Illicit [Harry Styles]

Chapter 54

"What is it?" my mum asked Niall, glancing at him with suspicion from her seat at the table. The look in his eyes as he glared impatiently at me said he was worried.

"Jess," he prompted, nodding towards the stairs and ignoring our mother's question.

I blinked nervously, setting down my cutlery with hesitation and standing up. Niall headed for the stairs and I followed, my heart thudding beneath my ribs and my stomach fluttering with nerves. He ushered me into his room and shut the door as I sat down on the edge of his un-made bed.

"What the fuçk is this?" he said, as more of a statement than a genuine question, throwing the contents of the envelope onto his bed next to me in a somewhat angry manner.

I scanned over the papers, disbelief washing over me like a tidal wave when I realised what they were.

"Is... Is this a wind up?" I muttered, open-mouthed as I stared up at my brother in shock.

"You tell me," he shrugged bitterly. Did he think this had something to do with me?

"I honestly have no idea what any of this is," I told him, but I got the impression he didn't believe me.

Newspaper articles, some kind of legal documents, photographs, a note collaged using letters from magazines. This was like something you'd see in a movie.

Niall picked up the message and read it aloud, "It's time everyone knew the truth about Harry Styles."

I spread the papers across my lap, studying each one with horror. One sheet looked to be Harry's criminal record. How the hell would anyone get ahold of that? He'd been convicted more times than I'd imagined, for fighting, being drunk and disorderly, speeding, petty theft, vandalism, the list seemed endless. However, he'd somehow always got away with the lighter punishment, like community service or rehabilitation courses. Possibly because of his dad's wealth and power in the courts. I did remember him talking about how winning their case got the company loads of good publicity and business.

There were documents and stories about the fire, which obviously I was aware of, but the rest of the articles were news to me. A mug shot of Harry was not something I ever wanted to see, yet there it was staring me in the face. I had no idea how someone would manage to get their hands on any of this.

As if all this information about how terrible he was before I knew him wasn't bad enough, I'm almost certain my heart stopped beating when my eyes landed on one document that said something I could've never imagined Harry to have done. Two thousand and twelve... One account of sexual assault.

My hands flew up and smacked over my mouth as I scrambled away from the papers, I felt like someone had just ripped my heart right out of my chest and stamped on it. Absolutely revolted, was how I felt. Completely appalled and traumatised that I hadn't known something so serious before getting involved with him. I started wailing the second I'd read it, and Niall picked up the paper from the floor after it'd fallen and scrunched it in his fist with rage upon reading it.

"What a fuçking-" he stopped mid sentence to twist round and slam his palm against the wall in a furious frenzy. "How has no one locked him up and thrown away the key!" he yelled.

"The charges were expunged," I remembered, in a woeful whisper.

"Expunged? What does that mean?" he snapped loudly.

"They were dropped, the case was basically erased."

Before Niall could say anything else, my phone started ringing in the pocket of my hoodie. We looked at each other with blank expressions, both expecting the worst. I swallowed hard and gained some composure, delving around in the large pocket and pulling out my phone.