Fuck.
She’s out cold at the bottom of the shallow end.
The soldier inside me tries to remain cool as I swim to the floor and grab her waist. Kicking my legs, I push us up to the surface and roll her motionless body onto the decking.
“Harper!” I yell, shaking her.
“Ignoring me is kinda rude,” Milana says as I drag myself from the pool.
She’s still snapping photos as I lean over Harper and grab her cheeks.
“Is that how she behaves in bed? Lying there like a dead horse?”
Checking Harper’s airways are clear, I lower my lips to hers and start mouth-to-mouth.
“And that’s the most action that lame bitch is ever going to get. I’ll print this photo. Sad cow will probably frame it.”
“Come on,” I whisper against her cold lips.
A second later, her eyes roll and water spews up from her throat.
“I’ve got you,” I say, lifting her into a seated position and slapping her back. “That’s it. It’s okay now. I’m here. Everything is fine.”
While Harper hyperventilates against me, I stare up at Milana.
“If you’re still here in ten seconds, I’ll end your fucking life,” I warn her.
Milana rolls her eyes. “Nice try, Christopher. This isme you’re talking to. I know you’d never raise your hand to a woman.”
“Seven,” I snarl. “Six…”
“I t-thought I was going to d-die,” Harper cries against my shoulder.
“Shhh,” I whisper into her hair. “You’re safe. I’ve got you. Just breathe.”
Milana sighs. “Way to downgrade, Chris. This bitch knows how to ruin a relationship, but she can’t even swim? Pathetic.”
Leaning back, I grab Harper’s face and look deep into her sea-blue eyes. “Stay here. Just breathe.”
I then stand, crack my shoulders and step up closer to Milana.
“Times up,” I tell her, gripping her throat. “No one could ever ruin our relationship.”
“What?” Harper gasps behind me, but I keep my stare fixed on a grinning Milana.
“I knew you’d come back to me, Christopher. You were just playing hard to get to make me jealous.”
The protective rage bubbling inside me makes me want to snap her fucking neck. But she’s right. I’d never do that to a woman. But she’s crossed a line and there’s no going back now.
“She couldn’t ruin our relationship because we don’t fucking have one,” I tell her.
Milana’s gulp rolls in my palm. “I’ve missed how rough you are. Choke me harder,
Daddy.”
Grimacing, I push her away. “You think you know me? And you think I’m just going to let you get away with this shit?”
“Oh, come on,” Milana says, her pupils widening when reality sets in. “How was I supposed to know the dumb bitch couldn’t swim?”
“Come here,” I hiss, matching her step as she edges closer to the pool.
“She’s fine. Stop overreacting.”
Grabbing the collar of her shirt, I push her backward, holding her tilted body over the water.
“Stop!” she squeals. “What are you doing? Chris! Stop!”
Checking Harper is okay as she scrambles to the chair, I lock my eyes on Milana.
“You’re right,” I tell her. “I won’t hurt you physically. But Iwill end your life. So, tomorrow, you’re going to wake up to a call from your dad. He’s going to ask you why his company’s suddenly tanking in the stock market.”
“P-please,” she stammers.
I shake my head. “And he’s going to ask you why all of his major investors are pulling their funding from Kauffman Motors. You’re going to tell dear old Daddy that his psychotic daughter is responsible for his company going bankrupt. You got that?”
“Are…are you serious?” she gasps, whacking at my arms.
“Deadly,” I hiss. “Because that’s what happens when you fuck with someone I care about.”
“Wait!” she screams. “Please, Chris. I’m sorry. Don’t do this. I’ll leave her alone. I’ll leave you both alo?-“
Snatching her phone from her hand, Milana stops talking when I let go of her shirt. Swinging her arms in circles, she hits the water and sinks like a stone.
Lifting her phone, I take a photo of her fake tan dripping down her face. “Say cheese.”
“Wouldn’t worry about drowning,” Harper says from the chair and we both look at her. “You have two inflatable airbags ready to go.”
I smile at her strength, but I know it’s just for show. This traumatic experience will bring back everything she had to live through twelve years ago and it breaks my fucking heart.
“Enjoy your last day living off your father’s money,” I tell Milana. “After tomorrow, you’ll be lucky to get a job in Walmart.”
Walking over to Harper, I wrap my arms under her and lift her across my chest.
“Is that a spider?” she asks, pointing at the pool.
“Nah. That’s just Milana’s fake eyelashes.”
Walking backward, I shake my head at the woman now crying in the pool.
“This girl in my arms is worth a million of you,” I tell her. “Remember that. I don’t want to see your miserable face everagain. Now get the fuck out of here before you make it worse for yourself.”
“Christopher!” Milana screams as I turn my back and step into the house. “Please don’t do this!”
I kick the door shut as Harper rolls her cheek into my chest.
Laying Harper down on the rug, I strike a match and light the fire.
“You think she’s gone?” she asks, her cheeks filling with color.
I think I was twelve the last time I cried. My pet rabbit died and it broke my heart. But my stern father gripped my shoulder and said,
“Tears fix nothing, kid. Shoulders straight, head high. Crying is for pussies.”
As much as my father was an asshole, what he said that day seemed to bury itself in my subconscious.
My parents’ funerals, burying army colleagues, breakups, I never cried once. But right now, gazing down at Harper, the memories of her mother dying and what it did to her bring a tear to my eye.
“Yeah,” I tell her, turning away. “I’m so sorry I put you in that position, Harper. Especially after everything you’ve been through.”
Slumping down to my knees beside her, I look into her big blue eyes. “She’ll never bother you again. I swear.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she says. “I guess we both have a history of dating crazies, huh?”
I shake my head. “I never dated her. We were never a thing.”
“Not what she says,” Harper mumbles.
“Why? What did she say to you?”
The flames from the fire flicker in her eyes. “Nothing. Doesn’t matter.”
I know she’s lying, but she’s been through enough today, so I don’t want to push her.
“She said I’d never be able to handle you,” she adds. “Or satisfy you in bed. That I’m too much of a kid, and you’d never be into me. So pretty much the same thingsyou’ve said multiple times.”
Harper lowers her head, so I lie down beside her and lift her chin. I can see the questions and insecurity dulling her eyes, and I hate that I’ve made her feel this way.
“That’s not how I feel anymore,” I tell her. “And I think you know that. But we both know nothing can happen. I’m supposed to protect you. That’s why we have to nip this thing in the bud before it gets out of hand.”
Rolling her cheek in her hand, her eyes fall to my lips.
“What’s going on in that irritating head of yours?” I ask.
She smirks. “You really want to know?”
“It’s why I asked,” I tell her.
“Okay.” She flinches when I wipe her wet hair from her cheek. “I really thought I was going to die in that pool. And all I could think about was all the things I regretted never doing.”
Brushing her bottom lip with my thumb, my heart thumps harder.
“I’ve experienced that more times than I can count,” I whisper. “What did you regret?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.