Harper


    Grayson had blocked me to erase me from his life, as if I were the viin in his story. My hands trembled as if they didn’t know what to do. I told myself that I should just ignore my phone and let it ring. It was best to give him the impression that I didn’t care at all but deep down, I knew the truth. He still had me. A single call shattered the walls I’d been trying so hard to build.


    Not wanting my screen to stop shing with the iing call, I rushed to pick up. It wasn’t like I couldn’t call him back, but I treated that first call like it was so precious.


    I cleared my throat topose myself, d that I was the only one who could hear my heart pounding hard.


    “Hello?” I held my breath as soon as I said it.


    “Hey, still awake?” he asked from the other end of the line. He sounded so casual like it was just another regr phone call and that made me squeeze the pillow.


    I told myself that I first needed to point that out, but it felt like my heart was about to betray me. This time, I fought against it and listened to what my brain was telling me.


    I even climbed out of bed and turned the lights back on.


    I then ced a hand on my hip, like that would make my next wordse out better.


    “I was just about to go to sleep,” I said, my tone a little t as I moved to the mirror to stare at my own reflection. “You’re thest person I thought would call me after what happened. And at this time of the night?”


    I closed my eyes and held my breath again, hoping that his next words would be an apology for everything he did and said to me.


    “I heard about Anna.” His voice casually came through the speaker once again.


    My eyes shot wide as I stared at my own reflection, like I could actually to show him how surprised I was.


    “How did you know about that?” I tilted my head with furrowed eyebrows, leaning towards the mirror as if I was actually asking him that in person.


    “Maddox mentioned it yesterday in the morning,”


    I instantly leaned away from the mirror, straightening up again in surprise. “He did?”


    “Of course. He knows that I know how much it means to you to find your sister, so here I am.”


    I ced a hand on my chest as my lips curved into a smile. It was more about Grayson calling me than it was about Maddox making the effort to tell him. I hated it, but I couldn’t help it.


    “Did she finally reply?” he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.


    11:58 <b>Sun</b>, Sep 21 <b>d</b>.


    :


    “Yup. That <b>was </b>a few hours ago and she was so harsh, even though it was just one line.”


    “But that didn’t even hurt you because you were so happy to hear from her.”


    “Yes!” My eyes widened in pleasant surprise.


    65


    55 vouchers


    The butterflies in my stomach made me feel like pping myself. He really knew how deep my rtionship with my sister was. But that wasn’t the time for that because he’d hurt me badly, so I didn’t try to hype him up too much that he was right.


    Smacking my lips, I said, “I did tell her everything that was in my heart right after she replied, but that was thest time I heard from her. “


    “Maybe she just needs a bit more time. I think she’s finally realizing that you’re going to keep fighting for her.”


    I already hoped that was the case, but hearing him say it sounded like something new.


    “You think so?” I asked.


    “Yeah and I’m happy for you, even after everything you did and-”


    “Whoa, whoa, whoa…” I shot a re at my reflection like I was directing it at him. “After everything I did? What exactly did I do?”


    “Harp, you seriously crossed the line, but I’m willing to look past it for the sake of your sister.”


    “Is this the part where I’m supposed to apologize?” I snapped.


    “That’s the only right thing to do for things to go back to how they were. You’re the one who messed up because Tiffany was done with getting her revenge on you.”


    The butterflies were gone and my stomach twisted.


    “Heres the thing,” I paused just to point a finger at the mirror, “I have nothing to apologize for because I did nothing wrong.”


    He scoffed, his next words sounding like a warning. “Keep this up and I’ll-“


    “You’ll what? Hmm?”


    I ced the palm of my hand on my forehead, hating myself for even dreaming a little, but I was d that reality kicked in quickly, I was already getting used to it.


    “I need to get back to work,” he said.


    “You should’ve used the past few minutes on that as well.” Those words came out quickly before I could stop myself. But even after he heard them. I didn’t feel the need to take them back. I meant every word. I was better off not hearing from him. It was for this reason that I hung up on him without a second thought.


    I tossed my phone on the bed behind me, taking a few deep breaths to calm down. I let him get to me and maybe that was okay because I needed another reality check. Things were never going to work out how I


    hoped they would.


    <b>55 </b>vouchers


    Maddox


    I had so much work to do that I was only able to stop around 4 AM. My n was to take the day off, no meetings or anything else. Just resting and staying at home. I needed that so much.


    I was just about to put my phone on the bedside table after already getting in bed when Harper called.


    My first thought was that maybe she was drunk again since our most recentte night calls only went up until 1 AM.


    I thought I could just spare a few seconds to tell her how exhausted I was, so I picked up.


    “Let me guess. The 8 PM call we had wasn’t enough and you still want more?” I smirked.


    “She wants to see me!” She chuckled with so much excitement.


    “What?” I quickly sat up, wondering if that was exactly what I thought it meant.


    “Yes! Anna gave me her home address and wants me toe to London so we can talk! She doesn’t want toe back to San Francisco after everything that happened here!”


    She squealed, then hummed like she was doing a little dance and I let her have her moment. I even imagined what she must’ve looked like. It made me chuckle a few times.


    “What?” she asked when she heard me.


    “It’s…it’s nothing. When does she want to meet you?”


    “Whenever I’m ready and I’m ready right now.” She huffed. “The only thing standing in my way is that all flights are fully booked for today. I just don’t want to wait for too long, but what can I do?”


    She sounded like she was pouting as she went on to further talk about it. It was so cute that I shook my head with amusement.


    “Harper…”


    “Yeah?” She was a little out of breath.


    “You can get here faster using my private jet.” I smirked.


    She gasped. “What? Really?”


    Her reaction made it sound like she had never been on a private jet before, but I knew it was only because she was <b>so </b>excited to meet Anna. I had the desire to make that possible for her, but why did making her happy suddenly matter so much to me?