Always A Pleasure || H.S. [COMPLETE]

Eighty-One

When they got to the apartment, Katherine's stomach was in knots. Suddenly the thought of bringing Harry's estranged mother to his home didn't seem right. But they were already in the elevator and his mother was thanking her again for the opportunity to make things right with her son.

"When we get in there— you need to let me talk to him first. I need to talk to him first, okay?" Katherine insisted, feeling stale panic in her chest. She was really starting to regret the decision she made.

"Okay. Yes. Yes, I can do that. Anything," Anne told her, agreeing wholeheartedly.

Katherine looked over at Mr. Bates, noticing his jaw tense in disapproval, his brown eyes looking hesitant. She sent him a look of apprehension just before the elevator doors opened to the entryway.

"Please just... please just stay here until I can talk to him," Katherine said as she opened the front door with her key and walked inside.

"Harry?" Katherine called out his name, half-hoping he wasn't home so that she would have a chance to really talk to him before she sprung his mother on him. She was just realizing how intrusive this all was.

When Harry came around the corner, beaming a smile at her, her stomach tied in painful knots. Oh, god. This was a colossal mistake. She wanted to throw up.

"What is it, mon ange?" He asked immediately, furrowing his eyebrows together in concern when she didn't match his same enthusiasm to see him.

"Harry—"

When his vision moved from her to something behind her, Katherine quickly turned her head to see his mother standing there, obviously not listening to a goddamn word they had agreed on. This kind of situation required finesse, which was certainly not happening with his mother jumping the gun before Katherine could even get a word out to explain the situation.

"Harry," his mother gasped as she took a few more steps forward, staring straight at her son— the son she hadn't seen in seventeen years.

"What the fuck is going on?" Harry breathed venomously, his usual light green eyes turning dark in an instant.

"Harry, listen, please..." Katherine pleaded, hoping she could calm him down.

"What the fuck is this?" Harry snapped as his chest began to heave slightly.

"Harry, baby. Can we talk, please? We can just go into your office and talk," Katherine offered, stepping in front of him, trying to focus his attention on her.

"No," he snapped, his stormy eyes looking into Katherine's momentarily.

Her whole heart felt like it was being torn in half. Harry had never looked at her like that before— like he didn't know who she was, like he was completely and utterly betrayed by the one person he trusted. And she realized in that moment that she had betrayed him.