TWO WEEKS LATER, WHEN the twenty-first rolled around, Millie and I are standing underneath the building we dreaded most.

From far away, WEH headquarters looks like any other skyscraper. It's just a building. But standing at the front doors, with people flooding past us to get in and out, nothing has ever terrified me more.

It's imposing, hugely so, and the front, revolving doors are all curved steel, with a large panel of frosted glass bearing the company's name. My knees are shaking and my palms are sweaty, but I know I need to steel myself and get in there eventually.

Millie takes my hand and I turn my head. She looks cool and collected compared to me, so I try my best to pull myself together and follow her lead as she drags me inside.

Not knowing what to expect when we got here, we both dressed smartly - Millie wearing a business-like stylish, sleeveless pinafore and me wearing a suit I'd bought last week and a tie - and I'm glad we did. Everyone milliing around the huge, expansive lobby is dressed the same, suit and tie, office attire.

"Archie, come on," Millie whispers, pulling my hand. I realise I'd stopped, gawping at the marble floors and ceilings.

I start walking again and soon we reach the front desk, which is being manned by two women with headsets. The one who isn't already on the phone looks up and smiles at us.

"Hi, can I help you?" she asks, sounding vaguely patronising, probably thinking we were in the wrong place. Believe me, she has no idea how much I wished we were in the wrong place.

"Yes, hi, we're here to see Peter Wilson?" Millie asks and I nod.

She frowns and looks down at her computer. "Can I ask your names please?"

"Archie and Millie Wall," Millie answers and her head snaps up, her eyes widening as her counterpart does the same.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she says, clearly now flustered. "If you can just wait a moment, I will let Mr Wilson know you're here."

I nod and smile. I didn't like the way she was now treating us. I didn't like to be treated differently to everyone else, and right now I could feel myself being lifted up onto a pedestal, one where I didn't want to be, and I hated it.

We stand here for a few minutes as the woman speaks to someone before she ends her call and smiles. She stands and motions for us to follow her, so we do.

Following her down a corridor, I feel like everyone is staring at us. Comments and whispers follow us down what felt like the longest hallway in existence and I know Millie feels the same, because her hand is like a vicegrip on mine.

The woman hits the button to call the lift and when the doors open, she motions for us to step inside. She doesn't get in with us, but swipes her card and hits the button for the 70th floor.

"Lisa Jones will meet you at the top," she tells us and again smiles sweetly before stepping away as the doors close.

I let out a small amount of the breath I've been holding and Millie lets go of my hand.

"Okay, I hate this already," she says, fanning herself with her hand.

"Same." I adjust my collar slightly and grimace as a bead of cold sweat drops down my back. "I feel like these walls are closing in around us."

The lift was moving incredibly quickly, so fast I felt like we might take off out of the building. But soon we reach the 70th floor and as the woman had said, a tall red-headed woman is standing in front of the lift, who I instantly recognise as Lisa, Dad's PA.

She's older - obviously, the last time I saw her I was about ten years old - but she still has that same sweet smile I remember. Her lips match her red hair and she's wearing a cream skirt suit with a matching jacket, with heels even higher than Millie's.

"Archie, Millie...?" I nod as I take her offered hand with a smile of my own. Lisa wasn't looking at me like they had downstairs and I could feel the tension rolling out of my shoulders.

She shakes Millie's hand and then takes a step back to examine us, as if she was a grandparent looking at the grandchildren she hadn't seen in years.

"Gosh, you're both so tall. Archie, you're so handsome, and Millie... you look just like your mum."

Millie's jaw tightens at the comment but she thanks her.

"You must be twenty-one now, Archie?"

"Nearly. In October," I answer dutifully.

She looks between us again and shakes her head. "I can't believe it's been so long since we saw you. I remember when you used to play with farm animals in your dad's office," she says to me before turning to Millie. "And you loved those blue raspberry ice drinks."

Millie looks at me but a more natural smile has replaced the tight one that had been there earlier. She still loves those drinks, and she's clearly impressed Lisa remembers.

"We still have that machine in the cafeteria downstairs," Lisa whispers, winking. Millie laughs at that, and I can feel the tension easing between us all now.

"Shall I take you in to see Peter?"

Millie and I look at each other before nodding, not knowing what else to say.

"Follow me."

She leads us down another corridor, this time past a long row of glass offices, each with a name written in silver next to the door.

Walking down past everyone working, seeing the size of these offices, it makes me realise just how successful Dad was as a businessman. There aren't many offices up here, but those that are up here are huge, with the offices themselves being the size of my bedroom, looking out over the New York City skyline. It's impressive and terrifying at the same time, which made me dread the conversation that was about to happen at the end of the corridor even more.

As we reach the end of the line of offices, Millie and I both slow as we spot the one office we do remember.

Dad's office.

It's empty, but the desk and shelves behind look exactly the same as I remembered. Legal and business books decorated the back wall and there were two sofas facing each other in the corner, where I remember Dad would leave us if he had to pop out for a meeting. The desk still had stacks of paper on it, with a pen left on the side, as if he would be back any minute.

"Archie?" I hear Millie call and I look up, realising she was now further down the hall.

I shake my head, pulling my thoughts away from memory lane, and walk quickly towards her as Lisa ushers us into a huge boardroom, which has a long, oak table in it, walls and floor lined with what looks like marble. The table itself has around forty to fifty seats all neatly tucked underneath it, and we were facing a huge wall-to-ceiling window, the late-morning light reflecting off the surrounding buildings.

It was so impressive, it was hard to believe this was all real.

"Make yourselves comfortable guys," Lisa says, gesturing to the table, but Millie and I just stand there statically. I'm definitely in shock... and Millie seems to be too.

"Peter will be right with you."

She smiles as she leaves the room, closing the door softly behind her, leaving us alone.

"Archie," Millie whispers. "This is insane!"

The only thing I can do is nod. I don't think I can speak without it coming out as a squeak.

Now that we're alone, I feel even more intimidated.

I walk over to the huge window and gasp as my knees start shaking all over again. We're so high up we may as well be in the clouds. The taxis and the traffic below are like tiny, yellow bugs on the ground from here, and I can't hear any noise from the road or the city outside.

"I bet Dad felt like he could rule the world from up here."

I nod in agreement, thinking exactly the same thing. A nauseous feeling rushes over me at the thought but I try to keep myself calm by recalling the conversation I'd had with Lara last night. She'd told me she wanted to wish me good luck, but then she changed her mind. I asked her why, and she told me it was because I didn't need luck. She said I shouldn't hold myself back by saying I couldn't do it... because I could. But right now, I wasn't thinking that I couldn't do it, I was just thinking I didn't want to.

Taking a step back from the window, I take a deep breath and brace my hands on my knees, thinking I might throw up at any moment.

"Arch?" Millie asks, and I feel her hand on my back.

I wave a hand up and brush her off. "I'll be okay. Give me a minute."

The door opens in front of us and she pulls me up, taking my hand again.

"We don't have a minute," she whispers just as a man in a clean-cut suit walks in, and I feel calm wash over me as I recognise him as well.

I had only met him twice, but the last time I'd met him I was fourteen. Dad had taken us to New York with him and he was supposed to take me to a Mets baseball game, but got pulled into an urgent meeting, so told Peter to take me instead. And clearly having never hung out with a teenager before, he went all out. We went to the shop beforehand and he decked us both out, head to toe, in Mets gear, all blue and orange, and it was most fun I had the whole trip.

Remembering he liked to be called Pete, I walk forward and offer him my hand with a smile. He takes it without hesitation before doing the same as Lisa, taking a small step back to look at me, a proud smile covering his face.

"I know you must be sick of hearing this, but you have both grown into two fine-looking, young adults."

Millie smiles and looks up at me, cheeks reddening.

"Still a Mets fan?" I ask and he laughs.

"Die hard I'm afraid. They're doing terribly this season. It's heartbreaking."

As he leads us to the table, I realise my legs have stopped shaking.

"It's so good to see you again," he says as we all take a seat. Millie sits next to me and Pete sits down on my other side, turning his chair sideways slightly towards us. "I'm just..." he sighs and shakes his head. "I'm just sorry it's under these circumstances."

Millie and I exchange a look. She knew about Dad too, it was in her email, but neither of us knew how we felt about it. Despite the monster he turned into in our late teenage years, for the most part, he was a great dad. He was that dad that did take you to football on the weekend and sat and helped you with your homework. It just so happened that the monster he turned into completely overshadowed the man he used to be.

"I was so sorry to hear about your friend, Archie. Matt." He shakes his head and I see his jaw tighten.

I nod, not knowing what to say.

"It's despicable what your father did."

I wasn't sure if he was talking about Matt, or what he did to me, but I expect he probably means both. The case was public knowledge and had been splashed across the papers for weeks, with journalists following us around, and even targeting us in school before I lost my temper. Even now, there are some articles I've seen online. I don't read them, but it seems I'll never be able to get away from what happened.

From his expression, I can see he truly means what he says. I was half expecting him to defend Dad, but to hear him speak out against him makes me glad I'm wrong.

"How are you doing?" I ask in an attempt to brighten my spiralling mood.

"Oh, I am well thanks. How are you guys doing?" He looks at me. "I gather you're at Columbia now?" I nod. "That must be exciting for you. And Millie, I gather you're in culinary school?"

"Yep, sure am," she beams. "I should have brought you something," she jokes.

"Oh nonsense. They're preparing an amazing spread for us, so we'll have more than enough." He turns back to me. "What year are you in now?"

"I'm catching up and I'll be finishing Sophomore year in a few weeks. I took summer classes to catch up for what I missed last year."

He nods. "It's a great school. What are you majoring in?"

"Art, minoring in Art History. But I'm thinking maybe I should start taking some business classes," I joke nervously as I look around this large room.

He shakes his head and smiles at us before he sighs and pats his knees.

"I suppose, despite my email, you are wondering why you're here... and why so quickly?"His voice takes on a more business-like tone, still friendly but more serious.

Millie takes my hand under the table and I squeeze it reassuringly. My insides are all knotted as we both nod in unison just as the door opens and a man, probably closer to our age, enters the room, juggling six leather wallets in his arms.

He smiles at us as he places them down in front of Pete. He then moves around the table and sits at the table opposite us.

"Thank you Toby. Guys, this is Toby, our intern. He's at Columbia too, actually," Pete says and I smile before standing slightly to reach across the table to shake his hand.

"Final year law student, hence the bags under my eyes," he jokes and Millie laughs. "Nice to meet you."

Pete smiles before turning his back to us again.

"You guys ready to discuss brass tax?"

I look at Millie and sigh before turning back to them both. "I suppose we'd better get it all over with, yeah."

Millie squeezes my hand under the table as Pete stands, moving to sit next to Toby on the other side of the table.

"You ready?" Pete asks as Millie and I look down at the leather folders in front of us before we look at each other again.

The look she gives me is full of strength. It's a look that tells me, whatever happens today, I'll always have her. And as I kiss her hand quickly, I give her the same look.

No matter what these pages hold, we will always have each other.