The Invisible Girl's Revenge (Harper) novel Chapter 190

hapter 190

Harper

Maddox and I were still holding hands as we walked down the hallway, but it didn’t feel romantic. It was urgent.

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My heels clicked loudly against the floor as I moved faster, my heart racing as I anticipated to hear what he had to say.

“Hey,” he said behind me, tightening his grip on my hand.” Slow down. We’re not in a hurry.”

I stopped abruptly and turned to face him. “I thought you wanted to talk.”

‘I do, but there’s no need for you to act so impatient.”

Impatient?” I repeated. My voice wasn’t too loud, but it was still sharp. “How can I not be impatient after everything that happened tonight?”

‘Take it easy,” he said. “You’re letting your emotions run ahead of you.”

As soon as he said that, I pulled my hand away from his.

‘Don’t,” I said when he tried to reach for it again. “Don’t touch me.”

He paused and for a moment, I thought he was going to try again, but instead, he exhaled slowly.

‘Fine.”

Then, he walked ahead of me this time, leading the way down the corridor.

The silence carried on for as long as neither of us said a word. I didn’t even ask where we were going. I just followed him.

He led me to the ground floor, then towards a direction I wasn’t familiar with, where he opened a back door. I still didn’t care that we were going out through that exit.

When we stepped outside, it was just the two of us, the tall lamps on the walls beaming across the pavement.

rubbed my hands along my arms just once as the cool night air hit my skin, but it didn’t bother me much, I just wanted to

[now.

We moved further and further away from the door and neither of us bothered to go back and close it fully.

He was the first to stop in his tracks and I stopped a few steps away from him, crossing my arms over my chest.

‘Well?” I said, my tone demanding.

‘First of all, I wasn’t interested in Juliet or Claire.”

I let out a short laugh. “That’s hard to believe,” I fired back. “It took you a while to break free. You just went with them.“I gestured with my hands to demonstrate. “Initially, you didn’t look forced or uncomfortable.”

As I continued to describe it to him, my breath got heavier and faster, making him rub a hand over his jaw.

“Calm down,” he said.

I firmly shook my head. “Don’t tell me to calm down.”

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4:01 pm 7

Chapter 190

“Look,” he said more firmly as he glanced around. “This is still a public place. Even if no one’s out here, it’s better to keep our voices down”

I hated that he had a point.

Inhaling sharply, I looked away from him.

“Go in.” I said quietly, refusing to meet his gare.

“Claire was the last person I expected to see in those meetings. She tried everything possible to remind me of old times, but I didn’t fall for it. You asked me where I was on Thursday. I failed to show up that day and only came the following day. I told you I had an emergency with a friend.”

I let out a scoff as 1 finally faced him. “Thanks for stating the obvious.”

His expression hardened slightly. “I’m still talking, so just listen.”

I realized at that moment how much he meant what he had just told me. He wasn’t playing around.

“Fine, go on,” I said, reminding myself not to interrupt him again.

“I told you that I had an emergency with a friend, but it wasn’t a friend. It was Uncle Sebastian.”

My jaw dropped slightly as I got worried. “What happened to him?”

“That’s a story for another day,” he said dismissively. “It was a scary situation.”

“You have to tell me, please? What happened?”

“Just give me a few more hours and then you’ll find out. I promise.”

“Fine, I’ll wait, but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me something like that. I know your uncle and I’ve met him before, so why would you hide that?”

He sighed. “It’s not everything I can tell you, but I just need you to trust me. When the time is right. I’ll tell you all about it. Just know that I wasn’t with Claire and I wasn’t interested in her in any way. I was handling something I couldn’t risk anyone knowing about.”

His voice was so vulnerable that I just wanted to believe him and trust him, but there was still a piece missing and it’s the part that he refused to give me.

“I don’t like being kept in the dark,” I said.

“I know”

“Then stop doing it.”

He looked at me like he wanted to say more, but in the end, he said, “Just trust me for now. While I can’t tell you about Unic In Sebastian, I can tell you about Juliet and Claire”

That caught my attention immediately, making me pay more attention

“Claire didn’t just show up. It was a plan and when it didn’t seem to work, Juliet was brought in.”

I didn’t respond right away as I was still processing it.

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4:01 pm W

Chapter 190

He continued before I could even interrupt.

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“Just think about it. Claire was never on my list to be in those meetings. I wondered how she landed that role. Then she showed up at the awards with Juliet and they were all over me, right in front of you. The goal was to piss you off and make you so insecure that we break up. And guess who was behind it all?”

I held my breath as I waited for him to drop the name.

“Grayson.”

For a split second, I was in shock.

Then, I shook my head as I didn’t want to believe it, but the denial didn’t last because I realized something that finally made sense. I remembered the day I met him at the store and he planted those small poisonous possibilities in my head.

Maddox also had no reason to lie about that and Grayson had done hurtful things to me in the past just to have things go his way. It was for this reason that I had no doubts in my mind that Maddox was telling me the truth.

“How and when did you find out?” I asked.

“Not too long ago, while I was with my dad talking to that elderly couple inside, I saw Grayson in a corner with Juliet and Claire. They looked like they were hiding, but I saw them. He looked like he was demanding something from them and not long after that, when I was on my way back to you, they blocked me and hooked their arms around me. That’s when it all made sense.”

My eyes narrowed as I replayed that moment in my mind. “So he orchestrated that?”

He nodded.

“But why would he go that far?” I clenched my fists.

He stepped closer, lowering his voice as he said, “The last time Grayson and I met face–to–face, he told me he’d take you away from me. I dared him to try. I should’ve known he was going to play this dirty. I can’t believe it took me this long to figure it out.”

He moved even closer, his expression now softer and vulnerable. “I would never hurt you. You have to believe me.”

The tightness in my chest immediately loosened and it was only when I relaxed my shoulders that I realized how tense they’d been. Grayson really wanted me to doubt him and for a while, I did.

I was so relieved to learn the truth that after unclenching my fists, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around Maddox’s neck. I closed my eyes just for a second so I could breathe him in and his body went stiff in surprise.

Then, he wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me tightly.

1 was the first one to pull back, but it was just enough to have access to his face. I kissed him right on the lips like I needed to erase the last few days.

His hands moved to the side of my face, holding it gently, but firmly as he deepened the kiss It was slow and heated

When we finally pulled away, our breathing was already uneven

Then, he rested his forehead against mine and casually said, “Still mad at me!”

1 giggled. “Nope.”

I immediately hugged him again and this time, tighter, resting my head against his shoulder.

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Chapter 190

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He kissed the top of my head and that small gesture did something bigger than the passionate kiss. It made me feel safe.

While I was still hugging him, I thought about how jealous I was and how much it hurt seeing Claire and Juliet near him. I realized at that moment I didn’t want to share him with anyone.

The fact that it was all Grayson’s plan made me hate him even more, but I quickly shut him out as I didn’t want to ruin that moment with Maddox.

“I’ll deal with everyone involved,” he assured me. Then, he brought his lips right against my ear and whispered, “Wanna know what’s crazy?”

“What?” I whispered back, even though I didn’t know why we were whispering.

“We weren’t alone. We were being watched.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What?”

“I just saw Grayson walk away. He was near that door.”

I processed it for a few seconds, then, my lips curved into a smile of satisfaction. He saw everything and how his plan crumbled. He saw me choose to still be with Maddox.

I tightened my arms around him one more time, breathing him in as much as I could. I wanted that relationship to work, which was why it was going to take a lot more for me to walk away. There was nothing Grayson could do to make me change my mind. I was right where I wanted to be.

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