Dante crossed his arms but let me play my part. If it had been him, the demands and threats would have started with his first breath. His intimidation worked most of the time, but I’d learned to finesse these situations.
Julian clicked through the images, his gaze hungry. I knew how he felt. I wanted to keep the pictures. I’d frame them and have them hung in my bedroom. No other art in the world compared to the sight of Harper in the midst of her pleasure.
The images would have to live in my head, because anything else was too risky.
“How do I know you’ll pay?” Bradley asked.
My smile stretched, and I drummed my fingers on the desk. “I suppose I could make a good faith deposit. Let’s make itten percent of the final price once we settle on a number. You provide the details, I provide the money. Once it all goes away, you receive the rest of your payment.”
“I need time to think about it.” A slyness entered Bradley’s voice, one that told me he hoped to make the best of both worlds and stab me in the back.
I played his game because it suited me for the moment. “You have fifteen minutes. You should be glad I’m patient. My colleague is less than impressed with your attempt to publish the photos. I should also warn you that if you choose to take our money and the photos end up online or in any public format, there will be consequences.” I ended the call and placed my phone on the desk. “We should go see him. But that runs the risk of further blackmail if he realizes we’re the men in the pictures.”
Julian perched on the edge of my desk and scrolled through the images at a slower pace. “Looks like they were all taken with the same camera. Same angle. Same shot of the bedroom. I don’t think there was a live feed. Most likely the camera was set up to record and they took still shots from there.”
“Which means there’s a fucking recording out there somewhere?” Dante’s hands fell to his sides.
My office door swung open and Harper walked in.
Julian let out a low curse and pushed the computer around to face me.
Too late. The look on Harper’s face said it all. “What was that?”
“Nothing.” Julian answered at the same time Dante said, “We’re taking care of it.”
Harper ran across the room and threw herself in front of the screen before I could close more than two of the pictures.
Her mouth hung ajar, her entire body quaking. “I’m guessing you didn’t take these. If you did, I’d be pissed for a whole other reason. But you would have asked. You would have given me the option to say no.” She took a step backward. “Which means you didn’t know. And now there are pictures of us out there.”
“Not yet.” If Julian meant to calm her, he failed. “We’re taking care of it.”
Harper turned on her heel and fled. Her sobs sent all three of us leaping into action.
20
HARPER
I couldn’t run fast enough to get away from the guilt and shame. Not of what I’d done in that room, but because I’d failed them. Horror put speed in my stride, but even the fastest runner in the world could not outrun this pain.
It had happened. I’d known it would. Nothing ever stayed a secret, especially if you needed it to be.
“Harper, wait.” Alexander’s voice trailed after me. His steps pounded down the hallway.
I reached the elevator and pressed the button.
Bethany wasn’t behind her desk, so I didn’t have to worry about her seeing me like this and wondering what was wrong.
Dante and Julian raced out with Alexander. All three of them came after me, pleading with me to wait. They had it under control. They’d take care of it. Their promises rang in my ears as I stepped into the elevator and punched the button to close the door. “Please don’t follow me.”
They staggered to a stop three strides away. The sight of their confusion tore at me. They wanted me to trust them, and I did.
It was me who couldn’t be trusted. Tears poured down my cheeks. I wiped at them, trying to scrub away the sight of my shattered heart, but they only came faster.
The elevator descended, and I hit the button for the ground floor. I couldn’t stay here today. There was no way I could work and pretend everything was fine when they’d already been talking about me.
I hailed a cab, unwilling to risk driving. The cabbie tried to talk, asking me what was wrong, but I shook my head and curled up in the seat with my head in my hands.
The front door opened when the cab pulled to a stop in the driveway, and I threw myself into Lila’s arms. She pulled me close and walked me into the house after paying for the cab.
