Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Harper
The only thing I felt was the shattering of my heart. It hurt so bad that I’d swear I was having a heart attack. I sat in the back of the cab on the way to my apartment, trying to hold it together the best I could. As soon as he pulled up to my building, I climbed out and watched as Sammy held the door open for me.
“Good to see you, Harper. Mr. Rhodes called looking for you.”
“I know, Sammy. You won’t be seeing him around here much anymore.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Are you okay?” he asked as he pushed the elevator button for me.
“Not really.”
“If you need anything. Call me.”
“Thank you.”
I finally made it to my apartment. The moment I stepped inside and shut the door, I fell to the floor in a fetal position and started sobbing. My phone that was in my purse kept ringing. I ignored it. I stayed curled up on the floor for what seemed like hours. My door opened, and Charlotte and Laurel came running in.
“Oh my God, Harper. Are you okay?” Charlotte asked.
“Harper, what happened?” Laurel placed her hand on my shoulder.
“We tried calling you and when you didn’t answer, we got worried, so we came over,” Charlotte said.
“Tell us what happened. Is it the baby? Do we need to call 911?” Laurel asked.
I slowly shook my head.
“It’s Grayson. It’s over.”
“Shit,” Charlotte spoke. “Come on, let’s get you up and on the couch, and you can tell us about it.”
“I can’t. I don’t want to move. I can’t move.”
“Yes, you can, sweetie,” Laurel said as she and Charlotte grabbed my arms, helped me up, and walked me over to the couch.
“I’m going to make some hot tea,” she said as she walked into the kitchen.
“Harper, what happened?” Charlotte asked as she brushed the strands of hair from my face.
“You were right about him all along. He was only using me to get his company.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
Laurel walked in and handed me my cup of tea.
“The baby.” I could barely speak.
“What about the baby?” Laurel asked.
“Grayson’s the father. He’s Donor 137665. And his best friend, Julius, is the Director of the cryobank. He said he lost a bet and he had to donate his sperm, but Julius promised nothing would happen with it. But somehow, someone screwed up and sent his profile to me. Then his grandfather gave him an ultimatum. He told him he had a year to find someone and fall in love, or else he was signing the company over to someone else.”
“That fucking asshole,” Charlotte said.
“So he sought me out. The woman who purchased his sperm.”
“And what the fuck was he planning on doing once he got his company?” Laurel asked.
I looked at both of them as the tears started flowing again.
“I’ll kill him,” Charlotte snapped.
“He begged me to forgive him. He said that he fell in love with me and wanted to tell me so many times, but he didn’t want to hurt me. You should have seen him. He was on his knees begging me not to leave, and he told me I changed him.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m still going to kill him,” Charlotte said.
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I do believe he loves you, Harper,” Laurel said.
“WTF, Laurel!” Charlotte snapped.
“I’m just saying that when I see them together, I notice how he looks at her. There was no pretending going on there. What he did was wrong and unforgivable, but I dobelieve he loves you, Harper.”
“God, I’m going to fucking kill him! I told you, Harper. I told you something was up with him!” Charlotte spoke.
“Now’s not the time,” Laurel said.
“I just want to go to bed.”
“Of course. Come on.” They helped me up.
“Listen, Harper. You can’t stress out about this,” Charlotte said. “It’s not good for the baby. You have to think about the baby. You don’t need to be going into labor.”
“I know. I love him so much, and I don’t know how I’llget over this.”
“We’ll be here to help you, sweetie,” Laurel said.
“Thank you for coming over, but I just really want to be alone right now.”
“Call us if you need anything. I don’t have a client until eleven o’clock tomorrow, so I’ll be by in the morning,” Charlotte said.
“And I’ll be by after work,” Laurel spoke. “Speaking of work, what are you going to do?”
“I’m quitting. There’s no way I’ll work for that man. I guess I’ll have to text him and tell him.”
“Where’s your phone?” Charlotte asked. “I’ll do it for you.”
“In my purse.”
After sending Grayson a text message, she left my phone on the nightstand, and both of them left. I lay there and cried myself to sleep.