66. Jordan
Chapter Sixty-Six
Jordan
“Kate? Kate!”
Her knees buckled before I could even process what the hell was happening. One second she was standing there with her phone clutched tight in her hand, the next she was folding in on herself, gasping like she couldn’t breathe.
I barely caught her in time. My heart fucking stopped.
“Jesus. Katie, breathe, babe, just breathe.” Her skin was clammy, her chest heaving under my hands, eyes wide and unfocused. I didn’t think it was the baby, but she was for sure having a panic attack. Shit. My stomach twisted hard.
I eased her down onto the side of the bed, crouched in front of her, trying to get her to look at me. “Hey. In through your nose, out through your mouth, yeah? I’ve got you. Nothing’s gonna happen to you, I promise.”
Her phone slipped from her hand. The screen lit up on the carpet.
That’s when I saw it.
The headline. The stupid, fucking headline.
Exclusive: JORDAN TAYLOR’S FIANCéE’S PAST UNEARTHED. FROM IVF TROUBLES TO TRAPPING THE TENNIS STAR WITH NEW BABY.
My vision went red.
I snatched the phone up, scanning the rest. A grainy shot of us in Melbourne, her hand over the bump, right next to a goddamn wedding photo of her and that smug bastard. Paragraphs dripping with bullshit. How she’d “moved on fast,” how she’d “trapped me with a baby.”
I could feel my pulse pounding at the base of my skull.
“Un-fucking-believable.” My hands shook around the phone. “They think they can do this to you? To us?”
Kate whimpered, pressing her palms over her ears like she could shut it all out. That sound near broke me. I dropped the phone, grabbed her face instead, forcing her eyes to mine.
“Listen to me. None of that shit is true. Not one word of it. You hear me?” My voice cracked with the sheer force of it.
“You are not their fucking story. You’re my fiancée, the mother of my son, and the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
And I swear to God, Kate, I will burn every single one of these parasites to the ground before I let them touch you. ”
Her chest was rising too fast, too shallow. Her hand clutched at the front of her T-shirt, like it was restricting her breath.
“Kate,” I said sharply, dropping to my knees in front of her. “Babe, look at me. Breathe with me, yeah? The baby needs you to be okay. Our son needs you to be okay right now.”
She shook her head, gasping, eyes frantic. “I can’t…I can’t…”
My stomach dropped. “Hey, hey, I’ve got you,” I murmured, catching her hands, pressing them flat to my chest. “Right here. Feel that? That’s me. Just breathe with me. In and out. That’s it, Katie-girl.”
Her breaths stuttered against mine, her nails biting into my skin, but slowly the rhythm evened.
“Good. You’re safe. I’m right here,” I kept whispering until her body started to soften in my arms. My shirt was damp from her tears, my pulse still going a hundred miles an hour.
I wanted to break things. I wanted to burn that article to the ground and throttle Andrew with my bare hands. But right now? None of that mattered. All that mattered was her, tight against me, shaking like the world had caved in.
The phone buzzed again. Gwen’s name. I snatched it up before Kate could even flinch.
“Gwen…” My voice was rough.
“She hasn’t called me back.” Gwen’s voice was sharp and anxious. “Jordan, what’s happening? Is she—”
“She’s in a mess,” I cut in, trying to keep my voice steady, my hand stroking through Kate’s damp hair as she curled small against me. “She saw it, Gwen. I’ve got her, I’ve calmed her down a bit, but she’s…she can’t even get words out.”
“Okay.” Gwen didn’t hesitate. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Don’t move. Keep her with you.”
The line went dead, and I shoved the phone aside, tightening my hold. Kate was perched on my lap like she was trying to disappear into me, her cheek pressed to my chest. Her breaths were still shallow, her whole body limp, like she’d run out of fight.
“You’re alright,” I murmured against her hair. “You’ve got me. I’m going to fix this.”
She didn’t answer, didn’t even lift her head. She just pressed herself closer.
I eased her back against the cushions, kissed her tear-soaked hair, then snatched her phone off the carpet. My thumb jabbed at my own.
Matt picked up on the second ring. “Jordan—”
“What the fuck is this?” My voice was sharp enough to cut glass. “That headline…how the hell did they get those photos? Who leaked Andrew’s name? Why the fuck wasn’t this stopped before it went live?”
“Jordan, calm—”
“Don’t tell me to fucking calm down. My fiancée just collapsed on the fucking floor because of this shit. I want it gone. Tonight. Lawyers, statements, whatever the hell it takes. Nobody gets to drag her like this and make a pay cheque out of it.”
Matt hesitated. “We’re already drafting—”
“Draft faster. I don’t care what it costs. I want retractions, I want threats of lawsuits in every inbox by morning. And if that prick Andrew so much as gave them a sentence…” My jaw locked, hot rage flooding me. “…I’ll bury him in court.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Kate stirred. “Jordan…” Her voice was small, wrecked.
I forced my own tone down, gentler for her. “It’s alright, babe. I’m sorting it.” Then back into the receiver, all venom: “You hear me, Matt? Nobody…and I mean nobody…gets to write about her like that again.”
I ended the call before he could answer. My hands were still shaking, pulse hammering.
Then I turned back to Kate, softening instantly, holding her against my chest tighter. Her eyes were red and swollen but fixed on me like I was the only thing keeping her tethered.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered, cupping her face. “Always. Let them try. I’ll take every single one of them apart before I let them touch you again.”
By the time the door buzzed and Gwen’s footsteps came racing in, I’d managed to get her to the living room. Kate was still folded into me, numb, and I was still holding on like I’d never let her fall.
“Oh, babe,” Gwen breathed the second she caught sight of Kate.
Kate rose unsteadily, like she wasn’t fully aware of her own movements, and collapsed into Gwen’s arms. The sobs started again, wracking and raw. I felt so fucking helpless. Nothing I did felt fast enough. Nothing was enough.
Gwen stroked her back, steady as ever, before flicking her gaze to me. “Right, Jord. What’s the latest?”
“I’ve got Matt calling the legal team in,” I said, my voice clipped, the rage simmering just beneath the surface. “We’ll get a statement drafted, issue whatever threats we need to. They’re not going to get away with this.”
“It’s too late.”
Kate’s voice was a whisper. Broken, but it hit like a hammer. She pulled back just enough to look at us, her face blotchy and pale. “The whole world’s seen it now. They’ll believe it. They always do.”
Then she dropped a bomb. Her voice was barely audible. Her eyes stared at the floor like she couldn’t bear to look at me. Shame swallowed her whole.
“You’d have been better off if you’d never met me.”
My heart broke open. Gwen’s face crumpled. And before I could think, I was hauling Kate back into my arms, holding her like she was the only thing keeping me upright.
“Don’t you dare,” I growled, my voice rougher than I meant. “Don’t you even for one second say that.”
Her tears soaked my shirt. My throat burned, but I kept going, because she had to hear it.
“You know none of this is true. And so do I. I met you, I fell in love with you, fair and square. Having our son with you, marrying you, that’s the best thing that’s ever going to happen to me. Do you understand?”
She shook her head weakly, and my chest clenched tighter.
“Kate,” Gwen said softly, crouching so she was eye-level with her.
“Look at me. Andrew’s name is all over this.
We both know what he’s like. He could never handle you succeeding at anything.
And now you’ve moved on? You’ve built a life he couldn’t dream of.
To him, that’s the ultimate insult. That’s all this is. Him trying to claw you back down.”
Kate blinked at her through tears, trembling. I pressed my forehead to her hair, holding on like she might slip through my fingers.
My phone rang again. Matt’s voice filled the room from the speakerphone, calm as ever. “Alright, mate. First thing, we’ve got the legal team drafting a cease-and-desist. That article’s defamatory as hell. They’ve dragged IVF into it; that’s private medical history. A line they can’t cross.”
I paced the living room, phone clutched so tight my knuckles ached. Kate was curled against Gwen on the sofa, her eyes raw from tears. Her shoulders rising and falling like every breath cost her something dearly. I wanted to tear the bloody paper down brick by brick.
“Cease-and-desist isn’t enough,” I snapped. “I want them sued into the ground. Every cent they’ve got.”
“Which we’ll do,” Matt said evenly. “But for tonight, we control the narrative. We put out a joint statement. Calmly. Nothing defensive. You don’t dignify this kind of trash.”
Kate’s voice cracked across the room, weak and ruined. “It doesn’t matter what we say. People have already read it. They’ll believe it. They’ll think I…”
“No.” My chest clenched like it might cave in. I crouched in front of her, took her hands in mine. “Babe, look at me. They don’t get to decide who you are. Not Andrew, not some two-bit rag. Just us. Just me. I know the truth. And I’ll make bloody sure everyone else knows, too.”
Matt cleared his throat gently. “I’ve drafted something for you both to approve.” His voice softened a notch. “It puts you together, united. Nothing feeds the press faster than cracks. This shows the opposite.”
He read it aloud, steady and clean:
“We’re aware of a story published today regarding Kate’s past. We want to be very clear: the claims being made are false and deeply hurtful.
Our relationship is built on love, respect, and choice, not speculation.
We will not be commenting further on private matters, but we want to thank everyone who has supported us as we prepare to welcome our first child.
We’re excited to focus on that joy, together as a family. ”
Kate sniffed, wiped her eyes, her voice so small it killed me. “You really think…that’ll be enough?”
Matt didn’t hesitate. “It’s more than enough. It shuts it down, it protects you, and it makes Andrew look like the bitter little man he is. You’ll come out of this stronger.”
I looked at her, then at Gwen, who nodded firmly.
“Do it,” I snapped. “Send it out now. And put Kate’s name first.”
Matt paused. “That’s not—”
“I don’t give a shit what’s standard.” My voice came out like gravel, my chest heaving. “She’s not some fucking afterthought. She’s my fiancée. She’s the mother of my son. She comes first, always.”
My fists clenched. I wanted to put one straight through the wall—or better yet, straight through Andrew.
Rage tore at my chest. She hadn’t done a single thing to anyone except give her whole heart, over and over, and it gutted me that this was how the world repaid her.
She deserved love, safety and respect. Not this.
For the first time all night, a flicker of something passed over Kate’s face. Not relief, not yet. But a spark of belief. Like maybe, she wasn’t fighting this alone for once.