Page 105 of Forbidden Grumpy Boss

Penny finally returns, wide-eyed, looking between me and the door Harvey just exited. “I just saw your dad outside. Did I miss something?”

I take a deep breath, letting out a shaky laugh. “You did, and it was a performance worthy of an Oscar. But it also helped me make a decision.”

Penny leans forward, her eyebrows raised in excitement. “And?”

I reach over, holding her hand as I whisper, “I’m keeping the baby.”

Chapter thirty-six

Silas

My legs feel likelead, but I keep running, faster, harder, as if I can outpace the mess with Leah. I glance up at the photo of Ezra on the wall, his easy smile watching me from years ago. If he were here, he’d tell me to pull my head out of my ass. Instead, I’m here on this treadmill, trying to trade one addiction for another, as if punishing my body could somehow fix the emptiness in my chest.

It hasn’t worked over the last hour.

The doorbell rings, pulling me out of my haze. I slow the treadmill, panting, and call out, “Caleb!” I wait, listening for the telltale shuffle of teenage footsteps or maybe a sarcastic “I got it!” But nothing. I glance at my phone—no notice from anyone that they’d be showing up.

Who the hell is it?

I sigh, grabbing a towel and wiping my neck as I leave the in-house gym for the door. When I open it, the last person I expect to see is Harvey.

He stands there, looking as out of place as a wolf in a nursery, his eyes flicking over me. He looks a little worn around the edges, like he hasn’t been sleeping well. I’m sure I look the same. He still carries himself with that arrogant tilt, but there’s something about his expression I can’t quite pin down.

“What do you want, Harvey?” I lean against the door frame, holding his gaze, refusing to let him just walk in. “You got what you wanted, yeah? Leah’s out of my life. You won, so what’s the point of this? You here to gloat?”

Harvey’s mouth twitches. He looks past me, scanning the house like he’s taking inventory. “Easy, man,” he mutters. “Looks like you’ve been keeping busy. You’re all sweaty and shit.”

I don’t respond, watching as he strides past me, brushing my shoulder as he heads straight to the bar. He pours himself a drink, then raises an eyebrow, offering. “Want one?”

“What I want is for you to say your piece and get out.”

He shrugs, lifting his glass and draining it in one smooth motion. When he sets it down, he looks at me, his expression softened but laced with something else—is that regret? “I was wrong.”

A beat of silence.Did I hear him right?“What did you say?”

He clears his throat, slower this time. “I said I was wrong. About a lot of things.”

I cross my arms, feeling the cramps in my elbows. “And what exactly were you wrong about, Harvey?”

He pours another drink, eyes fixed on the amber liquid as it swirls in the glass. “About thinking I knew what was best for Leah.”

My patience snaps. “You didn’t have to do anything. Leah made her choice. That was it.” But my voice lacks the conviction I want it to have. Harvey’s words poke at a part of my brain I’ve been trying to ignore.

What did Harvey do?

He leans against the bar, looking at me with something close to pity. “She didn’t make any choice, Silas. She left because she thought you did.”

The words sink like stones. “What?”

Harvey sets down his glass, his hand flexing and clenching as if grappling with something beyond his control. “She thought you were choosing your business over her.”

“I’d never do that.”

“Yeah.”

“But she believed that because you’re a lying piece of shit who wanted to control her.”

My mind spins, racing back to that night—the accusations, the bitterness in her voice, the way she’d looked at me with so much hurt.

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