Page 250 of The Rebel Billionaire

“I did question how someone so ordinary could be so extraordinary, but academic success and practical achievements can be different. Elise is a prime example of that. I was also not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, not after Callie left.”

“But that’s it. I was a straight-A student. Another lie.”

I shake my head.

“It’s a piece of paper. What I suspect is that the woman I’ve come to love is the Harper I knew in Italy and at Christmas. The woman I came home to every night, who makes me laugh… makes me feel more than any woman ever has.”

She closes her eyes.

“Which version of me do you love, Harper? Alex, the son, brother, friend, lover. Or, Alessandro Bianchi, the CEO?”

“I love all of you,” she says, her eyes staring at me. “So much it physically hurts.”

I drag her off the couch and into my lap. She comes willingly, wrapping herself around me.

“There is so much we need to learn about one another,” she says.

She closes her eyes, and I kiss away the tear that is tracking its way down her cheek.

“I admit I have yet to get to know everything about Harper, but I have a sneaky suspicion I’m going to love her as much as I love Brooke.”

Harper leans forward, her mouth meeting mine, her hands snaking around my neck.

My body relaxes, loving the feel of her back in my arms.

How I’ve missed her.

I groan. “I wish I could teleport us somewhere,” I say.

She pulls back and grins up at me.

“Me too. I can’t believe you’re here. Who’s running St Clair? Oh my God, what about the stolen designs? Alex, you can’t be here.”

“I can, and I am. St Clair can live without me for a couple of days.”

She pulls back sharply, raising an eyebrow.

“Excuse me, who are you and what have you done with the real Alessandro Bianchi?”

“The real Alessandro Bianchi fell in love with his bossy PA and realised some things in life are more important. The company will survive without me. Besides, Mother is holding down the fort while I’m here with you. As for the design thief, Elise unmasked them using a trap with your designs. Designs that are⁠—”

“Sophia knows about us?”

Harper opens and closes her mouth.

I chuckle. “Out of everything I just said, my mother is the only thing you picked up on?”

“The thief was caught. How? When?”

I tap her nose, and she smiles. “See how much you miss in only a few days. The thief was caught thanks to Elise’s little trap.”

“Who was it?”

I inhale, exhaling loudly. “Nolan.”

“Nolan? Poor Elise. He was her friend,” she says. “I’ll call her.”

I smile, earning myself a confused look.