Twelve months with him

Chapter 7

The charity gala was exactly the kind of event Harper had spent her entire life avoiding. Crystal chandeliers, champagne towers, and people wearing jewelry worth more than most cars. She stood next to Sebastian in a borrowed dress Amanda had insisted on sending over three options and tried to look like she belonged.

"You're doing fine," Sebastian murmured, his hand resting lightly on the small of her back. To anyone watching, it looked natural, comfortable. Harper knew it was performance.

"I feel like everyone is staring."

"They are. We're the new scandal. Mysterious marriage, whirlwind romance, all that." His mouth curved into something that might have been a smile if it reached his eyes. "Just stay close and follow my lead."

Harper had been following his lead all evening. Smiling when he smiled, laughing at his jokes, playing the role of blissfully happy newlywed. It was exhausting. Her face hurt from holding the same pleasant expression for two hours.

They were making their way toward the bar when Sebastian went rigid beside her. His hand pressed harder against her back, and Harper felt tension radiate through his entire body.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing. Just…" He stopped mid-sentence.

A woman was approaching them. Tall, blonde, devastating in a red dress that probably cost more than Harper's entire wardrobe. She moved with the kind of confidence that came from knowing every eye in the room was on her, and she smiled like a shark circling prey.

"Sebastian," the woman said, her voice warm and familiar. "I heard you'd be here. I was hoping we'd run into each other."

Sebastian's expression went carefully blank. "Vanessa."

Vanessa. The name hit Harper like cold water. She knew that name. Claire had mentioned it once, carefully, when discussing Sebastian's past. Vanessa Hartley. The ex-fiancée.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Vanessa's eyes slid to Harper, assessing and dismissive in the same glance.

"Harper, this is Vanessa Hartley. Vanessa, my wife, Harper Cotton." The way Sebastian said "wife" was pointed, deliberate.

"Wife." Vanessa's smile widened, showing too many teeth. "Yes, I heard about that. Quite the surprise for everyone who knows Sebastian. Especially given how quickly it all happened." She took a sip of her champagne, her gaze never leaving Harper's face. "You must be very special to have accomplished what no one else could."

"I don't know about special," Harper said carefully. "Just lucky, I guess."

"Lucky." Vanessa laughed, the sound sharp and brittle. "That's one word for it."

Sebastian's hand was now gripping Harper's waist hard enough that she'd probably have bruises tomorrow. "It was good seeing you, Vanessa, but we should…"

"Oh, don't run off so quickly. I've been dying to meet the woman who finally got Sebastian Colton to commit." Vanessa tilted her head, studying Harper like she was a particularly interesting specimen. "Tell me, how did you manage it? What's your secret?"

"There's no secret," Harper said. She could feel eyes on them now. Other guests noticing the confrontation, phones probably already out and recording.

"No?" Vanessa's expression was all false innocence. "Because Sebastian and I were together for three years, and he could never quite bring himself to actually go through with marriage. Always had some excuse. Work was too busy. The timing wasn't right. He needed to focus on the company." She looked at Sebastian, her smile turning sharp. "But apparently, the timing was perfect for you, wasn't it, darling? What was it, three weeks from meeting to marriage?"

"Two weeks," Sebastian said flatly. "And our relationship is none of your business."

"Two weeks." Vanessa shook her head in mock amazement. "That's even more impressive. You must have really swept him off his feet, Harper. What was it that changed his mind? What did you have that I don't?"

Harper felt heat crawl up her neck. She wasn't stupid. She could read between every line Vanessa was drawing. The implication was clear: there was something transactional about this marriage, something that made Sebastian finally commit after refusing for years.

The worst part was that Vanessa was right.

"What we have is real," Harper heard herself say, the lie coming easier than it should. "And it's private."

"Private." Vanessa's laugh was hollow. "Sebastian Colton doesn't do private. He does calculated. He does strategic." She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a confidential whisper that somehow carried perfectly. "Word of advice, Harper? Watch your back. Sebastian is brilliant at making you feel like you're the center of his world right up until you're not useful anymore. Then you'll discover just how quickly you can be replaced."

"That's enough." Sebastian's voice was ice. "This conversation is over."

"Is it?" Vanessa straightened, her smile returning. "Well, congratulations on your marriage. I'm sure it'll be absolutely magical for however long it lasts." She raised her champagne glass in a mocking toast. "To love and commitment. May you have better luck with both than I did."

She walked away, leaving a wake of whispers and stares behind her.

Harper stood frozen, Sebastian's hand still gripping her waist. She could feel him breathing carefully, deliberately, like he was counting to keep from exploding.

"We should leave," he said quietly.

"Sebastian…"

"Not here." His jaw was tight enough that Harper could see the muscle jumping. "We'll talk in the car."

They made their exit as gracefully as possible, which wasn't very graceful at all. Harper was aware of every pair of eyes tracking them, every whispered conversation starting the moment they passed. By tomorrow morning, the encounter with Vanessa would be all over social media.

The car ride back to the penthouse was silent. Sebastian stared out the window, his expression unreadable. Harper wanted to ask what Vanessa had meant, wanted to know if there was truth buried in all that venom, but the words stuck in her throat.

When they finally got home, Sebastian went straight to the bar and poured himself two fingers of scotch. He downed half of it in one swallow.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that," he said without turning around.

"Is it true?" Harper asked. "Were you engaged to her?"

"For about six months. Three years ago."

"What happened?"

Sebastian finally turned to face her. He looked tired, older somehow than he had that morning. "I broke it off. Vanessa wanted things I couldn't give her."

"Like marriage?"

"Like marriage that actually meant something." He took another drink. "She wanted the wedding, the status, the story. She didn't actually want me."

"That's what she said about you," Harper pointed out quietly.

Something flickered across Sebastian's face. Pain, maybe, or anger. "Yeah. I guess she did."

"So which one of you is telling the truth?"

Sebastian was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was careful, measured. "Vanessa isn't wrong that I'm calculated. I am. I think ten steps ahead, I plan for contingencies, I don't do anything without understanding the consequences." He met Harper's eyes. "But she's wrong about you."

"How so?"

"You're not part of some strategy. You're not a piece on a board." He set down his glass. "This arrangement we have, it's business. But that doesn't mean I'm going to treat you the way Vanessa is implying."

Harper wanted to believe him. Standing there in his expensive penthouse, watching him struggle with words that didn't come naturally, she wanted very badly to believe that Sebastian Colton had some line he wouldn't cross.

But Vanessa's words kept echoing in her head: "Watch your back. Sebastian is brilliant at making you feel like you're the center of his world right up until you're not useful anymore."

"I'm going to bed," Harper said finally. "It's been a long night."

"Harper…"

"Goodnight, Sebastian."

She walked down the hall to her room, closed the door, and leaned against it. Her hands were shaking. She wasn't sure if it was anger or fear or just exhaustion from maintaining a performance for hours.

Her phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: "You looked uncomfortable tonight. Trouble in paradise already? VH"

Harper stared at the message, her stomach dropping. Vanessa had her number. Vanessa was watching. And from the tone of that text, Vanessa wasn't done making trouble.

Harper deleted the message, turned off her phone, and tried very hard not to think about what she'd gotten herself into.

In the living room, she could hear Sebastian pouring another drink. The sound of glass on glass was sharp in the quiet, a reminder that she wasn't the only one rattled by tonight.

They were one week into this arrangement, and already the cracks were showing.

Harper closed her eyes and wondered how they were possibly going to survive eleven more months.