Chapter 6 - When the Pretend Husband Became Her Shield
The next week was a war.
Silas attacked through newspapers.
Then lawyers.
Then financial regulators.
Then anonymous social-media accounts.
The story became ugly.
Vincent Romano married a diner waitress one day before his custody battle became public.
Marriage of convenience.
Paid bride.
Manipulated court.
Potential criminal conspiracy.
Harper's face appeared everywhere.
People called her a gold digger.
Others called her a liar.
Some suggested she had trapped Vincent for money.
Harper tried to ignore it.
Then someone found Lily's school.
Security arrived before anyone could reach her.
Vincent personally drove to the school.
When Harper saw him, she ran toward the SUV.
“Where is Lily?”
“Safe.”
She exhaled.
He opened the door.
“She’s with Marco.”
Harper climbed inside.
“I can't do this.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Do what?”
“Pretend nothing affects me.”
“You don't have to.”
“They're attacking my family.”
“I know.”
“They are saying I'm using you.”
“You're not.”
“They say you bought me.”
Vincent's jaw tightened.
“No one buys you.”
Harper looked at him.
“Then why do you keep protecting me?”
He didn't answer.
“Vincent.”
“Because I married you.”
“That isn't enough.”
He stared out the windshield.
Finally he said,
“No.”
“What?”
“It isn't.”
The words sat between them.
He turned toward her.
“I protect you because when I look at you, I don't see an arrangement anymore.”
Harper couldn't breathe.
“I see my wife.”
Her heart hammered.
“This is still supposed to end in one year.”
“I know.”
“And you said no expectations.”
“I remember.”
“So why are you looking at me like that?”
Vincent's voice dropped.
“Because I stopped believing our rules would survive us.”
Harper looked away.
She had wanted a husband for stability.
Now she had accidentally found a man who made her feel safe.
That was infinitely more dangerous.
That evening, Lily developed a fever.
Harper panicked.
Vincent stayed beside them through the night.
He called the doctor.
Held the thermometer.
Sat beside Lily's bed.
He didn't leave.
At four in the morning, Harper found him asleep in a chair.
His hand rested near Lily's blanket.
She smiled.
“Dangerous man,” she whispered.
Vincent opened his eyes.
“I heard that.”
Harper laughed softly.
“You weren't supposed to.”
“I rarely sleep deeply.”
“Why?”
“Habit.”
She sat beside him.
“Vincent?”
“Yes?”
“Did you ever have a normal life?”
He thought.
“No.”
“Would you want one?”
He looked at her.
“With you?”
She froze.
“That wasn't what I meant.”
“I know.”
He smiled faintly.
“Still.”
The next morning, he took Harper to his private office.
There was something waiting there.
A photograph.
It showed Silas Kane with Harper's mother.
And a second person.
Harper stared.
“That’s my father.”
Vincent nodded.
“This is the secret.”
Her father had not died in an accident.
He had been investigating Silas.
He had disappeared.
For twenty years, Harper had believed he had abandoned them.
He hadn't.
He had been forced into hiding.
A recent photograph proved he was alive.
Harper's knees weakened.
“My father is alive?”
Vincent caught her.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
“Then find him.”
“We will.”
They followed the photograph to a small town two states away.
There, an elderly mechanic remembered the man.
He had lived under another name.
But he had disappeared again three weeks earlier.
On the wall was a note.
For Harper.
Her father had left a message.
I never abandoned you.
I ran because your mother asked me to save you.
Harper couldn't stop crying.
Vincent stood beside her.
She leaned into him.
He wrapped one arm around her.
No agreement.
No cameras.
No contract.
Just comfort.
She whispered,
“I thought everybody left.”
“I won't.”
She lifted her face.
“Promise?”
“I don't make promises lightly.”
“Then make this one.”
Vincent kissed her forehead.
“I won't leave.”
They returned to Fairhaven.
But Silas was waiting.
He kidnapped Vincent's younger cousin and sent a single demand.
Trade Harper.
Vincent refused.
Harper understood immediately.
He was choosing her over blood.
Then she realized something.
Silas wasn't expecting Vincent to refuse.
He wanted Vincent angry.
Wanted him reckless.
Wanted him to destroy himself before trial.
Harper looked at Theodore.
“What if the entire indictment is built on Silas's evidence?”
Theodore froze.
“What?”
“What if he's manufacturing the case?”
The lawyer immediately began checking files.
Hours later, he found it.
Three major pieces of evidence against Vincent had passed through one private investigator.
That investigator had been paid by a shell company controlled by Silas.
Harper had found the weakness.
Now they needed proof.
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And Silas had just made his biggest mistake.
He had underestimated the woman who once thought she needed a husband to survive.
