The Most Dangerous Game (Harry Styles AU)

63

-Harry

"Go on." I urge her, needing to hear the rest.

I know nothing could change the way I feel about her. I knew that before, from the first time I woke up next to her. And now, after everything we've been through, I'm only more certain of it.

"I needed for Carter to trust me.." She starts off slowly, hesitantly. "If the whole plan was going to work, he needed to let me in. It was something Margo was always adament about, finding a way to get him to really trust me, but we couldn't figure out how. Until he asked for my help with something."

"Kimura.." I think out loud, trying to put the pieces together after what I'd learned from Arthur.

"Yes." Everly looks somewhat surprised. "Carter is trying to neogociate a merger with Kiruma's company. It's very important to him.. though I'm not sure exactly why. Kimura had a few stipulations before the merger would go through. One was for money, the other was more personal."

"Personal?" I question.

"He had a previous business relationship that had went badly. I'm not sure how exactly, but it involved Decker Law Firm here in New York."

"Decker.. as in Walter Decker?"

"Yes." Everly nods.

"Jackson's father?"

"Yes. He... Kiruma apparently blames Walter for the death of his family and wants revenge. Or as he calls it, justice."

"Revenge how?" I ask, feeling uneasyness wash over me.

"Walter only has one remaining family member. His own wife died years ago. The only person he has left that he loves is his son, Jackson. Kiruma wants him dead."

"So why doesn't he just have him killed? Surely he has men who could..."

"That isn't enough." Everly cuts me off, shaking her head. "Jackson being found dead on the street somewhere isn't enough for Kimura. He wants it done publicly.. He wants to hurt Walter Decker as much as possible."

"Publicly how?"

"That's exactly what Carter asked me to help him with. He wanted me to figure out how that could be done without raising suspicions." She swallows, taking a breath. "I hated the thought of it, helping him with such a thing. But this was my chance to gain his trust, so I did it."

My stomach tightens up into knots as her eyes start to water, "What did you do exactly?"

"I.." She wipes her eyes, looking away from me. "I found you."

"Me.." I repeat slowly. "What do you mean?"

"When I started doing research on Jackson, I found a news article on your fight.. the one were he'd obviously drugged you to try and win. It was all over the press then, your fued.. your hatred for one another. You seemed like the obvious choice.. the only choice really." She pauses, looking down at her hands clasped tightly together in her lap. "So then I researched you."

"And what did you find?" I ask, already knowing the answer and it making me sick.

"I found that you needed money.. I found out how important your family was to you."

"You found out things to use against me." I clarify. "To get me to do whatever Carter wanted."

"Yes." She nods, a random tear sliding down her cheek. "I made a list, from the most important to the least. All things to manipulate you with. I came up with the plan of slowly taking control by paying you to win by a certain numbers of points per fight. I came up with the plan of using your family, threatening them, to gain more control over you. And I... I came up with the plan to force you to kill Jackson Decker on your tenth fight."