“I did,” he said, barely audible. “But not the way Charles wanted. He wanted to plant evidence. Fabricate witnesses. Accuse you of paying for information. I talked him down.”
Harper’s breath caught.
“I made your sources look shaky. Let a few doubts leak. Got your editor to think you were too close to it. I thought I was protecting you.”
“You were silencing me.”
“I was choosing the lesser evil.”
Her voice dropped. “That wasn’t your choice to make.”
“I know.”
Harper sat again, this time putting distance between them. Her hands were clenched.
“I hated you for what you did,” she said. “I thought you were Charles 2.0, a sociopath with a handsome face. But before you killed the story I also thought that you were smart, funny and maybe a better person than I had been led to believe.”
“I wasn’t,” he said.
“No. You weren’t.”
Silence stretched between them.
“But you might be now.”
Sebastian looked at her, not daring to speak.
“I’ve seen you fight for Alexander. I’ve seen you walk away from Charles when it cost you everything.” Her voice softened. “That’s not the same man who whispered rumors about Richard Markham.”
Relief flickered across his face. “So… you’re not walking away?”
“No.” She looked at him fully. “But you don’t get my trust for free.”
He nodded. “Fair.”
“I don’t want a perfect version of you, Sebastian. I want the real one. The one who knows what Charles is capable of. The one who chooses, every day, not to be that man anymore.”
“I’ll try.”
“Don’t try. Do it.” Her voice was quiet. “Because if you ever manipulate me again, I will burn everything down.”
He nodded again. “Understood.”
“And one more thing,” she added. “Next time you need to confess years of villainy, bring pastries.”
He laughed, too surprised not to.
“Sebastian?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for telling me. Even if it was hard.”
“Thanks for listening. Even when it hurt.”
She didn’t smile, but she reached for his hand and didn’t pull away.
In the quiet shade of the trees, with the air humming between them, something shifted. Not forgiveness. Not yet. But maybe the start of something else. Hope.