It was mayhem. Not only had he come back from the injured list to win a game, but he’d showed up with two little girls. It was a feeding frenzy to see who could get a story out of him.
“Cole, Cole… Where’d you get the girls?”
“Who’s the baby mama, Cole?”
He was used to the bullshit. He knew how to play the game.
But then, they came for his girls.
“Hey, girly, girly. Look here. Look here, sweet thing.”
“Hey, pretty little girl. Let me see your smile.”
Evvie lifted her head, and flash bulbs went off in a frenzy. She screamed and writhed in his arms. He dropped Paisley’s hand to make sure the littlest one didn’t fall.
“Paisley.” He made sure to have eye contact with the six-year-old. “Hold on to my jacket.” When she hesitated, he shouted, “Now. Hold on.” And then, he ditched the red carpet.
The moment he got clear, he let out a sigh of relief. “It’s okay, Evvie. It’s all over. We’re good. It’s all good.” He reached for Paisley’s hand, only to discover it wasn’t good at all.
Because Paisley was gone.
In the first five minutes of her disappearance, he shouted her name a dozen times, scanned the crowd, and grabbed the arms of passersby to ask if they’d seen her. Then, Cole hollered, “Everyone stop. I’m looking for a six-year-old girl with curly blond hair in a pink ballet dress.”
A few people looked over at him, but mostly, they went back to their conversations or continued into the theater. Panic threatened to yank him under, but he had to keep his head.
He spotted his dad hurrying toward him.Thank God.
“What’s going on?”
“I lost Paisley.” In Manhattan. On the streets.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Trevor whistled sharply. Heads snapped in his direction. His publicist came right over. “Shut everything down. We need to find Paisley Leeson, a six-year-old girl.” He made a gimme motion with his hand to Cole. “Picture.”
Cole had taken loads of photos of the girls to show Hailey, so he quickly pulled them up.
“On it.” The woman took off.
Trevor pointed to him. “Stay right where you saw her last and don’t move.”
“I have to move. I have to find her. Ilosther.”
“Listen to me. She’s going to look for you. She’s going back to where she last saw you. Wait there. Patti’s going to get security on it. We’ll find her.”
But it was the city. People were ruthless. If they saw a pretty little girl…if she wandered off, looking for him…the farther she got, the less the chance he had of ever finding her.
A sickening chill slid down his spine.Stop. He had to stay focused. He moved closer to the red carpet, scanning every nook and cranny in the crowd, looking for that pink dress.
Evvie fisted the collar of his suit coat. “Where Paisy?”
“She’s here. I’ll find her.”I have to.
“Paisy gone?”
“No, no. She’s here.”
What have I done?