Liam Payne’s GF Kate Cassidy left a ‘hostage situation’ in Argentina before his death, claims her friend

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Liam Payne's heartbreaking final days have undoubtedly left a lot of unanswered questions, and now his girlfriend Kate Cassidy is opening up about the turmoil she found herself in just days before his demise.

According to a close friend of Cassidy, 25, she felt like she was trapped in a “hostage situation” during their time together in Argentina — and leaving him behind was one of the hardest decisions she ever had to make.

Kate Cassidy made a tough decision to leave Argentina

Kate Cassidy had initially planned to spend only a few days with Payne in Argentina, but that short trip stretched into more than two weeks. She struggled with whether she should stay or go, torn between wanting to support him and needing to return to her own life back in Miami.

The friend told the New York Post anonymously, “She can’t leave, or else who knows what will happen? And if she leaves, what will he do? But she has other responsibilities, other things that she’s supposed to be doing. So she finally had to make a decision."

“I get what people are saying, that she should just stay with her rich, famous boyfriend, but she wanted to be home in her own bed with her dog. She wanted to come home. So eventually she says she’s going home.”

Cassidy’s departure from Argentina came just days before Payne's tragic death, where he suffered fatal injuries from a fall off his hotel balcony. She left after a tense few weeks in which Payne, 31, reportedly begged her to stay.

“They’re in Argentina and it’s like a hostage situation,” her friend described. “She tells him she wants to leave, this is after a week. He begs her to stay. She keeps extending her trip, a day, two days. And he just wants her to stay, stay, stay.”

Cassidy eventually made the difficult choice to head back to Miami, but now she’s left wondering if things would have turned out differently if she had stayed. Did her leaving push Payne over the edge? It is something that weighs heavy on her mind, according to those close to her.

Kate Cassidy's moving tribute on Instagram

Following the One Direction star's death, his devastated girlfriend took to Instagram to share her heartbreak and the dreams they had been planning together. In a raw post, she revealed that Payne had been talking about proposing to her and that they had spent time “manifesting our lives together” just weeks before he died.

“I keep your note close, even though you told me not to look at it. It said, ‘Me and Kate to marry within a year/ engaged & together forever 444,’” she shared with her followers.

She even posted a photo of the note, adding that the number 444 held a special meaning in numerology. “More often, you will see the number 444 when you are feeling alone,” the picture explained. “In a simple sense, the number 444 reminds you that your angels are always there to support you.”

Cassidy’s post was full of love and sorrow. “I don’t even know where to begin. My heart is shattered in ways I can’t put into words,” she said, “You are—because I can’t say were—my best friend, the love of my life, and everyone you touched felt as special as I did.”

The pain of losing Payne is something Cassidy is still trying to process. “None of this feels real, and I can’t wrap my head around this new reality of not having you here. I’m struggling to figure out how to live in a world without you by my side. Together, we got to be kids again, always finding joy in the smallest things," she wrote.

Despite the heartbreak, Cassidy believes that Payne is still with her in spirit. “I know we’ll be together forever, but not in the way we planned,” she said. “You'll always be with me. I gained a guardian angel.” She concluded her message with “Forever yours, Katelyn 444."