Politically Incorrect (37 page)

Harper drummed his fingers against his chin. “True. But you said for starters, which means you have a plan. Lay it on me.”

“I’ve already set it in motion.”

Harper cocked his head. “That’s my girl. Now, details.”

I shifted in the chair. “I told Liam to tell the truth tonight. He’s not to deny our interactions. His strength is his honesty and it’s vital that he faces this thing head on.”

Harper’s eyes grew wide. “Are you kidding me?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m serious. He needs to be honest, which means I’ll be forced to give an interview as well.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

I lifted my chin and tucked my hair behind my ears. “No, but I’ll do it. Not because I love him, but because he has integrity. Liam’s the right man for this job.”

“You say that like he doesn’t know you love him.”

I dropped my eyes, hot shame burning under my skin. “He doesn’t.”

Harper fell back in his seat, causing it to roll. “Really? How’s that? You just said...”

“I haven’t told him.”

“And he hasn’t said anything about being in love with you?”

I laughed. “Nah. No undying professions of love from either of us.”

“Hmm. I didn’t see that one coming.” Harper flicked his fingernails against each other. He sat up a little straighter and somehow seemed a little lighter. He smiled and reached across the desk to take my hand. “I have faith in you, Bet. You’ll survive this and come out stronger for it.”

“Studying up on your Nietzsche?” I made light. His head dropped in a deadpanned expression. I chuckled and patted the top of his hand. “Thanks.” I moved to stand only for Harper to stop me.

“Where ya goin’?”

I thumbed behind me toward the door. “To the den. I need to, at least, catch the end of his interview.”

Harper released my hand and reached for the remote on his desk. “We’ll watch it in here.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind going to the den.”

Harper flipped through the channels. “I’m positive.” He came to a stop as Corgin Masters’ face appeared on the screen. “You relax. I’ll grab us a couple of drinks,” he stated, dropping the remote on his desk.

“Thanks.” I sank back into my chair crossing my knees as Harper maneuvered around his desk. He stopped in front of me and placed two fingers under my chin, tiling my face upward.

“You look tired.”

“I haven’t slept well lately.”

“After this is over, go get some rest. You need it.”

I smiled and nodded. “I’ll try.”

He kissed the top of my head and stepped out of the room. Liam’s face appeared on the screen. He seemed so calm. The epitome of cool. The camera loved him. Harper had neglected to increase the volume on the television before he left, so I turned around and grabbed the remote. In my haste, I accidentally knocked over a pile of papers that had been neatly stacked on the corner of Harper’s desk.

“Dammit!” I griped, kneeling down to collect the mess I’d made.

Among the papers I found a folder that looked oddly familiar.

Double dammit!

It was exactly like the one that reporter, Mariah Herbert, had given me. I grabbed the folder off the ground and moved into my seat. Inside were more pictures of Liam and me. The sex photos were there, but there were far more than I’d seen before. On top of that, there were pictures of me walking into Liam’s townhouse and of us together at Bilbo Baggins talking with Gerald Samford.

My stomach knotted. We’d been under surveillance for some time. I couldn’t believe the nerve of that woman. She had some balls trying to use me to get a story out of Harper.

“What a relentless…” I stopped before the curse fell from my tongue. I’d turned to the last page of the folder to discover a plastic bag tucked into a pocket. Inside the baggie was a flash drive with a large sticky note in handwriting I knew all too well.

Mr. Harper,

Here are the pics I printed. The flash drive has more, but these are the clearest.

Thank you for the bonus.

~Brandy

I stared at the sticky note, unable to move. This had to be a sick joke. There was no way Harper could do something like this to me. No, that wasn’t possible.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’m out of…” Harper came to an abrupt stop at the sight of me holding the folder. “I can explain,” he cringed.

I gripped the folder in my hand, popping up out of the chair. “You better, because from what I see here, you’re a lying, backstabbing prick.”

Harper placed the two tumblers he was carrying on the table near the door and moved in toward me. I took a step back, shaking my head. “Explain these, Guy!”

Harper raked his fingers through his hair and growled. “Fuck. You were never supposed to find those.”

A heartless laugh spilled from me. “That’s your explanation? That I wasn’t supposed to find these? You had me followed.”

“I had to!” Harper bellowed. “After I saw how close you and Baxter were, I had to do something. You weren’t about to tell me the truth, and I knew you weren’t thinking straight.”

“You’re saying you did this for my protection?” I spat.

“Baxter’s a politician. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. I knew he’d use you like he does everyone else. That’s what they do.”

“So, you had me followed,” I reiterated in an emotionless lilt.

Harper flattened his hand over his chest. “Yes! Okay. I had you followed. There. I admit it. You happy?”

“But, why?”

“I told you why!”

I flipped through the pictures, astonished at how much he had on me. “But you leaked them to the press!”

“No! I would never do that to you.”

“So how did they get them?”

Harper wrapped his arms around his chest. “Victor,” he proclaimed.

I stumbled backward. “Victor Knolls?”

Harper nodded. “He came in here all high and mighty, flapping his lips about Liam and that woman. He tried to blackmail me.”

“So not only did you give him real ammo, but you knew he was about to attack and you didn’t warn me?”

Harper threw his arms out at me. “Just like you didn’t tell me about Baxter. Even after you came into my house and fucked him under my roof, you still didn’t tell me.”

Ouch. He heard.

No matter. My indiscretion didn’t equate to his ruination.

“Fine. We’ve established I’m a terrible person, Guy. I crossed the line. I messed up. But that doesn’t excuse you for exposing me.”

“I didn’t. Victor…”

“You gave it to him.”

“By accident. I never intended…”

“It doesn’t matter. You did it and you didn’t tell me.”

His brows knitted together in a scowl. “I’m in love with you. Can’t you see that?”

Whoa! That came out of left field.

My lips curled in icy contempt. I lifted the pictures in my hand and shook them. “This is what you call love?”

“No! That’s twisted jealousy.”

“And giving them to Victor, was that love?” I seethed.

“That was hurt. I could see in those pictures you wanted him. And then Victor showed me the pictures of Baxter having an affair with that woman….”

“He didn’t have an affair with her!” I screamed, unable to maintain my control.

Harper charged forward, reaching out for me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. “He did. He did have an affair with her. You can’t see it because you think you’re in love with him, but you’re not. If you were, you’d have told him. I get it. You just like the way he makes you feel, but I can make you feel better. I know you. I love your daughter like she’s my own. I can give you everything he can’t. I’ve waited so long for you. I couldn’t let that lying, cheating bastard hurt you.”

I pushed out of his grasp, sickened by his touch. “You’ve waited for me?”

“Since the day I met you, I’ve wanted you.”

“Then why didn’t you ask me out twenty years ago?” I shouted.

“Because you were with Russell!”

“And after that?”

“You needed time, but now, now we can be together. I love you, Elizabeth.”

I covered my mouth with the back of my hand, disgusted by the sight of Harper. “All these years...you’ve waited all these years to tell me that. And when I’m finally happy and in love, you spring this shit on me.” I took a step toward Harper, dangling the pictures at my side. “You asked me earlier why Liam. Well, let me tell you. He’s a man who knows how to treat a woman. He takes what he wants, when he wants it. He doesn’t act like a pussy, slinking around in the dark, having others do his dirty work for him. He owns up to his shit, and most of all, he challenges me. He knows what I like and what I want. You could never be that for me.”

Rage burned red hot inside me. My body shook with pure contempt for the man in front of me.

“You don’t mean that, Bet.”

“Don’t call me that. Only my friend can call me that, and you are not my friend. You’re nothing to me. You understand? Nothing. You will stay away from me. You will stay away from Jordyn and if I so much as see you anywhere near Liam…so help me God.”

“And what about the campaign? It’s your baby. You still need me for financial backing. I mean, who’s going to pay that over inflated salary of yours?”

My mouth set in a grim line. “Don’t you know me well enough to know I never put all my eggs in one basket? Wait. Obviously you don’t when you tried to destroy my life.”

Though I was angry, I’d never felt such intense heartbreak. The day Russell and I separated wasn’t nearly as painful as this. Harper was right about one thing, I was different. Then again, so was he. The man I called my friend, my brother, would never have betrayed me like this.

“Elizabeth, please.”

I jutted my jaw. Malice rolled off of me like a threatening storm. “Don’t
please
me. As a matter of fact, forget you ever knew me.”

“I’m sorry. What I did was wrong. I know that.”

“Wrong? You tried to destroy me! And for what? For some trumped up idea in your head that you could swoop in and save me.” I thrust the photos outward, squeezing them tight in my hand. “This is my life, Harper! Not some business deal gone bad.”

“But he’s a liar, too. He cheated with that woman! If you can forgive him, why can’t you forgive me?”

I sailed toward him, poking a finger in his chest. “He’s not a liar. He never slept with her. There was no affair. Had you actually investigated the situation instead of giving Victor real incriminating evidence, you would’ve learned that. But no. Instead, you wasted your money following me. And now, you’ve lost me.”

“Elizabeth, don’t do this,” he entreated.

Deep down I wanted to slap him. The idea alone made me feel better, but something told me it would make him feel better, too. He’d take it as though I was getting out my frustrations and we could move on from this. That wasn’t going to happen. There was no moving on from that kind of betrayal. “You did this. Not me.” I pulled myself up and took in a deep breath. “Goodbye, Guy.”

I rushed out of his office, flew up the stairs to my room, where I packed as fast as I could. I expected to hear him follow me, but he didn’t, which proved he did have a few scruples in his head.

As I packed, I called Liam. All I got was his voicemail. More than likely he was still in the interview.

At the tone, I left my message: “Liam, it’s me. I’m leaving Lone Star tonight and heading to my place in the city. There’s been some...developments,” I paused and stared down at my bag, a single tear trickled down my cheek. I couldn’t remember the last time I cried. I swiped the traitor away and whispered, “I’ll explain later.”

I disconnected the call and immediately called security at HQ back in Washington.

When the officer answered, I was expedient with my instructions. “Brandy Turner is terminated effective immediately. She is not to be allowed back into the building.”

“She’s still here, Ms. McNeal.”

Son of a….

“Okay. I want you to go to her desk and escort her from the building. Do not, I repeat,
do not
allow her to take anything with her. We’ll ship it to her, understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I ended the call and finished my packing. My heart was shattered and my pride pulverized. The pictures sat on top of the bed next to my luggage, all crumpled and marked from my sweaty palms. I grabbed them and shoved them into my bag.

Luggage in hand, I dashed downstairs and out of the house without so much as a glance behind me, determined I’d never grace the Lone Star Ranch with my presence again.