Chương 6
That if Julian cared, he would come.
“Victoria told me Julian needed space,” Emily continued.
Harper laughed softly.
Not because it was funny.
Because sometimes pain came out sounding like disbelief.
“Space.”
“Yes.”
“She was hiding my letters.”
“Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer made it worse.
Harper turned away from the road.
“How many?”
“All three.”
The phone felt heavier in her hand.
“Why?”
Emily was quiet.
Then she said something Harper did not expect.
“Because she was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
A long pause.
“Of him.”
Harper looked confused.
“She was afraid of Julian?”
“She was afraid of what he would become if he knew.”
Harper glanced toward the sky.
“He already became something.”
“Yes.”
Emily’s voice dropped.
“He became someone who spent years believing his worth came from what he built.”
The statement felt familiar.
Julian had said something similar.
“He was finally preparing to step away from the company,” Emily said.
Harper froze.
“What?”
“Before he met you, Julian was exhausted.”
She remembered.
The late nights.
The way he sometimes stared at his phone during dinner.
The way he apologized for working when she told him it was okay.
“He wanted to change things,” Emily continued.
“He wanted a different life.”
Harper looked at Lily.
“And Victoria thought I ruined that.”
“No.”
Emily corrected her.
“Victoria thought you gave him a reason to leave.”
The words settled heavily.
Harper had spent fifteen months believing she had been forgotten.
The truth was somehow more complicated.
She had been feared.
Not because she was powerful.
Because she mattered.
“Why are you telling me this now?” Harper asked.
Emily did not answer.
That was enough.
Harper knew there was more.
“Emily.”
“I made a mistake.”
The confession came quietly.
“I thought I was protecting him.”
Harper looked toward the house.
“You protected yourself.”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised Harper.
“I was afraid of losing my job.”
There it was.
The human reason.
Not an evil plan.
Not a dramatic betrayal.
Fear.
“I had just bought a house,” Emily said.
“My father was sick.”
“I needed the salary.”
Harper listened.
It did not excuse what happened.
But it explained it.
And somehow, that made the anger more complicated.
“I told myself Julian would find out eventually.”
Harper looked at Lily.
“But he didn’t.”
“No.”
Emily’s voice broke slightly.
“Because I kept making sure he didn’t.”
The confession hung between them.
Harper sat down on the porch step.
For fifteen months, she had imagined a villain.
Someone cold and heartless.
Someone who enjoyed hurting her.
Instead, she found a person who had made one terrible decision, then spent so long defending it that it became impossible to admit.
“Does Julian know you’re calling me?”
“No.”
“Will you tell him?”
“I don’t know.”
Harper almost smiled.
It was the same answer she had given him earlier.
Nobody knew what they were doing.
Not really.
“Emily.”
“Yes?”
“If you had another chance…”
The question stopped.
She did not need to finish.
Emily understood.
“I would give him the letters.”
Harper closed her eyes.
The answer was simple.
That was what made it painful.
“Where are they?”
Emily became silent.
Harper immediately knew.
“What?”
“They were not destroyed.”
A chill moved through her.
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I left Sterling Enterprises two months ago.”
“Why?”
Another pause.
“Because Victoria asked me to do something else.”
Harper’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Something involving you.”
The quiet after that sentence felt different.
Not sadness.
Danger.
“What did she ask you to do?”
Emily took too long to answer.
“Find out if you were planning to go public.”
Harper looked toward the road.
“She was investigating me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she was preparing for a legal fight.”
The porch suddenly felt smaller.
“What kind of fight?”
Emily whispered the answer.
“Custody.”
Harper stopped moving.
The word changed everything.
Victoria had not only hidden Julian.
She had been preparing to take Lily away.
“I am sorry,” Emily said.
Harper stared at the yard where Victoria had stood only minutes earlier.
The blank check was still lying in the dirt.
A promise of silence.
A warning disguised as generosity.
“Emily.”
“Yes?”
“If you want to help me.”
“I do.”
“Then stop being afraid.”
The line went quiet.
Harper looked at Lily.
Her daughter smiled at something only she could see.
A tiny, ordinary moment.
The kind Harper had almost lost.
“Because I am done being afraid.”
For the first time in fifteen months, she believed the words.
And somewhere above the clouds, Julian Sterling was heading back to the city where his mother had started a war.
But now he was not fighting alone.
And somewhere above the clouds, Julian Sterling was heading back to the city where his mother had started a war.
But now he was not fighting alone.
The private jet felt smaller than it had ever felt before.
Julian sat across from his legal team, but he barely heard the conversation happening around him.
Documents were spread across the table.
Phones kept vibrating.
Assistants spoke in careful voices.
Nobody wanted to be the person who interrupted the CEO while his entire company was threatening to collapse.
But Julian was not thinking about stock prices.
He was thinking about Lily’s hand wrapped around his finger.
He was thinking about Harper standing on that porch, exhausted but still refusing to let anyone define her.
He was thinking about fifteen months that he could never get back.
“Julian.”
He looked up.
Daniel Cross, the company’s chief legal officer, sat across from him.
Daniel had worked beside Julian for eight years.
He was one of the few people in Sterling Enterprises who never seemed impressed by money.
“Are you listening?”
Julian glanced at the documents.
“No.”
Daniel sighed.
“At least you’re honest.”
“I have had a difficult day.”
Daniel looked toward the window.
“You found out you have a daughter.”
Julian said nothing.
“And your mother hid her from you.”
May you like
Still nothing.
“And now the board is trying to remove you.”
