Knox went through the day in a haze. All he could think about was this morning when the Beast had been unleashed and he’d terrified Ema. He wasn’t worthy of her, and he didn’t blame her for not wanting him. He kept picturing Brig, his head of security, escorting Ema into his Hummer and driving her away. He’d watched from the third story.

Not even Shelby could get him out of his funk. At lunch she started crying, “You no fun a day, Daddy! Why my Miss Hawaii leave?”

Knox had no answers for her. They snuggled in her room after lunch and watched some cheesy princess movie. The girl in the show was Hawaiian. There was no mercy for his heart anywhere. Shelby fell asleep during the movie and he wished he could fall asleep himself, shut out all the voices in his head telling him he’d screwed up any chance with Ema. He’d thought she could be the one, but he was too intense for her. She didn’t need to love someone like him.

Slipping off of Shelby’s bed, he asked Genevieve to take care of her when she woke up. He went for a long run around his property, but that reminded him of Ema. He swam laps for a while, but it didn’t shut her out. Finally, he forced himself into his office and dealt with all the emails and financial concerns from lawyers, consultants, coaches, fans, and Claire.

Nellie brought him a plate of dinner—katsu chicken, rice, and veggies, with a side of macaroni salad. He glared at her when she set the plate down. “Why did you cook this today?”

“What?” Her eyes were all wide and innocent. “Genevieve requested it.”

He rolled his eyes and muttered, “Thanks for dinner.”

She smiled and left, carefully shutting the door behind her. Knox glowered at the food as if it had personally offended him. It was a typical Hawaiian dinner. He forced himself to shove down the meal because he needed the energy, but Nellie’s usually fabulous food tasted like sandpaper to him.

His back ached from sitting in his office chair. He hated sitting. When his cell phone rang, he snatched it up and stood, grateful to stretch. “Claire.” Had he ever been so happy to hear from her? Could she give him some kind of advice to get Ema back?

“Have you been on social media?”

He grunted. “You know I hate social media.”

“Oh, Knox, it’s heavy.” She sighed loudly.

“What did I do now?”

“Not you. Ema. She and her camera guy put up a show on YouTube and blasted it on all their show’s social media sites. It’s gone viral. VH1 is claiming no affiliation to the scandal and I’ve got an inside scoop that they’re going to pull her show. She’ll never get ABC now. It serves her right, but the things she put out there … It’s really bad, Knox.”

“What’s bad? Why would she and Mike go on their own like that? They had to know it would mess up their chances with ABC.” As he spoke, he bent down to his computer and clicked on Safari and YouTube, typing in Ema’s show name. It served her right? Ema had worked so hard to succeed with her show. He didn’t want her to lose her chance at success.

“I don’t think VH1 would’ve let them air a show like this. It’s slander, Knox.”

“Slander? Against who?” But the pit growing in his gut and the first video that popped up on YouTube gave him his answer: “Knox Sherman, the Beast.” The next thing down was a Twitter post from Live Like a Celeb: “See my latest YouTube video for a Beast exposé.”

Ema had slandered him. He sank back into his office chair.

Claire stayed on the line but didn’t say anything as he watched the show. It was much shorter than Ema’s usual hour-long show, only about fifteen minutes. It showed every angry, horrible moment Knox had with Ema—glowering, looking grumpy, being downright jerky. Then it showed some of his staff saying things that could be construed as negative. Knox could tell they’d been led to say something bad and their words had been cut to make it look worse. He didn’t blame any of them.

The absolute horrid part was the footage of Shelby running to him outside the horse arena. She looked adorable and Mike used every bit of it, focusing on Knox sheltering her with his body as he yelled at Mike twice to cut the feed.

The video ended with Ema, looking beautiful and happy, saying, “Well, that’s Knox Sherman, my friends, aka the Beast.” She grinned and the show ended.

Knox’s shoulders rounded as the pressure of the world seemed to dump on his head. He didn’t care about Ema making him look bad, but how could she expose Shelby like that? She knew Shelby was all that mattered to him. He was such an idiot to have ever trusted her. She was worse than Paris, worse than any Delilah his mother had warned him about. She’d taken all his strength and everything that mattered to him, and she’d grinned while doing it.

“What do you want to do, Knox? Shall we have your lawyers sue for defamation?” Claire asked quietly.

“I don’t care about that.” He closed his eyes and scrubbed at his beard. “Claire, what if someone comes after Shelby because of this?” The kidnapping attempt had been over two years ago, but it still lingered and terrified him. The fact that Paris had shown up shortly after, claiming she was “heartsick” about her baby being abducted. The truth was she loved getting tons of media exposure from the event and it only confirmed to him what his private investigators believed but couldn’t confirm—Paris had orchestrated the kidnapping attempt to either steal her daughter or get more social media exposure. That woman had broken his friend’s heart with her cheating, but she wouldn’t hurt his daughter.

“You’ll protect her, Knox. It’s what you do. I’m going to get some suits started and a statement out.”

“Whatever.” He would protect Shelby, and his large security team were top-notch; Brig was tough enough he could intimidate Knox. Yet what if someone got through them? What if Paris showed up again? How many times would he have to fight her?

“I’m here for you, big guy.”

Knox sucked in a breath. He only wanted Ema calling him big guy. No. He shook his head quickly. No. He never wanted Ema anywhere near him again.

“I’ll get back with you soon,” Claire said.

“Thanks,” he managed.

He pulled the phone away from his head but had no time to recover as it rang again. It was Brig, his head of the security. “Sir. Beau just alerted me that we have a situation at the front gate.”

Knox’s chest tightened with fear. “Where’s Shelby?” he demanded.

“Her tracker shows her in the kitchen. Sir, you need to get out here right now.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I find Shelby.” He jammed the phone into his pocket and tore out of his office. “Shelby!”

She met him as he raced into the great room. She had chocolate smeared on her cheek and a big grin on her face. “Daddy!”

Knox swept her off the ground and into his arms. Peace settled over him. His daughter was okay. Whatever the situation was at the gate didn’t matter as long as she was safe.

Genevieve strode to them. “Are you all right?”

“No. Take her up to her suite and stay with her until I get back. I’ll get some of the security guys up there soon.”

Genevieve’s eyes widened. “Okay.”

Knox gazed down at his daughter. “You go with Aunt Genny and I’ll come sing you good night soon, okay, love?”

“I want to finish my cake,” she protested.

“Nellie will take it upstairs for you.”

Nellie nodded quickly.

Knox kissed her cheek again, then handed her off to Genevieve. He walked with them to the front staircase and watched them go up before dialing Brig again.

“Sir? Are you coming?”

“I’m on my way, but I need Beau and Rudy to come to the house. I want Beau outside Shelby’s door and Rudy walking the perimeter of the house.”

“You got it, sir. Please hurry, this lady is nuts.”

A deranged fan? Knox wondered why Brig didn’t just take care of the situation himself. The guy was insanely good at fighting and security, but Knox had told him he would come. He waited until Beau and Rudy knocked on the door and gave them instructions to watch Shelby and the house closely. He was overreacting, but everything felt wrong right now.

He ran down the driveway rather than take a vehicle. As he approached the gate, he saw Brig standing on the outside of the locked gate, arguing with someone. He couldn’t see the person, but he could hear a female voice.

He slipped through the guard house, nodding to Woody, who was watching the cameras, and exited on the outside. A large muscular man stood next to his nightmare—Paris Schwanaveldt. Anger and resentment stirred in his gut. Ema had brought this on him. Why had he ever let himself fall for a woman?

Paris’s blonde mop swiveled to him and she stopped mid-sentence. “Knox!” She tried to run to him.

Brig was quicker. He grabbed her arm and wrenched her to a stop. “Stand down, lady,” he commanded.

Her bodyguard—or boyfriend, or whoever he was—rushed Brig. Brig quickly transferred his hold on Paris’s arm to his left hand and ripped his sidearm out with his right, aiming straight at the guy’s chest. “You dying for her, man?” Brig growled.

Knox’s whole world was in turmoil, but he had to smile seeing the dumb brute stop in his tracks and back up quickly with his hands in the air. Meanwhile, Paris tried to break Brig’s grip and alternated between glaring at Brig and giving Knox beseeching looks.

“Knox,” Paris begged in what he assumed she thought was a sultry voice. “Tell him that you know me.”

“Sir?” Brig questioned in a low voice.

Knox looked past Paris to the muscular guy. “Do you want to wait for her in the car?” He nodded toward the black Porsche, which he assumed belonged to Paris.

The guy nodded quickly. “Sure. Sounds great. Thanks.”

Knox hid another smile. Keeping his eyes on Brig, the man quickly opened the door and slipped into the driver’s seat. Knox wondered if he’d hightail it out of here, but he just sat there watching them.

Knox turned to Brig. “You can let her go.” He faced down Paris. “But if she tries to touch me, shoot to kill.”

Brig released her arm and backed up a step, his pistol still out and very visible. “You got it, sir,” Brig said.

Paris turned her ugly glower on Knox. He wondered if she realized how unattractive she was. She’d been a top model when Tyler had made the mistake of sleeping with her when she came to visit the troops in Afghanistan. Tyler had done the honorable thing and married her when she turned up pregnant. Knox was grateful for his friend’s sacrifice because he’d been blessed with Shelby. But oh, this woman was a monster. She thought every man would fall prey to her, but Knox knew all too well how black her soul was. She’d had Tyler head over heels for her, and Knox believed she’d intentionally gotten pregnant so she could set herself up financially. As many times as she’d cheated on Tyler, she obviously had no love for him. This woman only loved herself, money, and her social media followers.

Her red-painted lips turned up in a smile. “No kiss for me, then, Knox?”

“No, ma’am.”

Her smile grew on her lips, though her Botoxed cheeks and forehead didn’t move. Her heavily made-up blue eyes turned even more conniving. “I love that country drawl of yours.”

“Shut it, Paris,” he commanded.

Her smile fled and her blue eyes narrowed.

“What are you doing here?” he ground out.

“I saw a video of my beautiful little girl and we were in the area, so I thought I’d drop by. I didn’t know you’d relocated from Boston and I had no idea I’d be treated like this.” She drew her lower lip out in a pout that would’ve been cute on Shelby. Knox had to admit that Paris’s features were beautiful, but the nasty life she lived and the cunning evil inside of her twisted the features that on Shelby were picture-perfect into something terrifying on Paris.

“You signed away all parental rights. Don’t think I’m going to give you more benefits you don’t deserve.”

“I have ways of making every man change their mind.” She strutted toward him, and her hand snaked toward his chest. Knox caught her wrist and held tight.

Brig’s pistol cocked loudly. “Shoot to kill, sir, or just to maim?”

Paris gasped and scurried away from Knox. “Is that idiot for real?”

“Yes, ma’am, he is.” And just like that, Knox was smiling again.

“I don’t want your money,” she claimed. “I just want to be with you and Shelby.”

Knox knew exactly what she meant by that. She wanted to post pictures of her with him and Shelby, get some exposure for her on social media. She didn’t even stop to think how it would confuse Shelby by her showing up, then disappearing again with her latest boy toy. Tyler had begged him to keep Shelby from Paris, for very good reason. A mother like this could ruin his innocent daughter in two shakes. And that was assuming she hadn’t been behind the kidnapping attempt. She was simply evil.

“You may not have noticed the signs posted,” he said, “but this road and all the property around here is private property—my property. In Texas, I can legally kill you for threatening me on my property.”

“I didn’t threaten you,” she shrieked, finally realizing he was serious about not wanting her around.

“You came at me and Brig here had to stop you.”

“That’s right,” Brig spoke up.

“Well,” Paris sputtered, jamming her finger at the Porsche, “Ike will testify that you murdered me.”

“Not if he’s dead too,” Knox said.

Paris squeaked. Her face turned white. Normally, Knox would feel awful threatening anyone like this, but he knew exactly how Paris ticked and he was done playing nice with anyone, especially a scheming woman. He thought of Ema, and his blood ran hotter.

“Now,” he said to Paris. “We really don’t want your ugly body splayed out on our pretty property.”

She gasped, her face turning red now.

“So do us all a favor and leave with Ike. If you never come back, we can pretend this never happened.”

Paris backed toward the car. “I’ll sue you!” she screamed.

Knox chuckled at that. “I know I gave you a hefty settlement, Paris, but you have no clue the wealth I’ve amassed with Tyler’s fortune, my football sponsors, and a fabulous investment team. I have lawyers on staff that will wipe you from the courtroom. Do you really want to waste your money like that?”

“Argh!” Paris cried out. “You’re such a beast, Knox Sherman!” She backed into the hood of the car and snaked around it to grab the passenger-side handle. “I would’ve made you so happy. You had a chance for me to love you, but you’ve ruined it all!”

Knox shared a glance with Brig, whose smooth features were distorted with disgust. “Yeah, I’m okay with that,” Knox said to Paris.

She let out a roar of anger and threw herself into the car. As soon as her door closed, Ike started the motor and reversed, spinning around and speeding off.

Knox let out a breath. He and Brig had faced down his nightmare and come out the victors. It had been ugly enough that maybe she would stop coming around.

“Wow,” Brig said. “Your buddy actually married that monster.”

Knox nodded. Tyler had been bewitched by her. Poor guy had realized his mistake pretty quick.

“And she called you a beast.” Brig shook his head.

Knox turned to him. “I loved your reaction.”

Brig grinned and saluted him. “Just doing my job. That was fun.”

Knox had been successful in the military, but Brig had lived and breathed it. He’d been Knox’s commanding officer. It was still a weird reversal sometimes that Knox was now his boss. “I’m giving you another raise,” Knox said.

“Hey, instead of a raise, can I ask a favor?”

“Anything.” Knox trusted Brig with his daughter’s life. Knowing this guy was in charge of security helped him sleep at night. He wondered what the man would want. Maybe Brig wanted a paid vacation. Knox would let him take his jet anywhere. The accomplishment of driving Paris off so easily disappeared as he thought of his jet. Ema wouldn’t be using it to come see him.

Brig was studying the fence.

“What is it?” Knox forced a smile so he’d be more approachable. He didn’t think he intimidated Brig. He didn’t think anybody would intimidate this guy.

“Would you care if I, um … asked your agent out sometime?”

“Claire?” Knox’s eyebrows shot up. Claire was a beautiful woman, but she could’ve run a fashion magazine instead of a sports agency. He couldn’t imagine her going for the rough-and-tough bodyguard type. Brig would probably be attractive to women—his sculpted face, tough body, and the prematurely gray hair all seemed to be something women liked—but it just didn’t fit Claire. Come to think of it, he hadn’t heard of her dating anyone since her fiancé was killed in the line of duty several years ago.

Brig met his gaze evenly. “Yeah. I … kind of have a huge crush on her.”

Knox couldn’t help but laugh. Brig didn’t even smile, which made Knox feel bad. “Sorry, man, I wasn’t laughing at you. Well, I guess I was.”

Brig flicked his thumb against his leg. “I know she’s too good for me, but I can’t get her out of my head. I have to at least try, right?”

Knox wanted to tell him even though Claire was a fabulous person, relationships with beautiful women stunk and were not worth the pain. But he couldn’t shoot the guy down. “Yeah, I guess you do. You didn’t need my permission.”

“I love working for you, sir. I didn’t want to jeopardize anything.”

“Thanks.” Knox stuck out his hand and Brig grasped it firmly. “This isn’t the military, though. You don’t have to ask my permission to go on a date.” He smirked. “Wasn’t that long ago I had to ask your permission.”

Brig grinned. “I liked the army life.”

“I didn’t.” Knox thought of all the crap he’d shared with Ema. Why hadn’t she put on her stupid YouTube video that he had PTSD? That he’d tattooed his buddies on his arm? How crappy he was at dancing, and probably kissing too? He shook his head and released Brig’s hand. “Thanks again.”

Brig nodded, and Knox started walking back up the driveway. Shelby was safe, for now. Would other predators besides Paris come out of the woodwork because of that video? Strength and conviction raced through him. If they did, he and Brig and his other security guys would protect her.

His phone rang and he pulled it out. Ema’s name and beautiful face filled the screen. Knox cursed. Part of him wanted to throw the phone, part of him wanted to answer it and tell her what she’d done to him, and part of him wanted to block her number and pretend he’d never met her.

He shoved the phone in his pocket and kept walking back to his daughter.