expected, but they're still on schedule, and he motions to the glass sitting in front of her. "Drink something, it'll help."

Even though she's parched she doesn't dare reach for it, trying to figure out why he's doing this and what he could possibly want. If it was to hurt her, he could have done so at any point while she was unconscious, and while the thought makes her skin crawl, she knows it has to be something else. He'd told her back at the station Cahill had sent him, but no matter how much bad blood there is between Sean and Harvey, the prosecutor has no reason to want to see Harvey behind bars. But he had been working on the deal for Stephen, the case linked to the feds, and she pales, her voice croaking through dry lips. "You're working with Huntley."

"Not just a pretty face, are you?" He's almost impressed she figured it out so quickly. It had taken a lot more goading for Harvey to finally get it, but the loss of color to her cheeks urges him forward. He can't afford to have her pass out on him now she's awake, and he takes a sip from the glass between them, proving it isn't tainted. "It's just water, Donna."

He sets it back down, and she swallows, in desperate need of something to quench the dryness burning her throat, but afraid it will make her look weak if she gives in. Not that she's in any condition to fight it. Stubbornness won't stop the dizziness hazing her vision, and she shakily brings the water to her mouth, drinking until her arms are no longer able to hold the weight. The tumbler clatters against the table, and she rests her head in her palm, breathing in, not sure why Landon would go to the trouble of drugging her. He has to know that once this is over, she'll go straight to the police, and if she can't, anything that happens to her is only going to cast doubt on Harvey's arrest. That's the last thing he or Huntley would want, and the sudden thought of Harvey makes her heart sink. She'd sent Landon in to check on him, not realizing the agent was responsible for setting him up, and her gaze flashes angrily toward the man opposite her. "Does he know?"

"You should have seen his face." Landon doesn't bother hiding the amusement behind his smirk. He did his research when Huntley's appeal was thrown out, and he'd quickly discovered Harvey Specter will bend for a handful of people but he'll only break for one, and the lawyer had reacted exactly how Landon anticipated he would. "Made some very colorful threats trying to protect you, not that there was anything he could do."

A ball of anxiety knots in the pit of her stomach. She'd been right there, less than a few rooms away, her instincts warning her not to leave. Now she's here because she ignored them, and if Harvey thinks she's in danger, there's no telling what he might do. She only hopes Samantha is there to step in, but for all she knows that was a lie too, and her eyes flutter closed, realizing her own part in all of this. Landon and Stephen don't just want him behind bars, they want him to suffer first, but she forces herself to remember why she's always had faith in Harvey. Because when he's backed against a wall, that's when he fights, and she isn't going to lose her faith now. "Push him like this, and I promise you'll regret it."

He admires the ballsy threat, but his plan is contingent on the lawyer bringing his A-game to the table. If Harvey simply sat back and accepted his fate, the guy might stand a chance of getting out of it, but he's going to dig his own grave, and Landon finds his phone, the proverbial shovel. "Let's see, shall we?" He holds the device up in front of her. "I wonder how he'll react when he sees a video of you admitting he beat Miss Barnes within an inch of her life."

She blinks uneasily at the object, but there's no way in hell she's going to do what he's asking. He can't hurt her, not without incriminating himself, and she firms her jaw, calling his bluff. "No."

A chuckle hums at the back of his throat, having anticipated her unwillingness but not letting it phase him. She's obviously pieced together he can't force her. Not physically at least, hence the drugs. He needs the performance to look real, but being an actress, she shouldn't have any trouble faking it with the right incentive. "I don't need him alive, Donna." He warns, a more serious edge to his tone. "Stephen's the one who wants to see him rot in a cell. All I need is enough evidence to discredit him, so what happens next is your call."

The phone clatters on the table and the air in her chest grows thinner under the weight of his gaze. There's no mistaking the threat. If she doesn't agree to do what he's asking, she'll be putting Harvey's life in danger, but if she does, there'll be a video of her condemning him, and now she knows why Landon hasn't laid a hand on her. Because even if she could get to the police in time, there's no proof. It's just her word against his, and he's already shown how high up his connections go. She's trapped, stuck like a deer in headlights and breathing unsteadily when a knock erupts through the apartment sending her adrenaline sky high.

Landon reacts first, standing to retrieve the gun from his waistband, and she recoils away from the weapon but isn't able to fight his grip as he hauls her up. She immediately stumbles, her legs refusing to co-operate, and his nails bite into her skin, keeping her from falling as he drags her to the door

She presses against it, terrified, not for herself but for whoever is on the other side, afraid that they'll get mixed up in Landon's plan or worse, wind up getting hurt, and when he motions for her to answer through the wood, she closes her eyes, trying to calm her nerves. "Now isn't a good time."

"Donna, it's me."

Her chest thunders at the sound of Harvey's voice, the gun at her hip burrowing in deeper, and she assumes Landon wants him gone, confused when he tugs her back, giving her enough room to open the door. She doesn't, the need to protect Harvey rising above all else, but Landon tugs the handle, pulling it as far as the chain will allow.

She doesn't know what he wants her to do, and she stares at Harvey with wide eyes, hoping he can read the warning behind them.

"It's okay." His expression softens at her concern, aware it's for him, and that she isn't by herself. As soon as the police commissioner had cowered under the threat of a mistrial, he'd called ahead to the building's concierge to see if Harris had brought them here. When they'd confirmed she'd arrived with the agent it had fuelled his hope that Harris wouldn't hurt her with witnesses around. Everything he's done so far has been meticulously thought out, which is why he'd come alone, leaving Samantha to work on a plan-B. Because whatever Harris wants, he doesn't care, he'll sacrifice anything in exchange for Donna, and he makes no show of hiding it. "Open the door, Harris."

There's a deafening beat of silence until Donna flinches, her pupils full and dilated like she's on something, and irritation fires through his body. "Damnit, Landon, you know I'm not going to do anything stupid."

The agent smirks but doesn't release his grip. Instead, he leans over Donna to unlatch the chain, pulling her roughly back as the door swings inwards.

"Someone's resourceful," he quips, cocking his head at the disheveled lawyer. He's a far cry from the composed man who'd been sat across from him hours earlier, but he's surprisingly collected as he closes the door behind him.

"You didn't leave me much choice." His eyes wash over Donna, anything but calm as they fall to where Harris has his fingers digging into her arm, right before they shift to the gun that's jutting in at her side. She doesn't seem hurt but she is leaning on the man, another indication she's been incapacitated somehow, and it takes every ounce of willpower to smother his anger.

"It's actually good timing. Maybe you can convince your girlfriend here to be a little more cooperative." Landon squeezes her, watching as Harvey's body tenses, every joint in the lawyer's body looking ready to snap, but he knows Harvey won't move an inch or do anything that might put her at risk.

"Donna, whatever he's asking, do it."

The plea grinds its way out, but she shakes her head, refusing to be used as some sort of bargaining chip. "No."

Harvey's gaze flashes to hers, and she forces herself not to give in to the concealed panic buried beneath his stern expression. He isn't stuck in some prison cell somewhere, and Landon's not going to do anything to her. The agent is just using Harvey's fear against them, and she isn't going to be the reason he gets convicted for a crime he didn't commit. "He wants me to record a video confession."

Harvey breathes in sharply, suddenly understanding why she's so reluctant to give Harris what he wants. Even if she tried to take it back after the fact, a testimony would plant enough seeds of doubt within a jury to question its existence. But he also doesn't care. He'd tape the goddamn thing himself if he thought it would get her out of Harris and Huntley's crosshairs. Still, the only way to ensure her safety is if she's the one in the video, and if that's the deal they have to make, he'll take it. "Donna, I'm not asking."

She shakes her head willing him to listen. "He's not going to hurt me."

"That part's actually true... " Landon cocks the gun, aiming it higher and squaring it at Harvey's chest, "but I could spin a pretty convincing story about how I had to shoot in self-defense. Remember, sweetheart, Huntley's the one who wants him in prison, not me."

The conviction in his voice makes her shudder, and she watches Harvey swallow with only the slightest flicker of fear in his expression, but hers is twisted with anguish, and a knot wells in her throat. She's not the pawn anymore, Harvey is, and she locks eyes with him again, choking on how to tell him she's sorry, that if there were any other way she'd take it, but there isn't.

"She'll do it." He answers for her, because it's the only way he can think of to reassure her none of this is her fault. That whatever happens to him, he can handle it, so long as it gets her out of this mess.

Landon lowers the weapon, deliberately keeping the safety off as he digs it in behind Donna's back. "Over there."

Unease churns in Harvey's stomach but he does as instructed, his feet heavy as they steer him towards the dining room table. Harris motions to the chair at the far end and he sinks himself down, visibly flinching when the agent tosses a pair of cable ties across the polished wood. The thought of being restrained makes his chest race with anxiety, but he tries to calm the rising panic for Donna's sake.

Her face is already flooded with guilt and when Harris lets her go, she stumbles, her hip clashing against the corner of the furniture. He instinctively rises to help, but the agent shoots him back down with a warning glare, and he grinds his jaw, watching her fingers hook shakily around the thin white binding. When she manages to ger herself close enough, he tries to make it easy for her, placing his hands around the back of the chair with a whisper. "It's going to be okay."

She doesn't know how, regret heaving in her chest at the sight of his bruised wrists. Hurting him is going to be unavoidable, and her heart aches as she snaps the ties in place, lingering there as long as she can before Landon yanks her up, pushing her into a seat at the other end of the table.

Pain flairs along the inside of Harvey's arm, but he focuses on the tiny tingle left by her delicate touch, the brief notes of perfume he'd managed to catch and anything else that can distract him from the show Harris is about to force from her.

"I expect tears. This isn't a dress rehearsal."

She closes her eyes, knowing she can't look at Harvey. Not just because she's afraid of what this will mean for him, but because she has to stay focused. If she screws up, she doesn't doubt Landon will go through with his threat, and the waver in her voice comes naturally when he hits record, leading her questions about the morning Catalina was assaulted.

Half-way in and Harvey can't tell which emotions are real or not as she paints a vastly different picture to the two of them sat together on his couch, talking about his insecurities and then spending the next few hours wrapped up in each other's arms. He tries to hold onto the memory of what actually happened but her fear, genuine or not, cuts through him, the wetness landing on her cheeks making every fibre of his being itch to reach out and comfort her. After everything she's been through, and now this, when Harris finally calls an end to the charade, he's ready to tear the man limb from limb. "Are you goddamn satisfied?"

"Confused why your girl chose a career in corporate law." He muses, focused on the screen as he makes a copy, sending it to a secure location on his work server. When it's on its way he sets the device down, watching the status bar as it moves along, hitting the end with a prominent ding.

"Great." Harvey bites out his sarcasm at the unnecessary showboating. "She did what you asked. Take me back in and leave her the hell alone."

"You really are an arrogant son-of-a-bitch, aren't you?" Landon turns on his heel, having been waiting for the moment he would finally get to put the insufferable lawyer in his place. "Did you really think they would just let you walk out of a police station pending aggravated assault and federal charges?"

Harvey flinches, uncertainty coiling in the pit of his stomach at the taunting tone, and he jerks up when Harris steps towards him but is still trapped by the binds securing him in place. He doesn't care if the agent had a hand in getting him out or why, they had a deal. "This is between us, you don't need her anymore."

"Well, you're half-right. I don't need her anymore." It had been his plan all along, to get rid of her so she wouldn't be able to recant the testimony later on in court. He couldn't do it himself, not without a fall guy, but he knew if Harvey thought she was in danger he'd find a loophole to get himself here. After instructing the police commissioner to back down to any legal threats, all he'd had to do was bide his time, and Donna had played her part perfectly. She'd sealed both their fates the moment she'd admitted to being scared of Harvey on camera, giving any jury motive, and with the file now at the FBI headquarters, he can finally have some real run. "Why put you away for a few years when you'll be up for life after murdering your girlfriend."

"Don't you fucking touch her," Harvey spits, a wave of anger he's never felt before reaching every crevice of his body. Harris had played him and he'd fallen for it hook, line and sinker, his muscles shaking with rage when the man palms the table, breathing hotly against his face.

"Remember when I said I'd be gentle, I lied."

Landon straightens, and the only thing stopping Harvey from letting loose every threat under the sun is another pronounced ding, along with a flash of movement that draws both men's attention to where Donna is struggling with Harris' phone. A warning stirs in Harvey's throat, but before he can shout it, the agent lunges, circling his arms around her trembling form and tearing the device from her grip.

Landon glances at the screen and realizing she didn't get a chance to send the recording, tosses the phone out of her reach, wrapping his fingers tightly around her throat. "Nice try." He'd wanted to take his time, make the pair of them suffer, but it's proving more trouble than it's worth, and he squeezes, smirking against her ear as she struggles against him."Turns out I can hurt you after all."

"Donna!"

She can hear the desperation in Harvey's voice, begging her to fight, but any strength she had is zapped away by the hand choking her airway. She tries to gasp around it but the attempt does nothing to fill her lungs and she can feel the world growing dark around her, helpless to do anything except succumb to it.

She just hopes Harvey can find a way to forgive her as she lets go, slipping into oblivion.

.

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AN: I had such a hard time writing this chapter and it wouldn't have happened without the encouragement, ideas and support from southsidesister, Pegtastic and AlternateShadesofBlue. If there's anyone reading this who is having doubts about posting, needs some help, or even just a place to start, the Darvey community is such a kind and nurturing environment. I'm on twitter, please feel free to reach out so we can keep this fandom going forever :) xx

Also, sorry not sorry about another cliffhanger haha but the next update definitely won't be as long! ;)