Page 73 of Whenever You Call

Go to Hannah.

Of course, I went, walking through the open patio doors and into the kitchen, only for Hannah to place her cell on the island and turn to me, showing everything I’d been dreading seeing on her face. Utter loss, and devastating heartbreak.

Even dead, he continued to destroy her.

I came to a stop a few feet away, giving her space as I pushed my balled-up fists into the pockets of my pants. “How bad is it?”

She pressed her lips together and shook her head, fighting for her life. Refusing to let any more tears fall, but it was a pointless task, and I could see her at war with herself. She was a woman desperate to stay strong, too broken to hold on a second longer.

“Do you know what hurts the most?” she asked quietly. “He’s turning me into a bad mom. The one thing I promised myself I’d never be. Above all else, I swore I’d never let my baby girl down.”

“You haven’t.”

“Please… don’t lie to me.”

“Bella adores you. You’re her whole world.”

“But will she adore me when I have to tell her that her father slept with another woman and got her pregnant, leaving Bella with a half-brother or half-sister she can never know because I won’t allow that shit into her life to hurt her the way it’s already hurt me?”

I took the bullet she’d shot, letting it land straight in my chest.

The bastard had got someone elsepregnant…

I didn’t know what the hell to say. I turned into a live wire, ready to go off on her behalf. But instead of exploding with anger athim, I did the only thing I could think of. I marched over to Hannah and pulled her weary body into my arms, holding her tightly as her hands bunched up against my stomach, and her forehead fell to my chest.

I let her bleed out until she had nothing left to free, and I held her in silence, surrounded by nothing but her soft cries that sang a song of grief for more than just a lost love.

Eventually, I pressed my lips to the top of her head and spoke against her hair. “It kills me to see you like this, but Bella loves you, and she always will. You could never be a bad mom to her. I don’t think you’re capable of being a bad anything to anyone. Don’t let his past mistakes destroy your self-respect, Hannah.Hemade every one of them. Not you.Hefailed you.”

My body vibrated with a need to release so much anger, I wished for nothing more than to be in the gym with a punchbag in front of me to take my frustrations out on.

“Logan, you’re shaking,” she finally said between her ragged breaths, her forehead still to my chest.

“I’m fucking angry, Hannah,” I whispered.

Slowly, she raised her head and looked up at me with narrowed, heartbroken eyes. “Me, too.”

I brushed my hand down her hair until it fell to the exposed skin at the back of her neck and down her clothed back. She felt so delicate in my arms, and I wanted her to absorb my strength. To soak it into her bones and steal it from me until she became strong enough to stand up, tall and proud, to see her own worth.

She had some fight left inside. All I needed to do was pull it out of her.

“Take me away from here, Logan,” she whispered. “I want out of this world for a minute. Take me to yours instead.”

Chapter29

HANNAH

My mind had been ready to explode with the number of phone calls I’d had to take. Everyone had kept their distance in recent months at my request, but this scandal had proved too juicy for the majority to stay away. When the band’s publicist and manager called, I’d told them, not so politely, to leave me the hell alone. They’d already failed me with no pre-warning about the article that was about to come out. I’d told Chase to leave me alone, too, although in a much calmer tone because, despite his connections to my husband, there was something about him that made it impossible to stay mad at. He genuinely cared.

Kate’s text hadn’t done anything to bring me around, either.I’ll see that guy in Hell, and I’ll make him pay, baby. Don’t you worry. Wish I was there to hug you.

Nothing had worked until I’d known for certain that we had a plan to get Bella away from the house to somewhere safe. Somewhere the paparazzi couldn’t touch her… which meant she had to be somewhere away from me for the night. Cole cheating on me was hardly news anymore. But Cole cheating on me and getting someone else pregnant?

That would have the press desperate for some fodder to feed their rabid readers.

They wanted my distraught face on the cover of every magazine, and I refused to let them have it on their terms.

From now on, I was in charge.

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