Paparazzi!

The gate slid open with its usual quiet precision, metal gliding apart like it always did.

Piper exhaled as she eased the car forward.

“Seatbelt,” she murmured gently, glancing back. “Toby, sweetheart, your belt.”

“I have it,” Toby replied, small voice serious. He tugged at it himself, brows pinched in concentration.

Leo babbled behind her, kicking his feet, one shoe already halfway off. Piper smiled despite herself and reached back at the red light, tugging it back on with two fingers.

Piper had just begun to relax her grip on the steering wheel when the first flash went off across the windshield.

She flinched.

White, blinding flashes.

Then another.

And another.

“What tha—?” Her breath caught halfway.

Shouts rushed in after the light.

Voices crashing into one another, chaotic and intrusive.

“Mrs. Anderson!”

"Ma'am! Are you the new Mrs Anderson?"

“Who are the kids?”

“Is this your first public appearance?”

Her foot slammed the brake.

The car jerked.

Leo startled and burst into tears, a sharp, frightened sound that pierced straight through her chest. Toby gasped, small hands scrambling for the seatbelt as he twisted around.

“Piper?” His voice cracked. “Why are they shouting?”

Her heart began to pound so hard it felt like it might bruise her ribs from the inside.

“I—” She swallowed. “Don’t look. Okay? Both of you—don’t look.”

Her hands tightened around the steering wheel. For half a second, her mind went blank—no thought, no plan. Just noise and light and fear pressing in on her from every direction.

The flashes kept coming.

Camera lenses pressed close to the windows. Faces blurred together. Voices crowded her.

“When did the wedding happen?”

“Is the older child adopted?”

“Are you the nanny or the wife?”

"Was the marriage planned?"

Marriage.

The word hit her like a slap.

Her hands shook as she threw the car into reverse, speeding back inside the compound, chest heaving, tears stinging the backs of her eyes. Another flash exploded against the glass, leaving bright spots dancing in her vision.

“It’s okay,” Piper whispered, voice shaking as she reached back blindly. “It’s okay, baby.”

Leo sobbed harder, clutching at her shirt when she twisted in her seat to reach him. Toby had gone silent, eyes wide, shoulders locked tight.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, more to the children than to herself. “I’m so sorry.”

The gate began to close slowly.

Too slow.

The gate finally sealed up behind them.

Only then did Piper stop the car.

She rested her forehead briefly against the steering wheel, breath shuddering, heart racing like it had forgotten how to slow down.

This isn’t what I signed up for, her mind screamed.

But there was no time to break.

She wiped her cheeks quickly, turned around, and reached for Leo and Toby.

“I’ve got you,” she whispered again, voice steadier than she felt. “I’ve got you both.”

———

Upstairs, the guest room smelled like Paige.

Perfume. Clean linen. Familiar indulgence.

She straddled Thomas lazily on the edge of the bed, fingers sliding across his chest, nails tracing slow, deliberate lines against his skin.

“You’re tense,” she murmured, lips brushing his throat. “You’ve been tense since I arrived last night. First you were tired, now you're tense."

Thomas exhaled, hands resting at her waist. He pull her closer

“It’s been over two week,” he said.

“A long one, I know” she replied lightly, kissing the corner of his mouth. “And you missed me.”

He didn’t deny it.

She kissed him properly then—slowly. Gently claiming his lips and nibbling on the lower part. He responded on instinct, fingers tightening briefly at her back, pulling her against his body. Loving the familiar feel of her curves as he felt himself arouse.

“I don’t like her,” Paige said suddenly, pulling back just enough to look at him.

Thomas stiffened.

“Why are you talking about her now? Come here." He lowered his head to take her lips again. She inclined, kissing him back with intention, fingers curling around the back of his neck, pulling him closer until her knees pressed into the mattress, and her middle pressed firmly against his.

"Seriously though," she spoke against his mouth, "I don't like her."

Thomas stopped, getting frustrated.

He untangled his hands from around her waist.

"She’s not meant to be liked.”

“She’s part of your life,” Paige pressed. “Driving your kids around. Wearing your name.”

“Paige, stop this. We talked about this. You refused being here for my kids. Besides, she’s just an employee. You know this.”

She sighed.

"So, you're now calling name, Paige. No more 'baby?"

"C'mon, baby." He pulled her to himself again.

“You know I don't like children, they make a lot of mess." She made a sulky face.

"I've never had a problem with that. You know."

"You won't replace me,” she said softly when they broke apart, breath warm against his cheek. “Will you?”

His thumb brushed her lower lip without thinking. “Never.”

She smiled then—satisfied. The kind of smile that settles in a slow, assuring way. She already knew the answer.

“She’s temporary,” he added. “An arrangement.”

Paige leaned in again, her mouth grazing his ear. “Good. Because I don’t share.”

A sudden noise cut through the moment.

Slightly muffled, but urgent.

Thomas’s body went rigid.

“What was that?” Paige frowned, already irritated.

Before she finished the question, Thomas shifted, gently but firmly moving her off his lap. He stood, crossed the room in quick strides, and yanked the curtain aside.

Below, near the gate, there was movement. Too much of it.

Cameras.

People.

His pulse slammed.

“No,” he breathed.

He couldn’t see inside the car—only the crowd, the flashes, the chaos spilling too close to his property.

Sudden fear surged from his inside.

The boys.

His kids.

He grabbed the nearest shirt, shoved his arms through it, buttoning as he moved, and was already out the door in seconds.

---

Piper had just lifted Leo from the back seat when Thomas reached them.

“What happened?” he demanded, voice sharp—but his eyes looked into the car, scanning the children first, ensuring they were alright.

“The Press. They were waiting outside,” she said, the words barely holding together. “Flashes and cameras. They scared the boys.”

Her hands were still trembling as she reached for Leo, lifting him out of the seat. The baby clung to her immediately, face buried against her shoulder, hiccups shaking his small body.

Toby slid out next, quiet, stiff, his fingers finding Piper’s sleeve without looking up.

Thomas noticed.

The way Piper stood there—shaken, pale, still trying to hold it together. Still protectively holding his boys.

For the first time since she walked into his house, something twisted uncomfortably in his chest. He didn't like it.

His jaw clenched.

“Why were you driving them out alone?” he asked, too quickly.

Piper stared at him.

“I take them to school,” she said, infuriated. “Every morning.”

He swallowed.

Pulled his eyes away and rested them Looked on Toby.

"Buddy, you okay?"

He wanted to kiss his son's head, ruffle his hair, give him a hug, but he felt so distant now. Since Piper's arrival, they'd completely leaned on her, ignoring him completely.

His heart constricted in what felt like jealousy pressure.

The boy nodded, not looking at him.

Before Thomas could say more, Paige appeared at the house entrance. She stopped short at the sight of them.

“So,” she called coolly. “You brought trouble to the gate already.”

Piper stiffened.

“I was just—”

Thomas lifted a hand, cutting her off without looking at her.

“Take the boys inside,” he said. “Now.”

Piper hesitated—just a second.

Toby’s fingers tightened in her shirt.

She nodded and turned away, taking a hold of Toby's hand.

As she passed, Paige stepped into her path.

“So you’re the wife,” Paige said, smiling pleasantly. Her eyes, however, were cold. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”

Piper stopped.

“I’m just here to take care of the children,” she said quietly.

Paige leaned in, lowering her voice. “That’s my job too. I just do it without pretending.”

Thomas turned sharply. “Paige.”

She straightened, unfazed. “What? She should know where she stands.”

Piper didn’t look back. She kept walking, heart pounding, the boys pressed close to her heart.

Paige stepped closer to Thomas, her voice low and insisting. “You need to get rid of her,” she said. “She’s already attracting attention.”

Thomas didn’t answer.

He stood there, watching his children disappear into the house with Piper, unease settling heavily in his chest.

The world had found her.

And that meant—

It had found them.

And suddenly, for the first time, this arrangement didn’t feel well planned at all.

Outside the gate, cameras still lingered.

Inside the house, something had already shifted.

And upstairs, Piper sat long enough with the boys, to calm them down, to make them forget about the Chaos outside.

By the time they fell asleep and she closed the nursery door with tired hands, she was unaware that by morning—

Her face would be everywhere.