HADYN
I listen to Vanya berate her manager as quietly as she can in the backseat. My eyes find hers in the rearview mirror. Angry brown orbs burn into mine before dipping away.
“You’re supposed to be on my side,” she hisses to Juniper through her cell phone. “I don’t care how much he offered you. It could have been a million dollars. You shouldn’t have agreed to this.”
I blow out a breath, my gaze staying on her. The time I spent without her was torture, but I didn’t realize how much pain I’d been in until I picked her up today and saw her again. Now that she’s back in my orbit, I plan to catch up on all the times I missed out on looking at her.
“Juniper, I’m not playing, you—” She catches me staring and tilts the phone away from her face. “Hadyn Michael Mulliez, put your eyes back on the road before we end up wrapped around a lamppost.”
I laugh. Even the way she yells out my full name makes me feel like tap dancing. The guys were right. Why did I waste so much time sulking when I could have been with her? I could have felt alive sooner.
We arrive at the publishing house on time, but Vanya doesn’t get out of the car.
I twist around to face her. “What are you doing? You’re going to miss your meeting if you don’t get a move on.”
“Hadyn…”
The way she says my name is full of annoyance and yet it sounds like music to my ears.
I shift around so I can face her more easily. “Yes, ma’am?”
She scoffs. “I don’t know why you’re doing this and I don’t care. But Juniper’s lost his head and decided to take his annual leave all of a sudden, and Dejonae punked out on me.”
Actually, Dejonae was the one who informed me that Vanya needed an extra assistant. That gave me the idea and I wasted no time contacting Juniper.
“So,” Vanya purses her lips, looking aggravated by the turn of events, “until I can find a better option—”
“Thank you. I’ll do my best to assist you in everything you need.” I nod to the publishing house. “But if you don’t get out of the car, it’s not going to be good.”
She huffs. “Will you—”
“I’ll be right here when you get back. No matter how long it takes.”
She narrows her eyes. “I wasn’t going to ask that. Will you sign the divorce papers or not?”
I tap my watch.
She rolls her eyes.
I resist the urge to pinch her cheeks. She’s a big baby sometimes. But she’s my big baby and I’m never going to let her forget that.
As soon as I can convince her to stop throwing the d-word around.
Vanya throws my door open with a little more force than necessary and plants her feet on the sidewalk. When she turns back to glare at me, I take a mental snapshot. Her face is scrunched in annoyance. Her hair is styled in sexy waves cropped close to her face. She’s wearing an oversized dress that stops at mid-thigh and limited-edition sneakers.
I scowl at the length of her hoodie, noticing when men on the street stop to gawk at her. I’d drop my jacket over her shoulders to cover her up… if I didn’t think she’d slap me in the face with it.
Baby steps.
She hasn’t found a reason to kick me out yet and I’m not going to give her one.
Pulling my laptop out of the case, I set it up and call Will.
His wrinkled face appears on my cell phone screen.
“What are the latest stats, Will?” I ask, uncapping a bottle of water and drinking it.
He gives me an exhausted look. “Ma—Mr. Hadyn, the numbers haven’t changed since the last time you asked.”
“That’s not good.” I frown. “Put another billboard up then. I want Vanya’s face plastered everywhere.”
Will frowns. “Does Miss Vanya know you’re going to so much trouble for her?”
“Of course she doesn’t.” I take a swig of my water. “If she did, you’d be attending my funeral.”
“Even then, you’d probably find a way to give me a headache,” Will mutters.
I smirk at him. When I saw Vanya’s nude pictures floating around online, I immediately went on the offensive. I’m the only one who gets to enjoy that body and the thought of some punk getting off on my woman in his mom’s basement didn’t sit well.
So I took over Vanya’s portfolio. I’m sending her best photos to all the companies under the Mulliez family umbrella. Juniper already gave me the rights to do so and I’m grateful that dad hasn’t put up a fuss.
“We’re already seeing an upward trend in engagement. Also, our subsidiaries would like to use Miss Vanya’s likeness as well,” Will says.
“I’ll consider it. Right now, she belongs to me. I don’t want to share.”
Will clears his throat. “Have you looked at the profiles of the assembled racing team yet?”
“I’ll do that now.” I open the document Will sent.
We strategize and plan in the car. When I check my watch and see that it’s close to lunchtime, I order something for Vanya.
She looks stunned to see me when I knock on the door of her publisher’s office and set the food in front of her.
“T-thanks,” she mutters.
I wink. “Text me when you’re ready to go.”
Her jaw drops.
I nod at the president of the publishing company and make my exit. On the way out, I hear him yell, “Is that your husband?”
My smile climbs on my face.
Back in the car, I eat a sandwich while going over the data points of the potential drivers. I’m stunned to hear a rap on the door.
It’s Vanya.
I open the doors and hurry to gather all the papers spread out in my lap. Shuffling them haphazardly into my laptop bag, I set it on the ground.
“Where are we going next?” I ask.
She stares a hole into my neck. “What are you doing, Hadyn?”
“Assisting,” I say.
“It’s clear you have a lot of work to do.” Her eyes drop to where my bag is sitting. “This is inconvenient for you and awkward for me.”
“Why is it awkward?” I turn around.
She bites down on her bottom lip. “It just is.”
I watch her beautiful mouth and my blood boils. Sucking in a deep breath, I admit, “What do you give someone who has everything?”
She digs her fingers into the hem of her skirt. Her eyes aren’t icy anymore and I can tell she’s listening closely.
I scrape a hand over my chin. The suit doesn’t itch anymore, but it’s suddenly unbearably hot in the car and I wish I could shuck it off.
“Some guys use diamonds or fancy trips or a house. But you’ve got all of that. You can get all of that on your own,” I say.
Vanya’s always been self-sufficient. It’s the cornerstone of her character. You don’t look at her and think you can take advantage of her. You look at her and wonder how she’s going to change the world.
“So rather than come back to you with things you already have, I want to give you something you don’t. My shoulder.” I chance a glance at her. “My time. My understanding.”
She’s not moving an inch. The ice hasn’t completely thawed, but it’s better than before.
Vanya frowns. “What if I ask for your wallet?”
I fish it out of my pocket immediately and hand it over. “Have at it.”
“And your phone?”
That ends up in her palm too.
She narrows her eyes at me.
“You can have anything you want,” I say.
“And what do you want in return?”
“If all I can get is being around you like this, then I’ll take it.”
She takes a while to answer and in the seconds that stretch between us, I fight the tightness in my chest.
Finally, Vanya lets out a slow, shaky breath. “I’m going to the race track next.”
My eyes light up. Vanya never races, but she would stop in at the race track whenever she wanted to see either me or Max. She never said it was because she missed us, but we knew just the same. It was an unspoken agreement between us that when Vanya was in town, we’d meet her there.
I slow the car down in the parking lot and remember the moment when Max, Alistair and Darrel descended to knock some sense into me. I’m glad they did. Today, for the first time in a long time, I’ve been able to breathe.
Vanya climbs out of the car. Her sneakers sink into the grass as she moves higher up the hill and looks down at the cars zipping over the track.
I watch with her, recognizing one of the cars as Sterling’s, a new kid on the racing team and the first pick of my lineup.
“I heard about what you’ve been doing at the company.” She stares straight ahead as she speaks. “Max made sure to mention it when I dropped by the farmhouse.”
“It’s a lot more fulfilling than I thought it would be.”
“Why didn’t you go into racing yourself?” She looks up at me. “And just to clarify, I’m not asking this because I care. I’m asking because I’m curious.”
I laugh because she’s Vanya. She’s amazing and smart and thinks she’s invincible, but I can see right through her. “My days of living in the fast lane are over. I don’t have any desire to go back.” I turn to her. The urge to pull her into me is so strong that I can’t resist it. I step closer and touch her face. “Right now, all I’m focused on is the future.”
Vanya leans back.
My hand lingers in the air, cold and abandoned.
“If that’s true, why haven’t you been asking about Project Vegas?” Vanya demands.
I look at the race track as I battle a wave of grief. What happened wasn’t Vanya’s fault and I don’t want her to think that for a second. Knowing her, she’s already blaming herself. The woman thinks she can control heaven and earth if she puts her mind to it.
“I’m sorry,” I say heavily. “You’re right. I just… I didn’t know how to bring it up. I didn’t know how to be what you needed.”
“All I needed was for you to ask. For you to be there. Just because I… we…” she stutters, “just because we can’t be together doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to ask about our baby. I’m not that much of a villain.”
I blink rapidly. I’m pretty sure she spoke about ‘our baby’ in the present tense. As if Project Vegas is still with us.
Horror balloons in me and I grab her shoulders. “Vanya, I’m here for you, okay?” I pull her into my chest. “Project Vegas will always be a part of us.”
“Hadyn.” She balls her hands into fists and tries to push me away. “What are you doing?”
“I loved our baby too,” I whisper.
“Loved?” She succeeds in shoving me away and gives me a confused look. “So you don’t love Project Vegas anymore?”
My brows wrinkle, but I try not to appear as freaked out as I feel. It’s understandable that she would be sensitive about this. I have to be cautious.
“Vanya, I will always love you. Losing Project Vegas doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I need you to know that. Believe me. We will always remember our child, even if the baby is no longer with us—”
“What are you talking about?” She looks horrified. “Who told you I lost Project Vegas?”
I nudge her chin up. My voice drops to a deep, urgent tone. “Don’t mess with me right now, Vanya.”
She tries to move her chin from my grasp.
I firm my touch. “Look at me. Are you still pregnant?”
She nods once.
Without hesitation, I snatch her up and gather her against me. “Holy s—crap.” I bury my head in her neck as ecstatic tears burst to the back of my eyes. I can only restrain the tears, but not how much my body is trembling. “Holy crap. Holy crap.”
“Hadyn, what’s going on with you?” Vanya asks, cupping the back of my head.
“Your dad told me… I mean, I thought—”
“What did my dad say?” Vanya tries to slide out of my grip so she can look at me.
The last thing I want to do is let her go, so I only allow her to move back a little.
I stare into her big, brown eyes and I know she’s telling the truth. Our baby is okay.
If I thought the ceiling of my love had been reached, I just broke through to another freaking level. This face is the one I want to see when I get up in the morning. Every morning. Those eyes are the only ones I want looking at me with love.
I didn’t think I could get a second chance at a family with Vanya, but I’m not going to waste it.
I feel like I’ve been charged with live wire. It’s amazing. Incredible.
“Hadyn, I’m so confused. You’re telling me that you came here today, worked as my assistant, did all that… thinking I didn’t have Project Vegas anymore?”
An astonished laugh bursts out of me. “I did.”
She gives me a thoughtful look. “Can you take me somewhere?”
“Anywhere.”
She walks determinedly to the car. “I need to see my dad.”
