Page 122 of The Truth of Us

I froze, and my father turned to me; his expression broke immediately. Not anger, but what I could only explain as raw fear.

“No,” he said again, softer. “I am sorry, but no.”

I swallowed. “Why is he here?”

“Because men like my father can smell weakness and opportunity from another continent.”

Thomas remained silent by the door; my father looked back at him, saying, “There is no amount of time my father could have left on this earth that would ever earn him another minute with my family.”

Thomas nodded and disappeared. The silence he left behind felt enormous. I stared at my father, and he stared at the door, as if his father would somehow manifest before us. His hands were curled into fists at his sides.

“Dad,” I whispered, unsure how to fix this.

He exhaled, a long, ragged sound, and then turned back to me.

“I've already lost enough; they don’t get you too.”

The words were quiet, barely there, and even though I didn’t exactly understand them, they shattered something in me, anyway. I crossed the room and wrapped my arms around him.

For a second, he didn’t move. Then he held me so tightly it almost hurt. I didn’t complain because I understood. Because I was holding on just as hard. By early evening, I thought I had reached the end of what I could feel. On my way back to my father’s office with a bottle of wine, I overheard a conversation, something about Elliot’s name being negatively linked with mine. I put the wine down on the table outside my father's office and went to my room to check my phone. Because I thought I could separate the truth from the PR…

When I got upstairs, I sat on my bed and searched. The results loaded immediately.

Pictures of us, more photos from those weeks together, some even candid. More speculation. A video from the second gala where Elliot’s hand rested at the small of my back, and I looked up at him with a smile I didn’t remember giving so freely.

Another article.

Was Elliot Vale courting the Montgomery fortune?

Another.

From Playboy CEO to Power Match: Inside Elliot Vale’s Connection to Harper Montgomery

The comments were worse now. Because strangers loved a romance until they could make it ugly.

He definitely targeted her.

She knew exactly what she was doing.

He doesn’t do relationships.

Imagine being worth billions and still getting played.

Was she used and thrown away too? Tragic family tradition.

Side-by-side pictures of my mom and me at the same age. Comments comparing my parents to Elliot and me. Pictures from Oliver's social media, where the comments somehow got worse. People saying I traded up, or that Oliver was doing a favour because no one wanted to be with me. That I was broken and heartless.

I couldn’t breathe; my chest tightened all at once. Like a hand had wrapped around my lungs and squeezed. I tried to stand, but failed. My phone slipped from my hand and clattered to the floor. The sound echoed, and my vision blurred. I pressed my hand to my chest.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

I couldn’t find the rhythm. I knew how this unfolded. That was the worst part. Everyone kept saying it was different now. There were statements, better security, lawyers. But I knew.