The Billionaire Married a Homeless Girl novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Nobody Owed

"Don't go out there," Nolan said. "My people will draft a statement."

"Your people didn't sleep in the car."

"Bridget."

"I'm going to tell them what happened in my own words, once, and then it's over."

I put my coat on over the pajamas.

I kissed Benji's head and told him to finish his stegosaurus.

Then I walked down the long drive in the gray morning, and Nolan fell into step beside me without a word.

The gate opened.

The shouting hit me.

"Mrs. Laughlin, is it true you stole the Merryman diamonds?"

"Did you trap him with a baby?"

"How long were you homeless?"

I stopped five feet from the cameras.

My legs were shaking, and I let them.

"My name is Bridget Maslowski," I said. "I carried trays at the Foundation gala on Thursday. A woman accused me of stealing a bracelet in front of four hundred people. It was in her purse. Mr. Laughlin found it himself."

A murmur ran through the pack.

"For eleven weeks my son and I slept in a Corolla. Before that, a room over a laundromat, and a shelter. He has never missed a meal. I made sure of it."

"Is the boy Laughlin's child?" a man shouted.

I looked at Nolan.

He took my hand, in front of every camera on the street.

"Yes," he said. "Benjamin is my son. We confirmed it on Friday. I didn't know he existed until Thursday night, and I will be ashamed of that for the rest of my life."

The silence was enormous.

"Bridget is my wife," Nolan said. "Somebody turned her away at my door. I intend to find out who. Until then, nobody speaks about her to me unless they want me to remember it."

Every reporter was writing.

"One more thing," I said.

I met the eyes of the woman nearest me, who held a tape recorder.

"I'm not ashamed of the car," I said. "I kept my kid warm in it. That's the whole scandal."

I turned and walked back up the drive.

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