THE CONMAN AND THE MAID // Harry Styles

Father's Daughter

This is a crazy chapter. Love me, hate me, let me know - Allie.

.

From Harry's own experience, when someone asked to speak to you alone, it was never good news.

His stomach churned with dismay as he followed Kenny outside and closed the door to muffle the chatter in the house. What remained was the rattling of trees, chirping of crickets, and howling of a lone wolf in the distance.

Kenny's moon-washed face appeared paler than usual. She was thinner, too. So thin he imagined her feet floating above the ground underneath the many layers of her full skirt. He'd never thought it was possible for anyone to wear such expensive fabric and look like the unhappiest person in the world. But Kenny had proved him wrong.

Had she not been eating well? Had Gideon been mistreating her? The thought of her crying over the son of a bitch made him tighten his fists. Why she'd agreed to marry that bastard was still beyond him. She could have done so much better. Not him. Not Gideon. But better.

"I've never seen your mum so happy," she said, keeping her hands behind her back like she always did when she was nervous. He pretended to not notice and returned her smile.

"Gem told me everything," he said. "Thank you for taking care of my family while I was away."

"I think of them as my own." She giggled and tucked a loose strand behind her ear, staring at her feet. "But...I did everything mostly because...because of you."

"Because of me?"

Because he'd been temporarily dead and she'd felt bad for moving on. That must be what she meant.

He kept clenching and unclenching his fists while waiting for her to continue. She worked her jaw, still staring at her feet. It seemed like she had to think very hard about what she wanted to say. It was one of the many reasons he'd loved her, though it must be exhausting to walk on eggshells around everyone.

After a moment's hesitation, she fished out a gold hairpin from the pocket of her petticoat. "I had to hide it from my mum so she wouldn't sell it," she said, handing it to him. "After all, this is your first gift to me."

"Gift sounds fancy," he chuckled. "I stole it." It was the first thing he'd stolen in his life.

"And you could've kept it for yourself. But you gave it to me," she said with a subtle grin. "And that was when I realised I was in love with you."

He moistened his dry lips while inspecting the valuable accessory. He wasn't sure what he'd expected from this talk.

"Do you still love me?"

But this was far from it.

"What are you saying?" he asked, appalled and confused.

"Do you still love me?" she murmured. "Because...I still love you, Harry."

Those were the words he'd wanted to hear many weeks ago. If this were then, he would have kissed her and said yes. But this was now. She was Gideon's wife, a fact that he still refused to accept, but he would have to, eventually. And there was still Reyna.

"You don't love me, Kenny. Not anymore," he heard himself say.

She released an exasperated breath. "Crow, I've never stopped."

"You married someone else."

"I thought you were dead!"

"It doesn't matter why you did it." His stare pierced her face. "You married someone else, Kenny. You don't get to fucking do this to us now."