“Well, it’s hard to compare my company to multiple sets of double D’s. And it’s not like I dropped the prostitutes in his lap. I wasn’t even there when he got arrested.”
“A small miracle.” Rachel clicks to the next slide. "Which is why we need to control this narrative. Now."
Harper shifts in her seat. "What does that mean?"
"It means you two are going to be seen together. In public. Looking like a couple who actually likes each other."
Harper’s full lips flatten into a thin line.
Rachel continues. "We have several public events coming up. The Grandview Hotel grand opening a few weeks from now. The StreamEats investor dinner the following week. A meeting with Richard Francis’s board in November." She looks at me. "You're attending all of these with Harper."
"The Grandview opening? That’s not a personal event, Rach. That’s business,” I warn her. "Several CulinaryVision board members will be there. "
"Which is why you're bringing your wife." Rachel's tone leaves no room for argument. "It shows commitment. Stability. That you're a man who honors his obligations."
Harper makes a sound that might be a laugh or might be a strangled sob.
"Something to add, Harper?" Rachel asks.
"No. Just—" Harper shakes her head. "This is surreal."
"Welcome to crisis management." Rachel clicks to the next slide. "Now, let's talk living arrangements."
I tense, and Harper goes very still.
"Living arrangements?" she repeats slowly.
"Yes. You're married. People will expect you to live together."
"We're not actually?—"
"Doesn't matter what you actually are. Matters what it looks like." Rachel leans forward. "If you're photographed leaving separate apartments every morning, the press will have a field day. 'Ice Prince and Mystery Bride Living Apart.' 'Marriage Already in Trouble.' You see where I'm going with this?"
Harper's face has gone pale. "You want me to move in with him?"
"Temporarily. For appearances."
“Oh, that is so not happening.”
"Harper—"
“As much I’d love to live in my new boss’s likely sterile, probably plant-less abode, I actually have a lease. A roommate. A life I’d prefer not to uproot.”
Rachel sighs. "Victor, talk to her."
Both of them turn to look at me.
I consider my options.
Option one: Agree with Harper, let her keep her apartment, and watch the press tear apart our "marriage" before the acquisition closes.
Option two: Convince her this is necessary without sounding like I'm demanding she sacrifice her independence.
Option three: Say something that doesn't make me sound like either a dictator or the wobbling dickhead she already thinks I am.
"Rachel," I motion to my publicist. "Could you give us a moment?"
She studies my face for a long moment, then stands. “Okay, fine. I’ll give you both five.”
