Chapter 38 Baird
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
BAIRD
Seeing Maia, recognizing the heartbreak in her big violet eyes, I knew I had made the right decision. I’d do just about anything to make her eyes light up with happiness again.
Beth had called Callan while I was leaving the club and told him that Maia was going into Pennington’s to end the campaign.
I couldn’t let that happen.
Not just because I didn’t want her to lose everything she’d worked so hard for but because I had my heart set on marrying her in two weeks.
Leaving the club had been bittersweet. I’d been with Caley since I was sixteen and played for them professionally for the last eight years.
For the longest time, the grounds of Caledonia United was my home.
But truthfully, it had stopped being that place for me since my injury.
I was never able to look at it or feel about it the same way.
I left there at peace with my decision.
“Can I talk to Maia alone?” I asked the two classy older women.
Hilary Erstwhile raised an eyebrow. “You do realize this is my office?”
“We’ll talk in My’s office, then.” I nodded at my stunned fiancée. “All right, My?”
“Oh, it’s fine.” Hilary waved Christina to go ahead of her. “You have five minutes and then we really need to discuss the campaign.”
I nodded, stepping aside to let them pass. As soon as the door closed, I knelt at Maia’s feet and took her hands in mine. “Baby, are you okay?”
She searched my face, sounding a bit breathless. “What are you doing here?”
“Stopping you from stopping this. Did you tell them yet?”
“How did you—” Realization dawned, and she grimaced. “Beth?”
“My, you cannot quit this campaign. There’s no point. You and I are getting married in two weeks, and it would be nice if we didn’t have to pay for it.”
Pain etched in her gorgeous face as she tugged unsuccessfully on her hands. “I can’t let you do that.”
Frustration roiled in my gut, but I tamped it down. “It’s done. I’ve been to the club, and I told the gaffer I quit.”
Maia shot to her feet, wrenching us apart. “No!”
“Aye.” I stood slowly, reaching for her waist to pull her to me.
She shoved gently at me, but for once I refused to let her go. I pulled her close, bending my forehead to hers. Maia whimpered at the connection and stopped struggling.
“I can’t let you throw away your career. Not for me. We’ll end the campaign and then when things blow over, maybe Burbank won’t care anymore.”
I jerked back, disbelieving. Maia wouldn’t meet my gaze. I cupped her face. “My.”
Waiting, my heart in her fucking hands, I stayed silent until she finally lifted her eyes to mine.
They shimmered with unshed tears. “Bear … it’s your safe place. Your home. I can’t take that from you.”
“Aye? You can’t take my safe place, my home?
Okay, well, the fucking club is not that.
You are. You are my safe place now. Maia …
I love you so fucking much.” Emotion got the best of me, my voice catching.
“If I thought the injury threw my life off course … bloody hell, My, losing you would destroy me in ways I won’t ever come back from.
I have never loved anything as much as I love our relationship.
Anything. It was a pretty fucking easy decision to tell Burbank where to stick his fucking club.
I didnae mean tae swear so much during this convo, so sorry about that, but the only thing that terrifies me is losing you. Awright?”
Her tears brimmed over as she squeezed her eyes closed, her fingers sliding around my wrists as she melted against me.
Relief eased the cloying panic in my chest. “Football was never going to last. I mean, I’ll have to move out of my apartment because I won’t be making as much until Blantyre takes off, but—”
“You know I don’t care about that stuff.” Maia jerked away. “I would live in a shoebox with you.”
My lips twitched. “Aye, it’ll no’ come to that.”
Her eyes dimmed. “Did you see the article today? I haven’t seen it. But apparently, he wrote about Dad being in prison.”
As tears spilled down Maia’s cheeks, part of me wished I’d beat the shit out of Craig Bennet after all. Yet I knew if I had, I wouldn’t be here to wipe those tears away. “I saw, baby.”
A wee sob escaped her lips, breaking my fucking heart. “I haven’t spoken to Dad or Grace yet. Or Aunt Shannon. I feel so selfish. When we started this … I was so set on doing it that I didn’t allow myself to really think about how this could impact them.”
“My, you couldn’t have known Bennet would write about your family. I know for a fact they’ll be more worried about you than you are about them.”
“I want to go to them. I need to.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
She searched my face and despite the love she couldn’t hide, I still waited nervously for her response. “I’m sorry for pushing you away. It’s only because I love you so much.”
“I know, My. But please, don’t do it again. It … hurts.”
New tears spilled free. “I’m sorry.”
I kissed the tears away. “No more sorries,” I whispered. “It’s done. We’re good.”
A throat cleared behind us, and I cuddled Maia protectively to my chest as I glanced over my shoulder. Hilary and Christina stood in the doorway.
Hilary appeared uncomfortable. “I hate to break this up, but we really do need to discuss the campaign.”
“We do that, then Maia gets the rest of the day off so she can go see her family,” I negotiated.
Christina smirked, I think in approval, behind Hilary’s back.
Hilary sighed. “Fine.”
“Fine.” I wrapped both arms around Maia, not letting her go as her bosses entered the room. “The wedding’s still on. I spoke to my publicist, and she suggested we don’t fan the flames. Especially as the campaign is almost at an end. No response. Continue on as we have.”
Maia gently extricated herself from my arms, wiping at her cheeks. I let her go because she was in a professional situation and I knew she wanted to respect that. However, I felt her fingers twine with mine at our sides, her grip tight as she met her bosses head on. “I agree with Baird.”
Crossing her arms, leaning her arse on her desk, Hilary sighed.
“Well, there’s been some negative backlash about Pennington’s not checking their employee history carefully enough.
As irrational as that sounds, we do have to listen to public opinion.
Our publicist suggested you make a statement distancing yourself from your family. Including your father.”
Maia sucked in a harsh breath. “I’m sorry, but that’s never going to happen.”
Pride swelled in my chest even as I felt like hunting down their publicist and telling them to buy a fucking soul.
“I thought that’s what you’d say.” Hilary gestured to Christina.
“Christina insists you’re invaluable to the company.
I can’t argue that you’re very good at your job, Maia, but I do have to protect my company’s reputation.
Iain and I will not be the people who ruin Pennington’s.
I’m afraid I will need you to make that statement. ”
“No.” Maia jutted her chin. “Go ahead and fire me. End the campaign. For all your talk of loyalty, Ms. Erstwhile, please do be a hypocrite and give into the minority of irrational voices who just happen to be louder than the masses. Punish the person who has given a decade of her life and sacrificed her personal privacy for this company just to appease a couple of morons on the internet.”
I squeezed her hand, wishing I could fucking whoop with joy at the sight of Maia letting go of her people-pleasing ways to stand up for herself. Christina bowed her head to look at her shoes, but I witnessed the smile she was trying to hide.
Hilary raised one eyebrow and pushed off the desk. Her cheeks flushed red, and she opened and shut her mouth. I could practically hear Maia’s heart pounding, and I rubbed a thumb over the pulse at her wrist, reminding her I was right there.
Finally, her boss crossed her arms over her chest. “While I don’t appreciate your tone, I can’t deny there’s truth in what you said.”
“Hilary,” Christina spoke up. “This will all blow over. As soon as they see the video of Maia walking down the aisle in her wedding dress and saying her vows to her ridiculously good-looking footballer fiancé, they’ll forget everything else. And our bridal sales will go up.”
She considered this while I kept my mouth shut about the fact that I was no longer a professional footballer. That was something we’d deal with later.
Hilary glanced among us all, her expression unreadable.
“Fine.” She nodded. “No response it is, then. But I am suggesting to marketing that we end the campaign after the wedding if the conversation keeps turning back to Maia’s family.”
Maia slumped against me, and I wrapped my arm around her. “So, we’re good?” I asked.
“We’re good. But I expect you back in the office tomorrow, Maia.”
She nodded. “I’ll be here.”
“Right, well, I have a business to run …” Hilary waved in a shooing gesture.
Maia thanked her and I walked her out with Christina at our backs.
“I hope your family is okay, Maia,” her boss said as we walked toward the lifts.
“Thank you, Christina. For everything.”
She raised a dismissive hand. “I told you my reasons. And to be clear, I don’t hold anyone’s family against them.”
“My dad is a good man,” Maia said instantly, tone brittle.
Christina nodded. “I have a younger sister. I don’t know what I’d do if someone hurt her, so I understand.”
“Thanks,” Maia whispered. “I just … I hate that everyone knows their private business. I hope my aunt Shannon can forgive me.”
“Go to your family. I’ll see you in the office tomorrow.”
Guiding Maia into the lifts, I was about to tell her how proud I was of her when an arm appeared to block the doors from closing.
An out-of-breath young woman with blond hair that ombré’d into pastel pink stood there, eyes wide. “Maia.”
“Liza?” Maia pulled away from me. “Are you okay?”
Liza stepped onto the lift with us and the doors closed. I knew she was Maia’s assistant buyer and that there had been some weirdness between her and My because of Becky.
“I wanted you to know that it was me.” She pressed a button so the lift couldn’t descend.
Confused, I watched Maia note the move and ask cautiously, “What was you?”
“I was the one who told Christina about Becky emailing that journalist.”
Wait, what had I missed?
My fiancée gaped at Liza, but the girl continued quickly, “I knew she’d found out about your mum and got the journalist to contact her. And I felt horrible about it, Maia. I felt sick. Becky kept telling me you were this terrible person, but you’re like the best boss I’ve ever had.”
What the fuck?
It was Becky!
“Liza, it’s okay,” Maia insisted.
“No, it’s not. When I … last night she told me about your dad and about the article that would appear in the paper today.
” Liza’s gaze moved to me, but she couldn’t quite meet my eyes before she returned her attention to Maia.
“Let’s just say, I know what your aunt must have gone through, and I had someone in my life who did what your dad did, but he got away with it.
It would have killed me if he’d gone to prison for protecting me. ”
Fuck me.
Suddenly, I realized what her look had been. She was uncomfortable divulging this info in front of me, and honestly, I felt like shit for not being able to escape and give her and Maia privacy.
“Oh, Liza.” Maia reached out to squeeze her arm.
“It finally cemented the truth—that Becky was the horrible person in this scenario, so I told Christina.”
Clearly, I’d missed a big revelation today.
“Thank you, Liza. Thank you for being brave enough to do that.”
“It wasn’t brave. Brave would have been standing up to Becky months ago.” She shrugged, cheeks flushed.
“I’m still grateful.” Maia nibbled her lush lower lip and then asked, “Do … do you know why she hates me? I know it shouldn’t bother me, but it would be nice to know her motivations.”
Liza shook her head. “She never said. She did mention she was friends with your ex-fiancé’s new or old girlfriend or whatever and that he said you were a bitch. But that’s it. But … I think she was jealous of you, Maia. Like a not-normal kind of jealousy.”
“Jealous?” Maia huffed. “Why?”
“Because you’re gorgeous and smart and all the higher-ups love you here. She used to say stuff that was, like, factually incorrect, as if she was trying to convince herself. Like ‘Oh, Maia’s not even that pretty if you take away her hair and makeup.’”
I grunted at that fucking bullshit and Liza smiled.
Maia absentmindedly reached out to squeeze my arm.
“And she’d say like ‘Oh, you could do Maia’s job better, Liza, but she’s got Christina wrapped around her finger’ and …” She grimaced. “Some not nice things about why your fiancé was probably with you. It all reeks of—”
“Crazy jealousy,” I agreed. “Told you, My.”
Maia shook her head, dazed. “That’s nuts to me. Nuts! That can’t be the reason why she tried to destroy my career.”
Liza shrugged and hit the button to open the doors again. “It’s the only thing I can think of. Anyway, just wanted you to know. So … we’re all good, boss?”
In answer, Maia drew Liza into a hug and the young woman blushed and laughed.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“It’s a yes.” Maia released her and stepped back into me. I placed my hand on her hip as she waved at Liza. “Keep things going for me today. See you tomorrow.”
As the doors closed and the lift descended, Maia rested her head on my arm.
“As you might have guessed from that conversation, Becky was the one who found my mum and urged Craig Bennet to reach out to her and encouraged him to publish the story about my dad. She did it from her work computer, so when Liza told Christina, Christina and Hilary had the tech department log into Becky’s emails.
Becky just got fired for sabotaging the campaign. And now I’m emotionally exhausted.”
Bloody hell. Silver lining was that Maia didn’t have to put up with that rat anymore. “I know, babe. I’m right here, though.”
“I know.” She turned to press a kiss to my bare arm before looking up at me, gaze bright with worry. “And I’m going to need you when I face my family.”
The truth was I couldn’t imagine her dad or aunt being mad at Maia about this, but I was ready to protect her from anything, even them. “I’m not going anywhere, Maia soon-to-be McMillan. Not ever again.”