Chapter 37 Harper
HARPER
The remote slipped from my fingers and clattered to the hardwood floor.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do anything except stare at the massive TV mounted on Dante’s living room wall. My face filled the screen, a bold headline stamped across the top of my forehead.
Elevate CEOs in bed with their youngest employee
The headline burned into my retinas. I tried to look away, needed to close my eyes and pretend it was all a dream. Turn off the TV. I ordered my body to bend and pick up the remote. It refused to cooperate, my nerves and bones locked in place as the nightmare I’d been running from crashed over me.
This was it. Everything I’d feared played out in horrific detail as the anchor’s voice droned on in that detached professional way, like she wasn’t destroying our lives with every word that left her perfectly glossed lips.
“The scandal rocking the business world today involves three of New York’s most prominent executives and their former assistant. ”
Wrong. I wasn’t their assistant. I worked in marketing. They hadn’t done their research, but they’d been happy enough to blast this story.
She continued, a smirky smile tipping her lips. I wanted to punch her. I’d never been violent in my life, but right now, I’d happily smack that look off her face. Except it wasn’t her fault. She reported the news they told her to report.
“Sources say the relationship began shortly after Harper Bloom was hired at Elevate and culminated in a pregnancy that has raised serious questions about workplace ethics and possible abuse of power.”
I pressed my shaking hands to my stomach, protecting the tiny life growing there from the words cutting deeper with every passing second. “We’re going to be okay.” I had to say it, even if I didn’t quite believe myself.
The screen shifted to a series of photos.
God. So many pictures. The first one of me at the gala wasn’t too bad, except I stared up at Alexander like I was already half in love with him.
The next set flashed in a rush. Me sneaking out of the hotel room in a wrinkled dress and my hair a mess.
Not criminal but obvious what I’d been doing.
Heat flooded my cheeks, and I bit the inside of my cheek as shame twisted my gut. I had no reason to feel ashamed.
Photos of us at the cabin came next, many of them with bits blurred out to keep them appropriate for TV.
Those intimate, private moments I’d treasured were now displayed for the world to judge.
The last one stole my breath as it filled the screen.
The four of us lay in bed together, sheets a mess between us.
Dante kissed my shoulder, and Julian’s tattooed arm lay across my waist. Alexander cupped my face in both hands, tenderness in his eyes and a happy smile on full display.
Someone had been watching us. They violated our privacy and stole our most vulnerable moments. No one had the right to do that. No one.
Nausea whirled in my stomach and I rested the back of my hand over my mouth.
The anchor continued, her pleasant tone relentless. “Elevate’s stock has plummeted nearly fifteen percent in the last two hours as investors express concern over the leadership’s lack of judgment and potential legal ramifications.”
Shit.
Fifteen percent in two hours. Possible legal ramifications?
We were fucking adults in a consensual relationship.
Yes, Elevate had rules about the situation, but the law had no say in what happened.
Fuck them. Anger began replacing the nausea, and my foot bounced up and down on the floor, my socked heel making no sound as I tapped out an annoyed rhythm.
I’d sent the text that started all of this. Course, I hadn’t meant to send it to them, but I was still responsible. I’d decided to fall into bed with them. They’d given me the power and I agreed to sleep with them. I’d convinced myself we could keep it a secret.
Look what I’d done.
The TV switched to a panel of “experts” who had never met me, never met my men, but apparently knew everything about our relationship.
A woman in a severe gray suit leaned forward, her expression grave.
“We have to consider the power dynamics at play here. Three wealthy, influential men in positions of authority and a young woman barely out of college. The potential for coercion is undeniable.”
“Coercion?” I rolled the word around, my voice hollow in the empty suite. “Fuck no.”
No one heard me. No one cared about the truth.
A man with thick-rimmed glasses nodded along to every word the woman said.
“And now a pregnancy? It raises serious questions. Was this young woman coerced into a sexual relationship? Or”—he stopped and held up his hands while he grimaced—“I hate to even suggest this, but did she use her sexuality to manipulate these men, only to trap them with an unwanted child?”
The room spun, my vision blurring. Manipulate. Trap. Unwanted.
None of those words belonged anywhere near what we had. Our love was real, honest, and beautiful. Probably more real than most marriages nowadays. And they were tearing it apart.
“You are not unwanted.” I concentrated on taking deep breaths to ease the painful pounding in my chest. “I want you. They want you. You will be one of the most loved children on the planet.”
My phone buzzed a series of short pops that indicated multiple notifications.
I groaned and flipped it over, just to check the screen to make sure it wasn’t one of my men.
Social media notifications. Shit. I needed to deactivate all my accounts until we figured this out.
I didn’t dare check the notifications but swiped them away and turned my phone face down on the couch. I’d have Julian turn off my socials.
Or…
Or I’d use them to our advantage. I could fight back. No one said I had to sit here and take this abuse.
The TV changed again, going back to Elevate’s stock and showing live coverage of the decline and the front door of the building at the same time.
Reporters swarmed the entrance like vultures.
Employees hurried past with their heads down, refusing to comment.
The camera zoomed in on the stock at the bottom of the screen. Down another two percent.
I tried to stand, but my knees buckled, sending me into the back of the couch with an oomph. How many people worked at Elevate? Hundreds? Were they sitting around watching their retirement accounts shrink because I’d given in to temptation and fallen in love?
I’d been so fucking naive.
What had I done?
Dante. Alexander. Julian. Three brilliant, incredible men who’d built an empire, and I’d brought it crashing down in a matter of hours.
They said they didn’t care about their reputations. All that matters was us being together. But that was when we thought we could control the narrative.
How would they feel when they saw this? Did they know yet?
The thought of losing them carved a hole in my chest so deep I lost the ability to breathe.
The elevator dinged, and my head snapped up. No. Not yet. I wasn’t prepared to face them yet.
Dante stormed in first, blue eyes wild as he scanned the room. Julian cut in behind him, tattoos flashing as he yanked off his suit jacket. Alexander brought up the rear, gray eyes locked on me with an intensity that made my heart stutter.
They’d left work in the middle of the shitstorm. For me.
Because of me.
“Harper.” Dante crossed the room in three strides and dropped to his knees in front of me. He framed my face in his hands, thumbs brushing away tears. “Baby, are you okay?”
My throat closed up, forcing me to shake my head.
Julian sat beside me, one arm coming around my shoulders to pull me against his side. “We saw it. We already know. We needed to check on you but knew better than to just call.”
“The stock.” I choked on my tears and stopped.
“Fuck the stock.” Alexander sank onto the couch on my other side and picked up my hand. He squeezed tight. “That’s not what matters.”
“But it’s dropped seventeen percent because of me.” My voice broke, and I stopped again, willing myself to be stronger.
“Stop.” Dante’s command cut through my spiral. “This is not your fault.”
I pulled back, needing them to understand. “How can you say that? I did this. You gave me the option, and I said yes. All of this is my fault. I made every single choice that led to this, and now the company—”
“Will survive.” Julian cut me off with a look and a squeeze on my shoulder. “We’ve weathered worse than a stock dip. This is noise. A scandal. It will blow over.”
The room tilted, and I took a breath to right it. “You saw what they’re saying about us. About me. They think you forced me. Or that I trapped you. They’re destroying everything.” My desire to set the record straight roared up.
“They’re wrong, and we’re going to prove it.” Alexander gave me a sad but solid smile and kissed my temple. “We’re not going to take this lying down.”
The absolute fury in his voice brought my head around to look at all of them. They wore matching expressions of barely contained fury.
“What do you mean?”
Dante’s lips curved in that predatory smile I’d come to appreciate. “Julian’s PI tracked down the source of the text messages. We know who’s been sending them.”
“And we’re going to ride this out together. We’ll plan and strategize tomorrow. Once we’ve had time to clear our heads and the PR strategist we’ve hired has a chance to come up with a plan.” Julian rubbed my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Once we have the evidence we need, we go all in.” Dante pulled me to my feet. “Until then, I have a few ideas for how we can spend our time.”
The low huskiness in his voice told me exactly what he had planned.
Dante kissed me, his lips firm but loving and as demanding as ever.
When he pulled back, his eyes blazed. “I’m not losing you again, Harper.
I don’t care if the stock drops to zero.
I don’t care if every investor walks away.
You and our baby are worth more than all of it combined. ”
“I love you.” I fought through another rush of tears to tell him. “All of you. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.” Julian caught my chin and turned my face to his. “You have nothing to apologize for. You tried to protect us. It’s our turn to protect you. We’re going to figure this out.”
The weight pressing on my chest eased.
Dante kissed the side of my neck, then slid around to the pulse point below my ear.
Julian slid a hand into my hair, tilting my head back.
Alexander traced a pattern on my thigh, his touch searing through my thin leggings.
Grief and fear lived inside me, but my need for them rose up to challenge it. “I want you. All of you.”
Julian trailed kisses down my shoulder. “Good. Because we need you too.”
We barely made it to the bedroom, leaving a trail of clothing from the living room and all the way down the hallway.
By the time we fell into bed, naked and aching to have them inside me, I could almost forget about the threat looming overhead.
Julian settled between my thighs, and I opened for him.
He slid inside with a smooth stroke that buried him balls deep, then began to move.
I’d expected rough but passionate sex. Julian gave me control and passion with a steady building orgasm that tore through my body and ripped out all of my doubts.