by Hanna Hart
Hadn’t he already told this idiot to leave?
“It isn’t fun to have your personal life up for discussion, is it?” the man said.
Jaxon’s eyes went wide as he watched the man grab Madelyn’s shoulder and shove her forcefully into the wall.
Without a second thought, Jaxon was moving. He’d never run so fast in all of his life. He raced down the stairs, through the front door, and across their two lawns. His mind was so blinded by fury that he could hear himself yelling to them but couldn’t make out a word he was saying. All he knew was that if that man landed another hand on Madelyn, he wasn’t going to leave the property looking the same way he did coming in.
The two of them struggled, Jaxon pushing against the sheer size of the other man. He dodged a punch before eventually pushing the man to the lawn.
“Watch it!” the man screamed, pushing Jaxon aside and getting back on his feet.
Just as the man began walking back toward Madelyn, police sirens echoed throughout the neighborhood. The community was part of a watch program and thankfully, one of the neighbors had the insight to call the police, something Jaxon should have done.
“Get off her. Get off her!” Jaxon yelled as the police ran up.
“On the ground, now!” one of the officers said as he grabbed hold of the man.
Two officers struggled with him until they finally were able to pry his hand from Madelyn’s arm. Whatever anger this man was feeling, it was strong.
“Hey, listen to me.” The giant fought against his grasp and the officer repeated, “Listen to me right now! You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”
The two restrained the man and got them into the back of their cruiser.
All the while, Jaxon’s eyes were locked with Madelyn’s. He couldn’t comprehend what had just happened or why it happened, but the unsettled feeling he had in his stomach showed no signs of relenting.
“What happened?” the officer asked, looking in between Madelyn and Jaxon.
“This is private property, and he was trespassing and assaulted my neighbor,” Jaxon said, still holding Madelyn’s gaze.
“Do you know this man, ma’am?” the officer asked.
“This is my boyfriend, Jaxon,” she said. “He’s also my neighbor.”
“And the man in the car?” the other officer asked.
“No,” she shook her head, shaken. “I do not know him personally, no.”
The darker-skinned cop turned to his partner and raised a curious brow. “Do you have any idea why he would come here and attack you?”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“And why’s that?” the officer asked.
“His name is Daniel Monroe. He’s going through a divorce, and I was hired by his wife to see if there was infidelity in the marriage,” she said evenly, avoiding Jaxon’s stare.
“In what capacity were you hired? You a friend of his wife, a lawyer, an investigator?” the cop asked, and Madelyn admitted that she had been working for the Lochlan Group as an investigator.
“Alright,” one of the officers said, scribbling notes down into a pad of paper no bigger than his pocket. “And am I to assume that you did find something unbecoming in Mr. Monroe’s behavior when you were following him?”
“I caught him engaged intimately with another woman,” she said.
“I see. Any idea how he got behind the gates?”
She shook her head. “I have no idea.”
“You don’t know how he found out where you live?” the officer asked.
“No, sir,” she said.
Jaxon exhaled slowly. He felt like he was watching the conversation from the air, looking down at all of the bodies on the lawn. “I saw him in here a couple of weeks ago,” he said out of nowhere.
Madelyn looked surprised but still didn’t look at him.
“Is that right?” the cop asked, then noticed one of the security cameras on Jaxon’s house. He gestured toward it with the tip of his pen and asked, “Do you still have the footage?”
“Yeah, I can get it to you if it’ll be helpful.”
“That would be great, thank you.”
“The whole area is forested,” Jaxon explained. “Our backyard is all brush so he may have gotten through on a hike.”
After a couple more questions, the police officer asked Madelyn if she wanted to go down to the station and press assault charges. At first, she said no.
Jaxon couldn’t see his own expression, but he could feel the anger boiling up through his features.
“Madelyn,” he said, urging. “You have to go.”
“I don’t want to press charges.”
“Why?” he demanded. “Because it doesn’t look good for your work? He tried to hit you. He snuck into our private neighborhood. What if you had been watching Sutton?”
Madelyn paled, considering it, then finally agreed to go down to the station. After getting a neighbor to come and watch Sutton, the officer asked Jaxon to come to the station as a witness. Upon their arrival, Jaxon wrote down his account of the assault and signed a document confirming all of his, and Madelyn’s, words to be true.
It felt like a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.
He watched Madelyn as she filled out paperwork; listened to the office noises surrounding them in the bus station. He heard paper scratches, keyboard clicks, doors slamming, and smelled stale coffee in the air.
Who was this woman? He wondered this as he looked at his girlfriend, still in shock that what Daniel Monroe had been telling the truth about her profession.
Why did she lie to him about where she worked?
How was she involved with this kind of job when she was still so young?
His insides twisted, caught somewhere between worried and angry.
When they finished up with the police, Jaxon offered her a ride home. The humid summer night air was stale and awkward as they slipped into the car. He heard Madelyn’s seatbelt buckle but stalled before starting the car, feeling uncomfortable and possibly still in shock after all that had happened.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and Madelyn nodded in silence.
They rode quietly for some time before Jaxon spoke again. “What was that?”
“You just signed a whole document regarding what that was about,” she said, not turning her face from the passenger window. “I don’t think I have to explain it to you.”
“Actually, I think you do,” he said.
Madelyn set her jaw and looked in his direction. “How’s that?”
“You lied to me,” he said.
“No, I omitted truth from you. There is a difference.”
“Not to me, there isn’t.”
Madelyn gave a small, irritated laugh to his comment, and it left Jaxon’s heart feeling cold. “What could possibly be funny?” he said as he pulled into her driveway.
“It’s my job,” she said. “I work for my uncle.”
“And who’s your uncle? A mob boss?”
“Yeah, you caught me,” she sneered.
“Maddie, this is serious. You could have been hurt or worse. What type of work do you have that causes these people to come and find you, huh?”
She took a moment to consider how she might answer him, and every delayed response left him feeling sicker. There had been too many surprises already. She was a private investigator. Fine. But to what end did she lie about her job? Why not just be honest with him about who she was in the first place?
And now, her attitude was less than desirable. She seemed snippy and defensive. Maybe she was still in shock, unsure how to react after almost being attacked, but something was off.
“I’m a junior investigator at my uncle’s firm. It’s usually following paper trails, social media, getting dirt on people for divorces. That kind of stuff. And for the record, this has never happened to me before,” she expla
ined, folding her hands into her lap.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me that?”
“It’s not a job you shout about—for this very reason, I might add,” she said.
Jaxon narrowed his brows. He looked down at his lap and then turned to look at her face. “I trusted you with my son.”
Finally, she looked at him. Her eyes went kitten-round, and she asked, “And you wouldn’t have otherwise?”
“I don’t know, Maddie,” he said softly.
“It’s not going to happen again,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about safety with me, I promise.”
“How do you know? How do you know this guy isn’t going to bail out and think that you’re just the witch who ruined his life? His marriage?”
“Are you seriously defending this guy right now?” she asked.
“Not in the slightest,” he said.
“He cheated on his wife with a girl who’s almost as young as his daughter,” she snapped.
“I don’t care about this guy!” he said, finally annoyed. “He’s trash! Do you think I care if his marriage falls apart? Madelyn, I care about you, and you’re putting yourself—and my family—in danger.”
Madelyn shook her head. She looked like she wanted to say something but thought better of it. He could feel himself growing more frustrated by the second. He was angry and confused, and worst of all, Maddie didn’t seem to understand how dangerous what she did was.
“Why are you being so hostile with me right now?” he asked, desperately trying to understand how she was feeling.
“Because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’m not saying you did. I’m saying you could have told me,” he explained.
“I’m sorry, Jaxon. It was private. I thought you might react badly. I’m glad I was wrong,” she said sarcastically.
A wave of unease washed over Jaxon, leaving a bulb of discomfort in the pit of his stomach. Something was off.
“What’s going on?” he asked with concern.
“What do you mean?
“You’re acting really strange with me,” he said. Her eyes flinched, and he knew right he was right—something had changed between them, and he couldn’t understand what. “Talk to me. You’re acting like you’re angry with me, and I don’t understand why. Are you embarrassed? Are you in shock?”
Madelyn clenched her jaw, but she wouldn’t look at him anymore.
“Madelyn,” he said, but she was done talking.
16
Madelyn
Madelyn had forgotten how exhausting it was to cry uncontrollably, but she quickly remembered after Jaxon had dropped her off from the police station.
It had been two days, and she still couldn’t get over the night. It didn’t go at all how she thought it would. She thought she would be telling Jaxon about her harrowing pregnancy, about the illness that almost killed her. She thought she would be admitting to being Sutton’s mother and asking him to try to understand how hard it was for her to come clean.
Instead, she was being threatened by a client’s husband and then outed about her job.
Jaxon didn’t take the news well.
She didn’t know why she assumed he would. After all, he had every right to be upset, didn’t he?
All he had seen of her job was the dangerous part of it. He didn’t see the other ninety-nine percent of the time when it was just stalking people on social media and scanning through e-mails and bank accounts. He didn’t see how normal—well, not normal—but safe it was.
He only got to see the terrifying part of her work—not the amazing parts, like reuniting mothers with their children.
She couldn’t help the poor way she reacted that night in his car. He seemed so judgmental. She felt like he was inadvertently blaming her for being attacked. She knew he wasn’t; he couldn’t have been. The truth was he felt hurt and left out of her life. The last thing you’re supposed to do with someone you’re starting a new relationship with is lie to them. You’re supposed to let them in. You’re supposed to communicate.
Especially when you both share the same son.
Now he probably hated her. He didn’t trust her around Sutton. He made that much clear.
“Hey, are you alright?” her uncle asked.
He’d called her the same night she’d gone to the police station, after Sarah had reported what had happened to her, no doubt. But she was only now returning his call.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Sarah said you got followed?” he asked.
“It was the Monroe guy. We got spotted the other day with our cameras. I think he thought I was just some stupid kid taking his picture on my cellphone, being a troublemaker or something, but I guess his lawyer is familiar with us and warned him. I don’t know the full story,” she explained.
“What about Sarah? Is she okay?”
“Yeah, I called her from the police station and warned her. I didn’t want anyone after her, either.”
“I’m so sorry, kid,” her uncle said, concern shadowing his tones. “This shouldn’t have happened.”
“It was my fault,” she admitted.
“You’re sure you’re okay?”
“Just a little surprised, but I’ll live
“Good. Good. Look,” he said with a breath, indicating he was about to say something she wasn’t going to like. “We’re gonna put you back on socials, okay?”
“What?” she whined. “Uncle Jim, no!”
“Just for a little while. Besides, you’re good at socials, and it means you don’t have to drive into the city an—”
“You’re punishing me!” she accused.
“I am not punishing you,” Jim enunciated.
“You are! I got caught once. Once ever in all the time I’ve done jobs for you, and now you’re punishing me.”
“Hey, kid? It’s called looking out for you,” her uncle said compassionately. “I don’t want my only niece to get hurt, okay? You’re the only family I got.”
“Then don’t take this from me,” she pleaded.
“Too bad. I’ve got two paranoid husbands and one mother who wants to make sure her daughter isn’t some sugar baby. You think you can get a read on their socials?”
“You’re killing me,” she groaned.
“I’ll e-mail them to you in a little bit, okay? Stay safe, kid. I mean it.”
With that, the line cut out. Her uncle had made his mind up.
Madelyn leaned forward with her head in her hands. She sighed, letting her breath carry her frustrations.
Instead of staying in and sulking for the rest of the day, Madelyn decided it was time to make amends. She wanted—needed—to see Jaxon. She missed him and Sutton more than she could bear, and she needed to make things right with him.
She got ready, curling her hair and applying a thick coat of mascara to give her face some character before walking up to his front door. She felt nervous tingles infect her body as she knocked, hoping that he wasn’t going to ignore her.
The nanny, Ashley Hunter, opened the door. She wore her short gray hair in tiny pigtails and greeted Madelyn as she said, “Good morning Mrs. Woodward.”
“Good morning, Ashley,” she returned in kind. “May I come in?
“It’s a busy day today,” the nanny said quickly, her hand still firmly on the side of the door.
“Oh yeah? Big plans with the little guy?” Madelyn asked brightly. Her smile fell quickly as she noted Ashley was in no mood to make chit-chat. “Is Jaxon home?”
“Mr. Brooks isn’t accepting visitors right now—”
“Ashely, it’s okay,” she heard Jaxon say. He came to the door in dark wash jeans and a red t-shirt. He bore his eyes into her, mustering up a smile as he approached.
Instead of letting her into the house, he stepped outside onto the porch and closed the door behind him. He hugged her, which was promising, and then guided her to the porch swing to sit down.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“I
feel okay,” she said, looking over at her exposed arm and the bruise around her bicep. She rubbed at it gingerly and then shrugged. “Better now that I’m talking to you.”
Jaxon nodded, but he didn’t smile. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Not really,” she said.
“Yeah, me neither. I’ve been worried about you.”
“Yeah. Look,” she began. “I know the other night wasn’t...my best moment. And I know I was rude and aggressive with you, and I just came to apologize.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“Do you remember when you said you felt weird telling me about...” she trailed off, then lowered her voice and concluded, “about Sutton?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“You said you were worried I wouldn’t look at you guys the same way,” she reminded him.
He nodded. “Right.”
She took a breath, unsure of how to continue. “Well, that’s how I felt the other night. I was defensive and apathetic because that’s what I do when I’m really scared. I disconnect and push away.”
“Why?”
“Because I was worried you wouldn’t look at me the same way. I want you to think of me as your girlfriend. As the girl next door who makes you laugh and cares about your son. Not the investigator-in-training who is so bad at her job that she got followed him by some psychopath.”
Jaxon smiled and shook his head. “I would never think you were an idiot, Madelyn.”
She swallowed nervously and said, “But?”
“But,” he paused.
She studied his features and narrowed her brows as if discovering something. “You don’t trust me,” she concluded.
“You lied to me about your job, why you came to New York, where you go during the day, and had some dangerous person break into my very safe, very guarded neighborhood.” He shrugged. “What’s to trust?”
“I know. You’re right. It’s stupid. I did a stupid thing, and I should have known that I could trust you with my secrets. I’m just a slow learner sometimes,” she exhaled a nervous laugh, hoping she sounded charming.