Temptress

60 - Niall | Headache

I spent many sleepless nights thinking that Cleo was helping our mother... especially because she disappeared right when I saw Desmond talking to her, and I wondered if sometimes Cleo's job could be something related to getting the people trafficked.

It hurt me so fucking much to even think this of my sister, it made no sense to me. But I was desperate and heartbroken... keeping this facade around my mother was very tiring and I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to keep this up.

I was pretending I was sick or simply ignoring her calls lately, I had no energy to play along and pretend things were okay. It hurt to know that the person you loved and looked up to was actually a vile human being.

Cleo might kill people for a living, but selling children to pedophiles with no fucking remorse? Using your own establishment so disgusting men could actually choose and buy as if they were grocery shopping? Fuck no, this was melting my brain.

I felt betrayed and desperate, which was why I decided to sneak into Harry's house so I could maybe overhear something or see something, hoping it could enlighten me on how Desmond fit in all this.

How was he helping my mother?

Was he actually the one trafficking and she let him use Eroda? Was he helping her bring the people to New York? Since when were they working together and was my father also involved in this alliance?
It was a smart move to make everyone think they hated each other... keeping us clueless and fortifying their lie.

And now that I found out Cleo was as oblivious as me about all this, I could finally take a deep breath and relax a little. I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle it if she was involved... I always admired her strength and personality so much. Plus, she always took care of me... in her own way.

I knew my sister was someone hard to handle and a bit closed off, and I couldn't even begin to imagine how she was feeling. She was the one who always defended our father and wanted to avenge his death... and it was all for nothing.

We didn't deserve this at all.

"I'm sorry, Niall." Cleo took a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears as she looked deep into my eyes.
She had tied her hair in a bun and she was seated on the couch right next to me, holding her knees against her chest. The unicorn hoodie she was wearing was ridiculous and nothing like I'd ever seen her wear before... actually, she looked so different from the Cleo I was used to that I was having a whiplash.

Let's start with the fact my sister had the letters H.S. bruised all over her thighs... and the owner of said rings was also the owner of this house. But I honestly wasn't expecting to see my sister's initials on his chest, which made me want to claw my eyes out the moment I realized this was something sexual.

And the way Harry shamelessly confirmed it shocked me a lot, he simply said they were sleeping together as if it was the most casual thing ever.

As if they weren't trying to kill each other before.
But I guess it was indeed pointless anyway.

Cleo hated him and his dad for killing our father, but I honestly was glad they did it.

Harry was working with her now, helping her with this... there weren't any reasons for them to hate each other anymore, but that didn't mean I wasn't fucking surprised. How did this even happen? Did they even have anything in common?

My sister wasn't the kind to let people in, and the way she behaved around him, and also the way they trusted each other, was very confusing for me to see.
She told me they'd been working on this list for a while, trying to figure out why some anonymous client gave them the names of my father's previous clients, and how they went through so many theories that they literally had a crime board on Harry's window.