Harper
Eric pulls us into the Kingston parking lot in his Jaguar rental after we decided to ride to work together, which is the part I’m fine with. The choice of car is another story. “I can’t believe we’re in a Jaguar,” I say. “I work for Kingston.”
“You’re making a statement,” he says yet again since we had this debate at my house. “The Kingstons don’t own us. They don’t own you. And that’s an important message. It’s the one that puts pressure on them. It’s the one that makes them feel relief when I convince you to leave.”
“Right,” I say. “I know you’re right.” But the idea that his father will be here today, and get in my face, is not a good one. Isaac I can deal with. He’s an ass that makes you hate him. Jeff is another story. My stepfather has a way of crawling under your skin and cutting from the inside.
Eric turns me to face him. “You’ve been their ‘yes’ girl for six years.”
I scowl at him. “I’m the one who’s been in their faces about the recalls and funny money. I’m the reason you’re here.”
“But for six years, you played a role in the company, you played the good little employee. And you did it so well that no one thought twice about using your trust fund.”
“My mother allowed that,” I say. “I still can’t believe she allowed that to happen.”
“Here’s what you need to remember, sweetheart. Your father didn’t believe she’d let it happen. He believed he took care of you. Your mother has changed, she’s inside the Kingston web.”
“Yes, but—”
“I know you want to save her, but you don’t save someone by ignoring what you’re saving them from. She’s brainwashed and that means she will act to protect them and convince herself that’s in your best interest even if it’s not. She burned you. She will burn you again if you let her. Understand?”
I flash back to the night I found out she gave my stepfather my trust fund. We were at one of our mother-daughter Sunday brunches we do once a month, sipping coffee and eating waffles:
“I need to share something exciting,” my mother says, setting her coffee aside.
I sip from my cup and do the same. “Exciting is good. I’m all ears.”
“Jeff is going to invest your trust fund and he’s assured me you’ll get a twenty-percent return.”
I blanch. “What? What does that mean?”
“He says that seven million dollars shouldn’t just sit when it could be earning money for the company your father helped build and for you. I gave him the money a month ago, and he says it’s already earning you ten percent more than the way it was banked.”
“You did what?”
“This is great news, honey.”
“How did you do this? That money is in my name.”
“I’m the executor and—”
“I’ll never see that money back again.” I lean forward and all but growl. “What have you done? How could you do this to me?”
“Harper?”
I blink back to the present and into Eric’s blue eyes. “Where were you just now?”
“Remembering the day my mother told me she gave my trust fund to Jeff and how great it was going to be for me.”
“What did you say?”
“I was angry. I knew I’d never see the money again. I started looking for a job then. I wanted out, but unlike her with me, I put her first. I stayed when the fatalities happened to protect her. But you’re right. She’s brainwashed. I think she really believes I don’t appreciate what Jeff does for me.”
“My father is a master manipulator and she wants to be manipulated by him.”
I tilt my head to look at him. “I’m surprised you call him your father.”
“My mother told me that I had to own what I wanted.”
“And you wanted him to be your father?”
“I wanted what my mother wanted. For him to claim me as his son, but that was a long time ago and he told me to call him father. Of course, he was trying to push Isaac to step up. He was using me.”
“And you still address him as father?”
“Every time I call him father, I remind him that my mother was never a person to be ignored.” Shadows flit through his stare before he refocuses on me and his cellphone buzzes with a text. He snakes it from his pocket and reads the message before replying and updating me. “Blake hacked all the recording devices in the building but didn’t install his own. He said after careful consideration and review of the camera placement with more detail, he has full access, which means whatever is said in this building he’ll hear.”
I know the answer already, but I just need to confirm. I need to hope. “My office was for sure recorded, right?”
“Yes,” he says stroking my cheek. “I know you hate that they saw you change clothes.”
“Yes, well, just another reason to kick your brother and father in the balls, even if it’s a proverbial kick.”
“That’s my girl,” he says, the endearment doing funny things to my belly. “Lead the conversations you have where you want them to go. Everything you get the family to say while we have access to the recordings could be useful if we need to protect your interests.”
“And innocence?”
“They won’t frame you or me for their crimes. That’s not going to happen. Let them move things around while we watch. Then when we leave, they’ll make bigger moves.”
“We hope.”
“We expect,” he says. “My father flew back because I’m here. They feel the pressure. I’m going to ensure they feel it ten times over. And when he comes at you, you do the same. That’s our plan. Stick with it.”
“I know. I will.”
He kisses me. “I’ll come around and get you.” He opens his door and exits. I gather my briefcase and by the time I have my purse stuffed inside it, Eric is opening my door and offering me his hand.
I slide my palm to his, and I swear every time this man touches me, I light up. I’m alive in ways I didn’t realize I could be alive, in ways I want to be for the rest of my life, and that’s a scary thought. This man could hurt me, and that has nothing to do with the company or the family. It’s all about us and what I feel for him that I’m afraid to name. I need to just enjoy him and love the time with him. I need to live in the now.
“Whatever you’re feeling,” he says softly, walking me to him, “I am, too.”
My gaze rockets to his and he brushes his knuckles over my cheek. “I’d tell you what I feel if we weren’t here in this Godforsaken place.” He settles my hand on his elbow, and unlike me, he’s not wearing a coat. “There’s much to talk about, Harper. Alone. In New York City. Away from this place. Today helps us get there. Let’s go do this.”
“Yes. Let’s go do this.”
He turns us toward the building, and arm in arm we walk to the main entrance, our relationship on full display. Eric opens the door for me and nerves assail me. His father is here. He’s going to confront me. My mother is going to confront me. Isaac and Gigi, too. But they’ll go at Eric as well, and that’s what we want.
I enter the lobby first but Eric is immediately back by my side. The receptionist stares at us a minute before she says, “Gigi wants to see you.”
I’d expected as much, but it’s then that I realize Eric and I haven’t talked about what I’m going to say to Gigi. “Tell her I’ll find her when I get settled.”
The receptionist clears her throat. “Sorry. I meant Eric. She wants to see you, Eric.”
“I’m sure she does,” he says, glancing first at a text message, and then at me, before motioning for me to step back outside.
I nod and follow him to the right and down the stairs. As soon as we’re behind closed doors, he turns and faces me, drags me to him and whispers in my ear. “Treat Gigi likes she’s setting you up. Get her to talk.”
“Yes. Yes, okay.”
The doors behind us open and Eric rotates us to face the door, where his father has just entered the room, no doubt having witnessed our embrace.