Beneath the Billionaire’s Skyline

CHAPTER FIVE

Harper had been staring at the same half-written sentence for twenty minutes. The words refused to come because her mind was somewhere else entirely.

She thought about the press conference. Had she pushed so hard? What if this came back to bite her in the face? She mused. She lay on her couch and stared at the fan. Her eyes followed the blades as they turned. Ethan had hurt her but was it really worth destroying him for? These thoughts lingered on in her mind. She stood up and shook them off. She had worked so hard to get where she was, she wouldn’t ruin that now.

She typed Ethan’s name into another search bar, hoping to find something useful.

Most of the results were scrubbed clean — carefully curated philanthropy pieces, business features, magazine profiles. But on page seventeen of the search results, she found something.

It was a man whose face she couldn’t quite figure out in a black sports car with a lady. Who are these people? Harper wondered.

The post was pulled down a week after it went up, but the cached version still lived. There was a comment that seemed to catch Harper’s attention, it read:

“Everyone knows he was wasted that night, but money makes the law disappear.”

It didn’t mention Ethan directly. But the timeline matched a gap in his public appearances — three months where he’d seemingly vanished from the media.

Her apartment suddenly went quiet. Harper realized that she’d been working for hours and it was already morning. She needed to clear her head. It’s been months since she went on a run. Busy work life was beginning to steal the joys of her personal life.

Lacing up her sneakers, she hit the riverside trail just as the sun began to rise. The cool air slapped against her skin as she ran through cafe shops and restaurants. Her favorite workout song was playing in her ears. She was so far in thought that she didn’t realize someone was running beside her.

She looked up and saw him. Ethan Blackwell.

Sweat dampened the edges of his T-shirt. He slowed down his pace and their eyes met. Harper shifted her gaze back to the road and picked up her pace. So did Ethan.

They met in the middle of the trail, keeping enough distance between them to avoid a collision.

“You stalking me now, Quinn?” he said, mockingly. She pulled her earbud out. “You wish. This is my route.”

“Interesting,” he said, falling into stride beside her without an invitation. “Your route just happens to be across town from where you live.”

She shot him a look. “Showing up to my house that one time doesn’t mean you know me, Mr. Blackwell”

“I know more than you think, Quinn. Background checks go both ways, you know.”

The way he said it casually made her uneasy. “Wow. You really can’t help yourself, can you?”

“Just making sure you’re not a threat.”

“Trust me,” she said, looking ahead, “if I wanted to be a threat, you’d already know.”

For a moment, the only sound between them was the rhythm of their shoes against the pavement.

“Rough night?” he asked finally.

“Rough morning,” she corrected. “I like to start my day without unsolicited company.”

“And yet,” he said, smirking, “you’re still running with me.”

She glanced at him, trying so hard to hide the flush rising in her cheeks with a frown. “I’m just enduring you. There’s a difference.”

“Enduring me,” he repeated, amused. “That’s new.”

They ran in silence for another half-mile, the tension between them was so intense, even a passerby could feel it. Finally, she slowed down. “This is where I turn.”

“Pity,” he said. “I was starting to enjoy our little chat.”

“Chat?” She gave him a look. “Pretty sure you did most of the talking.”

“You listened,” he said, grinning “That’s rare for you.”

Her stomach twisted. She hated the effect he had on her. Those words and the way he said them, always had her thinking for days.

She pretended not to pay attention to his little tease, shoved her earbud back in, and took the path toward the parking lot.

Ethan’s POV

“I shouldn’t have stopped. The second I saw her on the trail, I should have taken another route. I should have avoided her,” Ethan muttered.

But the nightmare from last night was still on his mind— glass shattering everywhere, piercing screams — and Harper Quinn, with her sharp tongue and daring eyes, was a distraction he needed.

At least, that’s what he told himself.

It had been years since the tragedy. Years since his parents made it all disappear. But sometimes, like this morning, it was as if it had happened yesterday.

He picked up his pace, putting enough distance between them. He told himself it was better this way.

He wasn’t going to get attached to her, he didn’t need a repeat of the past.

Harper’s POV

By the time she reached the parking lot, her head felt clearer.

She slowed to a walk, catching her breath, and spotted her car — and the envelope tucked under the windshield wiper.

She frowned, glancing around. No one was around.

She picked it up and noticed there wasn’t a name or an address attached. Inside was a single photograph.

A much younger Ethan, probably in his early twenties. His arm is around a girl in a red dress. And in the background, a black sports car can be seen. She gasped. Ethan was the man in the photo she had seen online earlier that day.

Her fingers tightened on the photo. There was no note and no explanation as to what the photo was about. But the look on his face in the picture…

It wasn’t the polished, guarded mask he wore now. It was laid-back and much freer. She had never seen him look that happy.

She slid the photo back into the envelope and started her car.

If someone was slipping her this kind of thing, it meant two things— either they wanted her to expose him, or they wanted to warn her.

Either way, she wasn’t stopping now.