Cameron

Waking up in the morning to an empty space beside me instantly brought a reminder of what a shit show the past week has been.

Maddie had to work, and I knew it would be useless trying to convince her to call out. If she were to sit at home, all she'd do is think about what the paparazzi did to her. Yesterday was a wake up call as to what being married to me will be like from now on. No matter what I do or say, the fame will always be here so long as I continue to play football. Even if I were to quit, I'm sure the media would still try to make our lives a living hell.

It wasn't even a question whether or not I'd drive home to console her after my flight was delayed. When I held her in my arms, there wasn't anything I could think of to make her feel better. She was crying because of the drama my life brings her. Every single traumatic event that she's dealt with over the years resorts back to me. My ex, Katie and the blackmail she continues to hold over our heads, the paparazzi hounding her, and the nanny that is lusting after me for reasons I have yet to discover but fully intend to.

I hadn't even gotten the chance to tell Maddie the full story, but I'm going to handle Nina myself. Maddie doesn't need to add any more stress to her plate than she's already carrying, and her mom Mary agreed. That's why she took Izzy for a walk to the park this morning so I could have time to myself to handle this situation and dead it for good.

Rising from the bed, I head into the bathroom to shower and clean myself up for the day. The hot water does nothing to ease my nerves. From Katie's silence, to the situation with Nina, and now adding on another loss to my belt for the season, I feel as if I'm spiraling and there's no way of getting out of this.

Truthfully, I don't know how much more I can handle.

***

I was planning on meeting Nina at the guesthouse to discuss things, but the nanny seemed to have other plans.

When I enter the kitchen, bacon and eggs waft into my nose, and Nina is behind the stove cooking breakfast. It's not lost on me that I strictly told her not to do this only a few weeks ago.

"Oh, good. You're awake." She smiles brightly, lifting the pan to scrape some onto two plates. "Did you sleep well?"

I'm clamping my molars down so hard I fear they'll break. "What is this?" I ask, waving to the plates. "You know you're about to be fired, right? Ryan sent me all the proof I need to kick your ass to the curb."

"I figured as much," she says sweetly, carrying the plates to the kitchen table. As soon as she rounds the corner, the apron covering her chest reveals she's wearing absolutely nothing underneath. I avert my gaze quickly as I try to weigh the odds of whether or not I'll go to prison tonight. I'm three seconds away from murdering this woman. "But I thought I could try and convince you to choose otherwise."

Closing the distance between us, I back up as far as I can before my back hits the wall, trapping me in. Nina takes a red-manicured nail to my chest and slowly drags it down, blinking up at me innocently. "Don't tell me you haven't thought about it," she whispers. "Fucking me in every section of this house. I know you have. Just admit it."

"In your dreams," I sneer, nostrils flaring. "If you think for a second I'd—" A red blinking light catches my attention by the island, and when all the pieces click together, I let out a chuckle of disbelief. "Leave the camera on the island and get the fuck out of here. I don't know who you're working for, or why someone would try and—"

Wait.

"Katie plotted all of this. Didn't she?" All of it makes sense. Katie hasn't had any luck splitting Maddie and I apart, so she decided to plant someone else to try and tempt me instead. Someone who wasn't her.

Judging by the look on Nina's panic-stricken face, I've hit the nail on the head.

"And it was you who told Katie we hired a private investigator. You overheard our conversation that night. That's why she's been acting like a fucking angel in the press."

Realizing her jig is up, she takes a step back from me and rolls her eyes. "She paid me a lot of money, alright? I really was a nanny before I took her up on her offer, and despite what you think, I genuinely did love caring for Izzy. I didn't..." She blows out a breath, blinking up at the ceiling. "I didn't expect you guys to be as kind as you were, but Katie was insistent, and she kept shoving cash at my face to make me act a certain way, and I—"

"You could have a million reasons to give me, Nina, if that's even your real name, but none of them would suffice for the amount of turmoil you both have caused my family. We all have a choice in life to be the good or the bad guy, and you chose incorrectly. I don't care what kind of relationship you've formed with my daughter. All of it ends now. I need your things moved out by the end of tonight. That's final."

Teary-eyed and sniffling, Nina turns to head for the back door, but before she can leave, I call out her name again. "Yeah?" She asks, glancing over her shoulder.

"You can go back and tell Katie that her ruse didn't work. If she wants to end my marriage, she's going to need to try a hell of a lot harder than that."

***

Later that evening, after I tuck Izzy into bed and read her a bedtime story, Maddie returns home from a fourteen-hour shift at the hospital. Bags are evident beneath her eyes, a sense of exhaustion emitting from her.

"Thank you for making dinner." She nods at the plate with tinfoil on top, yawning as she unwraps it. "Did my mom go to bed too?"

"Yeah. She fell asleep about an hour ago. Thankfully, she offered to stay here for a month to watch Izzy until we can find a replacement for Nina."

Maddie lifts her eyes to mine. "Replacement? You fired her?"

"Yep. All of her stuff is gone. Guesthouse is empty."

Relief shudders through her. "That's the best news I've heard all day. Can you tell me the full story now that we actually have some time together?"

After I'm done loading the last dish into the dishwasher, I come up behind her to wrap my arms around her waist, placing a kiss on her neck. "Let's change subjects for now. We can get to the story later. Did you have a tough day at work?"

She relaxes back into my chest, releasing a sigh. "You have no idea. There's this young girl at the hospital waiting for a kidney transplant, and we thought we had a donor today, but it fell through. Our entire floor was devastated."

"I'm sorry," I whisper into her ear. "For everything."

"What are you talking about?" Twisting around in my arms, she hooks her arms around my neck, furrowing her eyebrows together. "Cam, what's wrong?"

"I'm just so sorry for everything I've caused. Every stressor in our lives is because of me, and I don't want it interfering with your job. I know the news of that young girl hit you harder because of everything else you're carrying on your shoulders right now. It isn't fair. I don't blame you if my life is too much for you. I wouldn't resent you if—"

She presses a finger to my lips, silencing me. "Don't even finish that sentence, Cameron. If I thought I couldn't handle this, I wouldn't have agreed to marry you. I'll take every shitty thing that comes our way and handle it in stride because you're worth it. We are worth it. I love you."

"I love you too." Resting my forehead against hers, she smiles softly and plays with the ends of my hair. "I just want all of this to be over with. I want us to be rid of Katie for good, but I haven't figured out a way to do that yet. I don't want to fail you."

"You could never fail me. Is life pretty stressful right now? Yes, it is, but that's life. We're going to go through ups and downs, but we will get to the other side of this, okay? There isn't another option for us."

I'm not sure how I got so lucky to ever score a woman like Maddie to begin with, but I'm eternally grateful for it. To have a partner who treats me as an equal and who will stand by my side through anything is something I will never take for granted. She has a way of calming me in the midst of my strongest storms. A few minutes ago I was riddled with anxiety, but sitting across from her while she eats her dinner, when she smears pasta sauce on my nose just to make me laugh? All of my worries fade away.

No matter what, we're going to make it through this.

Together.