Chapter 397 Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars
Harper's eyes went ice-cold as she stopped dead in her tracks. "What secret?"
Thorne struggled to his feet, limping, and cut straight to the point. "Give me some cash, and I'll spill."
"Forget it. I don't wanna know." Harper turned to get into her car.
Thorne freaked out and yelled, "It's about how you ended up in my family. Don't you wanna know?"
Harper hesitated.
Clayton had told her she got lost when she was six. Elodie was a wreck, couldn't eat or sleep, cried every day.
Later, Elodie left a note saying she was going to find her and then vanished.
All these years, even without any news, Clayton never stopped looking for Harper.
Harper always thought she got lost and was picked up by Delaney.
But from Thorne's tone, was that not the whole story?
Harper lifted her lashes and stared at Thorne. "Thorne, you trying to mess with me?"
Thorne was pissed at Harper's attitude but had to suck it up since he wanted her money. "I swear I'm not messing with you."
How trustworthy was a gambler's word?
Harper said coolly, "Alright, let's hear it."
Thorne wasn't about to spill without getting paid first. He held out his hand and said, "No cash, no talk."
"How much you want?" Harper asked.
Thorne held up five fingers and, worried Harper might get it wrong, clarified, "Five million bucks!"
Harper frowned. "Then keep your secret."
It wasn't that she wasn't curious about how she ended up with his family, but she knew Thorne too well.
If she agreed to five million, he'd just think it was too easy and ask for ten million next.
That was Thorne's style!
Thorne's face darkened, and he shouted, "Come on, it's just five million!"
He looked Vincent up and down beside Harper and then sneered, "Another new guy? Didn't know you were so good at swapping men."
Harper didn't want to hear his crap and said coldly, "Shut your pie hole."
Thorne instinctively thought Harper was feeling guilty and didn't want Vincent to know about her past.
He sneered, "If you want me to shut up, give me the money. Otherwise, I'll tell your current boyfriend about you being another man's mistress, and you'll get nothing."
In Thorne's eyes, Harper was just a pretty face.
With her lowly status, those rich guys would only play with her. No way they'd marry her.
Harper looked at him coldly and said, "If you got nothing to say, then get lost."
"The guy next to you can't be too broke to pay me. If he is, then dump him. With your looks, finding a rich guy should be a piece of cake."
Thorne squinted, noticing Harper seemed to prefer young and handsome men. Thorne thought, 'What's the use of a pretty face if he won't spend a dime on her?'
Thorne, looking all wise, said, "Don't go for the pretty ones. They're stingy. The older ones know how to treat a woman right."
Before he could finish, Harper picked up a rock and chucked it at Thorne's mouth.
Thorne's mouth started bleeding, making him look even scarier with his hobo appearance.
Thorne clutched his mouth and wailed in pain.
Just a moment ago, there was a dark blur, and Thorne didn't see what hit him. "You crazy bitch, how dare you? What did you throw at me?"
Vincent saw Thorne's unusual agitation and immediately stepped in front of Harper, watching his every move like a hawk.
Harper pouted and shot back, "Did I hit you? Thought I nailed a noisy, jinxed crow."
Thorne's face turned red with rage.
Harper's "crow" jab was a clear insult. He wasn't gonna let that slide!
Thorne rubbed his split lip and glared at Vincent. "Do you even know how many guys Harper's been with? She loves being the side chick. She's only with you 'cause you're loaded. If you weren't, she'd dump you in a heartbeat."
Thorne's words were pure poison!
Harper couldn't take it anymore and yelled, "Thorne, keep slandering me, and I'll call the cops."
"When did I slander you? I saw a fancy guy helping you at the hospital, and I remember you making out with some dude in a limo," Thorne shot back. "You think those guys would marry a nobody like you?"
Thorne had just snuck in and hadn't seen the live stream, or he wouldn't have said that.
He spat a bloody glob on the ground and cursed at Harper. "What's with your taste in men? Each one worse than the last. At least the last guy dropped eight hundred grand on you. This one? Not a dime."
Harper caught the key point and glared at Thorne. "Who gave you eight hundred grand?"
Thorne realized he slipped but decided to use it to rile up Vincent. "It was the guy you kissed before, the one from Getty Group. I followed him to his office, told him how much you mooched off us, and he handed me eight hundred grand without a word."
Thorne looked at Vincent provocatively. "Dude, you don't look broke. If you can't even drop that much, how do you expect to keep a woman?"
Vincent's face turned pale, his fists clenched, and he said coldly, "Don't slander Harper. We're just friends."
"Friends? You seriously gonna say you don't wanna sleep with her?" Thorne had confidence in Harper's looks.
She was always stunning, with the grace of a socialite, not like the village girls.
Thorne's words made Vincent's face darken even more.
The usually calm Vincent finally snapped, "Stop talking crap."
Harper was still reeling from Thorne's earlier words.
She knew Thorne was talking about Francis.
But she never expected Francis to give Thorne eight hundred grand just to keep him away.
No wonder Thorne hadn't bugged them since that hospital visit.
She thought Thorne had a change of heart, but it turned out money had shut him up.
Thorne kept spewing nonsense to Vincent.
Harper frowned, fed up, and said to Vincent, "Vincent, let's bounce!"
Seeing them about to leave, Thorne, who hadn't gotten any cash, panicked.
He shouted, "Don't you wanna hear the secret? You weren't just picked up back then. Don't you wanna know?"
Harper said, "Nope."
Then she turned and got into the car.
If she showed interest now, Thorne would be even less likely to spill, so she had to play it cool.
But just as Harper knew Thorne, Thorne knew her too.
He sneered, "You're bluffing, aren't you? I don't buy that you're not curious."
Harper had always been sharp, and Thorne had never outsmarted her!
Thorne smugly said, "I'm telling you, five million bucks, not a penny less, or you can forget about..."
Before he could finish, the car window rolled up, cutting him off.
The car started and drove away!
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