Chapter 28 Her First Steps
HER FIRST STEPS
DEREK
Paige nodded, making me smile.
“Her first steps,” I said, glancing between Paige and the tiny girl wobbling in my arms. Shit. Guilt twisted in my stomach. “I’m sorry… I should’ve waited. I should’ve called you so you could—”
She was already walking toward us, her eyes bright and legs unsteady. “No. No, it’s perfect,” she said, breathless. “She walked to you.”
Her words hit harder than they should have because they meant more than she realized.
Because for weeks now it had been me.
I carried Lily to bed when she fell asleep on the couch, I rocked her when she woke up crying at three in the morning, I recited contract clauses like bedtime stories until her little eyelids drooped. Me who had somehow, impossibly, become the man she trusted to catch her.
My chest squeezed as I looked down at Lily and at Paige.
I love you. I love your daughter and wish she was mine. Marry me.
I snapped out of my head when she stepped close enough to touch, her fingertips brushing the back of my hand. “Show me how you did it,” she whispered. “Make her walk again.”
I swallowed hard and set Lily back on her tiny feet. And as she toddled toward me, toward us, Paige laughed. And the bright, disbelieving sound of her voice shot straight into my heart.
Every time Lily took a step, my heart did something painful and stupid. Every time Paige’s hand slid a little closer to mine, something inside me ached.
Because in that living room, with her daughter stumbling toward us, I knew our relationship was labeled fake under a contract, but despite all that… she trusted me.
As long as she did, I’d do anything for her.
Even erase Jack and Olivia from her life.
The room smelled of concrete, lit by a single bare bulb that cast harsh shadows across the metal desk and two foldable chairs.
It looked like an interrogation room. Which, I supposed, was perfect.
I sat in one of the chairs, back straight, hands folded on the desk in front of me. I had promised Paige that I would take care of her and Lily.
No matter what.
And I wanted to keep my word even though I had to cross a few lines without the law.
I nodded once, and the door opened.
Cillian filled the doorway. He was six-foot-four of pure muscle and menace wrapped in a dark shirt, covered in tattoos that disappeared beneath his collar. An old scar on his lips.
His hand was wrapped around Olivia’s upper arm, guiding her into the room with a bored look on his face. She had a cloth bag over her head so she couldn’t identify the location.
“Sit,” Cillian said, his deep voice making the word sound almost pleasant. Almost.
He pushed her into the chair across from me and yanked the cloth away. Olivia’s dark hair was disheveled, her yoga clothes were rumpled from being grabbed after her Pilates class. Her eyes were wild with fear until they landed on me.
Then fear turned to anger.
“Get me out of this right now!” she screamed, lunging against the zip ties binding her wrists. “This is insane! This is—”
No one moved as I just watched her, letting the silence stretch until her shouting turned into heavy breathing.
“If you don’t let me go now, I’ll start screaming,” she hissed. “This is kidnapping, and I will call the cops—”
I sighed and slid a file across the desk. It landed with a thud that made her jump, and I watched the color drain from her face as I flipped it open.
“Paige’s jewelry,” I said, tapping the first inventory sheet.
“Three pieces, worth approximately fifteen thousand dollars. Her Cartier watch which was a gift from her grandmother. Two designer dresses, still with the tags on and twelve hundred dollars in cash from the lockbox in her closet.” I looked up, meeting her eyes. “Should I continue?”
Olivia’s jaw worked, but no sound came out.
Paige had mentioned things were missing and how she’d get them back after the divorce, but her gift from her grandmother had mysteriously appeared, courtesy of me.
“I wouldn’t call the police if I were you,” I said calmly. “Grand larceny tends to carry a sentence of three to five years in this state.”
The fight left her body, and she straightened in her chair, eyes darting between me and Cillian. He had taken a seat himself by turning his chair backward and resting his arms on the back like he was settling in for a show.
His dark eyes were lit with amusement.
“What do you want?” Olivia asked.
“Glad you’re smart enough to understand your position,” Cillian said with a smirk that made his scar pull tight.
She rolled her eyes, but I saw her hands trembling.
I pushed another file toward her. It was thicker this time.
“I know your history, Olivia. After graduating, you couldn’t land a job in your field and had to waitress to pay off your student loans.
Started… dating men when they approached you and didn’t care if they were married or not, as long as they—”
“I get it.” She cut me off. “You ran a background check on me. Congratulations. You know I’m a mess. Is there a point to this?”
“The point is we know you’re already planning to ditch Jack,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “You’ve been seen with Mark Henley twice this week who’s married and worth about twenty million. Sound familiar?”
She didn’t deny it.
“So?” she asked, lifting her chin. “What’s it to you who I date?”
“Nothing. Except we need your help with the case.”
She scoffed and leaned back. “Why would you need my help? Jack is losing it because he knows Paige will win and he has to pay a fortune in alimony.”
“We know that.”
“Then why the fuck do you need my help?”
“So that we can embarrass that piece of shit,” Cillian said. “Easy.”
Olivia frowned, looking between us. “How?”
“By confessing everything during the hearing in court,” I said. “The affair, the timeline and the fact that it started during Paige’s second trimester. All of it on record.”
“And if I don’t?”
Cillian and I both looked at the file in front of her. The one with evidence of her theft. The one that could send her to prison.
“You’re blackmailing me.” Olivia’s face paled.
“I’m giving you a choice,” I corrected. “Help us destroy Jack’s case, or face the consequences of your actions. Your call.”
She stared at me for a long moment, and I held her gaze without flinching. I would do far worse than this to protect Paige. Would burn the entire world down if it meant keeping her and Lily safe. Would break every rule and destroy anyone who tried to hurt them.
“Fine,” Olivia said finally. “I’ll do it.”
“Good,” I said, my shoulders relaxing slightly. “Cillian will give you the details about when and where.”
Cillian moved behind her, cutting the zip ties with a knife that appeared from nowhere. Olivia rubbed her wrists and stood, but stopped at the door, looking back at me.
“You didn’t have to kidnap me or dig up my past, you know,” she said, her voice quiet. “He was threatening to sell our videos. I wanted to get rid of him, so I would have helped you, anyway.”
“Then what about meeting Paige?” I asked, keeping my voice even.
Olivia sighed, and I saw genuine regret flicker across her face. “I’m sorry about that, but he was listening to us the whole time and had his phone recording everything.”
“Wait,” Cillian said. “What the fuck were you talking about? Videos?”
When she looked flustered and embarrassed, I sat up straighter because I recognized that look. I had seen it in enough clients over the years.
“Olivia,” I said, my voice gentler now. “I can help you, but I need to know what we’re dealing with.”
Her jaw clenched as she looked at the floor, at the walls, anywhere but at us. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.
“He drugged me and took videos of me where I’m… naked. When I tried to leave him after…” She swallowed hard. “After Paige found out, he showed me what he had and said he would send them to everyone if I didn’t stick around. If I didn’t do exactly what he said.”
He did that knowing he has a wife? A daughter?
Rage surged through me. Jack Mitchell is a dead man. He just didn’t know it yet. I was going to put him behind bars… or worse.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “We’ll get rid of them and I’ll make sure they never see the light of day.”
Olivia looked up, surprise written across her face. “Why would you help me?”
“Because what Jack did is illegal, and because no one deserves that.” I paused. “But also because you’re going to help me destroy him in court.”
She nodded slowly, relief making her shoulders relax.
“I know it doesn’t mean much now,” she said quietly. “But please tell Paige I’m sorry. What I did was terrible, and I regret it. She was always nice to me, and I—” Her voice cracked. “Sorry.”
Olivia stepped out only to stop short with a surprised gasp.
“Oh, you’re done?” A cheerful voice echoed through the space.
I followed them out to find Emma standing in an expensive garage gleaming with concrete floors and luxury vehicles.
She was maybe five-foot-three, with blonde hair pulled into a messy bun and curves that her casual dress did nothing to hide.
She beamed at us as if we had just finished a pleasant tea party instead of a blackmail session.
Cillian’s entire demeanor transformed. The scary guy disappeared, replaced by a man who looked at his wife like she had hung every star in the sky. He crossed to her in three strides and kissed the top of her head, his massive frame curling protectively around her smaller one.
“All done, Doll,” he murmured against her hair. “Sorry for the wait.”
“No worries!” Emma said brightly, then looked at me. “Did it go okay?”
“Thank you, Emma,” I said sincerely. “For letting me borrow your... interrogation room?”
“That’s just one of the garages,” she laughed. “We have four. Perks of being a billionaire, I guess.”
“You should thank me,” a voice called out, and I turned to see my best friend and law partner, Sean Tae, lounging on an expensive leather couch, slurping noodles from a takeout container. “I’m the one who convinced Cillian to help.”
Before I could respond, Chelsea, his girlfriend, settled herself directly on Sean’s lap, stealing a bite of noodles from his container.
She grinned at me, completely comfortable draped across Sean, who wrapped an arm around her waist like it was the most natural thing in the world. They looked adorable together with Sean feeding her noodles, Chelsea laughing at something he whispered in her ear.
“I didn’t know I was interrupting a double date,” I said dryly, ignoring the urge to smack Sean’s head for the smug look on his face. “I’ll see you around—”
The doorbell rang, echoing through the massive space.
“Oh, perfect!” Sean said cheerfully. “That must be Paige.”
“What?”
Sean spoke slowly, like explaining to a kid. “I. Invited. Paige. Over. For. Dinner.”
I looked at Cillian, who shrugged one massive shoulder. “Doll—Emma wanted to have people over, and I can’t say no to her.”
Emma beamed up at her husband, going on her tiptoes to kiss his scarred jaw, and I watched this six-foot-four wall of muscle melt like butter. It would have been comical if I wasn’t having a minor panic attack.
Because I understood exactly how he felt and what it was like to be completely, utterly whipped by a woman who had no idea how much power she held. The lengths you would go to, the lines you would cross just to keep her safe and happy and yours.
The doorbell rang again, and my heart hammered against my ribs.
Paige was here. In the same building where I had just blackmailed her ex-friend into testifying against her ex-husband.
And as Emma bounced toward the door to let her in, I realized that I would do it all again.
Would do far worse if necessary.
Because Paige and Lily were mine now. And I’d be damned if I let anyone take them away from me.