Louis schooled his face into an expression of bored calmness although he felt increasingly stressed. He wasn't worried about himself but he didn't want any trouble for the other three lads, especially Niall. Niall had to be protected at all costs, he was far too vulnerable at the moment. Louis squared his shoulders and stared into Stephen's eyes.
"You lied to me, Mr Tomlinson.And Liars get punished" Stephen's expression was gloating.
"And when did I do that?" Louis replied coolly
"The picture of you and Zayn. It was you, wasn't it?"
'That could be any two people. What makes you think it was us?" Louis kept his voice quiet and untroubled sounding even though he could feel sweat starting to break out on his back. Stephen just made a 'humff 'sound and changed his line of attack.
"You admitted Zayn had been in contact with you when you came in previously. You knew about Niall's suicide attempt. You had quite a bit to say on the subject. I told you then, Mr Tomlinson, you'd not heard the last of this. Your bit*hy attitude and Zayn's rule breaking won't go unpunished, I assure you".
"I didn't say Zayn had contacted us" Louis fired back "I said Niall had contacted Zayn because he was scared and needed support. Zayn and Niall have always had a special bond. YOU changed our phone numbers remember so Zayn couldn't contact us. It's not our fault you were too stupid to remove Zayn's numbers from our phones. And if Zayn hadn't stepped in and saved Niall both times, you'd have single handedly killed off One Direction."
"And what about Zayn attending that Interview with you? You deny you planned that? You expressly disobeyed my instructions on how that interview was to be handled" Stephen's voice was getting louder and his face was almost puce colored.
"We had no idea Zayn was going to do that. He didn't talk to us at all. We didn't even know he was in the country, never mind at the TV studio.He came, said his piece then left. None of us know where he went to afterwards or where he is now. We were to busy looking after Niall who had collapsed. He is ill and you forced him to do that interview. You don't care, do you. You are the ones who are the liars. You lie and manipulate everything. I doubt the fans know the real truth.Maybe you should remember liars get punished" Louis stood up, pushing his chair over. He stalked from the room, slamming the door behind him.
Stephen stared at the closed door, his anger building. He pulled his phone towards him and dialled the number for a certain journalist who he knew would only be too happen to listen to a few 'stories' about both a certain Louis Tomlinson and his former buddy, Mr Malik. He smiled a rather nasty smile as he planned his revenge. Zayn had effectively killed the story of Niall's suicide attempt so he had at least been useful. But Zayn would also be paying for breaking the rules. The press would be having a field day with both Mr Malik and Mr Tomlinson. Stephen would make sure of that.