Chapter 50 Benny
fifty
Benny
SIX SECONDS.
“Use the maintenance elevator. Go directly to the roof. Do not deviate.” Shady’s instructions had been clear.
We should probably have been concerned with how much access he already had to Lorens Industries’ security, and apparently the security staff who were already working for him as they let us in through the loading dock.
The camera in the elevator would normally have a red light indicating it was recording. It didn’t now.
It was too easy.
I didn’t for one moment believe Shady was doing any of this for free. I knew he probably stood to gain far more than we did out of it. Materially, anyway. There was nothing I wouldn’t pay for the safety of my family and the man that I loved.
Whatever the terms were, Harper had told me to trust him, and despite everything, I still did. Completely.
He was calm, and I knew him well enough to know it wasn’t a mask. He was as sure about this as I was.
Then we were ascending the last flight of stairs to get to the rooftop. No building was tall enough or close enough to witness what was about to happen. The wind whipped past us, ready to carry away our secrets.
Now we just had to bait Leon.
Harper looked at me, then Matthew, who’d insisted on being here when Harper had told him what we were going to do. I think, in part, because it scared him to let Harper out of his sight again.
It was a Saturday night, and the building was basically empty, except for Leon.
Harper made the call.
“I was wrong,” he swallowed. “I’m ready to negotiate.
” His lip pulled up in a snarl at whatever Leon had to say in response, but his voice remained calm.
“I’m already here. On the roof… No, you come to me…
If we’re going to sort this out, it’ll be somewhere we’re equals…
No… If you want to talk any further, you’ll meet me here. ”
He hung up.
We just had to hope it was enough.
Harper needed closure. He needed a space to say everything he wanted to say to Leon before he wouldn’t be able to anymore.
So Matthew and I hid in the heavy shadows to the side of the brick bulkhead concealing the stairs, beyond where the low roof light could reach us. The only way onto the roof, and the only way safely off.
The door opened with such force that it slammed against the wall as Leon entered the terrace. “You have a lot of nerve making demands after all you put me through, you little shit. Do you have any idea the money I’ve lost dealing with you and your ridiculous escapades?”
I could see Harper from my hiding place. Despite Leon’s fury, he was calm.
“No one asked you to do any of that. You did it on your own. Because you’re a spiteful, evil creature, incapable of love.”
“I am your father!” Leon raised his voice.
“Then you should have been my father!” Harper snapped back, sudden emotion breaking his voice. “Not my boss. You should have treated me like a son, not a possession. You should want me to be happy!”
“Happiness isn’t real, Harper. You can’t measure it. What’s real is this company, and its success is provable and measurable in data and numbers. Happiness is a fool’s goal.”
Harper shook his head. “You know, I feel sorry for you. You’ve never been happy a day in your life, have you? Not really.”
Leon glared in response.
“You’ve never been happy and so you have to make sure no one around you is happy either. Because you can’t stand someone having what you do not.” Harper grinned. “But I do. I have things you’ll never have. I have happiness. I have light, and color. I have love.”
“That’s all worthless.”
“No. It’s everything.”
“Did you call me here to waste my time?”
Harper shook his head. “No. I called you here to tell you that you lose.”
“Do I?” Leon scoffed. “Because I think you’ll find that I have everything, and you have nothing.”
Harper’s eyes flicked to mine—even in the darkness, he found me easily. He nodded.
Leon turned, the rage on his face faltering as I stepped into the light. A moment later, Matthew did as well.
Leon looked between us, his face paling as he caught on to the situation he was in. “How did you get into the building?”
“Your staff betrayed you,” Matthew answered. “No loyalty these days. Can’t imagine why.”
When his eyes flicked to the doorway, I anticipated his next move before he made it. My arm shot out as he attempted to rush for it, and I threw him back with enough force that he landed on his back, wheezing for air.
Matthew approached first, crouching over him.
The crack of the open-palm slap probably stung Matthew’s hand, but he didn’t seem to mind.
“I gave you twenty-two years of my life. I want to thank you for that, because even though you are a vile human being and a disgrace of a father, you gave me my sons. Harper is mine. And Logan too. I’m going to find him, if it’s the last thing I do. ”
Leon attempted to get to his feet again, but Harper’s foot to his chest kept him on his back, where he belonged. Beneath him.
“You almost destroyed me.” Harper’s voice wasn’t calm anymore.
Emotion long buried was bleeding out of him, and for once he didn’t shield it from the monster on the ground.
“Even before I met Benny and you did all the terrible things you’ve done, I was almost ruined.
Because you didn’t love me, and you made me think that was because I wasn’t worthy of it.
That no one else could either. But you were wrong, and so was I. Because people do love me.”
His eyes glassed over and my chest ached. I wanted nothing more than to pull him into me and tell him how proud I was of him, but it would wait, because he wasn’t done.
“Matthew loves me. Benny loves me. Rachel… and Ma, they love me. And I deserve that.” He nodded, a silent tear falling.
I couldn’t stop myself from stepping forward to catch it.
Harper turned to look at me, and the hurt in his eyes melted into love as he looked at me. He smiled.
“I’m not afraid anymore.” He turned back to Leon.
“Not of you. Never again. You’re going to die here, and I want you to know that nothing you have can stop it.
And when you’re dead, everything you spent your life building will be for nothing.
Your company will be consumed by your competitor, your name removed from the building.
You’ll be forgotten. And none of your money can change it. ”
Leon’s hands closed around Harper’s leg, nails biting in. Harper shouted in pain. I kicked him in the head on reflex and his body slumped in unconsciousness.
“Are you alright?” I asked Harper.
He nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get this done.”
Leon’s eyes fluttered open again only moments later, but it was already too late.
My arms strained from holding him up, over the edge of the empire he’d built.
“Wait!” His hands clasped around my wrists. “I’ll leave you alone. I’ll give you money. I’ll give you everything.”
“I don’t want anything from you,” Harper said from beside me.
“I’ll give you Logan! I know where he is. He never left. I sent him away. I can bring him back!”
Harper was silent for a moment, and Leon’s eyes sparked with hope as he continued. “That’s right, I pushed him away, but he wants to come home. He’s always wanted to come home. I’ll let him. Only if you let me go.”
I turned to look at Harper, his expression strained at this new information.
He turned to me. “If Logan wants to come home, we’ll find him ourselves. Do it.”
“No!” Leon protested.
“You hurt my ma,” I told him through clenched teeth. “You hurt my family, and the man I love most of all. You won’t hurt anyone else.”
“I told you, Leon, that it would take six seconds to reach the ground. Let’s see if I was right,” Harper said, then nodded at me.
Leon continued to babble his worthless pleas and protests.
I dropped him.
His nails bit into my hands, but it wasn’t enough to save him.
He fell.
“One…” Harper started.
“Two…” Matthew continued the count.
“Three…” I joined as well.
“Four… five…”
A smile pulled at Harper’s lips. “I was right. About six seconds.”
I pulled Harper into me, and Matthew joined us as I wrapped my arms around them both. We did it. We’d won.