BAILEE The doctors and nurses had tried for hours to convince me that the baby on my chest had passed in utero, but I couldn’t let her go. I held onto her for hours, praying for a miracle. She was only the size of my palm, and I knew, even if she hadn’t been hurt in the car accident, that she was
ALEXANDER The world around me went silent, and I was briefly aware of the sudden and very jolting feeling of the Earth no longer spinning. I hadn’t even had a chance to process and mourn the loss of the daughter I didn’t even know I had before she dropped this on me. Hearing that I almost lost
BAILEE “Come on,” Alex said, taking my hand and pulling me upstairs. “Where are you taking me? I need to get home to Brinley.” I insisted, but Alex just shook his head. “No, you need to get warm so you don’t get sick. Ben can take care of her for a few hours.” He insisted, and my cheeks burned
BAILEE As soon as I reached my office, I grabbed my phone and purse and then jumped back in my car, pulling over again only a block away. Businesses would be closing soon, but I had a call I needed to make before it was too late. I needed to know who was behind the article. My anger had been
BAILEE Ben stood at the kitchen island; his smore dripping chocolate onto the counter as he stared at me with wide eyes. I wasn’t sure why he had bothered to even make it when we both knew he wouldn’t eat it. Every time we did this, he would nibble on his smore during gossip, but whenever it was
ALEXANDER The thick manila folder on my desk was mocking me, and I thumbed the corner of it. Bailee had been lying to my face for a while, and while I wanted to believe that she wasn’t keeping anything else from me, I couldn’t trust her. The folder was thick enough to be a book, and I was inter
ALEXANDER I wasn’t going to be paying Caleb Johnson shit. The group of lawyers and financial investigators I had surrounding the table, looking into the matter, confirmed as much. They were excited to have such a big fish to fry. Within an hour of Ben leaving, they had a copy of the contract
BAILEE Pressing record on my phone, I got out of the Range Rover and adjusted my sunglasses. I knew this was a mistake, but I also couldn’t help myself. I needed to hear it right from Caleb that he had been the one to leak the story about me losing my baby as a teenager. He had been surprisingl
EPILOGUE “Go, go, go!” Sebastian screamed from next to me, standing and leaning over the person in front of him as if Ben could hear him over the crowd and the glass. Then again, with how loud the man was, he just might. I had only known Bash in passing from when I worked for Ben as his assista
HAVEN ONE MONTH LATER My eyes kept moving from the woman before me to the clock on the wall behind her. I wanted to be here, but I had more important places to be. She had run over with her last client, which made us run over and caused me to be late for an important game. Ben had been stressin
BEN Haven was empty for the next few weeks as she flew back and forth, cleaning out the house her ex-husband had left her. It had been Cynthia’s home, too, and Haven had been taking extra care and devotion to ensuring things were handled and gone through properly. I had gone with her a few times,
HAVEN Her hand was cold, and I adjusted her blanket to cover her arm. The lawyers had come in and refused to admit any fault of the hospital, even though Cynthia had her ID on her and even knew one of the paramedics who brought her in for them to have given the hospital her name. They should ha
HAVEN Sitting in the airport in the middle of the night with a toddler who got angry each time the loudspeaker called for another flight and disturbed her sleep was not what I had been prepared for. My mind was a foggy mess. All I could picture was Cynthia falling down the stairs. How long had sh
BEN Being excited about an ex getting involved in my life might not have been the best thing when things were already tense, but fuck did it feel good to know I did indeed have friends in high places and they were watching my back. Was I still expecting them to hold it over me and try to get me t
BEN It was odd pulling up to the house and finding there wasn’t a single paparazzi in sight. After today’s news, I expected them to be ready to break down my gate for a story, but no one was there. Instead, a blacked-out SUV sat across the street, and my stomach twisted when I realized it was pro
HAVEN I needed to get out of the house. Staying inside was driving me crazy, and I couldn’t take it anymore. My last job interview was a week ago, and while I keep applying, no one wants to hire the woman all over the tabloids with a sex tape. Our PR team managed to get it taken down, but it stil
BEN “Rangers player Benjamin Evans is today’s hot topic. Now fans were petitioning for him to be traded for his performance last season. Even I wanted him gone, and I’ve followed his career since he was being scouted.” The reporters around him laughed, and I gritted my jaw. “I know. I remember hi