Chapter 573

Chapter 573

Arthur came home after a rough day outside and took it all out on Kimber, tearing into her without mercy.

He scolded her fiercely.

Kimber was completely dependent on Arthur now and didn't dare say a word back. She just stood there, tears rolling silently down her face.

"What do you have to cry about?" Arthur sneered, his contempt growing. He laid into her: "If you weren't so useless, I wouldn't be in this mess. Edwin paid such a huge price to get you back, and look at you. If he knew how worthless you are, he'd die without peace in that prison cell."

Edwin was Kimber's sore spot, and Arthur had just hit it.

She snapped her head up and stared at him in disbelief. "How dare you talk about my brother like that!"

"Am I wrong?"

Arthur looked at her with complete indifference, his voice full of arrogance. "Neither of you is worth anything. If I hadn't been willing to take you in, you'd be wandering the streets right now."

"What, do you actually think Harper and Caden would take you in? You're nothing but dead weight."

Arthur vented until he felt better.

Once he was done, most of the frustration he'd brought home had drained away.

He shot Kimber one last dismissive look, straightened his tie, and walked out.

Back to looking like a respectable person.

Kimber stood there with tears streaked all over her face, watching Arthur stride away, burning with shame and rage.

She froze in place for a long time before she finally pulled herself together and stumbled off.

But she hadn't gone far when one of Arthur's right-hand men stepped into her path.

He smiled at her. "Ms. Davis, Mr. Davis asked me to pass along a message."

Kimber went pale.

She braced herself, afraid Arthur had more to say.

The man seemed to read her fear. He gave her an understanding smile. "I think you may have misread Mr. Davis."

"What do you mean?" Kimber forced a smile.

"What I mean is, Mr. Davis is tough on the outside but soft on the inside. He genuinely cares about you as his sister. He just said some things in the heat of the moment. If you take it to heart, you'd be selling him short."

Kimber still wasn't sure where this was going.

She still had a lingering fear of Arthur, and she asked carefully, "Is there... something else you want to say?"

"There is." The man smiled warmly and gestured to the side. "Let's talk somewhere private."

They moved to a quiet spot, and the man got straight to the point. "After everything I just said, I hope there are no more misunderstandings about Mr. Davis. Here's the thing — Mr. Davis genuinely wants what's best for you. He wants to see you do better. So he has an important task for you, and he hopes you won't let him down."

Kimber understood.

He needed her for something again.

She looked down, feeling a knot of resistance in her chest, and the thought of Arthur made her shrink with fear.

The man caught all of this.

A flicker of contempt crossed his eyes. Pathetic. She really has no backbone.

But his voice stayed warm as he coaxed her along. "Mr. Davis is giving you a chance here. Do this right, and the two of you go back to being close siblings."

Kimber wavered.

She pressed her lips together. "Tell me."

That day, Harper visited Molly and the baby first. The web series was moving along without a hitch.

Harper came home in a good mood, had a quiet drink with Caden, and enjoyed a rare stretch of calm.

Arthur had stopped pushing so hard, and Dominic seemed to have backed off for the moment too.

So Harper spent her days resting and making the occasional trip to the office.

Things were running smoothly there as well — nothing that needed her constant attention.

The days slipped by gently, like still water, leaving no trace behind.

Not a single ripple on the surface.

It almost felt too good to be real.

Harper started to sense something was off. "Dominic and Arthur have been way too quiet lately. I keep thinking they might be setting something up."

It felt like the calm before a storm.

Sooner or later, something was going to shatter this stillness.

Neither Dominic nor Arthur was the type to let things go.

And just as Harper and Caden were bracing for their next move, Noah showed up first.

He didn't look happy, and he wasn't particularly polite about it. "You two seem to be living pretty comfortably. Looks like all the heat from the Davis family and Mr. Hall has been landing on us."

Harper got it.

After all, she was the one who had brought Dominic into their lives in the first place.

The Wright family had gotten caught in the crossfire. Noah had taken real hits trying to deal with Dominic's pressure — lost a significant amount of money, and nearly ended up facing criminal charges himself.

She completely understood why the Wrights were unhappy.

So she offered him a polite congratulation. "I haven't had the chance to say — congratulations on getting through that investigation, Mr. Wright. It really speaks to how well you run things. The Wright family's clean record is exactly why Dominic couldn't find anything to pin on you."

Noah's expression softened slightly.

He let out a cold snort. "Don't give me that. I've been thinking I should've cut ties with you two earlier — would've saved my family a lot of trouble."

Still, he didn't say he regretted acknowledging Lucas and Molly's relationship.

That was enough to put Harper at ease.

She said, "Mr. Wright, we're truly sorry about this. We never wanted to drag anyone else into it."

"But the moment Lucas left with Molly, we were all tied together in everyone else's eyes. So I'm sorry — but there's nothing we can do about that now."

Noah's complaints didn't change anything.

If he wanted to hold his own against Dominic going forward, he had no choice but to work with Harper and Caden.

And clearly, Noah understood that.

He was here today, and even if he was venting, the real reason was to keep the partnership going.

The complaints were just his way of pushing for better terms.

Harper and Caden both knew exactly what was happening.

She smiled and slid a contract across to him. "As a gesture of goodwill and to make up for what you've been through, please take a look at this proposal, Mr. Wright. It won't fully cover your losses, but it's our way of making it right."

The deal was clearly in the Wright family's favor.

Noah looked it over, and his expression shifted. Most of the irritation on his face faded. "Well, if that's the case, I think we can keep working together."

Harper had secured the Wright family's trust.

She told Noah, "You don't need to worry going forward. The Davis family, at least, is not a problem we can't handle."