Becoming Elliott (Harry Styles)

Two.

NOW I KNOW I'M BEING USED, THAT'S OKAY BECAUSE I LIKE THE ABUSE

E L L I O T T C O L E

To say Christian was impatient was an understatement, as soon as myself and Toby were through the door, we were escorted to the room where Christian was waiting. I looked around as I entered the room, he was not alone and that was something I was not ready for. When Toby said he was calling a meeting, I expected it to be the three of us, maybe he'd invite just Chantel as his partner. Instead, the room was full of everyone who worked for him. 

"Emma," Christian looked over at me. "I need you over here," he motioned to the space next to him. I obeyed and walked towards him, I was aware of all eyes on me yet I continued on. I stood there and waited for him to speak again. He then stepped forward into the space between myself and the rest of the people in the room. "There is a problem," he announced as he walked looking at everyone else in the room. 

I watched him pacing back and forth, my hands were sweating as I held them behind my back. I didn't want to give anything away regarding who I was. All I could do was try and act as calm as possible, if I was found out there would be consequences, those were less than me going home though.

"There is a rat here," he spoke angrily. "Now, we might not know who it is yet but we will not rest until we know." Christian wanted the team to know that he was on to them, putting the fear into them. "And we all know what happens to rats."

My eyes scouted over the people in the room, I was definitely not a rat, I might not have been who I said I was but I wasn't a snitch. Christian continued to tell everything that would happen to whoever was the person who was passing information to our enemies. I watched blankly, my face was almost expressionless as I tilted my head to the side. 

My hands were shaking behind my back as I held them together. 

Christian looked around the room, his eye lingered on a few before he looked back at me. "Whilst we have you all here," he raised his eyebrows at me. I gave him a small nod before he turned back to the others. "We've received intelligence regarding others."

I hated this, I had certainly been here before. 

"We have made quite a few friends along the way," Christian watched the people he spoke to. He wanted to see who looked like they were taking too much of a vested interest. "We have discovered an unlikely alliance between two families though." And that was news to me, I was finding out as he told everyone. "It has come to light that-"

My phone began to ring loudly cutting Christian off.

I cursed as I took it out of my pocket, I looked at the caller ID before putting it on silent and looking back at Christian. 

"Like I was saying," he turned away from me. "It has come to light that the McCarthy family and the Cole family are coming together. There is a marriage between Terry Cole and Joelle McCarthy, sealing the two families."

Keeping calm, I gritted my teeth as I thought about this. My father was going to get married again, he was getting married for business purposes too. Niall had not warned me of this, no one had and now I had to find out like this. 

"Since this is a business wedding," Christian smiled. "There have been invitations extended to the heads of all families, out of respect."

That meant Christian had an invite, he was going to my father's wedding. 

"I will be attending," he confirmed. "Normally I would take Emma with me for this, but we are to appear as normal as possible. Chantel will be accompanying me. We have two weeks until this event, in that time we cannot afford to make any enemies which might prevent attending this event."

Biting my bottom lip, I resisted the urge to shake my head. He was making a mistake by taking his actual girlfriend. She could not look after herself, she was a liability. It was his choice though.

XOXOX

When I returned home, I was surprised to see a car sitting outside of the house. Walking towards it, I rolled my eyes when I saw it was Will. Leaning into the window, I stared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to see you," he told me quickly. "Get in."

Looking around, I obeyed and climbed into the passenger seat. "Will," I sighed as he moved away from my home. "You know I can't be seen with you."

"Don't worry about that now," he assured me. "Your father, he's called a search for you. He's onto you, he knows you are not at rehab."

"Niall?" I asked as I thought about my friend who was keeping my secret. 

Will blew out a breath, "He's alive."

"Fantastic," I shook my head. "So, he might not be fully functioning but he's alive. What happened to him?"

"When they found out you never went to rehab," Will began to explain. "Niall refused to talk out of respect for you. Terry handed the reins over to Harry, he's a lot more sadist that your father." 

My eyes widened as I thought about Niall. "What's happened to him?"

"Which one?" Will asked as he raised his eyebrows. 

I turned my head to look at him. It had been so long since I had seen him yet he didn't seem to have changed too much. "Both?"

He glanced at me for a second before concentrating on the road again. "Your father, from what I hear he's taking this time to get to know his new wifey."

"Please don't use the term 'wifey'," I wrinkled my nose in disgust before I pulled down the sun visor and changed my reflection in the small mirror. "And the other?"

Will sighed before letting out a small chuckle, "And your old flame, well... Let's just say Niall is very lucky to be alive."

Smoothing my hair down, I flipped the mirror back up then looked out the passenger window. "Niall should never have helped me," I shrugged my shoulders before smiling to myself. 

"Well he did, so you best do what you need to do to help him out. Seriously, you owe him." Will was harsh with his words reminding me of the truth. 

I narrowed my eyes as I thought about what I needed to do. There was so much to lose by returning home, apart from the life of Niall I would not be gaining anything. Here with Christian, with Lance, I had a new life, something I could make mine. 

Throwing my hands up, I bit my bottom lip as I looked away from a moment. "Fine," I sighed. I was regretting my decision already but I knew it was the right thing to do. "But I am having strong words with Niall myself when I return home. He never warned me about anything."

Will rolled his eyes at my statement, "I think you are going to have bigger things to worry about on your return."

He had driven the car around the block before pulling up outside my home again, "I am going to return tomorrow. Can you help me?"