Chapter 4: The Nightmare Had Just Began

Hailey's POV

I stepped into the sidewalk, Gio's hand held mine, and suddenly chaos. Flashes exploded like bombs, blinding and unending. Voices shouted over each other.

"Ms. Ramsey! How does it feel to inherit billions?"

"Ms. Langford! Who's the child? Who the father?"

"Is it true you haven't spoken to Cryrus in years?"

"Ms. Ramsey! Look here!"

I pulled Gio closer, trying to protect his face with my body, but they swarmed like bees. Cameras shoved into our space, thrust us, bodies pressing too aggressively and gold.

"Mommy!" Gio's voice pitched into panic. "Mommy, I'm scared!"

"It's okay, baby. Don't look at them." I scooped his legs around my waist, his face buried in neck. "Just hold on."

But they wouldn't stop. Wouldn't back away, the camera kept flashing.

A black car pulled up and Georgina appeared. "Get in. Now."

I moved to the backseat, Gio still held on to me, and the door slammed shut on the feeding frenzy outside.

"What the hell was that?" My voice shook.

"That...." Georgina said calmly as the car pulled away. "Was your new reality. You're not invisible anymore, Hailey. You're a billionaire. The sole heiress to one of the largest empires in the country. Everyone wants a piece."

I looked down at Gio. His face still pressed against my shoulder, his small body trembling. Five years of keeping him save, of keep us invisible, gone in thirty seconds.

"Those pictures they took of him." Georgina's expression was grim. "They'll be everywhere by tonight."

She was right. By six PM, my phone was exploding. Unknown numbers, voicemails from reports, text messages from people I hadn't spoken in years suddenly wanting to "reconnect."

Gio fell asleep early, exhausted from the day's chaos. I sat beside his bed watching him breath. We'd been safe. Nobody knew about him. Now everybody would know. Including Floyd.

The knock came at seven AM.

I'd been awake all night, watching the door, waiting for the expected. Gio was still asleep. I looked through the peep hole and felt everything inside me turned to stone.

Six years. Six years since I'd signed those divorce papers and walked out of his study. Six years of silence, of building a life he knew nothing about.

And now he was at my door.

I opened it before he could knock again and wake Gio. Stepped into the hallway, pulling the door shut behind me.

He looked the same. Older maybe, a few more lines around his eyes, but still so handsome. Still the man I'd love with everything I had.

Still the man who'd chosen someone else.

"Hailey." He said calmly.

"What are you doing here?" I kept my voice low and controlled, even though my heart pounded.

"I saw the news." Hi eyes searched my face. "The photos. Of your son."

"So?"

"So?" His voice rose slightly. "Hailey, he has my eyes."

"Lots of people have blue eyes." I said, even though we both knew the truth.

"Don't like to me." His voice cracked. "Not about this."

We stared at each other in the narrow hallway, six years of silence screaming between us.

"How old is he?" Floyd's jaw was so tight I could see the muscle jumping. "Five? Six?"

I said nothing.

"You were pregnant." The realization hit him like a freight train. "That day in my study, when I asked you to sign the papers... you were already pregnant."

" It doesn't matter."

" DOESN'T MATTER?" His voice exploded making me flinch. "You hid my son from me for six years. Six years, Hailey. How does that not matter?"

"You made your choice." My voice came out cold. " You chose her. You married her five months after our divorce. Five Months. You think I'd tell you about a baby when you couldn't wait to erase me from your life?"

Something like pain flashed across his face. "I didn't know..."

"You didn't know." Tears burned at eyes, but I refused to let them fall. "You told me i was convenient. An arrangement. You never loved me. Why would I give you access to the one thing I actually love?"

" He's my son." His hand shot out, gripping my arm. "You don't get to make that decision alone."

"I already did." I yanked my arm free. "Six years ago. And we've been fine without you."

"I have rights, Hailey."

The words landed like a death sentence.

"Rights?" I almost laughed. "You have no rights. You're not on the birth certificate. You never even knew he existed. Legally, you're nothing to him."

"Then I'll fix that ." His voice dropped to something dangerous. " I'll get a paternity test. I'll do whatever it takes, but I'm not walking away from my son."

The hallway felt like it was closing in. Everything pressing down until I couldn't breathe.

" Why?" The question ripped out of me. " Why now? You didn't want me. You didn't want a life with me. Why do you suddenly want him?"

"Because he's mine." Something fierce and possessive burned in his eyes. "And I don't abandon what's mine."

You abandoned me." My voice was sharper than I intended.

"I was wrong." The words were raw and torn. "I was so fucking wrong, Hailey. About everything. And I can't fix what I did to you, but I can...."

" No." I stepped back, hand on my door. " You can't have him. You don't get to waltz back into my life because it's convenient now. Because the photos went public and suddenly your conscience is bothering you."

" This isn't about convenience..."

" Everything with you was about convenience!" My voice broke. "I was convenient until she came back. And now what? He's convenient because you finally want to play Dad? No. We're fine without you. We've always been fine."

"Hailey..."

I went inside and slammed the door in his face. Locked it, and pressed my back against it as my legs gave out.

On the other side, I heard him. "This isn't over. I'll be back."

His footsteps retreated down the hallway.

I slid to the floor, hands shaking, trying desperately not to break.

The board wanted me out. The paparazzi wouldn't stop. My father's widow was contesting the will. And now Floyd was coming for the only thing I had left.

"Mommy?"

I looked up. Gio stood in the doorway, rubbing his eyes, his hair a mess.

"Why are you crying?"

I wiped my face quickly. "I had a bad dream,baby. Just a bad dream."

But we both knew i was lying. The nightmare had just begun.