I clenched my fists, nails nearly breaking skin.
Harper walked inside without looking back. The door slammed in my face.
The sound rang in my ears, made my chest seize up so tight I could barely breathe.
I stood there in front of that closed door like an abandoned fool.
The hallway fell silent again. A few nosy neighbors who'd poked their heads out saw the show was over and retreated. Next door, some old lady's eyes still peered through a crack, curious and wary.
I must've looked like hell—suit wrinkled, shirt bloodstained, face probably black and blue. But I didn't care anymore.
What was physical pain? Compared to the gaping wound in my chest, these cuts and bruises were nothing.
She called him her husband.
Husband. The word lodged like a thorn in my heart, stabbing with every beat.
She said not to harass her anymore.
Don't harass her. I'd searched for her for seven months, day and night, sleepless, relentless—for this? To be told to leave her alone?
I closed my eyes. The scene replayed in my head.
The girl who used to blush and look away, who couldn't even meet my eyes—now she looked at me with ice.
She didn't love me anymore.
I reached out, fingertips brushing the cold door. The wood grain felt rough and hard, like everything standing between us now.
On the other side of that door, she was living with another man. Maybe right now they were cooking side by side, Julian holding ice to his swollen face while Harper tenderly bandaged him up. Saying all those sweet things I'd never had thechance to say.
No.
I couldn't think about it. If I kept thinking, I'd go insane.
I pulled my hand back, took a deep breath, and forced myself to calm down.
Julian Dante.
That name hit like cold water, snapping me out of my self-pity.
He couldn't have ended up in Harper's life by accident. Genevie ran from him to me for protection; Harper ran from me and "just happened" to meet Julian?
There were no coincidences like that in this world.
He had a purpose. He'd gotten close to Harper, taken care of her, spent seven months with her—why? Revenge against Genevie? To get at me? Or was he using Harper as leverage?
Whatever it was, he had an agenda.
Harper thought Julian genuinely cared for her. Thought she'd finally found someone who wouldn't hurt her.
But I couldn't let Harper walk into the lion's den.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Harper
"He's here again."
