When she didn’t respond, he continued. “You help the Warrens make this mess go away and I’ll sign custody over to you. But you will not leave New Orleans. You’re not taking my boy away from me.”
Taking away my boy? My boy? She wanted to vomit and scream at the same time. But that calm wouldn’t leave her. Because she was so calm, she could think. And seeing him for the first time in weeks, hearing the age in his voice, noticing the tremble in his fingers, she knew the balance of power was starting to tip.
It could be one of his tricks, that tiny voice reminded her. The voice she’d ignored in the past at great expense. It could be a trick. She wouldn’t put it past him. So she would wait.
“Yes, of course, I’ll help,” she said, in a tone that would've infuriated him only a month ago. Instead, he seemed to visibly relax. Adrenaline spiked through her as her heart rate increased. Hope tried to bloom, but she squashed it. “I have a house.” She carefully played the card she’d been saving. “It’s only a few blocks from here and much closer than Suzanne’s house.”
“Is that a fact?”
“I have no intentions of leaving the city. This is my home.”
Black eyes turned shrewd. She should’ve withered under that look, but she didn’t. Everything inside her stayed right where it was…waiting…patiently. He broke eye contact first, and her heart flipped so hard it stopped for a moment, and reality started to take on a strange glow.
“We’re meeting with the Warrens in the morning. You can take Robbie for the evening. He has a bag packed and can stay with you tonight. I expect you in the office as soon as you’ve dropped him off at school in the morning.”
Her composure hung by a thread, and her fingers trembled in her lap. She tightened her hands into fists unwilling to let him see the tears she fought at this unexpected gift.
“Thank you,” was all she said in a husky voice she didn’t try to hide as she pushed to her feet.
“Do exactly as I say, Madlyn, and I will give you custody in writing.”
She paused in the doorway, her back still to him. The opening was too much to resist. She’d been late to this meeting because she’d prepared paperwork in case he tried to bribe her with custody again. He’d done it so many times she’d lost count. But this time felt different.
She took the documents out of her purse and handed them to him. “Sign these and I will do everything in my power to make the investigation go away.”
Instead of the burst of fury she expected, she got a rare smile. “You’re finally learning,” he grumbled, pushing to his feet with great effort before opening the wall safe behind his desk. “Took you long enough. You can have these when it’s over,”
She watched him lock the safe. “I was never a quick learner.”
“You were never a good liar. That’s always been your problem, girl. You can’t lie worth a damn. You’re weak like your father.”
The irony of that accusation was so vast, it rolled over her like a rogue wave. The rest of the world thought she was a consummate liar and a chip off the old block. The old block thought she was worthless and weak.
At least her son didn’t believe any of that. And that was all that mattered.
Robbie was waiting for her when she left the study. He’d been expecting her because he led her straight to the dining room where he had his schoolwork, his artwork, and everything she had missed in the last few weeks ready to show her. Then there were photographs on his iPad she had to see. Some animal videos that he’d saved. Those few interrupted hours with him as they made up for lost time were everything. She was surprised when the housekeeper announced dinner was ready.
She hadn’t wanted to stay, but it was Robbie’s favorite fried shrimp. So she found herself eating dinner with her son and her grandfather. By the time they’d finished, she felt like she’d fallen into an alternate universe where her grandfather was the kindly old patriarch of the family, enjoying the evening with his granddaughter and much loved great-grandson.
A wave of homesickness for a place she’d never even been swelled inside her. She made herself concentrate on Robbie, and she forced tasteless food into her mouth. The old man’s genuine affection for Robbie and Robbie’s adoration of his great-grandfather slowly killed all those tendrils of hope that had been sprouting up inside her lately.
Her son was happy, she told herself fiercely. He was doing great in school. His artwork was surprisingly good, but then his father had loved to sketch and draw. Robbie had everything he needed and was surrounded by people who adored him. She couldn’t take that away.
It wasn’t an option.
Chapter Eleven
“Jared! What did you do to these cookies?” Jen rounded the corner before he could stand up, so he didn’t bother. “And what are you doing down there?”
“Taking a break,” he grumbled, leaning his head back against the wall and resting his arm on his knee again.
“You…” she scoffed, hands on her hips, brown eyes flashing with disbelief. “…are taking a break? Is it the apocalypse?”
He stared up at her, wanting to smile at her sarcasm but unable to move his facial muscles at all. She was wearing all black under a garish purple apron emblazoned with the zombie cupcake logo he’d designed for ‘Jen’s Voodoo Snacks and Treats’. She’d scraped her hair into a high ponytail, and flour was dusted across her face instead of make-up. She looked…cute. It was such a relief that seeing her like that didn’t kick him in the gut like it used to.
Of course, there was nothing in his gut to kick because he’d pretty much been eviscerated by the Red Queen. Not that he was going to admit it to anyone.
He pushed the heel of his hand hard against his forehead as she walked forward. He didn’t want to deal with this right now.
“What is up with you?”
He wanted to tell her to leave him alone, to mind her own business. But he was so shocked that he was angry with her, the question he wanted to ask just slipped out. “Why Sellers? Why did you marry him?”
She leaned back and crossed her arms. “Because I love him.”
Jared nodded, her answer only making him angrier. Anger at Jen was inconceivable, but he couldn’t stop it bubbling out of him. “Why are you in love with him?”
“Is this a trick question?”
“Why him and not me? You actually like me.”
Her jaw dropped, and she looked around as she tried not to laugh. “You’re serious?”
“Yes. I can be serious. It just doesn’t happen very often.”
He flinched away as she really looked him. This time she saw him, and he wished he’d never started this insane conversation. “Why aren’t you in love with me?”
“Hell if I know,” he grumbled, staring at the tile floor. He should mop again.
“It’s not a question you can really answer, is it? You either are or you aren’t. It doesn’t make any sense. I’ve always loved Stefan. I don’t remember not loving him. But I can’t explain why. I just do.” She sat next to him, their shoulders almost touching. “What’s happened?”
“When you thought he didn’t love you, what did that feel like?”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Why can’t you just answer the question?”
She sighed. “It felt like I didn’t exist and I could never quite get enough air in my lungs so there was always this edge of panic. But I’m crazy, remember? So it could be the brain damage.”
“You don’t have brain damage.” He nudged her with his shoulder.
“Feels like I do sometimes. So is this why the snickerdoodles have no snicker? You forgot the cinnamon because you’re in love with someone?”
“Maybe I have brain damage.”
“You’re going to have brain damage if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
He closed his eyes, but she nudged him with her shoulder. Harder than he had. “Tell me.”
Instead, he hit his head back against the wall a few times. It didn’t help. What th
e hell was he supposed to say? ‘I banged the Red Queen and she gutted me’? No, he wasn’t ready to admit that to anyone. Especially not Jen.
“This isn’t about me, is it?”
“No.”
“So you’ve met someone?”
“Not exactly.”
“Not exactly? Try to be a little vaguer. I’m not confused enough.”
He banged his head back against the wall a few more times, then paused.
Still didn’t help.
“What happened?” She nudged him again. “You finally met your match? Who’s the lucky girl? Not that goth chick with the ring through her nose.”
He shook his head, not opening his eyes. “Not the goth chick.”
“Do I know this girl?”
He banged his head against the wall again and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. He couldn’t say it aloud. Not yet.
“Just tell me. It can’t be that bad.”
“My father and Grant asked me to offer Madlyn Robicheaux a job at the law firm.”
“Madlyn?” Jen whispered, going very still. “Did she laugh at you or what?”
“She shot me down, so my father invited her to dinner. Charm her, they said. Make her a cheesecake. Well, she doesn’t like cheesecake…”
Jen smiled slowly. “She loves cheesecake.”
That wasn’t the response he was expecting. “How do you know?”
“When I was nine, she taught me how to make cheesecake.”
She stopped, her expression going blank. She’d never talked about her childhood with him. The car accident that had killed her family had also stolen her memories from before the accident. Stefan called it dissociative amnesia. He’d never seen it happen, but he knew when she recovered memories, it came at a price. She would check out, lose herself, sometimes for minute, sometimes for days.
“When you were nine?” he prompted, glad he’d listened to Stefan when the big guy told him how to walk her through one of these episodes. He’d thought it was bullshit, but now that he watched it happen, his low opinion of Stefan started to rewrite itself.
“Yes.” A distant smile tugged at her mouth. “We were all at the beach. She’d been reading us Alice in Wonderland, and Lizzie wanted a tea party. So we made tiny cheesecakes and…” She trailed off as she fell deeper into the memory.
“She let Lizzie in the kitchen?” Jared teased lightly, pulling her back.
Jen laughed. Stefan’s little sister was notorious for burning water.
“Do you remember anything else?”
“Yeah.” Her smile turned sad. “Maddie…I mean Madlyn.”
His eyes widened when she called her Maddie. “Maddie?” he whispered.
“She used to babysit Lizzie and me all the time.” Her expression returned to normal.
“Are you sure you remember it right?” He couldn’t imagine Madlyn babysitting. “Are we talking about the same Madlyn? Madlyn Robicheaux. The Red Queen.”
Jen nodded. “Lizzie started calling her the Red Queen after she read us Through the Looking-Glass because she said she was like our governess. Lizzie has loved Lewis Carroll ever since Maddie told her about the hidden math.”
“I hate to tell you this, Jen. Now you’re starting to sound crazy.”
She opened her mouth to blow back at him, then smiled ruefully instead. “You want to hear something really crazy? I think I adored her when I was a kid. She was always with us. She was like my big sister before she and Robert ever got engaged. She taught me to bake.”
“This can’t be the same person. She kidnapped you, remember?”
Jen frowned. “She did not kidnap me.”
“So you’re defending her now?”
“I went with her because she asked me to go. We spent the day with Robbie at the aquarium. She and Robert used to take me there or the zoo, the movies. It didn’t matter. I was always with them until…” She suddenly got very quiet and very still. Jared reached for her to make sure she was still with him.
She looked up at him, wiping stray tears out of her eyes. “I’m still here.”
“You don’t have to talk about it.”
“Don’t start.” Her expression changed to annoyance, and she looked more like herself again. “I’m fine. I keep trying to remember why things went so wrong. I always thought it was my graduation party when I…”
“What’s the first thing you remember after the accident?”
“We were at the beach. Stefan running on the sand. She didn’t come with us on that trip, and I hadn’t seen her. I think I was upset because she never came to the hospital and she…” Jen stopped. “She and Stefan started seeing each other, and I was angry because she wasn’t supposed to be with anyone except my brother. I’d been so angry with her for so long, but I couldn’t always remember why. Then I saw her at my graduation party with Stefan, and I…”
He caught her hands in his and stopped her. She’d gone so pale, he almost didn’t recognize her. “Jen.” He shook her lightly, and her focus snapped back to him.
“I’m okay. It’s just that all the pieces don’t fit together like they’re supposed to.”
“You shouldn’t try so hard.”
She smiled, sniffing. “I’m making this all about me again, and it’s not.”
He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. “It is about you, though. She hurt you. I can’t have feelings for someone who would hurt you like she did.”
Her expression turned serious, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “She wouldn’t hurt me. Not really. She was my family—”
“Well, isn’t this cozy?” a voice grumbled from the entrance of the kitchen.
“Fuck me,” Jared whispered, and let go of her.
Jen wiped at her eyes and held up her hand as Stefan moved into the kitchen. He took her hand and pulled her to her feet, but his eyes never left Jared. “You making my wife cry?”
“No,” she insisted, sniffing and trying to recover her composure. “I can do that without any help these days. Hormones.”
Jared pushed to his feet, too, not wanting to be at a disadvantage with the big guy around. “Hormones aren’t my fault. I’m not her baby daddy.”
“Very funny.”
“We were talking about Madlyn,” Jen said carefully. “I was trying to explain to Jared that we were all friends once. There’s just this big gap in my memories until the night I saw you with her in the pool house at my graduation party. I don’t remember—”
“Whoa, hold on there,” Stefan interrupted, his voice oddly strangled. “You saw who?”
“I saw you with her in the pool house,” Jen admitted. “I thought you knew. I was sure she would tell you.”
“With who? Madlyn? In what pool house?”
Jen glanced at Jared for help, but Sellers looked genuinely staggered. Jared believed him.
“You think you saw me with Madlyn in my parent’s pool house—”
“Having sex,” Jen finished for him. “To be clear. Yes, I saw you with her the night of my graduation party going at it in the pool house.”
Sellers’ jaw dropped, but he recovered quickly. “Is that why you blew me off the next day? We were supposed to go—”
“I wasn’t going anywhere with you the day after you screwed Madlyn Robicheaux right in front of me!”
“Jen.” Stefan took two steps towards her, but she took two more back. “Baby, I never—”
“I saw you!”
“It wasn’t Stefan.” A calm voice blew into the kitchen like a winter breeze.
They all turned to find Madlyn watching them with a frozen smile. She looked nothing like the woman Jared had been losing his mind over for the last two weeks, and the ice in her expression burned straight through his skin.
She leaned against the doorway, dressed in another killer red suit, holding a purse that probably cost more than Jared’s SUV, and heels that should have been illegal they were so high. She was all professional, shark chic. She’d cut her hair, and it brushed
her jaw in a sleek, perfect bob of black silk. Her understated make-up was professional until you got to her mouth, which was ready for sin. Jared took a step back, unable to look at her too long in case his retinas dissolved. But the rest of him was ready to party as all his blood drained right out of his brain and straight to a dick eager to wear that shade of red glossing her lips again.
Had he really been inside this woman? He couldn’t fathom it. Maybe it’d been a bad dream after all.
“It was Matt Hansen. And we weren’t having sex. He was drunk and kissing me.” She pushed away from the door, stepping into the kitchen and glancing around like she’d never seen one before. “He fell in the pool, and I was trying to help him change. That’s why she thought it was you.”
“And you didn’t think to mention this?” Stefan bit out. “You knew what she would think.”
Madlyn checked her nails, then ran her finger along the edge of the stainless steel worktable as though checking for dust. She found flour and flicked it off her fingers before pausing to look up at them. “Now, why would I have done that? It was too delicious, Stefan. You should have seen her face. Devastation does not begin to describe…”
“Stop it,” Jared cut her off, ripping his apron over his head and throwing it behind him as he crossed the room to stand in front of her.
She glanced up, licking her bottom lip as she smiled that cat-like smile that made him want to kill her and kiss her at the same time. “Stop what?”
He dropped his face to hers so they were at eye level. “Running.”
He said it so softly that Stefan and Jen didn’t hear, but it snapped Madlyn out of the bitch-queen attitude faster than he’d thought possible. Panic and confusion flickered in those black eyes, and for a second she looked so lost.
“Just stop.”
But she couldn’t stop. She was like a bird trapped in a cage too long. A bird that had spent years flinging itself against the bars trying to escape until its wings were too damaged to fly. So when the door finally opened, the bird didn’t know how to get away.
The Fall of the Red Queen (Self Made Men...Southern Style Book 3) Page 13