Objects of Virtue

Chapter 04

Louis could feel Liam's stare burn a hole into his head as he silently took in Simon's words. Louis came for answers instead he was met with newer questions and dead ends. Louis needed to know what was going on. He had no intentions of allowing some one else take a hold and run his father's affairs. Louis had no intentions of playing the part of a trophy wife.

"That may all be good and true Simon, but I still intend on finding out how my father ran his business. I have no intentions of sitting on the side lines and letting someone else run what my father built up, so I would highly appreciate if you could set up whatever meetings are necessary with whoever I need to meet so that I may acquaint myself with them and possibly in the meantime find the motherfucker who decided they could take a swing at my family." Louis was mad. All the pent-up emotions were just at the tipping point of flowing over. He was literally seeing red. He hadn't realized that during his sudden outburst he'd risen from his chair and was now leaning furiously against Simon's desk, his finger nail biting into the palm of his hand.

"Sit down and calm yourself Louis. Remember who you are talking to and in whose house, you are. I am not some peasant on the street you can cuss at and get away with. Now I understand that this is a hard time for you as it is for us all, so I'll let this slide. I have as much stake in your father's affairs as you do, if you remember correctly, we built this together, not for some hot-blooded youngster like yourself to fuck around with and mess up. Once this whole fiasco has settled down, rest assured, I will hand over your father's portion of the business to you, but for now sit yourself down and let me handle it." Simon replied icily, his words cutting through Louis' fiery outburst and indeed putting him back in his place.

Louis sank back into his chair, defeated, tears threatening not for the first time that day. He couldn't believe what had come over him, he was ashamed to say the least. What would mum have said if she had seen him like this. He couldn't bear the thought.

"Now that that's settled, how about some tea? Pryce!" Simon called out. The rest of the conversation was an absolute blur to Louis as he sat silently in his chair, his mind in turmoil, running round in circles, like a dog chasing its own tail.

29th of May, 2021 – Hertfordshire, England.

"Sweet baby Jesus! Wowie!" Niall exclaimed as he hopped out of Harry's car. "Quite a crib eh, Grimmy? Take a look at that, Styles. Impressive!"

Harry sighed and smiled at Niall. Trust Niall to make a big deal out of this. Niall was easily impressed not to say that the grandeur of the house had failed to startle Harry, but Harry was better able to act nonchalant when need be.

"You got it right, Horan. It's massive huh?" replied Grimmy the FLO assigned to the case. Grimmy was older than the two of them, lean and tall with slicked back brown hair and a nose so sharp Harry sometimes wondered if he cut himself washing his face every morning. He was a jovial fellow, just like Niall and loved to joke around, sometimes a little too much. He and Niall got along like a house on fire, not that it surprised Harry anymore, Niall could get along with a nun if need be it.

"Cut it out you two. Niall, please behave." Harry whispered as he knocked on the large door. He picked at his cuticles nervously as they waited for someone to answer the door. The house was beautiful as were the well kept gardens, shrubbery trimmed perfectly, skirting the edges of the house. Harry noticed Louis' black Porsche parked in the garage along with a envoy of other vehicles he assumed belonged to the other members of the family. He knew that the late Mr. Tomlinson preferred a Mercedes, a timeless classic but he wondered what the others drove. Money certainly didn't seem to be an issue in this household, which, Harry had to admit was a little strange seeing that the market for art was in the decline.