Day and Night | ✓

Chapter 19 - Edited ✓

Angelo Deluca's POV

The moment I saw Harper covered in blood when she opened the door, my heart stopped beating. Thousands of different possibilities ran through my head, none of them pleasant. When she hadn't returned to the office after going out for lunch and then failed to answer my text's and calls It felt like something in me snapped, I was consumed by fear and seeing her stood there covered in dried blood with tear-stained cheeks made me assume the worst.

"Harper, what the fuck happened to you" my voice came out as a near growl, I groaned inwardly at myself, anything could have happened to her, and you go and scare her. It took her a while to tell me the story, how she'd got the phone call about her nan while she was out and that she'd instantly came back to the house. I was relieved to find out that the blood covering her hands and blouse wasn't hers, but I could feel the pain and fear she was feeling, it was her nan's blood. I knew how much the woman meant to her; it was hard to see Harper in this state, I knew that she was a strong woman, but everyone has their limits, and I think she just reached hers.

After she'd gotten cleaned up, I could see the extent of how her nans fall affected her eyes were puffy and looked lifeless. She looked like a lost little girl, gone was the confident woman that I picked up for work. "I'm all alone" the small noise that left her lips cut me deeper than any knife could, I couldn't form the right words to comfort her. Nothing I could say would make her feel any better, so instead, I pulled her into my arms.

My fingers found her hair and I started running them through it, I'd thought of doing this to her since the day I met her. Her body relaxed slightly, and so did mine I knew she was crying, her small frame shaking slightly." I need her to be okay, Angelo , I can't lose her. She's all I've got left; I can't bury any more of my family, I just can't. I'm all alone, and it hurts so fucking much." I wanted nothing more than to be able to tell her that as long as I was here and that I'd look after her for the rest of her life if she'd let me.

I felt her nuzzle further into my body; her face buried deep in my neck. My voice is low, and I hope to god that she's asleep or at least to worn out to hear this. "You'll never be alone, Harper , you have me."

Ten minutes passed, and Harpers breathing had slowed to a more steady pace, I make the decision there and then to take her back to the penthouse. I move her off me so I can quickly grab her phone. Thankfully it's still in her bag, slipping it into my pocket I make my way back into the living room.

I leant against the doorway and watched her for a moment; she was gorgeous even though the pain of today was still evident on her face even when she was asleep. I could stand and watch her for hours, I knew it was wrong now that we were working together, but I still couldn't stop myself from thinking how it would feel for her to be mine.

I gently pick her up off the sofa, and her arms automatically wrap around my neck, the feeling of her being this close sends a shiver down my spine. I manage to get Harper into the back of the limo without waking her up. I keep my arm wrapped around her on the drive back to the penthouse; thankfully, she stayed asleep for the journey. I knew she'd want to stay in the house, but having her somewhere I could keep an eye on her made me more at ease.

It didn't take long for me to get her up into the penthouse, my mind drifted to the last time she was here, I shook my head, trying to clear the depressing thought. Walking to the bedroom, I turned the light on and dimmed it slightly, I placed her sleeping body into the bed and covered her up with the sheets.

 I walked back into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of scotch; everything that had gone on in the past ten hours was utterly fucked up.

I took a long drink from the glass, it was only 8 pm, and I already felt like passing out on the sofa. I pulled my phone out of my jacket pocket and looked up the number of the hospital Harper's nan had been taken to and pressed call.