“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.”
