Empire of Deception (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter 26

Clouds cover the moon which cloak the estate in utter darkness. Bitter winds whip and tear branches from the leaves, one leaf in particular catching on my foot as I step out of my car.

Every step is familiar as I walk up to the house I grew up in. Where my first lessons were learned and my morals were taught. It was wear my heart first started to harden and where my humanity had begun to melt away as if it never existed. I feel sick. I hadn't been here since the last of my trials and I had hoped I never would have to return.

When I open the door the air inside feels warmer than it used to. It's inviting me to step inside. Voices come from within and I don't have to think in order to know where it is coming from, my father's office is just off to the right. Everything is exactly the same. Same furniture, same pens, same filing cabinets, same throw rug. The only thing that has been upgraded was his computer.

I've been to my fair share of corporate estates and practically all of them have their offices deeper within the structure of their home. My father on the other hand preferred his to be closer to the door so his visitors couldn't accidentally wander the halls in search for our family's darkest secrets.

I spot the power family, the head sitting in front of my father, the daughter sitting on a couch and her brother standing beside her. I am not surprised that he didn't take the seat beside her. Christopher... Always watching and waiting, ready to leave and ready to strike. One cannot do this sitting. Perhaps it's simply against his DNA.

He is the first to acknowledge my arrival as he turns to glance at me standing in the doorway. Victoria notices his movement in the corner of her peripheral vision and she tilts her head ever so slightly as if listening to see if she can decipher my next move. Des sits at his desk and doesn't look up at me, his eyes are focused solely on Alexander.

I wait until my father finally invites me inside, and only then do I take a step forward and enter a room filled with an endless hunger for power and tension.

Christoper groans loudly, "Can we please just skip the bloody formalities and get to whatever the hell we are here for?!"

I see Victoria roll her eyes before resting her head in her hand, not even she can handle her brother sometimes. I bite back my grin.

"Christopher," Mr. Jarwin warns but my father insists that he is right, we should skip the formalities and get down to business.

"We need to seal the loose ends of the Project," Des explains as he reaches for a pen and a pad of paper. He jots down some words and I get the feeling that they are more personal reminders than something related to the current topic. "Now is the time we might get some random people poking around our business and thanks to the last bill that was passed by the government, we have to grant public requests for a crazy amount of things that don't concern them."

"Is this because this fuckhead fucked up?" Christopher asks casually, narrowing his eyes at me.

I internally groan.

"It's done, Christopher," Victoria warns, "Let it go. He handled it, already. We don't need your snarky remarks talking about something that is old news."

"Old news? It was earlier today, Ri! The newspapers are still out there and don't get me started on the internet articles!"

Victoria inhales sharply and I notice her brother shift his weight uncomfortably under the fear of her rising temper. "Harry managed to shift the blame and the media to this Lewis person. It's been taken care of and there are already press workers from Bolton who are trying to fix up the rest of it. It's out of our hands. We are wasting time whining about what could have happened instead of focusing on the facts."