Because of his revenge quest, he might just lose the one woman he’d ever allowed himself to care for since his mother. And if he lost Harper and their baby, nothing could ever fill that void.
Sixteen
The elevator chimed, echoing through the empty penthouse.
Harper tightened the belt around her robe and set her glass of water on the kitchen island. After Ethan left a couple hours ago, she’d decided she was more than deserving of a nice hot bubble bath. But now that she was done, her problems were still there.
Apparently, Ethan wasn’t done talking,
or he’d forgotten something. Or maybe he’d just decided it was silly for him to leave when he had nowhere to go. She’d been shocked when he said he’d let her have the entire suite for the night.
First of all, the place was plenty big enough for both of them, considering it had other rooms: a den, a game room, a designated office. They could make it work. Second, this was his penthouse.
Damn him for being a gentleman and making her so confused. How could she hate him for just wanting to retain the place his mother had wanted him to have? How could she hate him when she’d looked into those dark eyes and seen a pain she’d never seen there before? And how could she hate him when he was the father of her baby?
But she did hate him. She hated him for making her feel, for making her want...for making her see a future that involved a family that she’d always wanted and then showing her that it was all a lie.
How could she turn back now? She settled a hand over her belly and fought back tears. It wasn’t as if she could just erase Ethan from her life.
The elevator door slid open, and Harper pulled herself together, but it wasn’t Ethan who stepped off.
“How did you get access up here?”
“I still own the place.” Robert stepped into the penthouse and glanced around. “Your boyfriend here?”
Harper crossed her arms over her chest and willed herself to remain calm. Getting worked up wasn’t good for her or the baby.
Besides, she’d heard Ethan’s side, so she should listen to Robert.
Part of her didn’t want to. She wanted to hide and ignore any of this was happening. Was that terrible? She was exhausted, and being fed more lies just didn’t seem too appealing.
“What do you want?” she asked, ignoring the reference to Ethan.
Robert shifted his eyes back to her and came farther into the penthouse. “This suite is usually reserved for elite guests.”
Harper said nothing as her father came closer and finally took a seat on a bar stool like he’d been welcomed in.
“Listen,” he began, flattening his hands on the marble countertop. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
“Funny how nobody was trying to hurt me, yet you both did,” she retorted, anger bubbling back up to push ahead of the pain.
Harper reached for her glass of water and curled her hands around the base. The urge to toss the contents in his face seemed cliché, but the desire was there nonetheless.
“I’m aware I haven’t been a great father,” he went on. “That was something I had never intended on being. I’m too busy traveling and working. I’ve done what I could since I found out you existed. I gave you this job as an olive branch.”
If what Ethan claimed was true, then Robert was busy traveling and breaking the law, but she remained silent and let him keep going.
And the olive branch? Did he really think that this was the way to build a relationship—by throwing money at her? As much as she wanted this project, she would’ve taken an invite during the holidays or maybe a few days’ visit here and there. But he always rushed in their phone calls or emailed...anything to keep his distance and not get too involved.
“But I should warn you,” he went on. “Ethan’s out to get me at all costs. That includes using you, obviously.”
Harper took a drink and weighed her words. “Whatever is going on with Ethan and me is really none of your concern. Did you come here to deliver a real apology or just to warn me away from your enemy? Because I won’t be used as the ball you two volley back and forth.”
Robert stared at her a minute before shaking his head. “I see he’s corrupted you.”
“He’s done nothing of the sort,” she argued. “I don’t trust either one of you right now. But I do wonder why you were so cruel to those boys when their mother died.”
Robert pursed his lips, and Harper assumed he was working on another lie—or perhaps he was debating whether or not to tell her anything at all.