Empire of Deception (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter 24

All is quiet on my floor the next morning.

I am almost done with my second cup of tea and I have already sorted through a small stack of paperwork that has been waiting to get tended to.

The air is still and the serene tranquility of surroundings is perfected thanks to my new purple orchid. I found that orchids are one of my favorite flowers simply because they come in their own pot and I don't have to go and fetch a vase of some sort. Plus they seem to last for days and days until the flowers droop and fall off. By now I have gone through quite a few of these orchids and instead of throwing them away, I've been storing them by a window in my flat hoping that perhaps they will grow again. I am not sure if they will because I know nothing about breeding and regrowing plants, but I am not about to start googling instructions now. I'll just wait and see if anything happens.

Heavy footsteps pound down the hall, interrupting the silence.

It is a security officer.

I ignore him and go back to my work.

When a second one hurries past I know that something is wrong.

I buzz April who answers right away but doesn't say anything quite yet. I tell her to come to my office right away.

She appears before me and her breath is shaky and that completely gives it away. Something is most definitely wrong and it has to do with me.

"Is there something that I should know about, Miss Maurice?" I inquire.

"There is a bit of a scuffle going on outside the building, sir."

"Scuffle? Why? Why is there scuffling going on?"

"It... It has to do with the headline, sir." In her grasp I see a folded up newspaper.

I beckon her forward and take the paper from her.

"That lying son-of-a-bitch," I sneer.

PRIVATE PROJECTS & SECRET ALLIANCES: BOLTON'S DEEPEST SINS REVEALED by Jake Lewis, the headline reads. "Floor 18" my fucking ass.

That day when he said he was going to grab a bagel but I never saw him get one... It was all a lie. He was never planning on getting one, he had to make a getaway because he knew he wasn't going to be able to get inside the building without an ID to operate the lift. I would have figured out that he was lying to me about his identity.

I am beyond furious. I am fucking livid and ready to kill.

My adrenaline blocks out all possible sane thoughts and I am out of my chair and ready to go down to the lobby and face Satan's apostles—the press.

The lift door dings and I see my father step out with a scared looking Janice behind him, clutching her iPad for her dear life.

Somehow I have the courage to ignore Des as I pass by him and he looks at me with surprise written all across his face. But I am not interested in his lectures or his punishments. I could deal with the severe consequences later.

The lobby is a zoo. People are shouting and the security is trying to contain the flock of reporters and journalists towards the outside perimeters.

As soon as they recognize my face it only causes everyone to get louder.

"MR. STYLES! MR. STYLES!" they yell, their filthy microphones hanging in the air as if that stupid thing could catch my voice over everyone yelling. The security guards try to push the microphones down but this only causes them to get more aggressive.

"Excuse me, sir, you can't be here right now," a desperate security guard tells me as he attempts to block me from reaching the masses.

"Out of my way," I growl, pushing him aside.