Her eyes softened, all the playfulness gone.
“You sure?” she asked.
I looked at her, offended. “The math is mathing so, yeah. I’m a hundred precent positive on this?”
“Good point,” she said quietly. “So, what now?”
“I saw a flyer on her page,” I said. “She’s running some big Christmas gala in Atlanta in two days. I got Toni booking my flight and a hotel right now. I’m going.”
She nodded like she already expected that. “Does she know you’re coming?”
“No,” I said. “She ran last night soon as she saw you, remember? She probably thinks you my fiancée for real.”
Victoria snorted. “That explains the look on her face. I thought she just didn’t like my dress.”
“This shit ain’t funny, V.” I said, but a small part of me wanted to smile at how unserious she could be even now.
“Relax,” she said. “I hear you. You’re going to Atlanta to talk to her. To see the baby. To figure your life out. I’ll stay here and play the happy almost-bride for both our families for a few days. I’ll say you had an emergency with one of your restaurants or a TV thing. They’ll believe it.”
“You sure?” I asked.
“Niko, I’ve been covering for you and myself since this fake engagement started,” she said. “I got this. Go handle your business. That little girl didn’t ask to be a secret.”
Those words sat heavy in my chest.
“Appreciate you,” I said.
“Just do me one favor,” she replied.
“What?”
“Be honest with her,” Victoria said. “She don’t need media-trained Niko. She needs the real you. Ugly parts and all.”
I stood and grabbed the back of the chair for a second. “Yeah. I know.”
She picked her mug back up. “Text me when you land. And Niko?”
“Yeah?”
Her mouth curved. “If she swings on you, you deserve the first hit.”
I huffed out a breath. “I probably do.”
I rushed back in my cabin, I threw clothes into my suitcase and sat on the edge of the bed for a second, staring at the floor. Last year, I left this mountain thinking I was walking away from a wild week and a woman I’d never see again. This time, I was leaving knowing I had a daughter in Atlanta who had no idea who I was. That shit ended now. I picked up my phone and opened her page again. My thumb hovered over the picture of that tiny hand.
“I’m on the way, Babygirl.” I said under my breath. Then I zipped my bag and headed out.
Chapter 16
Noelle
The flight home from North Carolina had been a blur, but somehow, I made it back before Nikole even woke up the next morning. I walked into the house still wearing yesterday’s outfit, went straight to her crib, and stood there staring at her like she was the only steady thing left in my world. It had only been two days since I ran out of that cabin with my heart in pieces. And now here I was, back in Atlanta, trying to act normal when everything inside me still felt flipped upside down. Tonight was the Christmas Gala, one of the biggest events of the year for Sterling & Co. Normally, I’d be hyped, and locked in, but my head wouldn’t stop replaying his face and that woman with the ring. I somehow forced those thoughts down, realizing that I had too much to do.
Miss Carla had Nikole in the living room, bouncing her on her hip while singing some little song that always calmed her. I trusted that woman with my whole heart. She had been with me since Nikole was three weeks old and moved through my house like she lived there.
“You look tense,” she said as she handed me my daughter.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
