📖 The Story Continues
The story doesn't end here.Continue reading the full story adaptation below and discover what happens next.
How to Tame a Silver Fox – Episode 06
Chris looked past Harper at the strangers filling her house. “You can’t buy your friends, kid.” His blunt judgment struck harder because Harper had already wondered the same thing.
“I don’t have another choice.” The admission stripped away the confidence she had worn all night. She had spent money, opened her home, and pretended not to care why people came because an imperfect crowd still felt better than an empty room.
“I’ve barely met anyone since I transferred here,” she explained. Yale was full of established circles that had closed long before she arrived. Every invitation she offered felt like knocking on a door nobody wanted to open.
“And this is my last year of college.” Her voice softened despite her effort to control it. “I don’t want to graduate alone.”
Chris’s anger did not vanish, but something in his face eased. He had come prepared to impose order, yet the loneliness behind her party made the situation less simple than underage chaos and expensive liquor.
“Fine,” he said. “Have your kickback.” Relief barely had time to reach Harper before he continued. “Either way, I have to stay here until your dad gets back.”
“I don’t need you to look after me.” She knew she sounded defensive, but his presence turned Mark’s neglect into a public arrangement. Her father could not visit, yet he could assign a replacement.
A notification lit Harper’s phone. Chris noticed the change in her expression before she could hide the screen. “Who is that?”
“No one.” Harper locked the phone, but the message had already burned itself into her mind: *I’m going to kill you. Count your days. Slut.* Bryan’s cruelty was familiar, which did not make it harmless.
Chris took the phone and read it. The dangerous stillness Harper had seen outside the nightclub returned. “This is your ex, Bryan.”
“It’s not a big deal. I can explain.” Harper reached for the device, ashamed that something so private had become evidence against her independence.
“Your dad was talking about him—this sick fuck.” Chris’s disgust made clear that Mark knew more than Harper had realized. The two men had discussed her danger without ever including her.
“You guys were spying on me?” Betrayal overtook fear. She had believed distance meant indifference; now she learned that her life had been monitored from behind closed doors.
“Mark cares about your safety,” Chris said. “That’s the only reason I’m here.” The explanation should have reassured her, but *only* lodged unpleasantly in her chest.
He gave her the terms with brutal simplicity. Either he lived in the house, or Mark would send three bodyguards. There was no option in which Harper was trusted to protect herself.
“You are not living here,” she said. “I don’t give a shit what my dad says. I don’t need a babysitter.” Each word defended the adulthood Chris seemed determined to deny.
“Then stop acting like a baby.” His answer cut through her, and Harper turned toward the party before he could see how much it hurt.
“You better not show your face in there,” she warned. “I don’t need you acting like an asshole to all my friends.” She disappeared into the crowded house, leaving Chris alone with Bryan’s threat. He swore under his breath, because whatever Harper wanted, he had made Mark a promise.
