Private Affair | Book 3 of the Selected Series

Seven

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Staring back at his reflection, Harry adjusted his collar with a sigh. He was nervous, to say the least, and kept fidgeting while waiting for Louis. He checked his watch, waiting for his friend to join him back in his office after his session with the lawyers. The Duke had problems of his own when it came to the lawsuit, Harry's earlier confusion at why Louis had been involved in this mess too now partially lifted when he realized Judith probably did it out of spite. He had, after all, been witness to the entire ordeal in London almost 2 years ago and definitely got into Jude's bad side. Still, Harry was annoyed that his friend was getting pulled into something that technically should have been none of his business at all.

Classic Judith, trying to bring everyone down with her.

It had been a while since his friend left for his meeting, Harry's own consultations barely lasted an hour or two in general, and he was growing impatient. Today, they were planning to initiate their plan S, as Louis called it, and Harry had to head for the dungeons soon to meet Simone and try somehow to extract information from her.

Lately, she had been pretty much abusing their help by demanding new jail accommodations in exchange of signing the NDA. She hadn't yet, which was worrying Harry more every day. Nothing stopped Jude's lawyers from visiting her, his ex now secluded to a hotel with Nathan while the lawsuit was still ongoing. If they didn't win Simone's compliance soon, nothing could stop her from exposing their situation once she would stand in court. Harry knew Judith wouldn't waste an opportunity to make things worse for him, and so he had to think of every possible weak link there could be. 

His door opened and Louis appeared, looking slightly flustered and Harry arched a brow at his appearance. "Sorry, I'm late." The Duke said, sounding out of breath and forcing a smile.

"Is everything alright? You look like you just ran a marathon." Harry wondered and he saw Louis' cheeks redden.

"Oh...Well, it's because I rushed to get here." He cleared his voice, Harry immediately sensing the lie. There were more pressing matters at hand, and so he decided to push away the suspicions in his mind to focus on their plan. "You ready?"

"No. But I don't have a choice, do I?" The prince uttered and Louis chuckled, giving him a pat on the shoulder. Most of their plan involved Harry flirting the information out of Simone and using her infatuation in their advantage. He was obviously not comfortable with it, but Harry knew it was her weakness and they were honestly running out of ideas. As long as Mady didn't know, it would be fine.

"Not if you want this mess to finally settle. You'll be fine, I'll be nearby if you need anything."

Soon they were on their way to the dungeons, the lump of stress in Harry's stomach growing with every step closer to the interrogation room where Simone was waiting for him.

**

As usual, Harry disappeared for the day because of the lawsuit and Madison grew rapidly bored. Her daughter was spending the day with her grandparents and Mady considered calling her friends, but Grace was always flying around for her tour while Kim was already busy enough with her royal duty and her own child. She didn't want to bother them with her emotions, but she could feel herself growing lonely. The lawsuit being such a private topic, she couldn't even vent to Adeline or Laura about it, but her maids could sense that something was off with her mood.

So it was to her surprise when she received a letter from an old friend a couple days ago, the gesture immediately brightening up her day, although it made her feel a little pathetic. Still, she was excited to see him again, it had been ages since the last time they had hung out, and she planned a little luncheon for his arrival.