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“Jeff needs to talk to Eric,” Harper says, “his son, which is what I will tell him.”
His son.
Fuck, I hate the way that reference cuts. I didn’t think it could cut anymore, but it does.
Harper’s mother is silent for several beats. “I beg of you, daughter, please don’t do this.”
“I’m protecting you,” Harper says. “One day you’ll thank me.” Her mother sobs and hangs up.
Harper sets the phone on the table. “I’m all for digging into the data.” She grabs my cube and stares at it. “I can never work these things. Can you?”
I take it from her, use a few rotations of my hand and solve the puzzle before setting it down. “Talk to me.”
For several beats she just searches my face, just looks at me. “What if I don’t know her anymore, Eric? What if she’s one of them now? What if she knows what’s going on and has willingly stayed involved?”
I lean forward and stroke a strand of hair from her eyes. “Then you save her anyway. She’s your mother.”
“That’s not what you said when I told you I had to save her.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Why?” she asks, covering my hand with hers.
“Because, sweetheart, I wanted to save my mother from this family and I couldn’t.” It’s a confession I’ve made to no one, ever. “Just like your mother, she didn’t want to be saved.”
“Your mother was trying to save you, not herself. That’s different. She did what she did out of love for you. Mine. Mine doesn’t seem to care about me at all.”
“Or she’s desperate to protect you,” I suggest. “She wants you to back off before someone hurts you. Give her the benefit of the doubt.”
She breathes out, her teeth worrying her bottom lip before she says, “Thank you, Eric. I know that you’re seeing her in a different light to help me. It really matters.”
“Yeah, well, sweetheart, I wouldn’t have gotten so damn pissed at you over Gigi if you didn’t matter to me. Trust is everything to me.”
She sucks in a breath and glances away before looking at me. “Because this family hurt you so badly.”
“They cut me, but I don’t bleed easily, not anymore.” Her phone buzzes with a text and she glances down at it and then shows it to me. It’s from Gigi and it reads:Answer me, Harper. Do not tell Eric.
I study it a few beats and look at Harper. “I’m not objective about Gigi. I hate her and I don’t hate easily. Tell her okay, you won’t tell me. Give her space to feel safe and we’ll sit back and see what she does next.” I wait for Harper to reject this directive, but she doesn’t.
She snatches up her phone, types a message and shows it to me. It reads almost identical to what I suggested she say, but she hasn’t pressed send yet. “Good?” she asks.
“Good,” I approve.
She hits send and sets her phone aside again. “We have to find the answer in that message we were sent. I know I don’t have the capacity to wade through information with the same results you can, but let me help. What can I do?”
“Show me the file you’ve put together and explain what concerns you, what looks shady.”
From there, we dig in. After reviewing her data with me, she starts reading through the files Blake sent me. In the midst of it all, I tease another investor on the NFL deal, refuse calls from Julius, the asshole trying to set-up the deal, and ensure Grayson knows what card I’m playing. It’s one in the morning when Harper is snuggled next to me, sound asleep, and I move her MacBook to the nightstand. With her pressed to my side, I continue to work, and I decide that I could damn sure get used to this woman by my side, in a bed, any bed, with me, for a really long time.
Maybe even a lifetime.
Holy fuck, what is happening to me?
She’s a damn witch, but she’s the sweetest, sexiest witch I’ve ever known.
I flip through her data again, my Rubik’s cube in my hand, and I compare it to the files that were deleted from Kingston’s systems. I end up focusing on Isaac’s email records to the point that I set the cube down. He deleted every email to a man named Tim Carlson, who just so happens to be a high-ranking officer of the automobile union. And Harper is not only meeting with the union tomorrow, she feels like it’s a set-up. I don’t like how that looks, feels, or sounds, especially when Gigi, who I don’t trust, befriended Harper and now she doesn’t want me to know about cash deposits. But she wanted me here. She sent Harper to get me. Blake’s right. Harper and I are being set-up.
Chapter thirty-nine
