Chapter 13 It's Actually Her, Feeling Disgusted for the First Time

With just that one sentence, Harper hung up, leaving Evan completely confused.

She sounded absolutely furious — clearly someone had really gotten under her skin.

But he couldn't figure out who in his life could have made Harper that angry.

He'd never publicly acknowledged her role in his life, so it couldn't be anyone from the company.

Maybe one of his friends?

Unable to work it out, Evan called Harper back.

Harper had calmed down a bit by then, so she picked up. "What do you want?"

Evan tried to keep his voice as pleasant as possible, not wanting to make her angrier. "Looks like something happened. Can you tell me what's going on? If you want me to handle it, I at least need to know what I'm dealing with."

"Someone accused my design of being plagiarized. I studied design too — am I not allowed to have my own work? Do you have any idea how serious it is for a designer to be accused of something like that?" Harper didn't hold back and laid it all out.

The anger in her voice was hard to miss. The incident itself wasn't huge, but if it had happened at a bigger or more important event, Claire's accusation — with Harper unable to clear her name — could have ended her career on the spot.

After that, no one would touch her work. She'd be blacklisted across the entire industry. Claire's intentions couldn't have been more vicious.

Evan's expression turned serious. No wonder Harper was furious. Anyone would be — most people would lawyer up over something like this.

Who would actually do something like that?

"Tell me who it is. I'll make sure they understand how serious this is." Evan's voice dropped, his tone dead serious.

A short laugh came from Harper's end. She didn't trust Evan one bit. "Go find out yourself. I just hope that once you do, you can still say what you just said — because I have a feeling you might not be able to bring yourself to."

Without giving Evan a chance to respond, she hung up again.

Getting hung up on twice in a short span of time, both times without even getting a word in — it left Evan in a dark mood.

"Can't bring myself to? No way. That's not something I do." He said it out loud to the already-dead phone, the words going nowhere.

After that, Evan had his assistant start digging. He needed to know exactly who had accused Harper of plagiarism.

Meanwhile, Harper's mood had completely turned around. She was actually a little curious — once Evan found out the truth about Claire, would he be disappointed?

She had to say, his taste really was something else.

Claire was pretty, sure. But all that sweetness and warmth? Completely fake.

Just then, Harper's phone rang. She looked at the screen — it was Sean.

She hadn't given him a clear answer yet. Was he getting impatient?

She picked up. "Mr. Parker, why are you calling now?"

"I heard Miss Wilson has been meeting with people and showing them her designs. Is the offer I made not good enough for Miss Wilson to consider joining Parker Corporation?" Sean genuinely didn't get it. He didn't think anyone could top what he was offering.

Not even Evan.

Harper smiled to herself. He was definitely getting antsy. "Mr. Parker, your offer is the best one on the table, and I'm genuinely tempted. I just haven't made up my mind yet — please give me a little more time."

She paused, then decided to explain. "The designs I've been showing people aren't Ruby's. They're mine. I'm a designer too, just not a well-known one."

Sean was caught off guard for a moment, then it clicked. Harper hadn't been meeting people as Ruby — right now, he was the only one who knew Ruby and Harper were the same person.

He was also a little surprised to learn that Harper's public identity was also as a designer. He vaguely recalled that Harper hadn't finished her degree...

Probably not true. There was no way she didn't graduate.

Now that things were clear, Sean didn't push further. "Alright, I'll give Miss Wilson all the time she needs. But if you decide to collaborate or join a company, I hope I'm your first call."

"I can promise that, as of right now, Mr. Parker is at the top of my list." There was no one else with a stronger offer at the moment — the closest would be Evan.

But she had no interest in joining Morgan Corporation. She didn't want to get any more tangled up with Evan than she already was.

On Evan's end, it didn't take long before the results came back, along with security footage.

"Mr. Morgan, everything's here." His assistant handed over the file and quickly stepped out of the office — he didn't want to be around for the fallout. He'd watched the full footage, and even he hadn't expected Miss Martinez to act like that.

Evan flipped through the report first. With every page, his expression got darker.

By the time the security footage started playing on his computer, his face had gone completely cold.

He never would have guessed that the person behind it was Claire.

In front of him, Claire had always been gentle, kind, and understanding. He had never seen this side of her.

The way she spoke, the way she carried herself — it all looked so natural, like this wasn't the first time she'd done something like this.

And it wasn't just the coffee shop. After leaving, Claire had posted something vague on her Feed — carefully worded, but pointed.

She'd positioned herself as the victim, when she was the one who had gone after Harper. She was the one doing the bullying.

Claire hadn't named anyone directly, but anyone who knew the situation would know exactly what she meant.

Evan closed the footage and pressed his fingers to his temple.

The coffee shop had been busy, but thankfully Harper had cleared her name on the spot. Otherwise, who knows how far it would have gone.

At least no one had posted it to INS. If they had, it would've been trending in no time.

If the whole thing had been posted in full, it probably wouldn't have hurt Harper much.

The real danger was someone cherry-picking clips and twisting the story.

Just to be safe, Evan called his assistant back in. "Keep an eye on INS. If any video from that coffee shop shows up, shut it down immediately and track whoever posted it — make sure they don't put anything else up."

"Yes, Mr. Morgan." The assistant understood — this was about protecting Harper. And Claire, too.

After the assistant left, Evan sat staring at the file in his hands. For the first time, he felt something he hadn't expected — a real sense of disgust toward Claire.

Disgust at what she'd done to Harper. Disgust at the whole thing.

That feeling stayed with him all the way through the end of the workday, right up until he left the office and met up with Claire.

Seeing her with that feeling still sitting in his chest, something felt off. He didn't want to be close to her. He found himself wondering — when Claire lit up at the sight of him, was that smile real or not?

First he'd realized he didn't really know Harper. Now Evan was starting to think he didn't really know Claire either.