61. Tyler
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
TYLER
The view is incredible. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook Central Park, the kind of apartment people kill for.
I peer out the window, gazing at the morning traffic below. Harper and I are moving in here today, starting the next phase of our life together. This place is supposed to mean something special for us. A step forward. An exciting new chapter.
All I feel is dead inside.
Harper joins me at the window. She slips a small object into my hand and closes my fingers around it. I open my hand, finding my mother’s engagement ring.
“This isn’t me leaving you,” she speaks softly.
Her voice is steady, but there’s something fragile beneath it.
“Perhaps we’ll get married one day but now isn’t the time.
You had the purest intentions when you proposed to me.
You’re too good to me, Tyler. But our engagement was brought together by lies and manipulation.
We haven’t even told anyone we were getting married.
If we do get engaged again in the future, I want it to be purely because we love each other.
Not because I’m ashamed of having a child outside of marriage or because other people forced it upon us. ”
She’s right. I know she is.
I squeeze the ring in my fist, the edges biting into my palm. Anger swells in my chest, not at Harper, but at the world. Life keeps ripping precious things away from me. No matter how hard I try to hold on, I feel like I’m constantly drowning.
Harper and I were supposed to bring a baby into the world. The pregnancy wasn’t expected, but I was going to love the child with everything I have and be a good father. That all changed a week ago when Harper started bleeding.
I had the most perfect relationship with Harper. My precious, beautiful Harper. My everything. She was so vibrant and full of life. Now, she’s miserable. I don’t know if the two of us will ever find our way back to what we shared.
I had Felix. My closest friend and brother. We were going into business together to open our own speakeasy. The three of us together, we were living the dream. We were so stupidly happy.
Now, I suppose I’ll follow my father’s plans for me. Study at Columbia then join his hotel empire.
It won’t make me happy. I don’t think I can ever truly be happy without my brother. His hatred toward me rips me apart.
I’ve only ever tried to do the right thing by Harper and Felix. And yet all of my good intentions have backfired. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Nothing feels right.
Part of me wonders if Felix was correct, that Dad used fear to keep me from telling Harper the truth, all to protect himself from the law. Was sacrificing my relationship with Felix and Harper a price he was willing to pay for his own self-preservation? Was I a fool and fell for his manipulation?
Have the Fergusons really bought the lie they were fed about Paul’s death, or are they suspicious? I seem to be the only one who lives with this fear. Dad says we’re in the clear, but how can we ever know?
“Please, say something,” Harper murmurs.
“I’m sorry everything turned out this way.” I pull her into my arms. “I hate seeing you so sad. What can I do to fix this?”
“Just love me. I’ve lost everything. Felix. My parents. Cindy. Ballet. The baby.” Her voice cracks, and she shudders against me. “I feel terrible admitting this, but I never truly wanted the baby. And yet now that it’s gone, it feels like there’s a part of me that’s missing.”
“I know, Harp. I feel the same way.” I kiss her forehead. “I’m always going to love you. We can try speaking with Felix?—”
“No. After everything that’s gone down, I’m too ashamed to contact him.
We’ve hurt him too deeply. I chose you, even though it meant breaking his heart.
I can’t crawl back to him just because our circumstances changed.
He deserves better. Besides, no one knows where Felix is.
” She tilts her head, looking up at me with glassy eyes.
“You’re in pain too. Tell me what I can do to help. ”
“Love me,” I echo her words.
“Forever. I’ll never stop. We’ll get through this, Tyler.”
My lips brush against her temple. “It’s you and me.”
“Always.”