We should probably have been concerned with how much access he already had to Lorens Industries’ security, and apparently the security staff who were already working for him as they let us in through the loading dock.
The camera in the elevator would normally have a red light indicating it was recording. It didn’t now.
It was too easy.
I didn’t for one moment believe Shady was doing any of this for free. I knew he probably stood to gain far more than we did out of it. Materially, anyway. There was nothing I wouldn’t pay for the safety of my family and the man that I loved.
Whatever the terms were, Harper had told me to trust him, and despite everything, I still did. Completely.
He was calm, and I knew him well enough to know it wasn’t a mask. He was as sure about this as I was.
Then we were ascending the last flight of stairs to get to the rooftop. No building was tall enough or close enough to witnesswhat was about to happen. The wind whipped past us, ready to carry away our secrets.
Now we just had to bait Leon.
Harper looked at me, then Matthew, who’d insisted on being here when Harper had told him what we were going to do. I think, in part, because it scared him to let Harper out of his sight again.
It was a Saturday night, and the building was basically empty, except for Leon.
Harper made the call.
“I was wrong,” he swallowed. “I’m ready to negotiate.” His lip pulled up in a snarl at whatever Leon had to say in response, but his voice remained calm. “I’m already here. On the roof… No, you come to me… If we’re going to sort this out, it’ll be somewhere we’re equals… No… If you want to talk any further, you’ll meet me here.”
He hung up.
We just had to hope it was enough.
Harper needed closure. He needed a space to say everything he wanted to say to Leon before he wouldn’t be able to anymore.
So Matthew and I hid in the heavy shadows to the side of the brick bulkhead concealing the stairs, beyond where the low roof light could reach us. The only way onto the roof, and the only waysafelyoff.
The door opened with such force that it slammed against the wall as Leon entered the terrace. “You have a lot of nerve making demands after all you put me through, you little shit. Do you have any idea the money I’ve lost dealing with you and your ridiculous escapades?”
I could see Harper from my hiding place. Despite Leon’s fury, he was calm.
“No one asked you to do any of that. You did it on your own. Because you’re a spiteful, evil creature, incapable of love.”
“I am your father!” Leon raised his voice.
“Then you should have been my father!” Harper snapped back, sudden emotion breaking his voice. “Not my boss. You should have treated me like a son, not a possession. You should want me to be happy!”
“Happiness isn’t real, Harper. You can’t measure it. What’s real is this company, and its success is provable and measurable in data and numbers. Happiness is a fool’s goal.”
Harper shook his head. “You know, I feel sorry for you. You’ve never been happy a day in your life, have you? Not really.”
Leon glared in response.
“You’ve never been happy and so you have to make sure no one around you is happy either. Because you can’t stand someone having what you do not.” Harper grinned. “But I do. I have things you’ll never have. I have happiness. I have light, and color. I have love.”
“That’s all worthless.”
“No. It’s everything.”
“Did you call me here to waste my time?”
Harper shook his head. “No. I called you here to tell you that you lose.”
“Do I?” Leon scoffed. “Because I think you’ll find that I have everything, and you have nothing.”
