How to Tame a Silver Fox – Episode 37
Mark watched the security feed in stunned silence. He had installed access to monitor threats around Harper, not to witness his best friend holding her as though every forbidden thought had finally become real.
His call reached Chris seconds after the second kiss ended. Chris saw Mark’s name and knew from the timing that secrecy was no longer possible.
“Put me on speaker,” Mark said. The command carried enough anger to fill the room before Harper activated it.
“Dad, before you start—”
“Chris promised me.” Mark spoke over her, addressing the man he believed had betrayed him. “I trusted him in your house because he swore he would protect you.”
Harper’s hand tightened around the phone. “He did protect me. That doesn’t give either of you ownership over whom I choose.”
Mark insisted the age difference, danger, and imbalance made the relationship impossible. Each objection sounded reasonable until he used it to erase Harper’s voice.
Chris did not defend himself. “You have every right to be angry with me.”
“He does,” Harper said, turning toward him, “but not because you forced me into anything. Stop accepting blame for my decisions.”
The rebuke silenced both men. Harper had spent too long trapped between Mark’s authority and Chris’s guilt to let them transform her choice into their private conflict.
She told her father the kiss had been hers. If Mark wanted a relationship with his adult daughter, he would have to stop treating disobedience as danger.
Mark’s anger faltered beneath hurt. “You don’t know what a man like Chris costs.”
“Then tell me the truth and let me decide whether I can afford it.” Harper ended the call before he could issue another order.
Chris moved toward the door. He believed distance would reduce the damage, but Harper recognized the retreat as another decision made on her behalf.
“If you leave because you don’t want me, go,” she said. “If you leave because my father is angry, you’re still treating me like a child.”
He stopped with his hand on the door. The conflict in his face revealed how deeply loyalty to Mark had shaped him.
“I want you,” Chris said. “That has never been the problem.”
Harper stepped closer without touching him. “Then stay and face the problem with me.”
His phone interrupted with an alert from Caroline’s drive. The foundation had moved the gala forward to that very night, and every suspicious account was being emptied.
A second alert followed from Christina: Sebastian had escaped custody during a hospital transfer, and he was already inside the gala venue.