Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,323

speculation on her own shoulders when it became too obvious to hide, but it would be her choice to withhold any and all information about Ethan.

She would never give the tabloids fodder against Ethan or their child.

With renewed determination, Harper stood and made her way along the sidewalk toward home. Her confidence had been scarce but now it was there, bigger than ever. Until she turned the final corner to her apartment and saw the group of people, cameras and cell phones at the ready.

Her steps faltered as she stopped and backed up, hiding behind brick building with her heart in her throat. Shit. How the hell did they find out where she lived? She’d rented the apartment under her mother’s maiden name to avoid exactly this situation.

She’d made it through months of allegations and pretrial bullshit and no one had found her. Link her name to Ethan’s and suddenly she was findable? Even though it was almost sunset, Harper dug her sunglasses out of her purse and then pulled the tie from her hair, letting it fall around her face like a shield.

Just because they were there didn’t mean she had to talk to them.

With a deep breath she took the first few steps. Her heart thundered against her ribs as she got closer.

All she had to do was walk to her door, put the key in and duck inside.

The group was watching the street so Harper kept close to the brick building across from her apartment as she moved down the sidewalk. With her head low and her hair covering her face, she made it to the spot just opposite her door.

She was halfway across the street when they noticed her.

“Ms. Matheson.” Voices cried out and they moved as one to intercept her, cell phones raised. Harper ran the last few steps to her door and shoved the key into the lock.

“Is your relationship with Ethan Wentworth part of your father’s plan?”

“Are you using Ethan to try and get his father to drop his charges?”

Heat climbed up her neck and she twisted the doorknob. A thin young man with beady eyes and red hair slid in between her and her door. He thrust his phone into her face.

“Ms. Matheson, isn’t it bad enough that your father stole millions of dollars from unsuspecting people? Do you really have to finish destroying the Wentworth family by pretending you care about Ethan?”

The man sneered as he asked the question and it was all she could do not to reach out and knock the phone from his hands. Then step on it once it fell.

She wanted to whirl around and scream at all of them that she walked away from the man she was very close to falling in love with because she didn’t want to hurt him. The last thing she wanted was for his family to suffer any more than they had. She had to protect them all since her father was trying to destroy them.

That was why the pain that felt as if it were ripping her chest open was worth it.

So she ignored the questions and pushed inside her apartment, then slammed the door shut. The air left her lungs in a long exhale. How long would they stay outside her place?

How long until they gave up and left her alone?

She had to go to the clinic in the morning and there was no way in hell she wanted any of them following, speculating. If she had to, she could sneak out from the door in her kitchen that led to a very small patio that she never used.

At ease now with a backup plan, she flicked the light over her door off and made her way into the bedroom where her feet froze to the rug. The bed was still unmade from when Ethan had spent the night. A dull ache filled her chest. How many times had he said that she was his? Made her tell him the words over and over again as he played her body better than anyone else ever had?

She couldn’t even take a shower without remembering what they’d done in there. Her apartment was filled with memories of him and he’d spent all of a day and night there. Why should it be any different that her heart though? Truth be told, she hadn’t really spent that much time with Ethan, yet the space he took up inside her chest made his absence feel like a gaping void.

Get ahold of yourself.

This