Page 196 of My Big, Fat, Secret Billionaire Baby

But also… resolute.

There’s a new steel in her spine, a quiet determination in her eyes that wasn’t there before.

It’s fucking intimidating.

And hotter than hell.

“Sabrina,” I say, my voice a bit rougher than I intend. “Thanks for coming.”

“Leo.” She takes a deep breath, her gaze sweeping across the room, lingering for a moment on the spot where we had the most amazing…

No. Don’t go there.

Then, she looks back at me.

I sit, and gesture for her to take a seat. She does, sitting across from me.

So close. Yet she might as well be on the opposite side of the world.

“Okay, Leo,” she begins. “Let’s talk about Jen Takahashi. And Page Six.”

Right. Straight to the fucking point. No foreplay. Just gut punches.

“Yeah,” I say, running a hand through my hair. “Look, Sabrina, I…”

“Did you?” she cuts me off, her voice deceptively calm. “Did you sleep with Jen Takahashi while she was your personal trainer? Did you do lines of coke off her breasts in your home gym? Did you have... sessions... with other employees? Michelle Park? Victoria Kowalski?” She ticks them off like items on a goddamn grocery list.

My jaw clenches. The tabloid didn’t just leak. It fuckingexcavated. “Sabrina…”

“Yes or no, Leo?” Her eyes are like hard chips of obsidian. “I need to hear it from you. Not from Page Six. Not from Luca. Fromyou.”

There’s no point in denying it. No point in spinning it. She deserves the truth. However ugly.

“Yes,” I say. “To all of it. It was… a different lifetime, Sabrina. Before Mia. Before… you.”

Before I realized what a hollow, fucked-up existence Iwas living.

She nods slowly, her expression unreadable. The professional mask is firmly in place. But I see the flicker of pain in her eyes.

This isn’t just PR fallout for her.

This is… personal.

“Okay,” she says, her voice ominously quiet. “How am I supposed to trust you, Leo? To believe that your priorities have actually changed? That this… this ‘responsible father’ routine isn’t just another performance? How do I know you won’t revert to the old Leo the second things get tough, the second Mia’s not looking, the second some other Jen Takahashi offers you an easy escape, at work or anywhere else?”

Her words are like a barrage of tiny cuts. Each one hitting a nerve. Each one exposing a truth I’ve been trying to outrun.

There’s no deflection possible. She’s not asking about the firm. She’s asking aboutme. About the man I am, the man I’mcapableof being.

I take a deep breath, the air in my living area suddenly feeling thick. “You don’t, Sabrina. You don’tknow. Not yet. Because I haven’t fucking earned that trust. Not from you. Maybe not even from myself. That ‘old Leo’… he’s been my default setting for a long, long time. Running on autopilot, chasing the next distraction, the next high, the next way to not feel the goddamn emptiness.”

I meet her gaze, unflinching. “But Mia… and you… you’re not a routine, Sabrina. You’re not a performance. You’re the first goddamn thing in my life that feels… real. Solid. And yeah, it scares the absolute shit out of me. Because the thought of fucking this up, of reverting, of hurting either of you… it’s a hell of a lot more terrifying than any cliff face. Will it be easy? No. Will I stumble? Probably. But am Itrying? With every goddamn fiber of my being, yes. Because that ‘old Leo’… he was hollow. And what I feel when I’m with you, when I hold Mia… it’s the opposite of hollow. It’s… everything.”

She searches my face, eyes still wary. Then, she asks another question. “And the wingsuiting, Leo.” Her voice gains a dangerous edge. “You retired. Publicly. Grandly. But do you resent it? Do you resentus? Mia? Me? For taking that away from you? For being the reason you gave up… that? And will you always be looking for that next thrill, that next escape, even if it’s not jumping off a fucking cliff?”

I actually manage a small, genuine smile this time, a little bit of the weight lifting from my chest. This part… this part I’ve actually thought about. More than she knows.

“Resent you, Sabrina?” I shake my head. “No. Absolutely fucking not. Giving up competitive wingsuiting, the Chamonix runs, the insane risks… that wasn’ttaking something away. That was… making space. For something better. Something that actually matters. In fact, you fuckinggaveme something. Something I didn’t even know I was missing. Something to land for. You and Mia.

---