Page 12 of Harry

“Nope,” says Vaughan, scowling at the glass of water. “I’ve been up for over thirty-six hours, can’t I have something stronger than water?”

“No,” Aidan says. “I know none of us have slept properly but this is sort of time sensitive. “We need leadership in place so the men don’t jump ship. With the Grants here as well as Philip, they have too many options.”

“Why aren’t they loyal to you?” Jack asks, genuinely curious.

“They were loyal to your dad. Your dad implied heavily that you were all men, running the business in the UK. Instead, you’re…” Julian flicks his hand in our direction and I snort out a laugh.

“A businesswoman, a police officer and a nurse,” I gesture to each of us in turn.

Vaughan groans and sinks in his seat as Julian’s mouth drops open. Aidan just shakes his head again with a sigh and I’m beginning to want to lose my shit.

“Okay, well let's not broadcast the police officer part in here,” Aidan says quietly.

“They’ll find out soon enough,” Jack says. “What if I’ve arrested some of Dad’s men?”

Vaughan begins to laugh, a deep throaty chuckle, causing Jack to scowl.

“Look,” Aidan says, “We need to sort out what’s happening, starting with figuring out who is going to take over from Richard and what we’re going to do about Philip.”

I mull over his words as I sip the cold water.

“Why shouldn’t it be Philip?” I ask and Julian snorts. I look in his direction and wait out the silence that stretches between us.

I’ve not seen Uncle Philip for years, but never got an answer from Dad when I asked why he wasn’t visiting us anymore. Something wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now.

“Your dad was looking into something before…” Julian trails off and looks at Aidan who nods. “Before he was killed. He thought your uncle was getting into human trafficking, an aspect of the business that your father was wholly against and never worked in. Didn’t want to be associated with.”

“The fact of the matter is,” Vaughan adds. “We need leadership. There are already rumbles of the men going over to Philip's side and getting on board with the trafficking. There’s a lot of money in it.”

My stomach roils at his words. How can they discuss this as though it’s the most normal thing in the world? Aidan places his hand on my arm. The closeness of our bodies should feel awkward, but somehow it’s the only comfort I can find right now.

“Are you okay?” he asks. I look at him. I know my expression is telling him exactly what I think of this whole situation.

“How can you be so blase about something so… so…”

“It happens, Harry.” I spin my head around to look at my sisters. Both of them are nodding and I’m horrified to realise that both have probably dealt with the aftermath of trafficked people at some point in their careers.

I turn back to my glass of water and try to hold in my rage. “Go on,” I say.

“We aren’t into that, your father wasn’t into that. He ran the club upstairs and moved weapons and drugs around mostly.”

“The club?” I ask as something comes to life in the back of my mind. I thought he ran clubs because I’d overheard him on the phone once. Then I saw a matchbox with a logo on it. I rack my brains. “Club Curve?” I ask.

“That’s the one,” comes Vaughan’s reply.

“Then let’s go.”

***

It’s only a few minutes before we’re walking through the black double doors with a neon logo above them.

Club Curve.

My dad’s flagship club according to Aidan. That’s the only information he has shared about it.

All three men nod at the security guy, and I wonder why there would need to be a bouncer at eight in the morning but I suppose places like this are a twenty-four-seven sort of situation.

We walk into some sort of antechamber, like an airlock. Pitch black apart from the blinking pink neon lights that lead the way to another set of doors, these ones are opened by Vaughan and Julian, while Aidan follows behind us.

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