Page 45 of Heart Like Yours

“Sorry, excuse me,” I say automatically, moving to sidestep, only for them to do the same.

“Aren’t you that girl from earlier?” he asks and my stomach knots.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shake my head, attempting to move around him again, but once more, he steps in my way.

“There was a man out there who said you were Garrett Walker’s girlfriend. Is that true?”

All blood drains from my face. Even though my entire body is screaming for me to turn around and lock myself in the bathroom, I refuse to back down.

“Dude, back off. Cornering anyone in a secluded hallway is just asking to be kicked in the nuts.” This time, I shove past him, ignoring his cry of protest when my shoulder bumps into his.

Storming out of the hallway, I’m two seconds from stomping over to the bar to figure out who sent that reporter my way when Lilly pops up in front of me. The panic shining in her wide eyes makes the hair on the back of my neck stand and I’m instantly on alert.

“What’s wrong?”

Lilly’s brows scrunch together and she looks over her shoulder. “I already called Dom. He and Garrett are on their way down here but…”

I follow her gaze, cursing at the crowd that had formed during the few minutes I was in the bathroom.

“What the…” I mumble just as a couple of them turn and spot me.

Just like earlier outside the office, everything happens quickly. I’ve always seen horror stories about reporters getting out of hand, but up until now, I’d been lucky enough to never see it in person.

Now, here they are, pushing past each other and shouting out questions one after the other.

Someone bumps into Lilly, nearly separating the two of us, and that’s all it takes for me to react.

Clutching Lilly’s hand tightly, I pull her back into my side.

“Back the hell off!” I shout, pushing up on the balls of my feet and scrambling for a plan. Eva stands by the bar, pointing us out to the man with the security shirt on. In all my time coming here, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jerry leave his stool by the door or do anything more than check IDs.

I grimace, guilt twisting in my stomach at the situation in front of me.

I should have stayed home.

GARRETT

One hour earlier

My feet feel like they’re made of lead as I exit the elevator and practically drag myself toward Dominik’s place. I’ve been nonstop moving ever since I got back from lunch with Paige.

Today had been going so perfectly, only for everything to come crashing down.

I’ve spent the past six hours jumping between calls with my lawyers and Leo trying to figure out how the hell this happened. News was spreading like wildfire and the office phones were ringing off the hook. I was juggling everything, taking calls from my team over at the arena and a couple of my real-estate investments up north asking what they should be doing.

All I had wanted to do was drag Paige upstairs, lock the doors, and turn off all electronics. To not let her leave my sight and to just have her tell me that everything is going to be okay.

But I didn’t have that luxury.

Not only did someone uncover and announce to the world that I’m a billionaire, they shared everything. Articles were dropping in by the hour about my companies and businesses that I invest in, some speculating if my money was rightfully earned and demanding to know where I came from. Countless stories about me were dropping every hour, some even about my relationship with Paige or my friendship with Dominik, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

“People are going to say whatever they want. There’s no controlling the rumors that fly when everyone trusts everything they read on the internet.” Leo had told me once it was just the two of us on the call. “It’s gonna be intense for a while. You’re fresh meat and no one was expecting it.”

I don’t think I would have gotten through today successfully without him or his father. They dropped everything to help me set up an interview with a trusted, reliable source to tackle everything head-on. They also helped put together statements for my companies to hold them over until then.

By the time we’d done all that we could, I knew there was still one more person I needed to talk to before seeing Paige.

I’ve never been nervous to see Dominik. With everything we’ve been through together, it’s always been easy to be around him.