Chapter 17

He chuckled quietly, but didn't object. Instead, he gave a nod to confirm he was on for the deal.

"Very well."

"Good," I said, finally taking a step back and turning towards my bags.

Now I needed to unpack all of this shit again. Man, if I ever saw Richard goddamn Devon again, I was going to thrust my foot up his ass. But something told me he just might like that.

And that's when I remembered a piece of their conversation down in Harry's study. In the haste to get out of here, I had almost forgotten about it, but now it bloomed larger in my head than ever.

"The woman you were talking about earlier.." I slowly started, turning around to see Harry watching me.

A muscle in his jaw twitched.

"You said something about all of this not being about her.. who is her?"

I watched Harry for a long moment, seeing him slowly stand up and stuff his hands into his pockets. Then, pursing his lips, he met my gaze.

"Richard's wife."

Wife. I think I had read somewhere that he was married, but I hadn't put more thought into it.

Now, though...

"How does she fit into all of this?"

Harry continued to look at me, before averting his gaze to the floor.

"Richard claims his desperate motive stemmed from the fact that he wanted to give her a child, but we both know it was never truly for her. He merely wanted an heir for his business."

Right... that was the truth, wasn't it. Then how come it felt like something was still missing?

"There's something you're still not telling me," I said, watching his jaw work.

There was definitely something more.

"Catarina and I used to date." He then stated.

And that's how the penny dropped. I didn't even need the rest of the story. Harry had the look in his eyes that explained the all too classical tale.

They had been a couple.

She had met his brother. Richard won her over in the end with his smooth tongue. He took probably the most important person in Harry's life and married her right in front of him.

Oh, that was another kind of cruel.

"I'm so sorry," I said, lowering my eyes to the floor.

It all just became so clear now.

Why Harry despised his brother so much.

"Why?" He asked.

I looked up to see him lifting a brow, as if the reason why wasn't obvious.

"I bet that broke your heart?" I said, watching him slowly come closer.

"No," He replied, "On the contrary. It made me realize that the heart should never act on behalf of your emotions. Catarina wasn't looking for love, she was looking for money. When she learned I didn't want it, she surprisingly didn't want me either. My brother had loads to spare and a grudge to nurture towards me. In his mind, he thought he finally won over me, when in truth, I let him take her from me."

"You let him?"

Okay, so maybe I was going to need the whole story to understand this anyway. This was going to be interesting, and not in the way I wanted it to be. Harry smiled calmly and turned towards the window.

Looking out at it with a faraway gaze, he then begun; "Me and Catarina met through work. I was working at a problem at the time that required a physicist's opinion, and Catarina was and still is to this date a brilliant physicist. She assisted me in my calculations for weeks, and we eventually became... close. She was a fascinating woman, very driven. Not unlike yourself," He noted.

I bit the inside of my cheek.

I didn't like that he was comparing me to a money-grabbing bitch, but then I remembered I did come here for money as well. Touché, then.

"So what happened?"

"We eventually got very close," He stated.

"She was a passionate woman. She challenged me in ways I've never been challenged before, and that was the only reason I kept her around for as long as I did. Her personality shone through the moment she asked me to publicly accept my first millennium award. Her drive was what help me eventually win it."

"She helped you win your first millennium prize?" I asked, hoping I didn't gape as noticeably as I did in my head.

She really had to have been a smart bitch, then. But a bitch nonetheless.

"And you actually let her convince you to go?"

"Let is the operative word," Harry chuckled.

"I knew the prize called for an after party, so I agreed to attend the event with the one condition that our relationship was to remain out of the public eye. We arrived separately and pretended to be old colleagues running into each other at the after party. She congratulated me on my prize, and I played along. She was a very good actress."

"But you double-played her, didn't you?" I asked, smiling silently when he nodded slowly.

If he had let her convince him to go... he had to have had something else up in his sleeve.

"I knew our time together was coming to an end," Harry said, pressing his lips together.

"And although for all that she was, she was still a brilliant woman. She deserved to have what she wanted. When I chose to accept the prize publicly... I knew my brother would be at the after party."

Oh.

He really had thought it all the way through, hadn't he. He hadn't even needed to set anything up. The circumstances handled all of that for him. His brother, who had been jumping at the bait to be the man to sell his own brother's tricks to the public, right there at the party... and a woman who wanted money more than she wanted to be with a man who probably could've helped her make her own money... it was easy in the end, wasn't it.

All Harry had to do was watch.

"You introduced them to each other," I said.

I wasn't questioning it, it was a solid fact. Harry smiled tightly and nodded in confirmation, before turning towards me.

"It took them less than a month to announce their relationship to the public, and even less for Catarina to confess her love for him to me. I let her go without the fight my brother wanted. He believes I held a stoic mask not to lose face, when the truth is...”

"You sent her right into his arms," I said, cupping my mouth.

God, the irony.

His brother who had spent his whole life trying to control Harry's life... and he had no idea Harry was actually controlling his.

He had orchestrated the whole thing.

"You... are really one of a kind," I stated, shaking my head in disbelief.

Harry chuckled quietly from the corner and I couldn't help but laugh silent as well. I was going to keep saying this, because it was the truth, but... these brothers were sincerely fucked up.

"My brother did me the favor of removing a smart woman from my grasp, and he thought he did it on his own merits."

"Sure fucking did," I snorted-half-laughed.

I should've been used to his different look on things by now, but he still took me by surprise every time. He always had a completely different take on things.

"I won't let him do it twice, though."

I stopped laughing the second the words left his mouth. Looking up, I saw Harry looking at me firmly. I suddenly couldn't remember how to swallow and had to clear my throat.

What... did he just say?

"I... what?"

"You're smart, Cassandra," He stated.

He slowly took a step towards me, and then another.

"Don't let my brother's words hit you anywhere. He's stupid enough to think he can fool me, but he can't. You're too smart to fall for his tricks, too."

I let out a little laugh.

Hadn't I, though?

I had believed his words now. I had let him convince me to go and get pregnant by his brother. Something I would never normally do, but he had known my fucking price tag and-oh.

My eyes met Harry's, and suddenly I couldn't breathe at all. It all just became clear right then. He hadn't blamed me. Harry hadn't blamed me. Back then... back when. he said he wanted me to forgive myself for the choice I had made... the choice... his brother... his clever, fucking cunning brother had set up in front of an innocent girl.

Harry never blamed me, because I never stood a chance against his brother.

"Shit," I whispered and felt a goddamn tear press in the corner of my eye.

I quickly turned around and tried to fucking bitch talk myself into not crying right now. We do not cry like this, girl. Pull it the fuck together.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, I almost jumped when I hadn't sensed Harry move until I felt his hand on my shoulder. I turned my head and saw him looking down at me, deeply.

His eyes were understanding.

He knew. Of course he always knew.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, licking my lips when a stupid fucking tear made its way down to them.

"Don't apologize," He replied and brushed the tear track away with his thumb.

My skin suddenly felt hot and my heart felt.. God, that thing needed to leave me alone. But it wouldn't. Harry had saved me from a fucking trap, even despite the fact that the trap had been set on him. Here I was, calling him arrogant and egotistical, when he had done the most selfless thing I could think of. Instead of letting me get snared by his brother's trap, he proved to me and to him that I was better than that.

I was smarter, I could be taught, and I would go to college on my own merits without his brother needing to pave the way there for me; He gave me back my pride.

And it made me feel all kinds of shitty right now for not realizing all of this sooner.

I kept staring into Harry's eyes, but after a moment he pulled away. I realized I wasn't breathing and quickly sucked in a breath of air before averting my eyes as well. I cleared my throat and quickly tried to think of something to say.

Like thank you.

"We'll talk more tomorrow," Harry then disrupted the silence and spoke up.

"Unless of course... you still plan to leave."

I straightened my back a bit, but then smiled faintly.

"No. I think I'll stay for now."

At that, Harry slowly smiled back. Then, lowering his gaze again, he gave a nod before straightening out as well.

"I'll see you in the morning, then."

In the morning.

I wanted him to spend the night in my room, but a part of me knew that it was best for the both of us if we both took some time to ourselves after today. There had been a lot to process, especially for me, but I finally felt like... everything was as it should be.

All the cards were on the table, and maybe now.. maybe now we could finally turn a new leaf.

"Sleep tight," I therefore replied and watched as he went for the door, opening it silently.

He lingered for a moment, then smiled and walked out.

A new leaf.