HARPER.
"Hold on"
I sat frozen on the edge of the sagging couch, the USB drive clutched in my fist like a lifeline, because it actually was. The cold plastic in my palm was a contrast to the burning weight of what Noah had just unloaded. His confession played out on my laptop as he laid it all out. I had known pieces of their atrocities, but hearing it from him, being an accomplice, slapped harder.
The air in the room felt thicker, laden with the scent of his rain-soaked clothes. My heart pounded erratically, each beat a reminder of the chaos he had just invited into my life.
Shock had rooted me to the spot as he spoke. I had dug into Atlas myself, but that confessional would shake the tech world. Noah Bennett had turned on his brothers for... me? It was too good to be true, and it left me at a loss for breath.
By the time he hit stop on the recording, leaning back with a sigh that ruffled his damp hair, I was torn in ways I hadn't anticipated. Admiration for him swelled within me. He had chosen to speak up by handing me the weapon to resurrect my career from the ruins he had helped create.
I wasn't supposed to admire what he had done, knowing he had been the one to hack my files, twist my evidence into lies and stand by as Audrey spun the press narrative that painted me as unreliable. I was supposed to despise him as the enemy who had stolen my life's work. Yet, each second in his presence made my heart skip, a treacherous flutter that betrayed me especially seeing the way his wet shirt clung to his broad chest. I found myself following the rain lines on him with my eyes, remembering how those same lines had softened under my touch in quieter moments.
What was I to do with him?
The drive sat heavy in my hand, holding the power to ruin Atlas and everyone tied to it, including Noah. If I streamed it, his disloyalty would get him killed. I had written enough about cartels' modes of operations to know that men like Zane and the brothers would never forgive a betrayal like that. They would hunt him with the same cold efficiency they'd used on rivals.
And when the news hit the world? They would crucify him for his crimes, complicity in murders, too. There was no way out for Noah.
I held the cards to call the shots, but for the first time in my life, indecision paralyzed me. My fingers itched to plug in the USB drive and hit broadcast and watch my career phoenix from the ashes, yet my heart rebelled against me.
Noah watched me from across the couch, his dark eyes searching mine. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, "Harper? You've been quiet. I know it's overwhelming, but this... this is your way back. Stream it. Let the world see the truth."
I swallowed hard, as I tried to talk. My voice came out quieter than the rain pattering against the window. "Overwhelming? Noah, you just dumped the underbelly of a cartel empire in my lap. I knew bits but hearing it from you... It's like staring into the abyss." I trailed off, shock still coursed through me, leaving my limbs shallow.
He nodded, "I know. I was part of it. Built the firewalls, erased the trails. But I'm done hiding. For you."
Again, admiration flickered in my gut. He had turned on his family and life, for me. My heart skipped a traitorous beat, as I met his gaze. "That's the problem. You're giving me this to salvage my career. It is admirable, really and brave. But I should hate you. You ruined me. Debunked everything I worked for. Yet..." I paused.
"Yet what?" He shifted closer, his thigh brushing mine, heat seeping through the thin fabric of my sweats. His woody cologne filled the space between us, making my pulse stutter.
I looked away, staring at the drive in my hand, turning it over as if it held answers. "Yet each second with you makes my heart race. I fell for you, Noah, even when I knew better. Now it too late to back off now. But using this drive means destroying you too. This will get you killed and the world will hang you for the crimes."
He exhaled slowly, his breath warm on my cheek as he took my hand, letting his fingers interlace with mine. "Then let them. I've lived in that world too long. ]I choose you, Harper. Let it ruin."
The words made my heart skipped again, pulling me under. What was I to do? Stream it and watch him face the consequences? Should I trade his life for my career? Justice demanded it for the crimes he had confessed were monstrous, lives lost in the shadows of Atlas's wake. For the first time in my life, each choice open to me would end up as a loss.
"Noah," I whispered, pulling my hand free to stand, the blanket pooling at my feet. The floor creaked under my socks as I paced to the window. "If I use this, you're done. Hearing what you say now, how can I let that happen?"
He rose, and approached me, his boots leaving faint wet prints. He stopped behind me, his hands resting lightly on my shoulders, "You can because it's right. I am owning up to my crimes, use it to salvage what I took from you."
I turned, facing him, our bodies close in the narrow space, I held my breath as I searched his eyes and saw it held no regret. "That's what confuses me. I admire you for speaking up and turning on them. It's... heroic, in a twisted way. But I can't. Not when being near you feels like this."
"Like what?" He cupped my face, his thumb brushing my lower lip, sending sparks down my spine. The touch was gentle, but it ignited something deep, my pulse quickening in readiness for more.
"Like my heart's betraying me," I admitted. "I fell for you, Noah Bennett. Too late to deny it. If I play the cards I am dealt, you die. If I don't, my career stays dead. Justice or mercy? For the first time in my life, I don't know to do."
He pulled me closer, his forehead resting against mine, his breath fanning my face. "Then don't decide alone."
My stomach twisted as I pulled back slightly, his hands dropping to my arms. "Noah, how can I not hate that part of you?"
"You can hate it," he said, "Hate the man I was. But see the one I'm becoming. For you."
I sighed, realizing the conversation did nothing but stretch my confusion more.
I moved to the kitchenette, as I poured water with shaking hands, the glass clinking against the faucet. "Tell me," I said, sliding him a glass, "Would you mind dying?."
He sipped, his throat bobbing with each swallow, but his eyes never left mine. "No. I would die knowing I chose right."
"But Atlas crashing would crash the stock market. Thousands and Millions would lose their jobs. And you... I can't let that happen. I hold the shots, but firing them feels like suicide."
He set the glass down, pulling me into his arms, "Then don't fire yet. Sleep on it. But Harper, whatever you decide, I'm here."
The embrace was a haven in the turmoil; his love had blurred the lines of justice, leaving me lost in the gray. A reminder that love had complicated everything.
