Everything I’d asked for, they’d given.
They would not text me again.
I’d lost them for good.
Fuck.Why did it hurt so much? It was the right thing to do, and I hated myself for being so weak that it took all my strength to putmy phone down and retreat to another room before I caved and told them I hadn’t meant a single word.
27
DANTE
I’d thought a few days without Harper would drive me insane. After two months without another word from her, my life had no meaning. Work held no joy. My penthouse meant nothing to me without the hope of hearing her laughter trickle through the walls.
Every fucking day, the pain of her absence grew worse. We all felt it. Julian had practically stopped eating and sleeping.
Alexander spoke in grunts and growls, barely managing to keep a civil tongue in his head during meetings. The weight of holding us together fell on my shoulders, and I was slowly crumbling beneath the onslaught.
There was no moving forward. We’d been given the opportunity and love of a lifetime, and we’d managed to screw it up.
We hadn’t discussed how to find Harper in almost a week. That first month without her, we were animals possessed with catching up with her. If we could just find her and talk to her in person…but that wasn’t what she wanted. Harper didn’t want tobe pursued. She wanted to be left alone. We’d promised to obey her wishes and respect her distance.
We’d tried. We made it all of three hours before Alexander set every search engine available to him to hunting for Harper.
Julian called Lila obsessively and without luck.
Day by day, our hope waned. Soon, there would be nothing left of us except the thin thread of friendship we managed to grip as our only lifeline.
I’d even gone back to Harper and Lila’s little house and tried to talk to her in person. I’d thought I might learn more about Harper’s whereabouts if we stood face to face. If Lila knew where Harper hid out, she managed to keep it locked away. I had to give her credit, Lila was a locked vault of secrets when it came to Harper. I wouldn’t mind that in any other situation.
It was honorable. And I’d damn near been tempted to strangle her for it.
I wrenched my eyes away from the window and forced my gaze back to the laptop screen where our monthly earnings report blinked in long rows of numbers. Elevate was doing well. One thing we didn’t have to worry about, at least.
I ran a hand through my hair and gripped the back of my neck.
My door opened with a soft swish of wood over the carpet. Bethany stood in the doorway, the slightest hesitation framing her in light from the hallway. She wore a short skirt with a tight top that barely covered her midriff. Every day this week, her outfits had grown shorter and more scandalous.
I wasnotin the mood for this bullshit today.
“I have your messages.” Even her voice had changed, taking on a sultry note that I’d never heard her use. Her hips swayed as she walked forward on ridiculously high heels, a sheaf of papers tucked in her arm.
“You can leave them on the desk.” I pointed at the spot on the corner where she always put them and continued to stare at the computer screen. Things had grown complicated enough since Harper’s absence. The last thing I needed was Bethany getting the wrong idea.
She walked right up to the edge of the desk and leaned over. Who the fuck needed to lean over to drop messages on a desk? No one. Which meant she was doing it deliberately to push her cleavage to the top of the shirt. The sight of her brazen attempts to flash me fueled a rush of anger so deep it pulsated in my gut.
“Here?” She set the papers down, then slid them toward me with one finger. Her smile stretched wide and I was sure she thought herself beautiful.
She was, in a classic kind of way, but it did nothing for me.
I wanted Harper. No one else.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I brought you something else.” She straightened and pushed her chest out before perching on the edge of the desk.
“Please refrain from sitting on my desk. It is a work station, not a chair.”
She hopped up like she’d been jabbed with a hot poker. “Oh, of course. I never meant any disrespect.”
I arched a brow and picked up my messages, flipping through them while ignoring her suggestive posture. “You said you brought me something else? Is there a problem?”
