Maisie, one of her long-time seamstresses and designers, pulled the card from the tissue wrapped plant and let out a cry of dismay moments before she tore the card into tiny shreds of paper. Sienna thought this was odd and out of character for the quiet, sedate, young woman.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I’m sorry Sienna,” Maisie told her in a rushed voice and threw the plant away in her garbage can. “Boyfriend problems.” Her guilty eyes met Sienna’s and it triggered something in Sienna.
“You shouldn’t throw away a perfectly good plant; any one of us can care for it if you don’t want it,” Sienna said politely, reaching to pick up the plant out of the plastic can. Glancing down, she saw that the plant wasn’t flowers or ivy- it was a Venus flytrap. She did a double-take at the sight of the open pink and green ‘mouths’ at the tip of the stems.
“What an odd gift,” Sienna murmured and looked at Maisie again. Their eyes locked as the woman’s face began to crumble in front of Sienna and she started crying and babbling nervously. Harper was already by her side, his voice firmly instructing Sienna not to touch anything.
“Sienna, please – don’t fire me. I was only doing what he said so he’d leave me alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“The grey dress at the show. He told me to tear it up and he’d go away – but he didn’t.”
“The grey- wait- you destroyed it?” Sienna gaped in shock as she remembered the scattering of beads all over backstage at the fashion show. The massive tears in the fabric had been made with the same shears that had once designed it. “Why? I don’t understand.”
“Who made you tear it up? What was his name?” Harper asked Maisie, his voice soft yet firm-as if he already knew the answer himself but was waiting to hear it aloud. Sienna glanced between the two of them in shock as she realized who the man was: Joel. Maisie shook her head furiously, tears running down her face.
“I can’t tell you!”
“You can tell the police,” Harper retorted.
“No, he’ll hurt me and…and,” Maisie stammered and then suddenly grew silent. “I didn’t do anything and can’t tell you anything,” she announced, throwing back her shoulders and wiping the tears from her face. “I’m sorry. The plant is a sick joke between friends.”
“Maisie, please,” Sienna said, feeling sick as she knew in her heart that the only chance she had of accusing Joel of sabotage was slipping through her very fingers. “You have to tell the police what you were told to do.”
“I wasn’t told anything,” Maisie repeated sadly, looking down, away from Sienna’s heartbroken pleas.
“Then you are fired,” Sienna said softly with finality. “You’ve admitted to destroying property of Sienna, Inc. and I can’t have a saboteur working for me. Please leave before I call the police. Rebecca, box up her things and meet her downstairs. I can’t look at her -at this- knowing her betrayal.”
“You can’t let her go,” Harper whispered softly. “She might be the only lead to Joel.”
“I can’t have her here either. If she won’t admit it was Joel- then we have nothing to go on other than my own accusations, which don’t hold up. I’ve tried that route before,” she reminded him silently. “Right now, I feel like I need a moment alone.”
“Of course.”
Sienna walked back in her office but instead of taking a seat at her desk, she walked just out of view over to her large window that extended floor to ceiling. She looked over the city for several minutes feeling absolutely overwhelmed. If life was a chess game, Joel had just taken her bishop and dealt a blow to the company. Maisie was one of her better seamstresses and had been with her for the last three years. She shut her eyes, clasped her hands and began to pray for Maisie’s safety and her own sanity in this crazy mess she was existing in the middle of. Hot tears ran down her face as she let out a ragged breath of despair and frustration.
She wanted to feel normal and be free of having to watch over her back every time she turned around. She jumped, startled, as warm, strong arms surrounded her midsection, pulling her into a hug against Harper, as he cradled her silently. Somehow he always seemed to know and be there to support her when she needed it.
That evening, Sienna seemed to feel extremely brittle and fragile. She hated having to fire someone, knowing that their life would change permanently from here on out. Maisie would have to find another job and to keep her staff happy, she paid them quite well because she believed you got what you paid for. Well, Sienna got betrayed and felt like her own world was turned upside down. If someone could get to Maisie – what about the rest of her team? Where did their loyalties lie?
If it was Joel – was he such a smooth talker that he could manipulate anyone? This made her feel slightly better knowing that she wasn’t alone in falling for his lines. Sienna had felt so stupid and vain falling for his quick smile before realizing it was only skin deep. Joel had some serious control issues that didn’t work well for her.
Was she making the same mistakes with Harper?
That doubt kept echoing in the back of her mind, rolling around like a grain of sand in an oyster- only it wasn’t creating a pearl. It was creating a wall between them. She was pushing him away and he was trying to get closer to her. He seemed to always be supportive of her, silently there if she needed him. Even now, she was sitting on the divan and he was cradling her against his chest as they watched tv together. Something so simple, so normal, was designed to make her feel she wasn’t alone.
Lost in her thoughts, Sienna ignored the voice on the television as they watched Jeopardy together. Every once in a while, she would hear Harper’s voice rumble under her cheek as he answered the questions on the screen. This felt so right, so wonderful, just being there in his arms – how could it be wrong?
Out of nowhere, Sienna felt Harper tense up underneath her just seconds before he deftly climbed off the divan and padded silently across the room, pulling his gun. Sienna felt herself freeze at seeing him in action and hearing a noise from the back of the house. Harper’s head whipped towards the sound as he pointed at Sienna, giving her a signal to stay put. She nodded obediently at the intense look on his face.
Harper methodically jerked his T-shirt off over his head and wrapped it around his gun. It would help act as a silencer if he had to shoot it or muffle a blow if he had to hit someone with it. He was an incredible man and her heart leapt at the sight of his bare chest. Ragged scars marked his lower abdomen where the bullet had exited his body, but it was nothing like the reconstruction that had occurred on his lower back. Just above his waistline were several crisscrossed scars that signaled the turning point of his life.
Not only was Harper smart, but he’d lived through tragedy that could have ruined a person. He could have turned to alcohol, drugs or anything else to get through the loss of his legs until he’d regained them through physical therapy…but no. Harper had drawn from an inner strength and turned to God when he needed someone to rely on. How could she not admire that in a man who was so beautiful on the inside and outside, despite the scars his body held?
Any doubts Sienna had in her mind came into sharp focus as she watched Harper glide silently across the living room towards the back of the small house where the bedrooms were at. He was doing it again- putting himself forward to protect her, but this wasn’t as his boss. She could see the angry, possessive look on his expression – someone had threatened his woman.
She heard the noises indicating someone was in the house and it was nearly drowned out by the hammering of her heartbeat. Sienna slowly reached for her cell phone on the end table and dialed 911 silently. “Be careful,” she breathed silently knowing that he couldn’t hear her as he stepped down the dim hallway just out of sight. Sienna couldn’t help the scream that erupted from her as she heard a scuffle coming from her bedroom and the sound of breaking glass. Staring horrified, she saw the figure of a man stand up and lean against the frame of her doorway.
“Harper?
”
“No,” she heard Joel’s voice slither in the space between them as he stepped into the lamplight. She saw he was bleeding from the nose and his lip as it snarled upwards in a sick mockery of a smile at her. “I told you once before that you’d be mine and I meant it. Some bodyguard…he went down with one hard hit to the head. Wimp,” he said scathingly.
“The police are on the way,” Sienna said slowly, backing away as he started to step towards her where she sat on the divan. He stopped and shook his head admonishingly. “You never learn, do you? I told you that you look fat in jeans and you should wear trousers that fit your form. How do you expect to hold a career in fashion if you can’t accentuate the positive things about your body?”
“There’s nothing wrong with my body,” she argued, glancing behind him for any sign of Harper. “Where is he?”
“I told you, he dropped like a ton of bricks. He is out cold on the floor.”
“What did you hit him with?”
“That awful Majolica ceramic lamp you insisted on keeping. Frankly, I’m glad I broke it so maybe I can put something I like there instead when I move back in.”
“You’ll never live here again!”
“I will and this time there will be no holding back with you either!” he said, grabbing her by the upper arm and pulling her off the divan where she’d been sitting. She wanted to run but her knocking knees kept her from even standing up. “You shacked up with your pansy of a boyfriend and let him have what you wouldn’t give me? No Sienna, there will be no more ‘I want to save myself for marriage’ fodder from you anymore. You and I will be the couple we have always been destined to be.”
“No!” she barked, feeling her arm jerk painfully as he twisted it in order to shove her towards the back bedroom that Harper had been occupying. As she pushed and struggled against Joel, Sienna darted into her bedroom and slammed the door against Joel’s hand, making him free her arm. She threw the deadbolt in place and thanked God that Harper had installed it for her protection and privacy…ironically it wasn’t from him. She heard Joel screaming and banging on the bedroom door in anger. The old wooden frame was certain to give way if the police didn’t arrive soon. Seeing Harper on the floor, Sienna knelt down.
“Sweetheart, you have to wake up,” she crooned, rocking back and forth as she cradled his head in her lap. She saw a trail of blood coming from his nose and one from his ear as she began to cry in earnest. “Harper, please. Wake up for me. You’ve got to be okay, sweetheart.”
Harper gave a slight groan and tensed momentarily as if he was expecting another blow to his head. Sienna saw his eyes flutter in the darkness and let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, God!” she exclaimed.
“Knock, knock,” Harper said hoarsely, wincing as he smiled at her.
“Who’s there?”
“Joel’s about to get his face beat in for scaring my girl.”
“That’s not how the joke goes,” she chided, sniffling and smiling. “But I am okay with you kicking the tar out of him for hitting you. The police should be here soon and I am hoping that door holds up until then.”
“Yeah, who knew the knock-knock would be to my head-head.” he joked and winced again. “I might need to get that looked at. That clay lamp was awfully heavy.”
“Majolica.”
“Heavy and hard,” Harper repeated and sat up. “Took me getting knocked senseless to have you call me sweetheart, huh? Maybe I should open the door and hand Joel another lamp?”
“It slipped,” she said softly, trying to ignore the rampant beating on the wood door.
“You can slip and call me sweetheart whenever you want, Cactus,” he said tenderly, brushing a tear off her face. The beating on the door suddenly stopped, alarming them both as they looked at each other. “But I need you to do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Don’t shoot me, okay?” he said halfheartedly, pushing his large gun in her hand. “It’s loaded and I want you safe while I go beat the tar out of Joel. If he does something dirty and I go down, I don’t want you left without protection. I don’t know what is taking the cops so long – but I am going to stop that man before he runs.”
“Don’t go!” she whispered vehemently, grabbing his hand.
“Just make sure that the man entering the doorway next is Joel before you pull the trigger, okay? You don’t want to shoot anyone else. Do you understand me? Only fire if you are in danger, Sienna.”
“I understand but please don’t leave me,” she said desperately, feeling that overwhelming terror enter her body that Harper’s presence had dissipated over the last few weeks. If he left, she would be alone again to face her nightmarish past.
“I will never, ever leave you, Cactus. Now, lock the door behind me.”
13
Sienna watched the door close behind Harper as the house grew eerily silent. Trembling, she sat down on the far side of her bedroom in the darkness. She lay the gun he’d given her onto the wooden floor nearby within reach, crossing her arms over her legs in an effort to keep calm and still. She could hear footsteps softly moving in the house and wondered if it was Joel or Harper. There was glass on the floor of her bedroom not far from where she sat since that was where Joel had come in the house. The sound of the glass breaking had to have been what alerted Harper that something was wrong. She was so thankful that he’d heard it and moved so quickly or they could have been caught unawares.
“Siiiiennnnnaaaa,” she heard whispered outside of her bedroom window and knew that Joel was toying with her. “Are you still hiding in there?” Sienna heard Joel and knew he’d circled around the house intending to reach her once again. The man would never leave her alone.
Just as she was getting ready to crawl over her bed to unlock the door for Harper, she heard a loud “Oomph!” before hearing the slap of flesh hitting flesh repeatedly. She saw the reflection of blue lights against the wall and got to her feet, leaving the gun on the floor. Last thing she wanted was to be shot by accident. Looking out of the broken bedroom window, she saw Harper was sitting atop of Joel with his hands in the air, surrounded by police with guns drawn.
Joel was screaming obscenities about Sienna on the ground, calling her all sorts of names before accusing Harper of attacking him. Harper didn’t help the situation either; hearing Joel’s words only incensed the man as he dove at him again. Horrified, she saw Harper’s muscles flexing as he hit the man lying prone on the ground.
“You will never touch Sienna again, you hear me Monster?” Harper screamed, enraged. “You won’t touch her! You won’t talk to her or even gasp the same air that my beautiful girl breathes. Do you hear me?” Harper said senselessly and she knew Joel had found a way to get through Harper’s cool exterior. “You’ll never, ever, bother Sienna again!”
“Harper?” Sienna called out of the broken window, trying to get through to him.
“Cactus, wait inside while the police come keep you safe. Joel’s not going anywhere.”
“Sir, you are going to have to get off of the man and let us bring you both in.”
“Kaminsky, it’s me. You know I didn’t attack this guy,” Harper said forcefully, making Joel grin through his bloodied teeth.
“Yes, he did Kaminsky,” Joel said snidely. “It was unprovoked.”
“Unprovoked, my left foot!”
“Completely unprovoked,” Joel repeated and slid a look at Sienna staring at the scene unfolding in front of her. “Sienna likes it rough between us and she asked me to…” Harper let out an ungodly roar as he began pummeling Joel again.
“Harper! HARPER!” she screamed, terrified that the police would have to use brute force to get him to stop beating Joel. Whatever Joel had said to Harper had him completely senseless and no one was able to reach him. Sienna threw open the deadbolt on her bedroom door and shoved past several officers, finally running outside barefoot in the snow only dressed in her jeans and a T-shirt. She didn’t feel the cold or any fear, she only had to get to Harpe
r and stop him before he killed Joel.
“He’s not worth it!” Sienna screamed at Harper, seeing him draw back a fist to hit the bloodied man again. “Harper! Please, sweetheart,” she begged, dropping into the snow on her knees. “I need you.”
“Cactus, are you hurt?” Harper asked, swaying as he stood up and walked over to her. His chest was bare in the cold air from where he’d removed his shirt earlier to silence his gun if needed. An ambulance pulled into the yard nearby and in a daze, she watched as they began to move Joel into the cab for medical help and handcuffed Harper as he stepped towards her.
“Please officer,” Sienna begged, seeing the man who’d once given her Harper’s business card when she’d gone to the station before for help. She ran to him, desperate to intervene. “Please listen to me, do you remember me? I said that I was in trouble and you gave me Harper Etan’s business card? I see that you recognize me. Harper wasn’t the instigator tonight. Joel broke into my house, attacked Harper and then assaulted me.”
“I remember you and that is the guy?” he said pointing at Joel on the stretcher.
“Yes! Please, I’ll give a statement. Whatever you need, I will give it to you just…” Sienna broke down crying where she sat in the snow. Her legs were cramping fiercely and everything just felt so helpless, so wrong. Strong warm arms reached for her, lifting her off of the ground and she began to struggle blindly thinking it was the officer.
“Sweet Cactus, it’s me- relax,” Harper’s voice poured over her, washing away the despair and fright she felt.
“Harper! Oh, my goodness,” she gasped, throwing her arms around him and kissing him repeatedly, all over on his beloved face. “Oh, thank God you are alright. How is your head? Oh, and your hands? Let me get you an icepack for your knuckles,” she exclaimed, focusing on Harper’s bleeding fingers. “Officers, please come in and let me make some coffee for everyone,” she offered distractedly over her shoulder.
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