Page 96 of Child of Mine

“Then what’s the matter?”

Meeting his gaze, I ask, “What was that phone call about?”

He shakes his head. “Ugh. I let Tim do the rough edit with Sam on the latest episode because I wanted to get ahead on the fine-tuning of the earlier ones. But I just checked their work, and they used the overhead shot in the cooking segment, which totally looks down the front of Amy’s shirt. I’d told him to delete all that footage, but they forgot. I can’t imagine what would happen if Carol saw that.”

“Oh,” I say, my voice shaky.

He pulls up a chair next to me. “Bella, what’s the matter?”

I shake my head. “Carol got an anonymous letter threatening to publicize my addiction problems if they don’t fire me. Blackmail, basically.”

“Oh my god.” After a few moments where he seems to take in the news, he sits back abruptly. “Wait. Did you think it was me?”

Wincing, I nod. “I mean, you’re the only person I’ve told about it, so…”

“Seriously?” On his feet, he paces to the window. “You think after… after everything we’ve talked about, after I’ve worked so hard to show you how much I want to be there for you and Lilah, that I’d do that?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t have the best judgement about men, so—”

“I can’t believe you think I’d do that.”

My face drops into my hands, and I drag my nails over my scalp. “Everyone in my life who I think is on my side has proven that they’re really just out for themselves. My dad gave up on me, and even my mom, she’s moving in with a friend, so Lilah and I are really on our own now.”

Hearing his intake of breath, I throw out one last defensive line. “I may have trust issues, but I come by them honestly.”

“Well, I have issues with not being trusted.”

I don’t know what to say in response to that or what I can do to fix it. Except leave. So I get to my feet and move toward the door. “Okay. Well, this was just awesome. I guess we can work out a schedule for when you’ll see Lilah. I won’t be here for much longer, so you won’t have to worry about that.”

Before I can escape, he grabs my hand. “Bella. What are you doing?”

Sliding my hand out of his, I shove it into my pocket. “Getting out of your hair.”

“For good?”

“I’m obviously broken,” I say to the door. “It’ll be easier for everybody if I just leave.”

“You’re just giving up?”

When I risk a glance back at him, the ferocity in his eyes makes my heart skip a beat. “I don’t know what else to do. I can’t fight back against some anonymous letter writer because if I say anything, my old network will sue me. I don’t want to be responsible for bringing bad press to the show, so it’s obviously best if I quit. And I don’t know how to do”—I flail a hand in his direction—“this without fucking it up, so let’s just end it before we do or say something worse to each other. And before Lilah gets the idea that we could actually be a family.”

Like I have.

Bracing one hand on the door, Henry places the other on the side of my face. His touch is gentle but firm as he turns my head until I meet his still fierce gaze. “You might be ready to give up. On us, on your job, on your life. But I won’t.”

If only I could believe this fairy tale. All I can do is shake my head.

“It’s okay. And it’s all going to be okay,” he murmurs.

“I wish I had your confidence.” Clunking my head against the door behind me, I moan, “I don’t know what to do. I am so tired of hiding.”

“Are you? Because I think I might be able to take care of that.”

“What do you mean?”

After pressing a soft kiss to my forehead, he crosses behind his desk and flips through his Rolodex. When he finds what he’s looking for, he picks up the phone.

“Henry, what are you doing?”

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