Chapter 32
The Dinner
Luke
I stalled after practice as long as I could before I head to Harper’s house to pick her up. Dinner is necessary. We need into my father’s laptop. This is for all of us, but Harper and I will take the brunt of the abuse. If he makes a move toward her, I’ll kill him.
But he’s more cunning than to come directly at her.
He has a plan. We just need to outwit him.
I knock at the door. Harper’s mom is home and I need to show Jennifer I respect her and her rules. She doesn’t need to know I fucked her daughter in the girls’ bathroom at school.
Jennifer opens the door. Her brow furrows when she sees it’s me. “You don’t have to knock. You practically live here.”
I smile and dip my head as I walk in. “Just trying to be respectful.”
She lets out a little hmph before walking over to the sink. “Harper says you two are having dinner with your dad?”
I meet her wary eyes. “Yes. I won’t let him hurt her.”
Her eyes soften, but there’s a hardness to her words. “I’m sure he won’t.”
Before I can ask what she means, Harper hurries into the kitchen. She changed from that short tease of a skirt into a pretty dress that flows around her long legs. My mouth goes dry and my heart beats a little harder.
“You look beautiful.” It comes out of me without a second thought.
Her smiling brown eyes lift to mine and I swear my heart squeezes so hard I can barely breathe. She walks to me and puts her hand on my chest. My heart resumes beating at her touch.
“You look very handsome.” She has a soft pink lipstick on that makes me want to devour her.
Jennifer clears her throat. “When should I expect you two home?”
I lock down all my feelings, knowing they can be used against me. Not by Jennifer, but I can’t slip up in front of my father. “Hopefully by nine.”
Jennifer nods and Harper slips her hand in mine.
“I’m ready,” she says.
I turn my gaze to hers and lose myself in her softness again. Fuck, I need to get a handle on that before we sit down with my father.
“Bye, Mom.” Harper waves goodbye and I pull her outside.
When I open the car door for her, I stop her before she sinks into the seat. Tipping her chin up, I search her eyes.
“I can’t show him you mean something to me. He’ll be looking for weaknesses to exploit.” I know I’m looking at mine. If he figures that out, I’m fucked. Because I’d do anything to keep Harper. Go to his college. Work at his company. Be his fucking lapdog.
Everything I’ve fought so hard against. If I could just have her, I’d be okay with it. But she wouldn’t. And that’s why I can’t let her go.
She wraps her arms around my waist.
“I won’t let him get to me,” she promises. “But if he comes after you...”
I brush a strand of her hair behind her ear and lean down, breathing in her vanilla scent. “If he comes after me, princess, run.”
Her eyes widen, but before she can tell me she won’t, I kiss her, claiming her. I can’t let her get hurt.
“We have to meet Jack and Nico,” I remind her. She searches my face intently before she gives me a little nod.
When I release her, she gets in the car and I get in the other side.
We drive with the thumping beat of an EDM track.
The music helps me clear my mind until I pull into the garage at my house.
We wait a few minutes after we get out. Jack and Nico come into the garage dressed in black shirts with jeans.
We do our handshake and the guys both hug Harper.
“Do you need anything from me?” I glance toward the house. “Once we’re inside, don’t talk.”
Jack nods. “I have something that will find cameras or bugs.”
“Check my room, too.” I pull Harper into my side and she curves into me with her hand resting over my heart.
“We will. Be careful.” Jack touches Harper’s face and she smiles up at him.
“Caden is on standby. He has his sister with him.”
I nod. Caden will get Harper out if things get messy. That’s all that matters. I can take a beating. I’ve done it for years. As long as she’s safe. But if she’s there and he lays a finger on her, I won’t be able to control what happens.
Drawing in a breath, I squeeze her close, then step away and hold out my hand. Her soft gaze lifts to mine. I don’t want to do this. Even if we figure out what’s happening, it’s not worth losing her.
“Hey.” She steps into me and her expression hardens slightly. “We’ve got this. You and me. He won’t get between us.”
“He can’t.” It’s the closest I can come to telling her how I feel. How I can’t imagine a life without her. How he can’t come between us because there’s no room. She’s mine and my heart doesn’t beat without her.
She nods and we head inside. We don’t go to my room or stop anywhere on our way to the dining room. I don’t know what he has planned, but I’m sure I’m not going to like it.
Jack
The kitchen buzzes with activity, so we skip it and head straight to Luke’s bedroom. The first thing we do is make sure Luke’s video is still on even though it looks off. Then Nico and I go through the room and double check there are no active bugs in the space.
We don’t find anything, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. It could be motion- or light-triggered. We don’t turn on the light. I have a couple of flash drives in my pocket, but otherwise, we’re not carrying a lot.
The plan is to use Luke’s computer on the local network first to see if I can infiltrate his father’s. But if we need to, we’ll go to his office and work on his computer directly. That has more risk though, including potentially getting caught.
Nico sits on the edge of the bed while I get to work on trying to crack into William Foster’s laptop. We know to stay quiet and not talk. Our phones are silenced and even the vibration is set to off.
We don’t want anyone to realize the two of us are here.
Nico taps twice on the wooden bed rail. I glance at him. He points to the door, indicating he’s going to check outside. I nod.
This is going to be a long night.
Harper
This isn’t my first time in Luke’s house, but there’s almost an eerie calm before the storm feeling seeping through me. Clutching Luke’s hand like he’s my lifeline, I have to appear hard like I was with Sidney.
I can’t let William Foster know how much I despise him for what he’s done to Luke over the years. I can’t even begin to imagine what he endured. My ass still aches from the belt and Luke went easy on me. It still about destroyed him.
His father hurt him far worse than a few lashes on the ass. I’ve traced some of those scars with my fingertips, wishing they weren’t there. Wishing there was a way to remove them and take away the pain associated with them.
I won’t let him touch Luke ever again.
The atmosphere gets more oppressive the closer we get to the dining room. When we step in, servers rush to our chairs to pull them out. Luke leads me to them and we both sit. The servers buzz around us like bees and fill our water glasses.
His father isn’t here yet, but there’s an additional place setting next to his.
I glance at Luke. “Someone else is coming?”
Luke’s brow furrows before he clears it. His eyes are like ice when he looks at me, but it’s not to lock me out. It’s to protect both of us.
“He didn’t mention.” Luke glances at the setting. His tone is steady. “It could be anyone. Fuck, he could have a girlfriend for all I know. Or married some poor woman to drag her into this crazy facade of a family.”
Swallowing, I put my napkin on my lap. I don’t know how I’m going to eat. This is the part I’m not going to be good at. Faking that his father doesn’t turn my stomach. That I don’t want to grab a belt and beat him until he has scars like Luke’s. I slide my hand under the table to take Luke’s.
He flinches his fingers away from mine for a second before he locks our fingers together. I draw in a breath and wait.
The door opens and William Foster walks into the room. Neither of us stands as he walks to his seat, but passes it and pulls out the other chair.
“Come.” The word is an order and I jump at the tone.
A girl with blond hair trudges in with her head hanging. Her hair covers her face, but she’s about my age with a nice dress on. When she reaches William, she lifts her brown eyes to mine and I almost gasp.
Penny sits in the seat across from us, looking miserable. She glances at William with fear in her eyes before taking the napkin and draping it on her lap.
Luke doesn’t make any acknowledgement of Penny as his father takes his seat.
My mind can’t stop racing. What the fuck is she doing here? This isn’t at all what I expected.
Is this why she needed to talk to Luke earlier? Why didn’t she just say it? What the hell is going on? Fuck, what if she’s the new wife? No, that can’t be right. I’m sure Penny is younger than me.
Luke squeezes my hand under the table, and I quiet my racing thoughts and blank out my expressions.
“You two know Penny Wright.” William holds his hand up and the servers bring in plates to set before us.
Tonight, it’s steak with a creamy potato dish and broccolini. I don’t make a move to start eating as I lift my gaze to Penny’s. Her eyes plead with me, but she doesn’t say anything.
“From school.” Luke cuts into his steak like there’s nothing weird about a random classmate who wanted to be my friend and needed to talk to him today sitting at his dinner table. What if she’s the leak? Fuck, what does she know?
William sits back in his chair and temples his fingers before his lips. His eyes sparkle. “I see you wore a dress, Miss Davidson. It’s so nice that someone follows my orders.”
I swallow hard, but don’t say anything. If he asks me to get up and twirl, I’ll vomit all over his table.
Penny glances at William before returning her gaze to me. It’s like she’s trying to tell me something without telling me.
“Miss Wright will be joining us here at the house.” William glances at her. His eyes narrow. “Eat.”
She picks up her fork with shaky hands.
“Why would she do that?” Luke raises an eyebrow and releases my hand. He sounds cold and efficient. The opposite of everything I’m feeling.
I cut a very small piece of broccolini off and put it in my mouth to chew on. It probably tastes divine, but it might as well be ash in my mouth.
William smiles and glances at Penny with almost something like love, but more coveted. “Penny is your half-sister.”
Penny winces. I barely hold in my gasp.
“I’ve decided it’s time she got to know her other family.”
Luke doesn’t react. My eyes widen, but I try desperately not to show much reaction. His half-sister? How long has she known? Why didn’t she say anything? Is this what she was trying to tell Luke? Why not just say it in front of me?
“I’ve put her in the room next to yours,” William continues and begins to cut his steak. “I plan to stay in town until I’m sure her transition into the family is complete.”
My stomach twists and my alarm must show in my eyes when I look at Penny. Does she know what she’s getting into here?
“I’ll make sure to help her adapt.” Luke doesn’t look at Penny. His gaze remains on William. “I know how hard it is to be part of this family.”
“That’s a good idea.” William lifts his wine glass and smiles cruelly. “Wouldn’t want her to get out of hand and need to be disciplined?”
My heart races and anger burns inside me. He’s threatening Penny. The bruises on Luke would probably destroy someone as small as Penny. But maybe he wouldn’t be as hard on his daughter if she didn’t fight back.
“I’m sure Miss Wright knows how to behave.” Luke glances her way briefly.
She doesn’t say a thing. She’s pale as a ghost as she pushes her food around her plate. I force myself to take another bite and almost choke on it when I lift my gaze to find William’s cold hazel eyes on me.
“Tell me, Miss Davidson, now that you and my son are a couple—” He sneers at the word. “What exactly are your plans for your future?”
I finish chewing my steak before swallowing it and bringing my napkin to my lips, buying myself some time. Maybe I should have expected this question, but right now, I’m still reeling from Penny being here. If he did it to throw us off balance, it worked.
“I’d like to go to college and build a career for myself.” I don’t let my gaze drop from his even as sweat rolls down my back. Luke’s hand touches my thigh, giving me strength even though he doesn’t look at me.
William nods and puts a slice of meat in his mouth, chewing it slowly. “As you know, Luke plans to go to Harvard and then join the family business.”
Not in a million years. But I smile like this is exactly what Luke plans to do.
“Of course. I’ve also applied to Harvard and some of the surrounding schools.
So I can stay near him.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I regret them.
Before I told him I would go where I want.
Now suddenly I’m following Luke. Is that too much?
“But I’ll still go to the best school I can afford. ”
“If you get into Harvard, you should go.” William leans back and looks at us over the rim of his wine glass. “Follow your dreams. Maybe if you two stay together, you can both work for my company.”
He reaches over and touches Penny’s hair. She flinches, but tries to hold herself still.
“Like my daughter. I expect her to do well. I might have to grease some palms to get her into Harvard, but they’ll know she’s legacy. She’s going to take the internship over winter break.” His gaze focuses on Luke’s. “She knows an opportunity when she sees one.”
“I’m sure she’ll learn plenty by working under you.” Luke smiles and holds up his glass of water. “Welcome to the family, sister.”
Fuck, I wouldn’t want to be at their holiday dinners. I hope Jack is having more luck than we are. I don’t want to find out what William would do if Jack and Nico get caught.