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Garrett
It was out for all to see, and he was already tracking the trends of it. Damien was taking a hell of a hit to his reputation. That made Garrett happy, there was plenty of bad–mouthing going on about the man cheating on his long–time girlfriend. People were commenting on how callous he was to cheat on her, while she was right there in the club.
There were even a few comments that stated they’d been there that night; it was Damien’s birthday along with a work Christmas party. Other comments were that Damien and that girl, Chloe, had been seen to be removed from the club by two of Garrett Owens‘ own men, Ryan Mills and Dallas Delaney, CEOs of Owens Construction. That Damien had been manhandled
out of the club and tossed out on the street.
There was a bit of backlash aimed at Harmony for being drunk and not knowing what her boyfriend was up to, but others commented that it wasn’t her fault, that her boyfriend was a
cheating pig of a man.
It was going viral out there and the local netziens, lurkers and posters were all having there say about what they saw and were reading. Some neutral, some not. There were some bad and some real ugly things being published about that boy.
He’d expected all of this, had weighed up the pros and cons of what was going to happen, and he’d taken Rachael’s own opinion of it into account, how she thought things were going to fall. He’d listened to her, and she’d told him Harmony would get a bit of backlash, but mostly to do with her being not a socialite and, therefore, how could she hang onto a man like Damien, when Chloe had grown up with him and was more suited to him status wise.
That it would be those from Damien’s own world that would likely start those threads to be commented on. It was to be expected, and it would blow over in time. As long as Harmony could tough it out, she’d be just fine because, in the end, she’d done nothing wrong.
Now here it was, out for them all to see how deceitful a man Damien Blackwell was, how he’d been caught and publicly so, risked his own reputation and for what? s*x in a nightclub. Gregory Blackwell was likely blowing a gasket in that home of his, and hauling his son in to
have serious words with him.
Garrett and his unit were headed for the office all walking together when he heard it, his hearing picking up dozens of questions all being fired off at once, and he realised the press were here, and had likely cornered Harmony on her way to the office this morning. He’d
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thought they would all head for the Blackwell Estate or head office to try and get Damien’s
comments on the matter.
There were only half a dozen of them here, he realised, as he rounded the corner to see them all surrounding her. He and his unit made their way through the crowd and blocked her from view, though he was unhappy about seeing her, she was dressed differently today.
Not in a suit like she would normally wear and no big winter jacket, and she needed that. It was freezing cold, though it was the suitcase she was carrying that bothered him greatly. Had she decided to run away? Was she dressed down like this so as not to be recognised and was
the suitcase filled with clothes for her to leave after telling him she was quitting?
He was a little disappointed in her to think she might be running away, when he was just trying to clear her name. He’d not thought she was the type to run away and hide. Hadn’t left the city after breaking up with Damien, so why now?
Then, to hear her tell him she wasn’t going anywhere, that saw relief flood through him, and he relaxed a little. Her winter jacket, she was giving it back. That suitcase was filled with Damien Blackwell’s gifts for her, he realised, and she was ridding herself of all of them right down to
the winter jacket she owned.
He could deal with that. He made sure that none of the press would be getting inside this building, had his warriors stand by the entrance, and though they looked like security guards to the outside world, and some reporters would think they could brush passed them, it
wouldn’t happen.
A slight roll of his warriors auras in those reporters‘ directions would see them all back off and out of the building, and they were allowed to do that. To protect those within this building. Humans and wolfen alike. He gave the order for them to use it if necessary via a mind–link to
them all.
He needed to get her into his office and discuss this with her. He watched as Wyatt asked for her suitcase, stated he’d deal with it and Harmony shake her head. “I’ll sort it out myself. I’m just going to have it all sent over to him.”
“I’ll do that for you,” Wyatt commented and held his hand out to her.
“I’m capable of returning his things to him.” Harmony looked at Wyatt, and he could hear the annoyance in her voice at being told to hand it over. Was likely very used to doing things
herself.
“I’m sure you are Harmony. But here at Owens Construction we work as a team. I’ll return those and make sure he or his family gets them personally, so he can’t say he never did.”
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“There is no need for that, I’m just going to courier them to him, once I get a box from storage.”
“I can do all that.” Wyatt stated, “Please allow me to deal with him.” And he reached out to take that suitcase from her. “I don’t much like the boy, it would give me great pleasure to
return these to him.”
He watched Harmony huff a little, after her and Wyatt stared each other down for a full minute in complete silence. He nearly laughed, she had no idea who she was challenging. Luckily for her, Wyatt liked the girl, and he wasn’t at all offended by her staring him down. Probably thought it was amusing deep down inside.
“Fine, get it signed by him or one of his actual family members, there’s a Blackwell family heirloom in there.” Harmony finally backed down first, and he saw Wyatt smile, liked that he’d
won their battle of wills.
“I know how to get proof of receipt.” Wyatt nodded and walked off taking the suitcase with
him.
He watched Harmony stare after the man and then sigh and mutter, “I could have done it
myself.”
“Come into my office, Harmony,” Garrett asked as she headed for her desk.
She looked at him herself, didn’t look to be too happy about it, but he needed her to know what was going on out there, he doubted those reporters were going to just go away. She nodded, and he watched her take off that sweater and there under it was her suit.
He smiled a little, light blue today, and he noted she was still wearing that snowflake pendant
he’d bought her.
It matched the outfit even, he liked that she still wore it. He waited and waved her to his sitting area, a three–seater leather couch and two matching single chairs with a rosewood coffee
table between them on a nice soft cream coloured rug.
She sat down, and he walked over and collected his laptop from his desk. He’d been reading everything on a hand–held tablet in the car, but better for her to see it in large print. He sat right next to her and smiled. She smelled lovely today, sweet like cinnamon sugar, made him want to go and eat a donut. She was making him hungry, he realised, and he’d had breakfast already; that was odd.
Garrett shook it off and focused on the here and now, logged into the newspaper and the society pages so she could see what had been reported this morning when the online version of the newspaper had been released. It was delivered to the newsstands at 5am, ready to be
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sold to commuters by 6am. But the online version around here went up at 4am, so by the time
she woke up this morning it was already there for everyone to read.
He turned it to face her and sat and watched her just look at what was there. She didn’t look
that happy to him and she kind of went pale right before his very eyes. He had to remind
himself as he watched her posture sink a little, as her hand touched the screen to scroll down
the pages and read what was written there; remember that he was doing this for her benefit in
the long run.
To get her out from under Damien Blackwell’s mean vindictive ways of trying to ruin her good
name and possible have her go crawling back to him when she was about to become
homeless. She was a good person, and he knew it, could see it. She’d done nothing to warrant
that man’s wrath at all.
Damien had started the ruination of their relationship and hurt Harmony. She didn’t even
remember being with Garrett, that she’d fallen into his lap and told him she wanted to hurt him
back; had cried all over him and made him feel for her.
So much so that he had wanted to help her get revenge, still wanted to help her right this
minute and that was what was driving him, even now, her seeing all of this, absorbing the new
information about her cheating boyfriend. Stuff she didn’t know, that had happened that very
night, which led to her seeing him with Chloe and ending up in Garrett’s lap.
He wanted to, he realised, reach out and touch her right this very minute, as he watched her take in the true deception of her supposed loving boyfriend, of three years. If his unit weren’t sitting right there, he supposed he might have just pulled her right into his lap and hugged her,
told her it would all be okay because he would make it so.
But they would stare at him and read more into it, and he knew it. Wyatt was already of the opinion he liked Harmony more than just as his human secretary. Was of the opinion there was something more there. But there wasn’t. He’d not scented the girl out, admittedly, if he did. He wouldn’t have an issue with it at all, she was lovely to look at, and she had a cheeky personality in there hidden away, he thought, but had seen touches of it on Friday, and had liked her cheeky side. She just needed to be more comfortable around him, to let her real
personality out.
Or, perhaps he just needed to get her away from the office for a few hours, to see what she was truly like, not the work persona but the real Harmony. He was betting she was exactly like what he’d seen on Friday. He had to refrain himself from brushing her hair back from her face,
and tucking it back behind her ear, trying to comfort her.
