Chapter 32
JORDAN
I call Baylee the next morning from the home office at our apartment. The Being Libby Bennet crew is down at the arena today, and we need to keep a tight lid on this until we know more about what’s going on.
Once I’ve told her about the latest development in the Mitchell situation, she calls him some dirty names. I think my sister might have been a hockey player in another life. She certainly has the mouth of one.
“Agreed,” I say dryly.
“What are we going to do?” she asks. “And what about the others?”
“This isn’t for you to worry about. Redhaven won’t be paying Mitchell anything. Libby has someone looking into it.”
“This feels … bad,” she says, anxiousness coming through in her voice. “Like he must have something really incriminating.”
“Or he wants me to think he does,” I counter. “Even if he has something from Daria, there’s nothing to prove anything except that we went out a few times. Libby and I could say we weren’t serious yet. It would have been only two months into our supposed relationship.”
“The whirlwind relationship that led to you getting married after only six months,” she reminds me.
“Libby’s PR team is top notch.”
“That would be too easy.” Baylee’s voice is tight. I can hear the echoes in it of the days after we found out what Bryce had done and she felt responsible. The fact that Mitchell is another ex—even if it was from high school—has to be pulling all that back up again.
I have a moment of clarity that it’s no accident Libby came into my life.
That like Baylee, she has scars from the past that need gentle care.
And that I’m the man meant to be here for her, like I have been for Baylee.
It’s like I was prepared for Libby to fall into my life, like I had to go through the heartache with Baylee to be exactly what Libby needed.
“Bay. This isn’t for you to worry about, okay?
I promise you I will keep Redhaven safe.
My wife is a billionaire with a team of lawyers at the snap of her fingers.
I will take advantage of that for you and the foundation.
” I keep my voice calm and collected to ease her mind.
“You’re one of a very few people who know about me and Libby’s real situation, and we trust every single person who knows.
Mitchell thinks I’ll pay to keep this from my new wife.
Nothing has been leaked. He probably has no idea what he’s doing.
Even Libby thinks it’s an amateur attempt at getting some money, and if we have to pay it to keep this from blowing up, so be it. ”
“Okay,” Baylee concedes, but her voice is full of uneasiness.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” I promise.
I’m watching practice a couple days later, film crew in tow, when I get a text.
Unknown Number
You don’t have an infinite amount of time to pay up. You want your wife to find out about the cheating?
I glance around, checking the positions of the cameras.
No one is close enough to catch my screen—the camera guys would have to be right behind me.
Libby made sure we both have privacy screens on our phones after we got married.
Still, I stand up and start climbing the stairs toward the concourse, away from any prying eyes, before I answer.
No one from the crew follows, although I’d bet they still have a camera trained on me in case drama unfolds later.
I recognize the number the text came from as Mitchell’s. I agree with Baylee that there must be more to his threat. He can’t possibly think that I’ll cough up that much money to keep Libby from finding out.
I’m going to have to call his bluff and see what happens. He’s shown that he’ll escalate, going from making a fake claim to blackmail when we didn’t bite. Hopefully balking at his threat will make him reveal his hand to force me to pay.
Jordan
One picture on Daria’s Instagram? We’re just out to dinner. My wife’s definitely going to believe me over you that nothing is going on. She could be a donor for the Redhaven Foundation for all you know.
Unknown Number
Let’s find out.
I growl in frustration.
Jordan
I can’t pay you from the foundation fund, so it’s going to take time to get money without Libby getting suspicious.
Unknown Number
Don’t take too long. Offer expires soon.
I run a hand through my hair, staring at the messages. What does soon mean? Is he going to give me an actual deadline—or just randomly release the information without warning? Is that meant to spur me to paying ASAP?
“What are you doing up here?” Libby’s voice makes me look up from my phone to see her approaching. “Thought you’d be down there next to the boards, yelling at the guys with Coach Cooper.” She grins.
“Got a text.” I glance over her shoulder to make sure a camera didn’t follow her from her office, but she’s alone. I hand her the phone.
“Hmmm,” she says after a minute. She frowns and hands the phone back to me. “Ambiguous deadline?”
“Probably wants me to make a quick decision. He’s counting on me to panic and just do it.”
She taps a finger against her lips, something she does unconsciously when she’s thinking, although lately I wouldn’t put it past her to do it on purpose.
She’s admitted to me that while she’s grateful I’m respecting the boundaries she’s put in place, she also likes being reminded of my feelings when she crosses the line herself and flirts with me.
So I take her hand and pull it away from her lips, but keep it in mine.
Technically there is a camera down there pointed up at us.
She smirks and threads her fingers through mine.
“I’ll check in with Adam, but I don’t know if he’ll have anything to report after less than a week.
” A furrow forms between her brows. “Part of me wants to believe we can call Mitchell’s bluff on this, but another part of me doesn’t want to wait around for surprises. ”
“Baylee thinks there has to be more, and I agree.” I hate that Libby and I have to deal with this right now.
She has enough stress with taking over the team and the knowledge that the governing board is watching to see how everything goes.
At least so far things have been a success—an easy transition, the hiring of a coach everyone loves, the staff likes her, and the admins agree with our ideas to bring success to the team.
Most everyone has even been chill with the cameras for the show, and a few are definitely enjoying the spotlight and making sure they’re with Libby every possible chance to get on camera.
Libby nods. “I want to know what Mitchell knows. Hopefully it will just be what he says: that he thinks you cheated on me with Daria. We can let him post that and counteract it with our own narrative. But if it’s not, we’ll be prepared.”
I want to use our enjoined hands to pull her in for a kiss. I want to use the excuse that there are cameras right there and Tessie has been badgering Libby for more on-screen romance. I don’t even ask. No more kissing is the rule, even if it kills me.
I do lean over toward her. “You’re hot when you’re handling a crisis, boss.”
She lays a hand on my chest, likely to play up our closeness for the camera and get Tessie off her back a little. Still, I’m pretty sure we both enjoy it anyway. “Let’s take this amateur down.”
“Gladly.”