Chapter 14
HUDSON
Three days without any word from Serena, and I was already falling apart. I knew she got the Hale & Honey cake I sent over to the hotel, but only because Avery posted it to her stories on social media and hadn’t blocked me there yet.
The media frenzy Maddie had started still hadn’t died out, so Serena hadn’t posted anything new recently. And she’d extended her stay at the hotel for another week, while a driver took Avery to and from school, and Serena used it as an excuse to buy them a bunch of new clothes.
All of which I only knew because I knew someone at the hotel. Their security was strict, but my contact was willing to give me limited information about Serena, as long as I kept my mouth shut about where I got it if I was ever asked.
Seeing those photos pop up of her and Avery driving into the underground garage after everything went down had been bittersweet.
I was relieved she had somewhere safe to stay where no one could easily reach her, but I was also sad and guilty that she and Avery had been run out of their home because of my mistakes.
Yet another thing I needed to make right. Which today would hopefully accomplish.
I stood in front of the mirror in my walk-in closet while Sarah held up two ties for me to consider.
“The navy is safer.” She lowered the other option to her side. “It’s classic and says that you’re taking this seriously, but you’re still the action hero America trusts.”
Glancing at her over my shoulder, I asked, “You got all that from a tie?”
“Um, yeah.” She quirked a brow. “Have you never heard how Sally talks about your wardrobe?”
My stylist took her job very seriously, and she would’ve had a fuck of a lot more to say about that tie. But that didn’t mean I was going to wear it.
“Neither.” I stared at my reflection. The man looking back at me looked exhausted. I unbuttoned the top button of my white shirt and rolled the sleeves to my forearms. “No tie. Just this.”
Sarah’s eyebrows shot up. “You look great, but that is way more casual than what you normally wear on camera.”
“Exactly.” I met her gaze in the mirror. “I’m not doing the polished Hudson Holt routine today. I’m telling the whole ugly truth.”
“Does Bianca know about this plan?”
“No.”
Sarah’s audible gasp at my answer was understandable. My publicist was going to flip her shit when she saw what I was about to do, but by then it’d be too late. The interview would be out there already, and she’d be stuck managing the fallout.
“Is that why you’re doing it here?” Sarah asked as she put both ties away. “Fewer people to leak this whole thing to Bianca?”
“No, I just refuse to hide behind a neutral studio set.”
As I walked out of the large closet, the ocean crashed behind the floor-to-ceiling windows—the same view Serena used to love waking up to. If I was going to bare my soul, I wanted it to happen in the house where I still felt her presence.
Elena Vargas arrived exactly on time. She was intelligent, respected, and known for not letting celebrities off the hook with canned answers. Perfect for what I had planned.
We sat across from each other on the big sectional while the camera crew finished setting up. Sarah hovered just out of frame, tablet in hand, ready to step in if anything went sideways, although I knew she was mentally cussing me out for not calling Bianca instead.
She wasn’t alone in that. Elena’s producer checked in with me one last time before the cameras started rolling. “We’re ready to go, but you’re certain you want to do this without Bianca?”
I hadn’t done an interview without my publicist in the room in more years than I could recall.
She liked to be close enough to ensure I didn’t answer any off-limits questions and that the interviewer stayed on topic.
But that wasn’t an issue today because I needed to fight lies with the truth, and I could only do that by being open and honest without too many guardrails, which Bianca definitely would’ve put in place.
Elena shot her producer an exasperated look. “Quit trying to talk him out of this.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I waved off their concern. “I’m not going anywhere until we’re done, and I don’t need my publicist here.”
Elena smiled. “You heard the man.”
“Easy for you to say,” her producer muttered before stepping back with a frown. “You’re not the one who’s going to get their butt reamed when this airs. I am.”
With my confirmation that I was determined to do the interview, she quickly got the cameras rolling.
Elena leaned forward, her mic clipped neatly to her blouse.
“Hudson, you’ve always been famously private about your dating life.
You’ve never commented on rumors, except with expertly crafted statements from your publicist when you were ready to go public with a relationship or when you were back on the market again.
So what’s changed? Why are we here today? ”
I didn’t look at the camera. I looked straight at her, then past her toward the spot on the deck where Serena and I had shared late-night wine and laughter before everything went to hell.
“Because being quiet won’t stop the speculation that’s swarming around Serena and me.
” My voice came out rough, and my signature devilish smirk was nowhere to be seen.
“It’s not my dating life we’re talking about.
It’s my love life. Serena Watts is the only woman I’ve ever loved.
The only one I want to build a future with. And I messed that up. Badly.”
Elena’s eyebrows lifted slightly, the first real reaction I’d seen from her. “That’s quite a statement coming from you. Walk us through what happened. The public has seen the photos and rumors. What’s the real story from your side?”
I took a slow breath, letting the regret settle in my chest before I spoke. “I let someone from my past get way too close. My childhood friend moved to LA after a bad breakup. I gave her a job as an assistant I didn’t even need when she couldn’t find a job on her own.”
“None of that is groundbreaking news to my viewers,” she pointed out. “It had already been uncovered that you two grew up together, which only added to the speculation about your relationship with Maddie.”
“There was no relationship beyond friendship, except for my role as her boss,” I bit out, shaking my head. “I gave someone I thought I could trust access to my life, home, and schedule. And she used her position to damage the woman I love.”
“The red-carpet leak?” Elena asked.
“That was just the tip of the iceberg,” I admitted with a sigh. “There were too many instances when I chose loyalty to the wrong person over the woman who holds my heart.”
Elena nodded, her lips pursing. “I’d think one time was too many.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “And because of my choices, Serena got hurt. Publicly, repeatedly, and painfully. The photos, rumors, and speculation that I was cheating—all of it happened on my watch. That’s on me.
Not Serena. Or even the press. I opened the door to the shit Maddie pulled, and firing her after the damage was done doesn’t erase my culpability. ”
Elena nodded slowly, giving me space. “Firing a childhood friend must’ve been difficult. How did that conversation go?”
I let out a short, humorless laugh. “Exactly how I needed it to. She arranged the photos, and I have a witness to her confessing to it.”
“That certainly counts as cause for firing,” Elena murmured. “Did she say why she did it?”
I gave a rueful laugh. “She thought she was protecting me from Serena’s so-called jealousy over our friendship, which was a complete fabrication on Maddie’s part. I’d been blind to her machinations for months, but she’s no longer part of my life in any capacity. I’ve cut off all contact.”
“So you fired your childhood friend after the damage was already done,” Elena pressed, not unkindly but firmly. “That’s convenient timing. What would you say to the people who think this is all performative?”
I paused, looking directly into the camera for the first time.
“I’m here today because Serena deserves to hear—from me, publicly—that I see exactly what I did wrong.
I’d like for her to know I’m choosing her.
Every single time from now on. No more excuses or putting anyone else first. She’s my priority for as long as she allows me in her life. ”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Sarah’s hand tighten around her tablet. She didn’t say a word, but the proud nod she gave me when Elena wasn’t looking told me she understood how much I meant what I was saying.
“That’s a pretty apology, Hudson.” She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. “But a lot of people watching will wonder if this is just damage control. You’ve built an entire career on being the strong, silent type. Why should anyone believe you’re suddenly willing to burn it all down for one woman?”
“I’m willing to grovel for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes to prove I can be the man Serena deserves.”
Elena studied me for a moment, the silence stretching just long enough to make an impact. “You seem like a very different Hudson Holt than the one we usually see. The guarded action star who never talks about his personal life.”
“Because the old version wasn’t good enough for the woman I love.”
The rest of the interview blurred into a haze of honest answers.
I didn’t deflect or try to spin anything to make myself look better.
When Elena asked about the future, I told her I was taking it one day at a time—starting with showing Serena that she was my priority.
When she asked if I was worried about backlash, I admitted my only concern was losing the best thing that had ever happened to me.
When the cameras finally cut, Sarah gave me an approving nod from across the room. Elena stood and shook my hand. “That was brave. Not many people in this town are willing to go there.”
I didn’t deserve her admiration. Not when I’d dragged Serena into this bullshit by not listening to her. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
I walked out onto the deck the second they left, gripping the railing until my knuckles went white. I’d broken every rule I used to live by about keeping my private life private.
But it still wasn’t enough.
I kept imagining Serena watching this, wondering if I really was finally seeing what she’d tried to show me for months.
Words on camera were easy. Proving I meant them was going to be the hardest thing I’d ever done. And the terrifying part was that I still didn’t know if Serena would ever let me try.