Chapter 87
CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN
Harper
My phone vibrates on the bedside table. After our morning session, Ace is wiped, and honestly, so am I. I've just been lying here with him, watching him breathe.
I roll over, grab the phone, and see Gianna's name flashing on the screen. I groan, answer it, and slip out of bed, grabbing a robe as I go.
"Hello," I whisper, quietly closing the bedroom door behind me.
"Harper! How are you?"
I bite my nail. I'm still not sure how to feel about Gianna. She helped save Ace, but her family is the reason he needed saving in the first place.
Ace told me she put a knife through her own brother's heart. If she does that to her blood, I'm not sure I can trust her around me. Or my child.
"I'm good. You?" I keep it short.
She got what she wanted. An in with the Sterlings.
"I'm..." She pauses. "Fine."
"Okay. Did you want something?"
I hear her take a long drag of her cigarette.
"You assume I only call to want?"
"Yeah. For now. I'm not sure what I think anymore, G. Friends don't handcuff each other to hospital beds and use them as leverage in a deal," I snap.
"I understand."
She sounds different. Distant. There's more underneath the surface of this woman than she ever lets show.
"I thought you might want to know that Hudson's father passed away yesterday. They’re saying the shock of finding out about what Hudson did gave him a heart attack."
I suck in a breath. The guilt washes over me in a cold wave. I lied to that man while he was dying. Hudson's parents deserved so much more than what their son made of them. Not only did they find out their son died in a crash, but they also found out that he was a monster.
"How's Audrey?"
"Not good. She lost her son in a car accident and her husband in the space of two weeks."
I hug my arms tighter around myself.
"Nice work with the story though, Harper," she says, and I can hear the teasing tone behind it.
"I don’t know what you mean, Gianna."
I half laugh.
"Samantha at LA Press might have released the story, but you wrote it. I can hear your voice throughout the entire piece, Harper Jones."
There's a pause. I kept all the victims anonymous. But I gave them a voice. I gave them their freedom in knowing their tapes will never see the light of day. Enzo and Ace made damn sure of it.
"Well played. Even a dead man deserves karma. And think of all the women you’ve freed from his terror.
Everyone knows what he was doing. He didn’t deserve to die a hero.
He deserved to be branded a monster who crashed his car after finding out his own paper was going to release the truth about his blackmailing schemes. "
"Well, thank you for helping, G," I whisper.
Dom is the one who planted Hudson in the burning car. I gave Samantha the story. It gave her the career break she needed to leave that company.
"Ah." I can hear the smile down the line. "So Harper did need me?"
I grin. This woman.
"Yes, Gianna. I did need you."
Her pointed nails tap against something. Glass, probably. Thinking.
"So, what are your plans now? How is Ace doing?" she asks.
I swallow.
"I’m back home, G. That’s my plan. Me and Ace raising our baby."
She sighs, I don’t think out of anything negative. I can’t quite work it out.
"So, do you want to help me sell my beach house in LA? I’ve heard you have a pretty decent real estate firm," I tease.
"I might be able to help. On one condition…”
I hold my breath, already dreading what will come out of her mouth next.
“I'm going to need a friend on Sterling Ranch."
My eyes go wide. It's seriously happening. I'd half figured Colten and Hunter would find a loophole out of this by now.
"When's the wedding? Wait, you're moving here?"
She groans, muttering something in Italian.
"Next month. I've got poor Fabio’s funeral next week. Things to finalize here with my father. And then I'll become Mrs. Sterling."
I swallow the lump in my throat.
"You're really okay marrying a man who probably hates you and your entire family right now?" I ask. Genuine curiosity.
"Sounds like fun to me, Harper. Nothing I can't handle."
I don't doubt that for a second.
"Alright. Well... I'll see you soon?"
"I was actually wondering if you'd be my maid of honor."
I bark out a laugh.
"Seriously?"
"Yes. Seriously."
"I'll think about it. But yes, I think we can make the friend thing work."
I truly believe Gianna was blindsided by her own brother. That she saved me. She helped save Ace. And the marriage to Colten? It’s her trying to survive.
She laughs. "Think fast, Harper. Opportunities like this don't come around twice. It will be the wedding of the century."
"I don't doubt that."
Colten has been dead silent since we got home. Ace keeps asking after him. Jett is here all the time, so are Hunter and Wyatt. But Colten? He's somewhere in that animal center of his, wrapping his head around the price he's about to pay for saving us all.
We say our goodbyes, and as I turn around, I find Ace leaning against the doorframe. Completely naked.
"Was that my future sister-in-law?"
"It was. And what are you doing up?" I walk toward him.
"Missed my girl," he murmurs.
I run my hands up his chest.
"She asked me to be maid of honor."
Ace scoffs. "I need to speak to Colt. I get worried when he goes this quiet."
"Maybe he needs a little time to process, Ace. This took a lot out of all of us, and Colt's the one paying the biggest consequences."
Ace nods, and I can see it weighing on him. Some of the blame. I feel it too. They came to save me.
He tips my chin up. "We're Sterlings, baby. Everything's going to work out just right. Gianna ain't nothing Colt can't handle."
I smile, pressing a kiss to his jaw. This is exactly what I’m afraid of.
"Go back to bed. I'll make us some breakfast."
His eyebrow arches. "Real food."