Letters to Isabella

forty.

Ross' POV

"Mr Lynch, welcome back, it's good to see you again." My father's secretary, Amy, a middle aged woman with dyed blonde hair and thick black eyelashes said kindly to me as I handed her my appointment card. She glanced down at the piece of paper I'd given to her and nodded. "You know that your father's home then I see."

I nodded my head. "Of course I do. It's spreading around like wildfire."

With a quick flick of her ballpoint pen Amy ticked my appointment card and handed it back to me with a weary smile. "He'll be with you shortly. Take a seat in the waiting area and feel free to help yourself to any of our beverages."

I smiled back and turned on my heel to the waiting area, which to my surprise happened to be empty. "I see business isn't booming as it used to be." I murmured under my breath. I was trying my hardest not to be an asshole, but honestly, after the information I'd heard about my father it was going to be a challenge not to be.

I chose a seat close to the front out of the fifteen other empty seats before me, threw my coat and bag down and proceeded to investigate the 'beverage' table that Amy had so kindly recommended to me.

I laughed quietly under my breath when I saw the kind of beverages my father had chosen to offer. "Of course." I whispered, shaking my head slightly. I reached my hand out and picked up a small glass of neat whisky and rolled my eyes as I held it close to my lips and took a sip. I felt the warm, burning sensation as it travelled down my throat and suddenly realised why my father had drank so many of these whilst working from home. It was practically his brand.

With the whisky still in my hand, I returned back to my seat and sat down with a gentle grunt, fixing my dark blue tie with my free hand as I settled myself in. I hadn't seen my father for a good while, I had to look presentable, especially if I was going to confront him about his little secret love affair.

I glanced down at my glass of whisky and felt slightly disappointed in myself for a brief moment. After all, I wasn't usually a drinker but I knew that a confrontation was brewing between my father and I. To be blunt, I had to be drunk or at least slightly intoxicated to go through with all of the crap he'd surely feed to me about how he's so innocent and that Adeline's a liar. I had all the evidence I needed to know that both of those statements were incorrect so if he dared to use either of them as a way to cover himself I'd have the evidence to back him into a corner and hopefully keep him there.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and with a quick motion I silenced it, cursing whoever it was in my head for picking such an inappropriate time to contact me. I glanced up at Amy who seemingly hadn't heard the annoying buzzing sound and carefully opened up my phone to see who it was.

8:55 AM : One Missed Call — Rocky Lynch

I sighed and quickly typed a response to him.

8:56 AM : Ross Lynch
Hey man. Why are you calling?
I'm about to head in to talk to dad.

8:57 AM : Rocky Lynch
Yo bro! Trish told me some crazy news earlier...

I paused and held my phone tightly to my chest. I was fairly certain what news Trisha had delivered to Rocky thanks to Laura's current situation too.