Jake sneered, looking from Kylee to Rio. “You think you can just show up, play the victim, and steal my son?”
Kylee didn’t move. “I’m not stealing him. I’m his mother. And I’m taking him home.”
Jake stepped forward, grabbing Jake Jr.’s arm. “Like hell you are!” Before he could finish, Rio moved between them with terrifying calm. “Let go of him.”
Jake’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell is this? You think you’re gonna play daddy now? Is this your rock star rescue fantasy?”
“No,” Rio said. “But I am a man who wouldn’t talk to my wife like she is garbage. And I won’t stand by while you traumatize a little boy.”
Jake Jr. whimpered, tugging his arm away. “Daddy, stop.” Jake looked down at his son, startled.
Kylee knelt to her son’s level, ignoring the crowd, ignoring the phones. “Jakey… do you want to come with me?” Jake Jr.nodded fast, tears welling in his eyes. “I wanna go with you, Mommy.”
Jake stepped back like he’d been slapped.
Kylee stood, her voice steady but shaking inside. “Emergency custody papers were filed this morning. You’ll be getting served any minute now.”
Jake’s face twisted in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? You’re using that guy’s money to take my son from me?”
Kylee squared her shoulders. “I’m doing whatever I have to protect my kids. That’s why I’m not asking anymore! I’m taking him!”
Rio placed a protective hand on Jake Jr.’s back. “You’ll get the legal notice soon. Don’t make this uglier than it already is.”
Jake stared at both of them, stunned silent for the first time. His face was red, jaw tight, chest heaving. “You’ll regret this,” he finally muttered.
Kylee held her son’s hand tightly. “I already regret staying as long as I did.” She turned and walked away, Rio right beside her, Jake Jr. between them. The crowd watched in complete silence, phones still pointed but this wasn’t tabloid fodder anymore. This was a woman taking her life back, one step at a time.
Jake stood in the middle of the field, watching the backs of Kylee, Rio, and his son as they disappeared into the parking lot. The echo of Jake Jr.'s voice calling“Mommy!”still rang in his ears louder than the murmurs and whispers of the crowd around him, louder than the click of cameras still snapping, louder than the blood roaring in his own ears. He clenched his fists so tightlyhis knuckles cracked. His chest burned not just from rage, but humiliation.
The audacity. She humiliated him again. That rock star with his smug smirk, leather jacket, and goddamn celebrity security detail just walked into his life and took everything that was his. Jake kicked a water bottle near the bench, sending it flying into the fence. "FUCK! FUCK! FUUCCCKKK!” He screamed.
Rachel scurried toward him from the parking lot edge, with a big smile, phone in hand. “Jake, this is going viral. Everyone’s talking about how Rio just took your kid”
“Shut the fuck up, Rachel!” he snapped, spinning toward her. She flinched and stepped back. He didn’t care. Jake shoved his hands through his hair and paced in tight circles like a rabid animal, muttering under his breath. “Bitch thinks she can take my kid?She’s delusional. Filing emergency custody with that fucking Hollywood lawyer? She thinks that makes her untouchable?”
Rachel hesitated. “What are you going to do?”
He stopped pacing, eyes sharp as razors. “I’m gonna bury her!” He stormed toward his Ferrari and yanked the door open, nearly ripping it off the hinge. “I want every dirty thing we have on Kylee ready to go now. You call my lawyer, tell him I want everything exposed. Her affair, Rio, the pictures, every goddamn detail. She wants to play this game in public? Then let’s give the world a real fucking show. She wants a war? She just got one.”
As Jake slammed the door shut and peeled out of the parking lot, tires screeching and engine roaring, the calm mask he’d worn for years was gone. What replaced it was something darker. He’dlost control and Jake Waterman was the kind of man who didn’t lose without blood.
The sun was dipping low, casting long shadows across the polished floors of the house Kylee once called her sanctuary. Jake’s Ferrari came screeching to a halt in the driveway. He didn't bother closing the door behind him as he stormed up the steps and slammed his shoulder into the front door, splintering the frame. It crashed open with a sharp crack that echoed through the house.
“MOMMY!” Macy’s voice shrieked from the hallway. The sound of her tiny feet running. Kylee came flying out of the kitchen, holding Kayla against her hip, eyes wide and terrified.
“Jake?!” she gasped. “What the hell are you doing?!”
His chest heaved. His eyes were red-rimmed, bloodshot, unblinking. “I told you, Kylee,” he growled, storming past her toward the master bedroom. “You took everything. Now I’m going to show you what that feels like.”
“Jake, stop what are you talking about?!”
He was already in the bedroom. She followed him, clutching the Kayla against her chest, heart hammering. He was tearing open the walk-in closet, tossing shoes, coats, and boxes aside until he reached the locked safe in the corner.
Her stomach dropped. “Jake,” she cried, voice shaking. “Don’t do this. Please. The girls”
He spun on her. “YOU MADE ME LOOK WEAK! YOU THINK YOU CAN HUMILIATE ME AND JUST WALK OFF WITH MY KID?!”
Kylee took a cautious step back.
