Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
MAYA
I’m icing cupcakes when I hear the front door open.
At first, I don’t think anything of it, Jacko had training, and he usually pops back around lunchtime when Lila’s still at nursery and the kitchen’s calm.
But something’s wrong. I can feel it before I even turn around. He doesn’t call out. Doesn’t say, Hey, honey, or Smells good in here, like he usually does. Just quiet, heavy footsteps and the sound of the door clicking shut behind him.
I set down the piping bag and wipe my hands on my apron. “Owen?”
He appears in the doorway a second later. Still in his training kit, hoodie unzipped, hair damp from the showers. But his face… His face stops my breath.
Pale. Set. Eyes storm-dark.
I grip the edge of the counter. “What happened?”
Jacko runs a hand down his face. “We need to talk.”
He shows me the screenshot on his phone.
My vision tunnels.
The edges blur.
Cute family. Shame she forgot who they really belong to. I’m coming back. Tell your tough guy to stay out of it if he knows what’s good for him.
At first, I can’t speak.
Then I hear my voice, distant and hollow.
“He’s watching us.”
Jacko nods once. “Someone took that photo at the game. Coach is pulling CCTV. The team’s on it.”
I take the phone from him, rereading the words. Over and over. Like maybe they’ll change. Like maybe I misunderstood.
But I didn’t.
It’s him. Jamie.
He’s back. Or he’s close. Or he will be soon.
The fear swells so fast it makes my knees buckle. Jacko catches me before I hit the floor, arms locking around my waist as I press my face into his chest, breath coming in short, shallow gasps.
“I can’t…” I rasp. “I can’t do this again.”
He holds me tighter. “You’re not alone this time.”
“I need to leave,” I whisper. “I have to go. I have to take Lila and go.”
Jacko leans back just enough to see my face. “Maya,”
“He found us,” I say, voice rising. “He saw us at the rink. He took that photo. He’s here. You don’t understand, he’s dangerous. I can’t let him hurt her.”
His hands cup my face. Gentle. Steady.
“He won’t get near her.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“I can.”
He says it with a kind of stillness that anchors something in me. But the fear is louder.
“I need to pack,” I say, pulling away. “I’ll go to Mum’s or somewhere far. I just need time to think. I can’t…I won’t let him near Lila.”
“Maya, please,”
“I’m serious.”
“I know you are.”
I push past him and run upstairs. I don’t think. I move on autopilot. Open the drawers. Grab Lila’s clothes. Pyjamas. Shoes. Her unicorn hoodie. Every time I fold a pair of leggings, my hands shake harder.
Downstairs, I hear Jacko moving. A door opens. Voices; his, low and tight. Then others. Familiar.
Ollie. Murphy. Dylan.
Oh God, he called them here.
I stuff the last of Lila’s things into a duffel and grab the emergency envelope I keep tucked in the lining of her suitcase. Cash. Documents. Birth certificate.
Just in case.
I never thought I’d have to use it. But that’s the problem, I didn’t think. Getting involved with someone as high profile as Owen was a huge mistake. My heart clenches and my vision blurs again.
I hear footsteps on the stairs. Jacko’s voice outside the bedroom door.
“Maya. Let me in.”
I close the suitcase and zip it hard. “I have to go.”
The door creaks open behind me. He walks in, slowly. Like I’m a wild animal he doesn’t want to spook. I can’t look at him. If I do, I’ll break.
He reaches for the suitcase. “You don’t have to run.”
I snatch it back. “You don’t understand. He… he took everything from me once. I can’t let him do it again.”
Jacko crouches in front of me. Not to block the door. Just to be close. “He won’t. Not this time.”
My throat tightens. “You don’t know him.”
“No. But I know you. And I know you don’t want to live in fear anymore.”
“I want Lila to be safe.”
“She is safe. With us. With the team.”
I blink at him. “What?”
He offers a small, fierce smile. “They’re downstairs.
Already running interference. Daz is scanning IPs.
Coach has security watching your flat and this place.
Murphy’s calling someone at the league for digital takedown.
Ollie’s threatening to sit outside your bakery every morning with a cricket bat. ”
A stunned laugh escapes me.
Jacko reaches for my hand. “We’re not going anywhere. Neither are you.”
I start to cry. Not loud, gulping sobs. Just quiet tears that slide down my face and drip onto the suitcase. “I was so stupid to think we were safe.”
“No.” Jacko’s voice is steel. “You were brave enough to build something good. That’s what’s scaring him. He’s losing the power he had over you. He sees you happy and strong and loved and he hates it.”
He brushes a tear from my cheek.
“He doesn’t get to take this from you.”
I nod, slowly. “Okay.”
Jacko looks me in the eye. “Okay?”
I take a shaky breath. “Okay.”
He presses his forehead to mine.
“I’ve got you.”
Downstairs, the living room is full of Raptors.
Murphy’s on the phone. Dylan’s pacing. Ollie’s flipping through a spiral notebook with SECURITY PLAN scrawled across the front in pink gel pen.
I pause at the edge of the stairs, stunned by the scene. By the sheer presence of them.
These big, loud, ridiculous men with hearts like fortresses.
Jacko reaches for my hand. “Told you.”
Murphy glances up. “Hey, Maya.”
“Hi,” I croak.
Dylan offers a half-smile. “We’re sorting this.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
Ollie shrugs. “Say thank you with cake later.”
Jacko squeezes my hand. “You okay if we loop Sophie in?”
I nod. “Yeah. She deserves to know.”
“She’ll be here soon, not even a due date could keep her away,” Murphy says. “Already told me to put the kettle on.”
I shake my head in disbelief, these guys have become my family in such a short space of time and I don’t know what I did to deserve them. “Murphy, you can’t let her come over, she could go into labour any second!”
Murphy shakes his head and lets out a laugh. “And she’d thank you for that, trust me. That kid is too comfy in there.”
“You got anything you need from your flat?” Dylan asks. “We can go get it. Quietly. In and out.”
I shake my head. “Most of it’s here now. Just... photos, maybe. And Lila’s blanket.”
“We’ll get it,” Jacko says. “You don’t need to go back there.”
A new wave of tears threatens, but I bite it down. “Thank you. All of you.”
Murphy waves a hand. “You’re family.”
Ollie adds, “Anyone messes with Lila’s bedtime stories again, they answer to me.”
Jacko smirks. “Still traumatised from last night?”
“She made me do shadow puppets, Jacko.”
Dylan snorts. I laugh, watery and small, but real. And just like that, the panic starts to fade. Not gone. Not fully. But wrapped in something stronger. Something like hope.
Later that afternoon, Sophie arrives with Mia and a stack of baby slings in case I “suddenly need to wear Lila like a tactical backpack.”
We sit around the kitchen table. The mood is tense, but threaded with love. Lila comes home from nursery and is immediately distracted by Mia’s glitter nails and Ollie’s promise of a new bedtime song. I watch her dance through the kitchen with zero idea that her whole world almost shifted again.
Jacko catches me looking. He crosses the room and kisses the top of my head. “You still packed the go-bag?” he murmurs.
“Yeah.”
“Keep it by the door. Just in case.”
I nod. “But I don’t want to run anymore.”
His eyes shine. “You won’t have to.”