Page 68 of Never Been Worse

She nods and sighs.

“He’d been making promises like that for some time. He’d bring designs home from work that weren’t working for one reason or another and show me, I’d give him some advice to fix it. He said he always told his boss I was helping, but it was a lie, obviously. He was giving the tweaks to his girlfriend so she could suggest them to her father to impress him. Anyway, he took pictures of my designs. I remember the day, and I remember being so excited. It felt like something big was about to happen.”

She shrugs, then looks at me with guilt and apology in her eyes.

“A week or two after he took those pictures, I asked about what his boss thought of them. He told me he hadn’t liked them, that maybe I should stick to pageant gowns.” My jaw goes tight as I put the pieces together, as I understand the level of manipulation Jeremy subjected Harper to. “But it seems like he had actually shown them to Clarissa. She loved them, they tweaked them, and now they’re herlegacy line. It was announced today.” Harper worries her lip between her teeth, refusing to look at me as she picks at the skin on a nail.

I reach out, grabbing her hand and holding it in mine. Finally, her eyes meet mine when she continues.

“When I walked in on them cheating, they were looking at designs. I went to leave, knowing we were done. I told him I’d be back later, but he told me to stay.” She shrugs, her eyes fading off like she’s caught in some shit memory, and anger pulses through me, knowing this asshole created this. Not just that look on her face but the constant battle she's now facing in believing in herself and trusting her feelings and instincts. “He told me they were taking my designs. He wanted me to sign them away to make things easy for him. I, of course, said no and walked away. I didn’t hear about it again, so I thought it was behind us.” A deep, deep sigh filled with regret leaves her. “And then we glittered his lawn.”

It all starts to click then: why no one was charged, why Harper seemed to fall apart after that, why her reputation started to spiral.

“He didn’t press charges because you gave him the designs.”

She gives me a sad smile and nods. “It was the only option.”

The fuck it was.

“Harper, there are always?—”

She shakes her head, her jaw tight as she looks at me.

“He was threatening Ava and Jules. Criminal stalking and harassment charges for both of them, which could have destroyed their careers. It was my only option. There will be more designs, new dresses, and gowns, but Ava and Jules fought hard for what they have, and Ava is the reason I even have a successful business as it is. I’m not letting my bad choices be the reason theirs crumble.”

I understand it, unfortunately, how it could have played out. How in that moment, faced with anow-or-neveropportunity, my ever-selfless wife would pick her friends over her own happiness. “But they still went after you,” I say, that part seeming out of place.

“Unfortunately, though I made sure that the girls would be left out of everything, I didn’t think to make sure he and his bitch of a girlfriend wouldn’t talk shit about me. The next day, they started their press cycle, just in case, I assume. If you remove someone’s credibility after you steal their life’s work, it’s hard for them to come at you with their truth. If you make the world believe they’re jealous and crazy and irrational, they have no leg to stand on against you. Add in that her platform is thousands of times more powerful than mine, and I was fucked.”

I sit in silence for long moments, letting it all sink in, finally understanding the whole picture.

“Why didn’t you say anything before, Harper? We could have?—”

“He has the ability to ruin me, Wes. I didn’t have a formal copyright. He could easily say I stole the designs fromhim becauseI'm some bitter ex. It would be the end of me and my career. I can ride out whispers and rumors, but I couldn’t survive that. It was easier to let it go. Plus, I’m the idiot who believed in him. I deserve that.”

“What? No.” I say, gripping her hands tight and hating, knowing that’s truly how she sees this, some lesson she has to learn because she trusted the man, because, in her mind, she should have known better. “You know this isn’t your fault, right? He’s an asshole. He’s a terrible fucking person who manipulated you for years. That’s not on you. Tell me you know that, Harper.” She stares at me but doesn’t answer, just shrugs her shoulders and gives me a small, sad smile.

“Harper,” I start, but she shakes her head, not wanting to hear my condolences.

“It is what it is. I don’t care, not really. It’s behind me. I just want to move forward.”

“That’s why you said you don’t want to get back at him. That auction…you said it was a whim.”

“I was a little drunk,” she admits with a smile. Despite the heavy topic, she seems a bit lighter, like finally confessing this has freed her in some way.

“And that’s why he started speaking out about you. Because marrying me meant you might have a bit more credibility, more of a platform if you came out against him. He wanted to make you look like you were out to get him before that happened.” She nods as more pieces fall in place. “What about the elephant shit?”

She shrugs, a small smile playing on her lips.

“Ava and Jules found out about the designs. Not the threats against them, because it would destroy them to know I gave up my work to protect them. They’re angry he took what’s mine. Of the long list of revenge they were talking about, that seemed like the least problematic.” I wonder what else was on that list and if I could make them happen with my resources.

“Wes, no,” she says, clearly reading my face. “I don’t want to make things worse than they are. If he thinks I’m fighting back, he’ll go harder. Even if you and Leo help preserve my name publicly, he can ruin it behind closed doors. He could get me blacklisted if he wanted.”

“He can’t just—“ I start because he can’t get away with this.

“No, he can, and honestly, that's just the industry. It’s fine, so long as I keep my mouth shut and let it be.”

I shake my head, disagreeing ardently. “No. That’s not your life anymore,” I say, moving to my knees before her, reaching up and holding her face in my hands to force her to look at me. The walls are down for once, and I can see the vulnerability, her truth.

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