Page 109 of The Truth of Us

I didn't answer. Because if Hastings was here… Maybe Theo was right and Harper was too. The thought hit me so hard I almost laughed. Maybe Harper had broken me? Because I was feeling this kind of manic emotional hurricane inside me and did not know how to handle it.

Hastings made his way over to the cocktail area, with who I assumed to be his parents, cameras flashing as they made their way across the room. I scanned the ball room again for any sign of Harper. I just needed to get her alone, to talk to her, explain the unexplainable and maybe she’d listen… and we could fix this.

The room shifted, just enough that every conversation softened. My heart kicked up, and I knew Harper had to be close. Every head turned, every camera lifted. I followed everyone's gaze. Alexander Montgomery stood in the entrance. I had met him once, years ago, long enough ago that I doubted he'd remember me. Could Harper be working for the family?

He looked exactly the same… Then I registered that he wasn't alone. My eyes trailed to the woman beside him… No. My brain refused to accept what I was seeing… Because that wasn't possible. It felt like my heart was in my throat when I took her in…

She looked...

She looked...

I couldn't breathe.

Harper.

The room, the people, the sound all faded away... There was only her, and she most definitely not working for the family, she wasn’t pretending… I realized that immediately. This wasn't Harper Lane. She wasn't the woman who wore neutral colors and hid behind professionalism and rolled her eyes when I was being an asshole. This was her, the real her, somehow she looked exactly the same and completely different.

"Holy shit," Theo whispered beside me.

You could hear their names murmured throughout the ballroom. "Alexander Montgomery and his daughter, Miss Harper Montgomery."

Daughter. The word bounced around inside my thick skull. The townhouse, the couture, the way money didn’t impress her… Daughter.

No. No. No.

My eyes found Rowan, and I fucking knew it… He wasn't surprised, he wasn't shocked, because he knew. He fucking knew.

I turned toward him so fast my champagne sloshed over my hand. "You knew."

It wasn't a question, and my tone said more than words ever could. Rowan looked at me. "Yes."

The world tilted. "You knew." I repeated.

"I did." Rowan had the audacity to sound bored.

"And you didn't tell me?"

His expression didn't change. "No."

The betrayal hit me so hard I almost laughed; the irony of that wasn't lost on me. Not completely. But I couldn't process that right now. Because Harper… Harper was smiling. Not the smile she gave strangers or cameras. This was a painstakingly beautiful, genuine smile, and Alexander looked at her as if she had hung the moon.

Theo repeated, "Holy shit."

Caleb, for once in his life, looked speechless. I watched as they made their way across the room, everyone drawn to her… then fucking Hastings approached her. And he hugged her, like he'd known her his entire life. Which, suddenly, I realized he probably had. Of fucking course.

This wasn't my world; this was hers, and I'd never even asked anything deeply personal. Not once. Not really. I knew what coffee she liked. I knew how she sounded when she laughed. I knew what she looked like when she came apart in my bed. But I had never asked who she was.

Not because she lied. She had deflected when I had asked her about Thomas and her townhouse… but so much was making sense. And really, it was more a twisted, jealous curiosity rather than genuinely caring about the answer, because I assumed it didn't matter.

The realization hit harder than I expected. Then Harper's eyes lifted and found mine. Her smile disappeared. Just… Gone. And somehow that hurt more than if she'd slapped me.

I turned on Rowan because it was easier than standing there with the full weight of Harper's stare on me. "How long?"

Rowan's jaw flexed. "Long enough."

"What the fuck does that mean?" I ground out low enough not to make a scene.

"It means long enough."