Chapter 31 Harper
HARPER
It took every ounce of my courage to admit everything. I waited for the fallout. For the moment when anger took over and they all stormed out. They stared at me. Three sets of eyes. Brown. Gray. Blue. They all rivaled each other in intensity, and I could not look away.
Like a bug caught in a spider’s trap, I knew better than to wiggle and squirm. I held still, afraid to do more than take shallow breaths to keep from passing out.
They kept staring at me like I’d grown a second head, and fuck if I could keep quiet any longer. “Are you angry?”
Dante soared to his feet for the second time in twenty minutes. “Angry? I’m fucking furious.”
My heart fell to my toes and my stomach clenched. I’d expected it, but to hear it from him was more than I could bear.
Dante sat on the side of the bed and gripped my shoulders.
“Harper, I’m furious that you kept this from us.
We should have all been part of the decision making.
You have been shouldering all the responsibility.
We could have helped. That is all I have ever wanted to do, and instead of trusting us, you decided to take it on alone. ”
Hurt filled his eyes, turning the blue glacier.
They wanted to help? Words failed me. I should have known better. I’d let fear overrule my common sense and everything they had shown me about who they were.
Julian and Alexander converged on the bed, both wrapping their arms around me from either side. I lost sight of Lila until she appeared at the foot of my bed with a delighted look on her face. She mouthed “told you so” and I rolled my eyes.
She had told me, but I’d decided I knew what was best. Look where that had led me.
Three sets of arms hugged me, voices murmuring in my ears, each one distinct and reassuring me that they never wanted to be apart from me again.
“We’re going to be fathers.” Julian grinned and kissed my cheek. “Do you have any idea how happy I am about that?”
“No.” I shook my head because I genuinely had no idea. “We never talked about kids. I told you I was on birth control. I assumed you’d be angry, like I’d tried to trick you or something.”
“You would never.” Alexander shook his head, his eyes narrowed as an exasperated breath pulsed from his lips and drifted over my cheek.
“You should have asked us. Or we should have mentioned it. We all know that birth control is not always effective. It never crossed my mind that you would consider it an issue.”
A mix of emotions filled the room, warming my skin and eliminating the last of my concern at how they’d react, what they would think of me.
“Our love for you is all-consuming.” Alexander brushed hair from my cheek and pushed it behind my ear.
My heart melted, and it was a good thing I was already laying down because my knees would have given out at the warm confession.
“Our child is a product of that love, and we will do anything for them, just as we would for you.”
Dante rubbed my upper thigh and nodded. “Alex is right. I love you, Harper. Losing you was the most painful experience of my life. We will not let that happen again, and our child is loved. So much more than you could ever know.” His voice cracked, and his mouth pulled to one side an embarrassed smirk I found utterly adorable.
“What about your reputations?” I had to ask. It was the single most important question that had pushed me to leave them in the first place.
“Fuck that.” Julian snorted and pushed a hand through his hair, standing it on end.
His tattoos flashed in the fluorescent lighting, making the colors swim when he twisted his arms. “We don’t care, Harper.
All that matters is that you are okay, that we’re together, and that you have a healthy baby. ”
Alex leaned toward me. “Which begs the question: why are you in the hospital?”
I told them my diagnosis in the shortest, most succinct explanation possible. I laid out all the potential issues and what I would have to do to continue to maintain my health and take care of the baby.
Alexander’s eyebrows drew down. Julian tapped his chin with one finger, and Dante pulled out his phone, a line forming between his eyebrows. He showed us the phone screen, revealing a compilation of information. “I want you to come home with us.”
“Agreed.” Alex framed my face in his hands. He couldn’t seem to stop touching me, and I had no reason to ask him to stop. “Let us take care of you. Let us help you stay healthy and protect you. You’re safer with us.”
Safe. God how I wanted to be safe. The constant tension of not knowing when another text would appear or what might happen to us had taken a toll.
Stress wasn’t good for me or the baby. My OB had been clear on that.
Continued stress risked exacerbating the situation, and since I was an emotional eater, that complicated things even further.
“You’re not allowed to do this on your own.” Julian gave me his best pissed off look, but his brown eyes were too soft and warm for it to be effective.
I wanted to go with them, but I had to object just once. “It’s too dangerous. Someone will see me, and the person blackmailing me will take it to the press.”
“Not happening.” Julian kissed my cheek and smoothed his knuckles over my jaw. “You can stay in Dante’s penthouse. I’ll hire a private investigator, and we’ll find out who’s been spying on you.”
Did I want to push it any further than this? There wasn’t really any reason. We all wanted the same thing. “I hate the idea of putting you at risk.”
“Tough shit.” Julian laughed, but the sound was neither mean nor cruel. “You’ve been doing this on your own long enough. We love you, and we’re going to protect you. End of story.”
“Agreed.” Dante thumped Julian on the shoulder with a closed fist. “You never have to do anything alone again. This is what we’re good at, Harper. We’ve been in the public eye for decades. We know the risks, and we’re all ready to face them if it comes to that.”
“Not that we think it will.” Alexander looked from Dante to Julian. “Julian has a great PI. He’s done work for us before. If anyone can find this person threatening you, it’s Greg.”
“You know I’m not going to be able to just stop worrying.
One more picture, one wrong word to a reporter, and you’ll be ruined.
” I warned them even as I warmed to the idea.
I mean, I’d be crazy not to be excited about the idea of spending my days in Dante’s penthouse.
I’d never been there, but it was Dante. The space would be incredible.
And sexy.
All our times together promised that his home space, the one place he did not have to hide, would be him to the core. Did he have a sex room?
Lila met my gaze from the foot of the bed and rolled her eyes. My question must have been plain for her to read, because she mimed gagging, or maybe that was supposed to be a pantomime of giving a blow job. Either way, it broke my concentration.
“Don’t care.” Julian said each word slowly, his hands moving over my head and down my shoulders. “If our business can be ruined because we fell in love with the same woman, then I say fuck them.”
“You can’t throw it all away,” I tried to protest.
Dante silenced me with a kiss that swept me away from the horror of living alone with my worry and stress and planted me firmly in their space.
He ended the kiss and rested his forehead against mine.
“I won’t bother telling you not to worry.
You’re right, it’s a risk. And we’re all willing to take it.
We love you too much to let you go again. ”
“I love you too.” I broke at the look in his eyes. He loved me. They all did. Throwing that away was worse than death.
“As long as you and the baby are safe, we have everything that we need.” Alexander’s throat dipped. “As long as you want to let us stay in your life.”
“I love you, Alex. You, Julian, and Dante. I’m sorry I left and made you worry.
I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” My voice catches, and I had to try again.
“If I had, we might already be on the other side of this. I made a mistake, but I want you in my life. I just needed to make sure we all understood the risks and were not hiding from the possible consequences.”
I hugged Julian, then Alex, then Dante. My legs tingled from being in the same position for so long, and I ached to walk around the room, but I stayed put for the baby’s safety.
Like my men, I would do anything to protect the small miracle I’d grown to love more with each passing day.
“I would love to come back to New York with you.”
Their smiles made it all okay. We’d fight through this. I had them by my side, and no matter what came our way, I would not try to face it without them. I loved them, and for the first time in my life, that meant allowing them to be part of my life.