“Do not leave the house. Do not take her anywhere. If she needs anything, send someone else.”
I glanced at Liam. He spun my house keys around his finger, looking thoroughly entertained. When he’d gotten his hands on my keys, I couldn’t say.
“Liam’s already on it.”
Selene hummed. “I’ll start drafting statements, but we don’t release anything until we know how we’re handling this.”
I didn’t like the way she said that. “Handling this?”
“Are you keeping her?”
I looked down at Hazel again. She was still asleep, still so small. She didn’t know me. Didn’t know how fucked this situation was. Didn’t know I wasn’t cut out for this, that my life ran on precision and control, not 2 AM meltdowns and nappies. I could keep a car on the edge at 200 mph, but I had no idea how to hold something as small and fragile as her.
Izzy couldn’t handle the shit show. She hated the cameras, the attention, the circus that came with our world. The first chance she got, she’d slip out the back of events. If the press found out she’d not only slept with her brother’s biggest rival but abandoned a baby on his doorstep, they’d eat her alive. Dig into every inch of her life. Twist everything until the truth didn’t matter.
And Jesse? Fuck.
If he found out, I was dead. No question. He already hated me, and this would turn it nuclear. Just another excuse to put me in the ground.
But if I didn’t keep her, then what?
Foster care? Some distant relative I’d never met? A couple looking for a payday instead of a daughter?
I knew what that was like.
Being a transaction instead of a kid. Having every decision made based on what I could bring to someone else. My father had done it to me my whole damn life. All he’d ever cared aboutwas marketability, sponsors, appearances. Not me. Not what I needed.
Hazel wasn’t going through that.
Didn’t matter if I wasn’t built for this. Didn’t matter if I had no clue what I was doing.
I inhaled slowly, my chest tight. “I’m keeping her.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I have to call Julian.”
My whole body tensed. “Why?”
“Because,” she said, voice as calm as ever, “he owns the team, Griffin. He pays your salary, and you just detonated a PR nightmare in the middle of his championship campaign. And with the Goldleaf Spirits deal closing next month…” She trailed off, but the implication was clear.
“Give me until morning.” I pushed myself upright, grip tightening around my phone. “Please.”
“No.”
My jaw clenched. “He’s going to lose his mind.”
“Yes. He is. Which is why he needs to hear it from me before he hears it from the press.”
Julian Carter didn’t do unexpected. No scandals, no distractions, no drama that made his life more difficult. He ran Aedris like a machine.
And I had just thrown a fucking wrench straight into the gears.
“Selene.” My voice dropped lower, rougher. “You call him now, and I’m dealing with his shitstorm before I’ve even had time to think.”
“I’m calling him,” she said, her tone dismissive. “That’s my job, Griffin.”
