Chapter 34

THIRTY-FOUR

It takes every ounce of strength in my body to keep my feet planted and not chase after her, but I know my words aren’t enough right now.

How the fuck did this happen?

I shove my hands through my hair, then call Gabe. He hired a bodyguard for Danae when shit with her ex was getting dangerous, and that idea is looking pretty good right now. I have no idea how feral the press will be, but based on the initial onslaught of articles, I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time before they try to find her.

He answers on the third ring. “Dude, it’s like six a.m. Some of us like to sleep in during the offseason.”

“I need the name of the bodyguard you hired for Danae.”

His voice is much more awake when he speaks. “What happened?”

I pace back and forth in the living room as I recount what we woke up to. “She just left for Blaire’s house, but I don’t want her alone without protection in case they figure out where she is.”

“No, I totally agree. Let me make a call and see if I can pull some strings for you.”

My entire body sags with the faintest bit of relief. “Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t sweat it. It’s what family does for each other.”

We hang up so he can call the security company while I restart my pacing, trying to sort through next steps when all I want to do is hold Lexi in my arms and tell her everything will be okay. But I can’t do that because I don’t know that it will be. This is bad.

I’m about to call my PR rep to get them to take everything down when Tanner calls me for the third time this morning—no doubt to gloat over what I didn’t know.

I don’t bother with pleasantries. “Not now, Tan. I’m dealing with a shitstorm over here.”

“You left me no choice. You wouldn’t listen to me.”

My hackles rise as a cold sweat goes down my spine. “Wait. Are you telling me you did this? You found out this information and leaked it to the press?”

He hesitates, but when he answers, he still has that slightly arrogant tone like older brother always knows best. “I’m sorry. But I needed you to see it, and you were being a fool when it came to her. She’s not who you think she is, and the last thing you need is another woman like your ex trying to take advantage of you.”

Lexi is exactly who I think she is, and I didn’t need her entire awful history to know that.

My tone is deathly cold. “Are you serious right now?”

“Ty, I understand you’re upset, but you’ll see I did you a favor.”

“A favor?!” I shout, suddenly glad Lexi isn’t here to see me because I feel more violent than I ever have in my entire life. “You think you did me a fucking favor by sharing personal details about Lexi that were none of your goddamn business ? What the absolute fuck is wrong with you?”

“Are you even sure that baby is yours?” he cuts in, his own anger clear through the phone.

“As a matter of fact, I’ll send you the paternity test results so you can go fuck yourself with them.”

He’s silent, which is great because I still have more to say. “Did your PI happen to dig up why she shoplifted? Probably not, since that would require talking to both parties. Not that you’ve done anything to deserve this information, but she was threatened by her foster brother. That record was supposed to be buried when she turned eighteen. She’s got scars from the abuse she suffered.” I hear him curse softly, and for once I feel vindicated that he might finally understand how epically he fucked up.

“You just opened her wounds up for the whole world to read about. You act all high and mighty like you’re protecting me, but as a high-profile figure, you know better than most that there truly is such a thing as bad press. If you’re not the least bit worried about Lexi, think about what this has done to me. You think I deserve this? If you’d just pulled your head out of your goddamn ass and gotten to know her, you would’ve seen the truth for yourself. But instead you decided you know best, when the truth is you don’t know a fucking thing.”

“Ty…” There’s remorse in his voice, but it’s far too late for that.

“Tanner, let me be clear because I’m only going to say this once. Don’t ever fucking talk to me again. You’re dead to me. You not only violated my trust, but do you realize you’ve put Lexi and our daughter in danger? You know what the press can be like. How the fuck could you do that to your own family? What you did is unforgivable.”

He starts to speak but I hang up, and this time my anger gets the better of me and I chuck my phone across the room. It shatters against the wall, falling to pieces on the floor.

“FUCK!” I shout, bending over and screaming into the floor.

Lexi was right to run away from me. Whether she knows the full extent of it or not, I did this to her. It was my own fucking brother who betrayed her, who put her history out there for the whole world to see. I can barely stomach the truth as I slide down the nearest wall, dropping my head back and wondering how I’m ever going to fix this.

If I were Lexi, I wouldn’t forgive me either.

As the anger seeps away, I glance over at my destroyed phone. If I’m going to fix this, I’m going to need a new phone. I push myself up and head to my bedroom to get dressed. The mussed-up sheets taunt me, and Lexi’s soft lavender scent hits my nose as soon as I walk in. She said she switched shampoos and lotions because the lavender soothed her and often helped ease her nausea. Now I can’t smell it without thinking of her and what I’m missing.

I quickly get dressed, processing everything, and then realize I can start the process by sending an email to my PR rep. I head into the office and turn on my laptop, typing up a quick rundown of thesituation, how I need it handled, and letting him know I’ll call once I have a new phone.

I pull up the messaging app on my computer that syncs to the account on my phone and send Taron a message letting him know Tanner is persona non grata. Next, I message Dom, Gabe, and Romel. They’re all quick to respond—Gabe letting me know Wyatt’s on another job, but the company is going to send a bodyguard to Lexi’s location if I can give him the address. Dom asks what we need, but it’s Romel’s response that has me standing up and pacing.

Romel

This is not good for Lexi’s stress, especially at 31 weeks pregnant. What can we do to help mitigate this for her?

My fingers grip my hair, tugging on it tight as I try to run through all my options, but betrayal hangs thick in the air, and it’s clouding my thought process.

I can’t believe Tanner did this to her. To me.

My laptop dings, and I glance at my email to find a response from my PR rep. They’re sending a messenger with a new phone because he needs to be able to talk to me. I guess there are perks to being rich and famous.

Within an hour, the doorbell rings, and the messenger is there with a brand-new phone in hand. It takes me less than ten minutes to get it set up, and then I’ve got my PR rep andhis team on speaker. They’re already drafting a response from me, but the damage is done. The comments on social media posts about the article are slamming Lexi. Someone claiming to know her from foster care has already sold a story about her to a tabloid for God knows how much. My stomach roils, and my jaw is clenched so tight it’s starting to hurt, but I can’t stop moving until I feel like this is under control.

Until I know Lexi is safe from the vitriol.

I’ve already texted her several times with only one response—that she arrived at Blaire’s safely and no press were there—but that doesn’t ease any of my worry.

When my phone rings, I immediately pick it up hoping it’s Lexi, only to have my mom’s face on the screen. I answer because I won’t protect Tanner, not when he couldn’t be bothered to protect Lexi—and by extension, me.

“Hey Sweetie, Dad and I saw the news. Is Lexi okay?”

“Tanner did this,” I spit out, my anger flaring again.

“What are you talking about?”

“Tanner gave this information to the press under some misguided idea that he was protecting me.”

“No,” she says breathlessly. She murmurs, and it’s clear she’s telling my dad what I just told her. “I’ve got you on speaker now, Ty. Are you sure?” I can hear the hesitation in her voice—the disbelief that her son would do this.

“He told me himself.”

I can practically feel her shock and concern through the phone. “Damn,” Dad mutters, disappointment hanging heavy off that one word.

“Is Lexi there? I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer,” Mom asks.

“She left.” I leave off the invisible me that I’m feeling in my soul. The absolute betrayal on her face, the way she shut down and closed me out. She was protecting herself from me , all because of my stupid brother.

I can’t lose her. I won’t.

I woke up this morning holding the most beautiful woman in the world, feeling a peace I’d never known possible while our daughter kicked in her belly, and with one alert, my whole world has gone to shit.

I want to go back to two hours ago when Lexi was here, safe, with me. When I was the person she trusted the most.She doesn’t even know the extent of the betrayal since it was my brother who did this to her. She only knows it was because of my fame that she’s of interest to the media at all.

Questions and what-ifs run through a loop in my mind while my parents babble on the phone, trying to understand why Tanner would do this, why Lexi would leave, why, why, why.

“Ty, what can we do to help?”

I drop to my couch, putting my head in my hands as the stress of the last few hours weighs me down. I’m drowning under it all, and all I want is Lexi back.

“I don’t know,” I choke out, my voice breaking.

“Sweetie,” Mom says, her voice watery like she’s fighting back her own tears.

“She’s gone, Mom. She left, and I don’t know if she’ll want to come back. At this point, I can’t blame her if she doesn’t.”

“She will.” Her voice wavers slightly. “She loves you,” she says, and this time there’s no doubt in her voice.

But what if love isn’t enough?

I love Lexi with every fiber of my soul, with every breath in my body, with every beat of my heart. But what does any of that mean if I can’t protect her from my own fucking brother? From the vitriol the media is spewing about her childhood that she survived.

What good is love if she’s hurting and feels safer away from me than with me?