Page 123 of The Truth of Us

The media machine always got hungry. It started with questions, then theories, then blame, outrage… Then someone decided the people at the center of it were no longer people at all. Just characters, villains, and entertainment. I gave myself fifteen minutes to let it all out before I went downstairs and faced everything at my father's side, like I said I was ready to do.

It wasn’t pretty or quiet. I cried as if grief had been waiting years for permission. For my mother, Will, my father, for the little girl who had learned to hide because hiding was safer than being hunted, and for the woman who had believed she could step into the light without the dark reaching for her.

Then, when the tears dried up, I washed my face, turned my phone off, and went back downstairs. Because this time I was not a scared little girl; I was Harper Montgomery, and I would not let my father face this on his own.

30

ELLIOT

It didn’t take long for Northwell to become a war room. But I wasn't allowed to call it that; officially, it was a communications strategy meeting. Unofficially, everyone looked like the building was on fire, and I was standing in the center holding a match. And I wanted to scream at everyone that it wasn’t anyone's business, but that probably would have made things worse. Screens and boards filled the executive boardroom walls. News sites. Social feeds. Market updates. Mentions of Northwell, Vale, Montgomery, Harper, scandal, affair, legacy. Her name was everywhere, and because of me, mine was too. When I told Timothy that I couldn't give a flying fuck what people said about me, that I was concerned for Harper, he scrunched up his glasses-wearing nose and told me I was his job, not her.

A communications director they had brought in to help Timothy, whom I barely tolerated, stood at the front of the room clicking through slides like this was a product recall instead of a woman’s life being ripped apart for entertainment.

“Our recommendation is distance,” she said.

I stared at the screen. A photo of Harper and me filled it, my hand at her back, with her face tipped slightly toward mine. I remembered that night, how she smelled, how it felt to have that smile aimed at me, and thinking she looked like she belonged beside me. I was wrong. She had belonged anywhere she wanted. I was the one who did not deserve the space.

“We issue a neutral statement,” the communications director continued. “Mr. Vale wishes Miss Montgomery and her family well. We respect their privacy. No further comment.”

“No,” I said.

The room went quiet.

She blinked. “Excuse me?”

“No.”

Julian, seated at the other end of the table, looked at me carefully, and I didn’t need to look around to gauge the various other expressions I'd see on familiar faces.

A board member cleared his throat. “Elliot, this is not emotional. This is containment.”

Containment.

The word made my jaw flex. I was so ‌tired of that word, so fucking tired of catchwords that meant so much more than what one clean, crisp word showed. And if one more asshole in this room tells me we need to; Contain the scandal, the press, the woman, contain the damage.

My entire life had been one long exercise in containment, and all it had ever done was teach me how to repress feeling human.

“She is not a liability,” I said.

He tried to defend his position, saying, “No one said she was.”

“You implied it.”

I tried to tamp down the growl, but I don’t think I did. Because I heard a chuckle that surprisingly may have come from Rowan as the board member’s mouth tightened, and the communications director shifted anxiously.

“We are protecting Northwell.”

“At what cost?” I asked, before adding, “You want to protect Northwell by letting people tear apart a woman who has done nothing wrong.”

“We cannot control what the media does.” The public relations director chirped.

Isn’t that your fucking job?

I laughed once, and it was a cold and ugly sound.

“Interesting. Because the only thing anyone in this room seems interested in controlling is me.”

Another board member spoke. “This situation predates you. It predates Northwell. The Montgomery family has a complicated history with the press, and it would be unwise for us to insert ourselves into that narrative.”