I guide Rina toward the nearest chair before settling beside her. Only then does my palm find her thigh. My grip isn’t hard, but it’s firm enough to hopefully steady her. When she shifts like she might pull away, I tighten my hold just a bit.
Not to restrain, but to remind her she’s not alone in this.
She wanted to keep us hidden.
And for a while, I played it her way.
But now that’s over.
As we sit in the team owner’s office with everything about to crumble, I’m done pretending.
Hugh steeples his fingers, elbows braced on the desk as his gaze flicks between us.
His expression gives nothing away. “Oliver, this is a surprise. I wasn’t expecting you to join us.”
My stare doesn’t waver. “If something involves Rina, it involves me too.”
The woman next to me flinches. It’s a small movement, but it lands with the force of a blow.
Hugh’s eyes narrow. “Then I don’t suppose there’s a need to ask if you two are in a relationship.”
Rina falters, her body rising and falling too fast as she stares at her lap. When she finally lifts her chin, it takes visible effort, as if she has to summon every ounce of strength.
“No,” she says quietly. “Oliver and I have been seeing each other.”
Hugh exhales, the sound deliberate and controlled. “I’m sure you’re aware that you signed a no-fraternization clause in your contract, Rina.”
Her shoulders cave inward, folding as though the reminder itself has weight. Her hands twist in her lap until her knuckles turn bone white. She knows exactly what that means.
Termination, public scandal, years of hard work gone in a puff of smoke.
The woman who has no problem commanding a room, who can make executives and reporters flinch under her hard stare, is gone.
All that’s left is someone who’s bracing for impact.
“I am,” she whispers.
The defeat in her tone is all it takes for me to snap into action.
My palm slams down on the arm of the chair with a crack before I lean forward. “She’s pregnant.”
Evelyn gasps, her hand flying to the spot just below her collarbone, as Hugh’s brows jerk upward in a rare moment of shock.
Rina turns her head toward me. Her eyes are wide as fear shimmers in them like fractured glass.
Evelyn’s lips part, as though to speak, but she presses them together again, composure snapping into place. Hugh leans back in his chair as his expression flattens into something unreadable.
I glance at Rina. The stricken look on her face hollows me out. Almost like I yanked the rug out from under her. She doesn’t see it yet, but laying everything bare is the only way to move forward.
At least, that’s what I tell myself as I reach for her hand, desperate to anchor her to me.
She flinches, as if my touch burns.
For a moment, I wonder if I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Rina doesn’t understand that I’d tear down the world for her.
But what if the first thing I destroy is the life she built for herself?
The one that lets her stand on her own two feet and makes her feel safe?
