Chapter 40 Harper
forty
Harper
CARS.
It had been almost two weeks since Matthew lost his job, and five days since Benny’s and my relationship had been exposed to the world.
Reporters had been following us around ever since.
They weren’t able to get into my office, but they had been to Benny’s gym and scared off some of his clients.
He’d taken a few days off as we waited for things to calm down.
I’d been contacted for statements and interviews, but I ignored them. I’d accomplished what I wanted when I kissed Benny at the front of the hotel, and I had no interest in putting my personal life any further in the spotlight.
Leon had been suspiciously quiet. Not that I went out of my way to speak with him, but when we’d been in meetings or emailing about work, he’d seemed normal. I’d expected him to be furious. In fact, I knew he had to be. So why wasn’t he showing it?
I tapped my pen against my desk, my eyes looking at my monitor but seeing nothing. Things were too calm.
As if the universe heard my thoughts, the door to my office opened with such force that the crash of it against the wall sent pictures tumbling to the ground.
A head of wild brown hair and eyes ablaze with fury made it three steps into my office before another two intruders were rushing in after her.
“I didn’t steal shit!” Rachel shouted.
One of the men wearing a security uniform grabbed her arm, and she yanked against him. “Let go of me! I didn’t do anythin’!”
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked as I stood.
Before Rachel or security could answer, she’d punched the man holding her arm in the throat.
“That fuckin’ bastard fired me!” she shrieked.
The second guard grabbed her other arm, narrowly dodging another swing.
“Let go of her!” I ordered.
He didn’t listen, and the first guard had recovered enough to grab hold of her free arm again.
“I didn’t fuckin’ do it, Harper! I didn’t steal nothin’. Please!” Fury twisted to desperation as she yanked against the men, but they held her firm.
“I said let go!”
“We’re under direct orders to remove Miss Forrester from the premises,” one of them finally answered me.
“Well, I’m giving you a direct order not to,” I repeated.
“Take it up with your father,” croaked the man who’d been throat punched as he yanked Rachel back toward the door.
“You’re hurtin’ me! Harper!”
I stormed after them.
Doors were opening all along the corridor, people poking their heads out to get a look at what was going on.
“Let her go right now!”
They ignored me, continuing to drag Rachel toward the elevators.
“I’m going to fix this,” I yelled after her.
I had to fix this.
The doors closed, and she was gone. I felt the eyes of dozens of employees at my back.
Rage. Guilt. Indignation. They burned up my chest and throat. I hit the button for the elevators.
I was dealing with this, and I was doing it now.
The door to Leon’s office opened with as much force as mine had when Rachel had burst in, seeking help that I’d failed to give her.
He wasn’t alone. Our chief financial officer was sitting across from him at his desk.
I didn’t give a fuck.
“Get out,” I snarled at him, and at least someone chose to listen to me today. He quickly scurried past me, leaving me alone with Leon.
I’d never seen such anger in his eyes, but I was sure he’d never seen such anger in mine either.
“You’re a piece of shit,” I seethed.
“How dare yo—”
“How dare I? How dare you!” I shouted. “Firing Matthew, and now Rachel? You miserable fucking cunt. Throwing a fucking tantrum when you don’t get what you want. It’s enough. It’s over. You fucking lost. Now you’re going to give Rachel her job back. We both know she didn’t steal anything.”
He inhaled slowly, composing himself. I wished he wouldn’t.
“Miss Forrester either stole or misplaced a prototype tracker from Project Echo-12. She signed it out, and it was never signed back in. She refused to answer any questions regarding its whereabouts, and there was no paper trail. Do you suppose we can allow that?”
My insides twisted, guilt hitting me like a wrecking ball.
“It was me. I took it.”
Leon pursed his lips for a moment. “It doesn’t matter. It was signed out in her name.”
“Because I told her to!”
“Well, I guess it’s your fault, then.”
My palms stung where my nails bit into them. “You’re doing this because of the articles.”
His eye twitched slightly, but his mask remained otherwise intact.
“Give Rachel her job back. Now. And Matthew. This has nothing to do with them.”
His jaw clenched. “Certainly. When you come to your senses and mend the damage you’ve done to our reputation, I’ll give them their jobs back.”
“Break up with Benny, you mean? I won’t.”
“Then you’re wasting my time. Get back to work.”
“No. Give them their jobs back. Now. Or I quit.”
A vein pulsed in his forehead. “You can’t quit. You’re the heir.”
“I don’t care. Give them their jobs back or I walk out of this building and never step foot in it again.”
“You can’t.”
I smiled. Because all my fucking life he’d told me that. You can’t. I’d believed him. I didn’t anymore. “Who’s going to stop me? You going to tie me to my desk? Do it. You still can’t make me work. You can’t make me do anything. You’ve run out of people to fire.”
“I can do other things.”
“Like what?”
His jaw clenched.
“I used to be afraid of disappointing you. I’m not anymore. Because you disappoint me.”
“Harper.”
“Leon. I’m out. Pass the title of heir down to your next child. Oh wait, you can’t, because both your children hate you. You’ve run out of heirs.”
He looked so pathetic, in that big chair, at that big desk, in this big office. Because he’d never looked smaller to me, and I wasn’t afraid of him anymore.
“Do they have their jobs back, or am I leaving?”
Leon remained silent, glaring at me like that alone could force me back into the box he’d created for me.
“So be it,” I said, and I left.
I didn’t even return to my office. I just took the elevator down to the ground floor and walked out into the sun.
Rachel hadn’t gotten far. I found her, and I made her take me to the nearest ATM, where I took out as much cash as it allowed me to.
“Do you want a new car?” I asked.
She laughed. “Fuck. Sure, why not.”
“Me too. Let’s go buy new cars.”
I knew the money would be Leon’s next move. If I wasn’t going to obey him, he was going to cut off my finances. It didn’t matter to me anymore. Most of our funds were tied up in investments, but I planned to drain as much of what was liquified as possible.
Rachel wanted a Jeep, so we went to get that first. I bought her a Wrangler Rubicon 392.
I also decided to buy Matthew a Grand Wagoneer Summit Reserve.
I didn’t know much about cars, but they were the most expensive two, and I loaded them up with all the features and upgrades available.
I wanted to buy Benny something too, but my card was declined as soon as we stopped to fuel up.
So we brought the new cars back to Benny’s with the plan that Rachel would get someone to bring her back to collect her old car.
Benny had been concerned, and Matthew disapproving, when they’d come out to greet us. Rachel was so excited about the car that she rushed through her explanation of what had brought us here.
“Wait, wait, you were fired?” Benny questioned her.
“Yes, but look!” She pointed. “It’s my dream car! I’ll get another job, at like, Noctis Tech or somethin’.” She gagged as she mentioned our biggest competitor. “I’m great and they’d be lucky to have me.”
Benny’s hand smoothed down my arm as he turned to look at me, and his eyes softened. “You quit your job.”
“I quit my job,” I repeated. “And I’m moving in with you.”
His eyes lit up, his lips pulling into a wide grin. “When?”
“Now. We just need to go get my girls.”
“Harper.” Matthew tried to interrupt, but I tossed him the keys to his new car that he fumbled before securing.
“You should take Rach to get her old car. Benny and I are going to my place.”
“I think we should talk about—”
“Later, Matthew.” I pulled Benny toward his car, and he came willingly.
There was a lot we needed to talk about, I understood that.
My entire life, entire purpose, had just evaporated in one rage-fueled encounter with Leon.
I had to figure out what that meant for me and how I was going to move forward, but later.
Right now, all I wanted was my man somewhere we could be alone.
With Matthew living here, and the way Ginny popped by constantly, and now I was sure Rachel would too until she got another job, solo time was likely to become a lot harder to secure.
Benny tried to talk to me about it on the drive to my penthouse, but I told him I wasn’t ready yet, and he listened.
Then I was pulling him by his shirt to the wall of windows in my bedroom. I made him fuck me against the glass as I took in the city view from here for the final time.
I didn’t belong up here anymore, not on this side of the glass. Now my place was down there with Benny, and the color, and the music.
We showered, and I went to check on my girls. I could bring Aurelia and Juliette in their tanks to Benny’s. Celestine would be the tricky one to transport, and I’d have to get her a new enclosure as hers was built into the apartment.
I’d thought maybe I could sort that out over the next couple of days, but my blood ran cold when I approached the tanks and discovered someone had switched all of them off.
I needed to get them out of here right fucking now. I pulled out my phone to look up someone who might be able to help with relocating Celestine, only to find my service had been disconnected.
I borrowed Benny’s phone to make some calls, feeling very much like the snakes and I were in the same situation, completely cut off by an enemy beyond reach.
We found someone to come and help with relocating Celestine.
Another company agreed—with a hefty urgency fee—to install a new enclosure in one of Benny’s spare rooms this afternoon.
The relocation and new enclosure cost a small fortune, but I’d find a way to repay every cent, despite Benny telling me it wasn’t necessary.
Nothing else really mattered. I didn’t need any of this stuff, just the blanket Matthew had given me, my girls, and anything else that we figured would look nice in Benny’s place or could be sold for some extra cash.
“The cars are gone,” I realized as we packed the final box into the back of Benny’s Audi.
“What cars?”
I hadn’t noticed it when we came in. I’d been too focused on having Benny and severing myself from this place and Leon. “He bought me a car for my birthday every year. They’re gone.”
“You had cars this whole time?”
I nodded.
“You just wanted me to drive you around?”
I nodded again.
Benny placed a kiss on my forehead. I’d never really used the cars Leon gave me. I preferred my bike or for Matthew to drive me, and now Benny.
After everything Leon had done, I wasn’t surprised he’d reclaimed them. I didn’t even want them. But it left something inside me feeling oddly hollow. As if taking them back had erased them and any love he’d supposedly felt when he gave them to me.
The empty spaces blurred, and Benny held me tighter. “I didn’t even like them,” I mumbled as I turned into him. “Why am I upset?”
He kissed the top of my head. “It’s okay to be upset, my love. Even if you didn’t use or like them.”
I held him tighter, waiting until the hollow feeling eased, though it didn’t disappear, before I pulled back and we went home.