Chapter 15: Most Dangerous Thing

Hailey's POV

The DNA results hit the media at 6 AM on a Tuesday.

I woke to my phone exploding with hundreds of notifications, pouring in so fast I couldn't keep up.

DNA confirmed: Floyd Langford is the Biological Father

HEIRESS'S SECRET CHILD: Langford Hidden Son

Hailey Kingston: Victim or Manipulator?

My hands were shaking as I scrolled, each headline was worse than the last. Their were photos of Gio across gossip sites with horrible speculation about why I'd hidden him. The comments where worse.

Gold digger hid her kid to secure the inheritance.

She knew exactly what she was doing. She's a calculated bitch.

The poor boy. Growing up with a manipulative liar.

My stomach twisted horribly. I was a national villain now. Every channel. Every website. Every platform were talking about the lying heiress who'd used her child.

Kimberley was giving interviews, crying on camera about how devastated Floyd was. How they had tried to reach out privately, but I had refused. How all they wanted was for Gio to know his real father. All lies that the world believed.

My phone rang, it was Christina.

"Don't read the news," she said.

I sighed. "Too late."

"Hailey, this still doesn't change anything, our legal position..."

"They're calling me a liar." My voice was shaky. "A manipulator..."

"Which we can disprove." She said, trying to sound convincing. "The timeline doesn't support..."

"It doesn't matter!" My voice cracked. "No one cares about timelines. They care about the story."

She went silent for awhile. "There's something else." Her voice was too careful. "Paparazzi showed up at Gio's school this morning."

My blood froze. "What?"

"They were shouting questions at him. About his real dad. About being a Langford. Security handled it, but..." She paused. "They terrified him, Hailey. He's five years old, and strangers were screaming at him."

The phone slipped from my hands.

I could only imagine how scared and confused he was, while people shouted things he couldn't understand. It made me sick.

I sat alone in the bedroom, replaying every headline until they practically became a loop I could not escape.

Maybe they were right, maybe I was a terrible mom, maybe I was exactly what they said....

"Don't do this to yourself."

Maxwell's voice cut through my thoughts. He stood in the doorway, tie loosened, sleeves rolled up.

"What?"

"Stop torturing yourself." He moved closer.

I ran a hand across my face. "They're calling me..."

"A liar. I know." His voice was calm. "You did hide Gio from Floyd. But that doesn't make you what they're saying."

"Doesn't it?" I laughed, but it was cracked. "I kept a child from his father for six years."

"You protected your son from a man who'd abandoned you." He sat beside me, close enough that I felt his heat. "That's called surviving."

"The world doesn't see it that way..."

"The world are idiots with internet access." His hand found my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Their opinion doesn't matter."

"It does when they're screaming at my five-year-old!" My voice broke. "They terrified him, Max. Strangers shouting while he's just trying to go to school. And it's my fault..."

I could see the rage in his eyes. "It's Ethan's fault for leaking..."

"It's my fault for not being honest from the beginning!" Tears streamed down my face. "If I'd just told the truth, none of this would be happening. Gio wouldn't be scared. Wouldn't be confused. He wouldn't..."

"You." His hands came up to frame my face, thumbs brushing away tears with devastating gentleness. "You made the best choice you could. You protected your son. That's what matters."

"I ruined his life..." More tears stream down my face.

"You gave him a life." His voice was so convincing. "You raised him, alone, protected him. Loved him while his father didn't want to be bothered. Don't let these idiots convince you otherwise."

I looked at him through the tears. His hands were warm against my face.

"They're going to take him away from me," I whispered. "Floyd's going to win...."

"No." His thumbs stroked my cheekbones, and suddenly the air felt charged. "You're not losing him. I'll burn the entire system down first."

The certainty in his voice made made something in me break. Or maybe it was the way he was looking at me, like I was important.

"Maxwell..."

His eyes dropped to my mouth, and I forgot what I wanted to say.

The space between us was nothing. His hands were still framing my face, and his body heat was moving into me.

He leaned in slowly, giving me time to pull away, but I didn't. His lips brushed mine, and I made a sound in my throat and kissed him back.

His hands slid into my hair, angling my head as he deepened the kiss. My hands found his chest, feeling his heart pounding under his expensive shirt.

This was wrong. We had rules. Boundaries. This was supposed to be strictly business...

His tongue swept against mine, and the thought disappeared.

I kissed him back desperately, pouring all my fear, pain and confusion into it. His arms came around me, pulling me closer, and for one perfect moment, nothing else existed.

No headlines. No haters. No DNA results.

Just him and me and this thing building between us that had nothing to do with contracts.

Then reality crashed back.

I pulled away quickly, scrambling back on the bed. "I can't..we can't.."

"Hailey..." His voice was rough.

"This was a mistake." I stood up, my legs shaking. "The rules exist for a reason. We can't... I can't..."

I couldn't finish the sentence, so I just ran.

Out of the bedroom, down the hallway, not stopping until I reached the guest bathroom and locked the door.

My lips were still tingling. My hands were shaking. My heart was beating fast against my ribs.

I'd just kissed Maxwell. And it had felt like so right.

Which was the most dangerous thing of all.