Page 131 of My Favorite Secret
I cup her jaw, trying to calm her. “It’s okay. Listen to me. Everything will be all right.”
“It’s not okay, Felix,” she sobs, pushing my hands away.
There’s a look in Harper’s eyes I struggle to identify. Guilt, perhaps, but I have no idea why she would feel that way.
“We can’t pick up from where we left off. Felix, I didn’t know why you left. I’ve…” She sniffles and takes a deep breath, attempting to stand tall and recapture her composure. “I’ve moved on with my life. Tyler and I are… engaged. We’re getting married in one month. The three of us don’t exist anymore.”
“What?” I choke, my heart plummeting. Her words echo in my mind, not making sense. Ican’tbe hearing her right. “Married? Harper, I understand you thought I left you, but I’m back now. You have the truth. Call off the wedding. Give me a chance to make this right.”
Her lower lip trembles. “I can’t call off the wedding. I… I want to be with Tyler. I love him.”
Tyler steps around the corner of the pool house, stopping short when he sees me. “Felix.”
I can hear the nerves in him. There’s guilt all over his face.
My voice wavers, hollow and stunned. “What the fuck is going on, Tyler? You lied to Harper about where I’ve been and Paul’s death? You two are getting married? Tell me none of this bullshit is true.Noneof it makes sense. You know Harper is everything to me. You wouldn’t do this to me. We’re brothers.”
His throat strains with a gulp, but he keeps a level tone. “I was supposed to speak with you before you saw Harper. There’s a lot to explain.”
“Then get fucking started.” My voice cracks with anger. “Why did you hide the truth from her?”
“Because I didn’t want her covering up a murder.”
“Tyler?” Harper whimpers, devastated and confused.
He fucked up big time with her. With me. All this time I was gone, I trusted him. I had full confidence that he was taking care of Harper in my absence. I never thought Tyler of all people could stab me in the back like this. Lying about my whereabouts and the murder is one thing, but I don’t understand where this engagement came from.
One thing for sure is I’m not letting him take Harper from me. He can rot in his own mess.
“Harper, I’m so sorry.” He reaches out a hand to her, pained when she steps away.
Tyler is supposed to be answering to me.Grovelingto me. And yet the direction of this conversation has switched to being about him and Harper.
“I wanted to tell you the truth so badly,” he says to her. “I hated myself for keeping secrets. I told you as much as I could. I said my dad was protecting Felix.”
“You made it sound like a theory,” she whispers through tears.
“I hoped you would believe it.”
“All this time, you knew where Felix was, and you didn’t tell me?”
“I couldn’t tell you everything. Harper, I’m begging you to believe me.”
“You let me believe Paul sacrificed his life to save someone else. I didn’t report his attack because I thought there was still something noble within him.”
Tyler’s face pales. He looks sick with remorse. The fucking bastard deserves to suffer for what he’s done.
“The story about the hit and run was never part of the plan,” he urges. “The Fergusons made that announcement, but it’s not how the cops told them Paul died. The Fergusons are lying and I don’t know why. I don’t know how much of the truth they’re aware of, if any. But I’ve been sick with fear that they’re suspicious of Paul’s death.”
He leans toward Harper, desperately trying to make his point. She steps back from him again.
“Harper, I couldn’t risk you reporting Paul with a conflicting story that would spark an investigation from the Fergusons. An investigation that would send Felix to jail for murder, along with me and Dad for our involvement. My dad can’t pay off every cop. I tried to keep you out of everything so you’d be safe. But now you know the truth, you’ll have to lie if you’re questioned. That’s a crime, Harper. You’ll be guilty by association. We’re covering up a murder?—”
“Our father was the one who covered up the murder,” I cut in. “Hewas the one at risk. He was covering his ass by scaring you into keeping the truth from Harper, and you fell for his shit because you’re always so caught up in having his approval.”
“That’s not true?—”
“How could you think I would keep up the lies once I got back from Westbridge? That I would happily go along with letting Harper believe I left her?”
