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“Please, let me explain,” Hayley said. “I will fix this.”

Diadora shook her head. “In fact, you’re not to work with anybody else at My Single Alien. I have been speaking to Professor Grenville, and he tells me a very interesting story about your background.”

Elias saw a shiver run down Hayley’s back. “Don’t believe him. He’s a liar.”

“He’s not the one telling the lies. We can discuss this later. Needless to say, you’re fired. And you will face criminal charges when Professor Grenville is fit enough to make a statement.” Diadora turned and left the room, leaving Vegas, Hayley, and Elias staring after her.

“Hayley, what’s going on?” Vegas asked.

Hayley turned and buried her head against Elias’s shoulder. Her sobs broke his heart as she cried against him.

He shared a puzzled look with Vegas as he held Hayley close and let the tears fall. Something terrible had happened. Elias didn’t know what, but he’d help her figure out this mess and make everything right. He didn’t want her to cry ever again.

Chapter 27

Everything felt like a horrible, twisted nightmare. After Diadora had sacked her, Hayley retreated into her thoughts, not wanting to face up to what had happened. Her worst fears had come true. She’d failed Sally. She’d lost the one thing that was crucial to her. Without this job, she didn’t have the money to keep her sister alive. Sally would die, and it was all her fault. She’d gotten her head turned and lost it all.

Hayley felt in a daze as she let Elias lead her from the room where she’d just claimed him and had experienced a few moments of joy as she’d reveled in their success. That success felt hollow and false.

Hayley heard Elias talking to Vegas but didn’t pay attention to their conversation. His hand remained on her waist as he guided her along the corridors, always ready to offer her comfort.

She realized they were in the medical room and stayed there for half an hour as they got their bites treated with nano-med patches. Hayley barely noticed as her wounds were dressed and her injuries cleaned. They would be fully healed by the end of the day, thanks to the alien tech they used on Prodigy.

Then she was on the move again and being guided along another corridor.

Elias kept speaking to her, but Hayley couldn’t respond. Everything was ruined. What would she do now? There had to be a way to get her job back. Maybe she could beg Diadora, tell her the whole story, how Raymond had tried to blackmail her into sleeping with him. How he’d messed up her education. If she could get Diadora to see the real Professor Grenville, she might not be so quick to believe his story.

“In here.” Elias stopped walking. A door slid open, and he urged her through.

She blinked as the lights lit a cozy living room furnished with a dark gray couch and a small table.

Hayley felt Elias’s hand on her shoulder as he turned her to him. She leaned against him and let more tears fall. She felt defeated. It was all lost.

He let her cry for another minute before gently pulling her away and wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I’m not going to pretend to know what’s making those lovely eyes so sad, but I think you’ve been dealing with a lot on your own. You don’t have to do that anymore. Not now that you have me.” His voice was quiet but confident. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Elias led her to the couch, and they both sat. He lifted her legs and draped them over his thighs before tucking his arm around her shoulders and drawing her close.

Hayley sat there, cocooned in his warm comfort as the tears faded. If she could only stay like this forever. She would never leave this room and let Elias take care of her. He could solve this mess she’d landed herself in.

Of course, that was a lovely idea, but she’d screwed up big time and had to figure this out for herself. “I don’t know where to begin.”

“Let’s start with this professor. What’s his deal?”

Hayley drew in a slow breath. “I’ve known him for years. He taught me in college. He was one of the people who inspired my love of paleontology.”

“Now he’s here on Prodigy to match with Princess Isolt?”

Hayley swallowed the lump in her throat. “He wasn’t just my lecturer. When I was his student, we became... close. I was only eighteen and as naïve as they come. I thought I loved him. And I thought he loved me. I fell hard, and he took advantage.”

She felt Elias stiffen, and his arm tightened around her. “He used you?”

“He got exactly what he wanted and then dumped me. He made it look like I cheated on an exam and got me thrown out of college.”

Elias grumbled and stroked a hand down Hayley’s hair. “He deserves to be mated to Princess Isolt. She will teach him a lesson in how to treat a woman. She might be unhinged, but she’s fiercely protective of female rights. You mess with a female Retar, and as I know, you rarely get away with it.”

Hayley smiled. “Even though I hate her for what she did to you, I hope she whips his ass.”

“That’s all there is to his involvement with you? From the way your boss spoke, he’d told her something about you. Something that ended with you losing your job.”