Empire of Deception (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter 17

As I look at the blinding white interior around around me, I nearly scoff at the irony of it. White is a pure color, free from tint. This floor should decorated in all black... A color that cannot be penetrated and a color that soaks and destroys everything that comes into its' path.

I see Christopher speaking to Jackson Vaugns, and once again I find myself questioning what the hell he actually does. He doesn't have an office yet he spends a majority of his time here, even on a Saturday when corporate London is mainly closed. At that exact moment both of their eyes look to me and their stares pierce my flesh like metal spikes.

"Yes," Jarwin calls out, formality and politeness nowhere to be found. Vaugns eyes narrow and it feels like the spikes are being shoved deeper into my skin.

I hold out the large sealed envelope in my hand, the one that contains photos and information of people trying to work their way into corporate walls. "Delivery," I respond blandly, not in the mood to receive any of his shit, "For Victoria."

Jarwin takes the envelope from me and bends the metal prongs so that he can lift the flap open and look inside. I notice that he's standing up a little bit straighter, as if something has just clicked in his mind. There is something he is keeping from me. I don't know what though, I've looked at the papers myself and they are nothing more than resumes. "I'll take these, no need to worry. Enjoy your Saturday, Styles."

My gaze darkens as I try and study him, trying to read off anything he is letting slip. I get nothing. From hostility to the sudden politeness and small push to get me on my merry way, he's a snake and I don't trust him a bit.

I see him slide the envelope to Vaugns who takes it and grips it firmly.

What could they be hiding?

***

Sunday is uneventful and Monday comes along like a boat slowing into port.

Again Victoria barely looks at me, only acknowledging my presence when I take the floor to speak. I look forward to catching her after the morning meeting is done, but she disappears into empty air. I don't bother to go by her cubicle. She is purposely icing me out and I doubt she wants me stopping by her desk.

I am shocked to feel the massive amount of hurt that squeezes my heart. The dark side of my mind decides to come out to play and conquer, and soon I'm swimming in dark waters that drown me. I wonder if something is wrong with me and if I did something that made her not want to speak to me again. It's like I'm in primary school and little Will told me that he didn't like me and that he didn't want to play with me. I feel a little part of my heart harden just a bit more as I look around one last time at the people I despise.

I hate this fucking place.

***

I hide in the fortress that is my office surrounded by boring and generic things that represent how empty I feel. No personal touches from my old office have made it into this new one.

My old floor and my old space seem like a thousand years ago, taken place in a time where I was confident in myself and what Bolton stood for. I understood my mission and my position in the company and I was willing to do whatever it took to complete my tasks. I was alive and buzzing but at the same time I was dead. The real me pushed down to a machine.

And then I rediscovered myself and what it was like to smile and be apart of an actual family. I hadn't really seen Zayn in years but when our paths crossed I felt an old wound opening again and I was reminded that I can bleed and that I am alive. I fought my hardest to gain back his trust and I immersed myself in a world that had actual meaning and an actual goal. Friendship saved me from myself.