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So far, he prides himself on not forcing himself on me.
He says he loves me so much he’ll wait for when I’m ready, and that he wouldneverdo something so awful.
And that I break his heart for even thinking such a thing.
I grit my teeth and stay quiet as he anchors me to his lap, forcing my mind to focus on the television.
“The sooner you realize how awful they treated you, the easier this will be for both of us,” he murmurs.
He doesn’t miss the shake of my head, and he sighs.
“Why do you want me to hurt you so badly? You need to learn to love yourself, Harper. I can only do so much.”
I rage internally.
“I’m sorry, Michael,” I mutter, doing my best to sound sincere.
He presses a kiss to my head.
“It’s okay, love,” he says. “I know you’ve been through a lot. You’re just confused.”
All is forgiven, for now.
I shut down inside, my heart breaking all over again.
31
GREY
The whole fuckingcounty is looking for her.
She doesn’t remember, but they loved her, especially the children.
Eventually, we were going to ask her if she wanted to volunteer at the food banks and shelters like she used to.
But my stupid, selfish self didn’t tell her in time.
And now, she’s gone.
And she doesn’t even know how much I love her.
We all never told her.
It’s been a week, but it feels like a lifetime.
Charlotte has been worried sick but keeps a professional face as she assists guests.
Beau won’t talk to me. He won’t even look at me.
A long time ago, I was his and James’s mentor.
And now I’ve betrayed both of them by not wanting to deal with the consequences of telling Harper the truth.
I’m the leader of the three of us, and I made a decision which led to her disappearance, and back into the hands ofClyde.
“I can’t believe she was with him that whole time,” James spits, typing frantically on his laptop near the fireplace. “He’s nowhere on social media, either. He fucking deleted everything after we fired him.”
A week after his firing, we had the talk with Harper, where we confessed we were ready to claim her.
