Page 96 of Beautiful Chaos

“I got a call just before I left the office this evening. I wasn’t going to answer it, but I knew we were waiting to hear from Katrina Sheffield’s legal counsel, so I took the call.” Max’s voice was laced with hesitation and uncertainty.

“It was a man claiming to be Harper’s father.”

“What the fuck? I thought her parents were dead Max.” I snapped with a little more aggression than I intended.

When Max originally did a background search on Harper months ago, his paperwork said there was no information on the two of them at all after Harper’s kidnapping. She said they were gone when she escaped and had been missing since. Max checked for any information in finding them because I was set on making them pay once Harper told me they had a part in what she went through as a young girl, but there was no trace of them. Leaving me to believe the Petrov brothers had taken them out when they took Harper all those years ago.

“It seems not to be the case, now. I traced the phone number they called me from. The service was in Matilda Willams’ name. I did a little digging and it seems that’s Harper’s grandmother’s name. She’s been deceased for a little over nine years. If I looked a little further into it, I’m willing to bet that they’ve been hiding under that name, and utilizing the properties she owned all this time.”

I let out a throaty growl, as I struggled to reel in my anger. I felt Harper’s green eyes on me from across the penthouse, and I wasn’t ready to share this information with her yet, if at all. She’s already made so much progress, I didn’t want anything to disrupt that, especially not grimy little cockroaches like her parents.

I smiled at her and raised a finger, hoping she would stay at the table and continue eating. With her cheeks full of Shrimp, I could see that she would do just that. I love how comfortable she’s gotten with me.

“What the fuck did they want? They had to have wanted something, I’d bet my left nut they didn’t want to check in on her well-being.”

Max chuckled. “That’s where it gets interesting. They said they saw her in a tabloid on your arm and gave me this sob story about her being kidnapped as a teenager, and they just wanted to reconnect.”

I didn’t need Max to finish, to know exactly what they wanted. Seeing as they sold her to those filthy pieces of shit to cover a drug debt when she was a young girl, there was no doubt in my mind what they wanted after seeing their daughter on the arm of a well-established wealthy man.

“Make contact with them and set up a proper meeting place, Harper’s not going near those sorry excuses for parents.”

Harper deserves so much more than she ever received from the two of them. She hasn’t fully opened up about her childhood, but the few times she mentioned it, it made my blood boil. I can only imagine what Harper was like as a child but no child deserved that kind of life. A child forced to live in the shadows of her drug-addicted parents, going without proper necessities for living because the small income they had went to supplying their addictions.

How my girl became the angel she is in that kind of environment, I’ll never know, I will spend my life showing her how amazing she is, and smothering her in so much fucking love she won’t know what to do with it. First, I need to eliminate the trash trying to taint what she has already established for herself.

“I figured you would say that, so I arranged a place just outside of Atlanta, a secluded abandoned cheese factory, no one around for miles. Joseph will pick them up and chauffeur them there. I’ve cleared the schedule for tomorrow here at the office, and flights have been arranged. We will be home in time for dinner.” I laughed at Max’s assertiveness.

“That’s why I keep you around,” I said, with a nod of approval to no one.

“No. You keep me around because if you didn’t you’d actually have to work.” he retorted playfully before disconnecting the call.

After I called Joseph and briefed him on my expectations for security over Harper tomorrow, I hurried to join her where she was lying on the couch cuddled with her blanket, and her Kindle. When I got close enough to her, I could see her eyes were closed and her lips were parted. Her breathing was steady, she was letting out small mindless moans with her head cushioned by the armrest. Peaceful, that’s how she would stay if I can help it.

I never would have thought I could find so much joy in watching someone sleep, but when I heard my name whispered through Harper’s fucking perfect pouty lips, there was nothing that could have erased the grin that tugged across my face.

I sat beside her and peppered soft kisses to her forehead, nose, and chin before sliding one arm under her head and the other under her knees to carry her to bed. My question could wait for another day.

Chapter 67

HARPER

“Girl! Just swipe it!” Aster chanted for the umpteenth time today. Jasper gave her his Platinum card before we left for our impromptu shopping spree. He woke me up with a little good morning rendezvous. After a refreshing shower and enjoying mouth-watering pastries from our favorite bakery, along with a hazelnut coffee, Aster showed up to surprise me.

I refused Jasper’s card. Since I had just gotten my first advance for my novel I was still in the process of writing, I wanted to use my own money. Once I pushed Jasper’s card away for the third time in twenty minutes, he finally stopped offering it to me and handed it to Aster, along with a list of items he wanted me to buy, including some nightwear. Aster had no problem accepting it on my behalf.

I reminded him that he would be making another donation to a charity when we got home to which he had no qualms. I honestly didn’t expect him to hold up his end of the bargain, but so far he’s made donations to seven organizations in the last few months each one no less important than the other.

“I don’t know, this is way too much to pay for a bra and panty set. I could eat for a month on that amount.”

I yanked the curtain open, giving Aster a clear view of the set she had chosen in a candy apple red. It took at least thirty minutes to get me to agree to try it on. I don’t wear lingerie. I never had any reason for it before now.

I walked over to a large mirror and looked into it, I barely recognized the woman I saw through it. I no longer see that scared timid little girl I used to be, I see a strong independent woman with so much to offer this world. My skin is glowing and the bags that once hung underneath my green eyes have disappeared. I smiled to myself knowing that eventually, all the trauma that held me back from living will one day be a faint memory that no longer haunts me.

One step at a time.

I was jolted back to reality by a clicking noise behind me. Turning around, I saw Aster with a very guilty smirk holding her cell phone in front of her. I tried to grab a piece of clothing hanging nearby but the damage had already been done. There was no stopping her. I knew exactly what she was going to do with that photo.

“Jasper is going to go completely feral when he sees this.” she teased. Red-faced and embarrassed I stomped over to the dressing room.

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