"I know this is going to be trouble for me but, I'll help you!"
"You mean it? Great, come by my office tomorrow and we'll talk." Zayn's voice seemed so much different than how she knew, it must be the scandal that's fazing him. With a pounding heart, and horrible questions. Taylor went to sleep, anticipating tomorrow.
~.~
"What do you mean, can you go?" Ashton growled at her, first thing since punching in, she went straight to him to ask if she could go to Zayn's office.
"I want to follow up on the scandal story. He asked for my help." She tried to explain and reason with him.
"He asked for your help?" Ashton raised a brow at her.
"He claims the allegations against him are incorrect and are ruining him."
"Ruining him is right." A slight smirk played on Ashton's lip as he leaned back on his desk. "But the scandal? Every business man claims they're wrong. How do you know he's not lying?"
"Sir please, I've known Zayn since I was five, and I know when he's lying." Taylor pleaded, "Please let me help him, it'll be a great story to if the truth comes out." Ashton put on a thinking face, after about 30 seconds of contemplating the pros and cons he said.
"Fine I'll let you go," Taylor beamed, "But I want a great cover story Swift!" He pressed friendly.
"I won't let you down!"
~.~
Taylor arrived at Malik Inc, a multi national company that made trades in everything, and opened many different businesses such as fast foods, Outlet malls, and recently casinos. Walking into the beautiful building was like entering a war zone. People were running here and there, shouting, throwing things, it was downright chaos. She got into the elevator and pressed 23 for Zayn's floor, one floor for every one of his bussineses.
Once reaching the 23rd floor it was much calmer, for there was just two secretaries. Taylor walked to the desk and said,
"Excuse me."
"One moment please." The blonde one said, whom was talking on the phone with much urgency. The other one, with jet black hair asked,
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'm Taylor Swift, Investagative Reporter, here to meet Zayn Malik, he's m-" The secretary cut her off sharply.
"I'm sorry Mr. Malik is not in his office right now." Her eyes seemed to burn into Taylor's but she disregarded it.
"But he said he'd meet me here."
"Ms. Swift please, he's not here and even if he were, he's not talking to the press." The blonde chimed in, with a sweeter tone. The door to Zayn's office opened.
"Abigail," he was looking down at some files. "A collegue of mine, will be arriving short-" He noticed Taylor, "nevermind, she's already here, come Taylor."
Taylor followed after Zayn into his office.
"Whew, your staff is tight!"
"Yeah everyone is edged since last night," Zayn pressed his forehead with his hand, "please sit." Taylor nodded as she sat down and she pulled out a pen and her notebook.
"So let's get right to it," Taylor said, "What do you think happened?"
"Someone sabotaged me." Zayn said point blank
"Who though, you can't make allegations without proof."
"I'm not sure, but I know it's not just me." Taylor looked confused. ''Remember two years ago, that Johnson company?" Taylor nodded. "When those scandals surfaced they were finished."
"So what's it got to do with you?"
"I was only at #7, so it really did nothing for me, but the Johnson's were making their way up to #1. With their destruction only 4 companies really went up." Zayn paused
"Well who?" Taylor got ready to write it down. Zayn pulled out a file.
"Hemmings Corp. Clifford Toys, Payne Holding and Styles Inc." Taylor wasn't surprised, when one company went down the other went up.
"So?"
"I talked to the Johnson, poor guy works as a librarian now, said these scandals were forged." Zayn whispered to her. "He even hired a P.I. but nothing came up, whenever did this thought his plan through."
"And you think that this happened to you so someone else could get to the top?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yes Taylor, you're the only one who can help me." The look on his face was one she never saw before. "Don't back down now, please." It was vulnerability. Her childhood friend who was always so confident with every step, looked lost and it had only been 24 hours since the news broke out. Taylor grabbed his hand in hers.
"Don't worry. I'll get the truth."
~.~
When Taylor got back to her office the first thing she did was look up the four companies Zayn mentioned. Only to find that Hemming's Corp had disbanded from being a multinational company, and Clifford Toys no longer ranked as a high company.
"That's odd." She mumbled to herself.
"What is?" Ed's voice came from behind her, she turned to see him and smiled.
"Oh nothing, I was just looking for a file on Payne Holdings and they seemed to be blocked, same goes for Styles Inc."
"Hmmm, that is weird, maybe you need a clearance code. Try this." Ed started typing in a series of letters and numbers, and suddenly all of the files opened.
"Thanks Ed."
"No problem," he gave her a sweet smile, "I better get going before The Growler realizes I took a detour." They both giggled and she waved to him as if he returned to his desk. Taylor sighed, this was going to be perfect.
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Zee Speaks : Hey guys thanks for sticking with us!! So 3 votes???? Maybe???? Well FYI Mickey is feeling sick so send your love please!!!!
