Romans & histoires Harper Murphy

We’d worked together too long for me to miss the signs. “There’s something else?” I prompted. He nodded slowly. “I’ve been looking into Harper’s whereabouts as you requested.” “And?” “Harper went back to Paris,” he said. “She left a few weeks ago.” “Paris?” “Yes,” he nodded, pulling up something on his tablet, turning it toward me. “We tracked her to a bakery there. She’s been working under a different name, keeping a low profile. She’s been there for at least a year.” I stared at the screen which showed a blurry photograph. A woman with dark brown hair, a smear of flour on her cheek. She was laughing at something, her head thrown back.

“Hey, it’s possible. You might be overcome by base lust and unable to keep your tongue out of me.” She flung an arm around Cole and pulled her closer—she smelled slightly like an ill person, but also cozy and familiar. “Yes. That’s definitely a real danger that you’re in right now. With you all hot right there. But your not redhead." “You mean, you’re gay for a redhead but not for me?” “Shhh.” Harper is a bi even though she cut more into hot girls than she did guys. Yet it had never affected their relationship as friends, it was one of the things Cole was greatful for. She snuggled closer.

Even more chaotic because if I was invited, then Harper would definitely be coming too. Harper was a year older, both in school and age. A third year English major—Beautiful. Polished. Composed, as always. I couldn’t exactly find the words to describe her. She was so polite yet so intimidating at the same time—The epitome of charisma some might mistake for pride. She had thick, messy black hair that fell elegantly on her shoulders in soft loosed curls, brown eyes, tan skin. I liked her, I always had. I’d spent two years pretending I didn’t enjoy the way she said my name every time we had the most random conversations, pretending I wasn’t imagining something different, something raw and wild.

Then she scrambled after them, nearly tripping over her own feet. “Excuse me!” she called out to a man who had stepped on one of the papers. He glanced down, blinked, and walked away without even trying to help. Harper gritted her teeth, clutching the coffee in one hand while awkwardly gathering the papers with the other. “Great,” she muttered. “Really great.” By the time she made it inside, her blouse was rumpled, her hair was sticking to her forehead, and her mood was in the gutter. Harper was already regretting her life choices as she sprinted toward the elevator, balancing a takeout bag, a cup of coffee, and a stack of files. "Hold the door!" she called out, barely squeezing in before it

That's okay, she doesn't need to say anything, she doesn't know me. "What about you?" I ask, needing to change the topic. She nods, "I like the color red, I'm also twenty-five, you're sitting in my favorite place, I have two brothers, and my favorite person in the world is my grandmother." "Why your grandmother?" I'm interested to know, "Is she a good woman?" Harper smiles, "The best woman I know. She taught me how to fight when I was a small child. She even helped me when I had my first shift." She looks up at the sky, sad, "She's no longer here but she's always in my heart."

Harper grinned and dashed off, promising to return shortly with our orders. "Harper has an angelic quality, but she doesn't talk much about herself. She appears to be introverted. Told us earlier, she has been traveling around for a month, looking into colleges. Oddly enough, though. She left the cool building and waited in her car. Instead of getting something to eat and waiting inside for twenty minutes until her shift began. It's scorching hot outside. I don't understand why she would do such a thing."

“Back then… it wasn’t like I never heard the rumors about her and Chapman. I always thought that if I gave her status and stability, she’d be satisfied.” He closed his eyes, his voice sinking lower. “I was wrong… People like her are leeches. No matter how much they take, they’re never full.” “So you can’t blame Liam for being ruthless,” Murphy said, placing that morning’s newspaper on the bed. The front page was filled entirely with courtroom photos and sensational headlines. “Harriet cut off her own escape routes. She framed Liam, got rid of Bruno, and tried to destroy all of us in one move. A heart that vicious deserves no mercy. Everything that happened—she brought it on herself.”

“It’s nice feeling this happy. I never thought that Lorcan would treat me the way he does now.” I won’t tell them that he ignores me a lot of the time. It’s none of their business, even if we are friends. If Lorcan found out that I’d said anything, he’d never trust me again. “I think our bond is growing stronger, and I’m enjoying the feeling.” “And that is everything.” Harper winks. It doesn’t escape my notice that she keeps gripping her stomach. I narrow my eyes, but she shakes her head slightly. Harper just turned twenty-one. I know, crazy that she’s already training me, but she’s been training all her life. Her mother was once the head warrior of the pack and taught Harper all her tricks

She did not have to wait long. Harper appeared from the stairwell. She was tall with lean muscles, and her blonde hair was let down in a wavy style. She was in the grey uniform of the Pack’s inner guard, and there was a knife at her hip and a scar close to her eyebrow that pulled when she smiled. And she was smiling. It was not a friendly smile. “Hello, Kayla,” Harper said, her voice low and smooth. “Good to see you, future Luna." Kayla straightened, lifting her chin. “Hi Harper.”

Another second, and he might have lost control, choking Harper with his bare hands. Leon Everhart was a man of composure, but the stark contrast between the woman he saw two hours ago, eagerly taking her child to a hotel rendezvous, and the demure, seemingly loving wife now standing before him, clutching their illegitimate child, was too much to bear. Harper was even better at acting than he had ever been. Meanwhile, Seraphina Arden was busy sorting documents and working on reports when Harper walked into her office holding the baby. Seeing Harper, Seraphina couldn’t help but feel a chill. How can someone so beautiful, graceful, and elegant be this calculating?