Within Temptation

Chapter Thirteen

A/N: Hey all hope you all like this chapter update. Katherine makes a confession that...Well, I don't think anyone could have guessed! ;)

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Within Temptation- Chapter Thirteen

"I'm taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. I'm...You know what. It's not that important." Stefan told them, watching Elijah glare at him, Damon placed his hands onto the large table that sat around 15 people when the room was full and looked up at his brother. He already knew where the conversation was going. The four of them being called in like this- the four main men of Dasells. It could only mean a few changes were happening...

"I want Klaus to take over my spot. He'll be acting as Chairman of the company until I return. Elijah, you'll be taking his spot on the committee board. " Stefan spat, not even looking over at his former best friend. They hadn't really spoken since Elena left and Stefan didn't want to. Business was business and this building with its thinning walls and gossiping crowd of workers was no place to bring up his addiction or his cheating wife. Unless it was in the comfort of his brother's presence and his alone. No else in the 10 story tall building needed to know what went on behind closed doors in the Salvatore's lives. However, there was always the media, always the press hounding them for stories, for small details into their private lives and whenever either Stefan or Damon stayed silent about what was going on. There was speculation- headlines.

"Please tell me that this has nothing to do with the latest headline with you on the cover of it." Klaus said, slipping into the conference room with a sly smile on his face, a newspaper in his hands with Stefan's face plastered across it. The headline reading "Troubled millionaire and chairman of Dasells Antiques- struggling once again."

"You've got to be kidding me! This was supposed to be kept private...This- Which one of you told the masses of media outside?" Stefan spat at them in an angered tone, hearing Klaus exhale, Elijah's eyes shifted as he cleared his throat.

"It wasn't any of us..Stefan, they know about your struggle with- you know..." Elijah said. His voice trailing off as he shifted in his seat. They hadn't talked..They- the two former best friends hadn't really had much else to say to each other than what had already been said..The damage was already done. Yet, Stefan still told him that until he was able to find his replacement that he would be keeping Elijah as part of their company- even if he hated seeing the sight of him. For the sake of the company, they had to be civil.

"Oh course they do. Look, Just...I don't know how long I'll be gone." Stefan commented. His vision became blurred, his head felt like it weighed 1000 pounds and he couldn't sit still, his head foggy and every time he'd look up, he swore he could see a darkened and sad looking pair of brown eyes. It was her- she...was haunting him. He was coming off of his high from this morning...He was using again and now, in front of his 'friends' he was crashing and burning- fast.

Stefan shook his head, pushing himself away from the table. He adjusted his suit jacket and cleared his throat, glancing up at Damon. "I'm not feeling very well. Will you excuse me?" He asked his brother, watching Damon nod as Klaus and Elijah looked over at him and he quietly excused himself from the room, stumbling out of it and towards the hallway.

He was sweating profusely, the cool sweat was dripping down his neck and as he looked around, he felt as if the building was caving in on itself or him for that matter. "I need to get out of here." Stefan muttered, walking past a stairwell and stopping for a moment. The quickest way to get out of the building undetected was through the parking garage down stairs- it was also where he had parked his car at.