by Sonya Weiss
“And I know what you’re really up to now. Your father told me. You’ve been working with him and your grandfather to try and stop me from ruining your family. Tell me, was it your idea or your family’s to lie and say Samuel has dementia?”
The absolute belief in his voice floored Maddie. After everything they’d shared, he’d judged her and found her guilty without even talking to her first. “My grandfather does have dementia.” She’d spoken to the doctor, a family friend, herself.
He shook his head, obviously not believing her. “To think that I was taken in by your innocent face.”
“Don’t do this.” Maddie couldn’t hide the disappointment or the hurt she felt. “You’re making a mistake. I love you. I wouldn’t con you.”
“Ri-i-ight. Out of the blue you show up in my life, and now you’re claiming that you love me. Which is exactly what your mother did to your father.”
“My father is a liar.”
“Did you give the money to any member of your family?”
“Well…yes…”
“I don’t want to hear any more.”
That stung. He believed her father’s lies instead of her. Well, forget it. She wasn’t going to stand here and plead her case. No doubt her father had twisted things to make her look as bad as possible. It was the way he operated.
“Cole, if we’re going to have a relationship—”
“Relationship? You’re my mistress. Nothing more.”
She sucked in a breath. “You care about me—”
“That was just good sex talking.”
“Is that right?” Lifting her chin, refusing to let it show how much he’d hurt her, Maddie said coolly, “I’m going to the bar over there to get a drink, and then I’m going to dance. Excuse me.”
Maddie sat at the bar sipping a glass of wine, trying to calm her emotions, when a woman came to stand beside her.
“Don’t let it get to you. He’ll figure it out.” The woman smiled. “You must be Maddie. I’m Olivia, Mason’s wife.”
Maddie looked over where Cole was deep in conversation with an attractive man.
Olivia followed her gaze. “That’s my husband talking to Cole, and like Cole, it took him a while to figure out that I was the best thing that ever happened to him.”
Maddie liked the other woman’s candor. She finished off her wine and set the glass down. “Cole thinks I lied to him and that I’m only with him for his money.”
Olivia nodded. “That seems to be a common belief among these guys, but it’s a reaction, an excuse, basically, that they use to push the women they care about away.”
Maddie frowned. “But why?”
“There have been women in their lives in the past who could only see dollar signs for one thing. For another, none of them feel like they deserve happiness because they made it out of the juvie facility alive and Adam didn’t.” Olivia studied her for a moment, then quietly asked, “Is there anything I can help with?”
Maddie found herself pouring out the entire story to the other woman, starting from the time she’d first met Cole in Texas to her needing the money for Dani and finally her father’s lies.
“That’s a tough one. I understand the father drama. Mine was the chief of police who covered up the evidence that they weren’t guilty,” Olivia said. “Mason was determined to get revenge on him, but in the end, for my sake, he chose not to.”
Maddie glanced at Cole. “I can’t be with someone who’s going to think the worst of me.” She would move out of Cole’s house, and because being around him in any capacity would only drive the knife deeper into her heartache, she couldn’t stay on in her position at the hotel, either.
“I agree,” Olivia said. “But you might also want to have a conversation with your father and grandfather and get to the bottom of all this.”
“I plan to talk to my father, but my grandfather no longer even knows who any of us are,” Maddie said. “He just stares at us blankly. The last time I saw him, he called me miss and asked what brought me to Chicago.” Maddie ducked her head to blink back the tears. Once she had her emotions under control, she said, “When I tell my sister everything that’s gone on, she’s not going to be happy with me.”
“Your sister is lucky to have you,” Olivia said quietly. “She might get mad, but in the end, she’ll know you acted out of love for her.”
“I did. I’ve always tried to protect her. I’m the family savior, and I couldn’t help her.” Maddie huffed out a breath as her actions became crystal clear. She’d spent her life trying to rescue her family as if she was subconsciously trying to save herself by saving others. The realization made her blow out a breath in a long exhale. “Wow.”
When Olivia raised her eyebrows questioningly, Maddie explained, “I never realized it until tonight, but I’ve been trying so hard to take care of everyone. To fix everyone’s problems so that they would think I was worthy of being loved.”
Olivia nodded as if she understood. “From what you said about how your so-called father treated you, it’s no wonder you’ve lived under the shadow of that burden.”
“Thank you for this,” Maddie said.
“I know how hardheaded the guys can be. I hope for both your sake and Cole’s that you two work it out.” She gave Maddie a smile, then excused herself as her husband approached.
Maddie sat at the bar for a few seconds, mulling over the conversation, when a handsome man came up to her and asked her to dance. She looked over to where Cole stood with his back to her. “I’d love to,” she said and rose, placing her hand in his.
…
On the surface, everything looked perfect. Burrell was happy, the party was packed with Chicago’s movers and shakers, and there were plenty of potential clients he’d been able to network with. That was good for business, but what wasn’t good was what was going on with Maddie.
Several men were obviously taken by her beauty, and judging from the laughter, they found her witty as well. One of them, Derek Owens, had eyed her in a way that made Cole want to take the olives out of the pretentious ass’s martini and poke them up the guy’s nose before he beat him into a smudge on the floor.
He forced himself to turn his back to the scene and signal to the bartender for another drink.
Jake joined him and tipped his head toward the center of the room where Maddie was now dancing. “Is she the reason why you look like you could use that drink?”
Cole told Jake about the meeting.
“You think Maddie lied?”
“As close as she and her grandfather are? Yeah, I do.” He glanced her direction and immediately wished he hadn’t. Maddie, in her tight red dress, was swinging her hips in a move so sexy that Derek was bound to have a heart attack. He set his drink down and rose.
“Where are you going?” Jake asked.
“To save a life.” Cole strode across the room. Some small portion of his brain recognized that he was acting out of character. The bigger part didn’t give a shit. He wasn’t some knuckle dragger who’d flex his muscles and thunder, “This is my woman,” at another man for dancing with Maddie. Because he was over and done caring, but he couldn’t take another second of watching Derek’s hands on her hips.
“Cole,” Maddie said in surprise as he tapped Derek on the shoulder.
“I’m cutting in,” he said in a back-the-hell-off tone to the other man, who shrugged and walked away.
Cole danced Maddie across the floor and to a quiet corner. “You’d find a deeper emotional connection with a door than with Derek. He only wants one thing from you.”
“I know,” Maddie said in a patient voice. “He wants the same thing you do. Meaningless sex without ties.”
“Don’t pretend that you wanted anything other than that.”
Maddie looked at him. “Of course I didn’t.”
Her words stabbed him. “You played me.”
“From the beginning.”
“Because all you wanted was my money.”
“Absolut
ely.”
When the dance ended, Cole lowered his hands and stepped back. He’d fallen hard for Maddie, and blinded by love, he’d been easy prey for her scheme. Piece by piece, he began putting the bricks back up in his emotional wall.
Burrell, along with his son and Mason, joined Cole and Maddie. The older man glanced at Cole. “And who is this lovely young lady?”
“This is Maddie Russell.”
“Your girlfriend?” Burrell asked.
“No.” Cole wanted to say she wasn’t his anything, that she was just his mistress, but doing so would only hurt and humiliate her. He’d been accused of being a dick in the past, but he wasn’t cruel.
“My mistake.” The older man looked at Mason. “I’d like for you and Cole to stick around after the party to discuss some of the project details if you don’t mind.”
“I do mind,” Cole said and excused himself to head back to the bar. It wasn’t long before Mason was right behind him.
“Have you lost your mind?” Mason sat down on one of the stools. “Had too much to drink? What in the hell got into you talking to Burrell that way?”
Cole couldn’t help himself. He looked at Maddie.
Mason groaned. “Oh.”
Cole told Mason about the conversation with Maddie’s father.
Mason rubbed the back of his neck. “You believed him?”
“I saw Samuel Russell, and he looked healthy to me. I don’t think he has dementia. I asked Maddie about everything, and she didn’t deny any of it. In fact, she even admitted it.”
“Not everything is what it appears to be. Remember I thought that Olivia was hiding what she knew about the fire that night, and it wasn’t true.”
Cole knew Mason and Olivia’s history because it was part of his as well, but unlike Maddie, Olivia had never lied to Mason and pretended to love him.
…
Two hours later, the party wound down, and Cole was glad. He’d had enough. Normally he was the last one to leave a party like this because he would stay busy networking until the last possible second, but tonight it had been hard to concentrate. More than once, he’d had to ask someone to repeat a question, all because his brain couldn’t stop thinking about the she-devil in the red dress. Her laughter, the way she tossed her head back, the way her body moved in a come-get-me way. The way daggers practically shot from her eyes when she looked at him.
When it was time to walk out the door, he could hardly wait to bid everyone good night and get the hell out of there. He waited outside for Maddie to finish saying goodbye to Olivia. Finally, the clicking of her heels across the driveway let him know she was closing in, and he held his hand out. It was dark and there were uneven places. He didn’t want her to trip and fall.
“You enjoyed yourself,” he said after they were in the car with his driver and heading to the house. “Looking for your next mark?”
“Here I was thinking I’d been subtle about it.”
In spite of the coldness of her tone, as the car moved past a streetlight, he saw hurt on her face. The second they arrived at the house, she got out and slammed the door hard enough to make the window rattle.
She waited on the porch with her arms crossed, her body held tightly erect. She kept her head forward, her eyes locked on the door.
Cole let them in, and she walked straight to the stairs before she paused and said, “If you won’t be requiring my services tonight, I’m going to bed.”
Which was fine by him, but he wanted to make it clear that she needed to go. He couldn’t have her around the house, driving the emotional knife deeper. “Maddie—”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t want to talk to you. I was inquiring about sex and nothing more. You want it? Let’s go. If not, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He could almost see the anger radiating from her. “I don’t know why you’re so upset. At the party, you admitted that you lied to me.”
“You called me your mistress.”
He hated the hurt on her face. Hated knowing his jackass move caused that. “It’s what you called yourself with the contract.”
“That’s different. You made it sound like an insult. Like it was something ugly.” She shook her head. “You were acting like a caveman, practically shoving Derek out of the way, and then you go and insult me?”
“I was protecting you from Derek.”
“Protecting me?” She arched her eyebrow and laughingly scoffed. “How?”
“Women are different from men.”
She let out a long, exaggerated gasp. “Oh my God. Seriously? I didn’t know that.”
He ignored her sarcasm. “When a man is dancing that way with a woman—the way that Derek was—he’s thinking about getting laid.”
She rolled her eyes. “And women never think that way?”
“Well…”
“Trust me, we do.”
“You wanted to sleep with Derek?” Cole didn’t like the idea of that.
“No. I wanted to sleep with you. Past tense.”
A prickle of warning ran through him. He was on the verge of losing her, and he recognized that. But how could he hold onto someone who only saw ways to use him? He braced himself emotionally. “You played me, Maddie, and yet you’re acting like you were the one who was done wrong.”
She threw out her arms and looked at the ceiling, letting out a frustrated groan. “Where do I even start? How about here?” She put her hands on her hips. “I’m leaving tomorrow.”
I lost her. Did I ever really have her, though? “I was about to suggest that myself.”
She drummed her fingers on the banister. “Anything else?”
Something was stabbing him over and over again right in the center of his heart as the truth continually hit home. She’d never loved him. “Since you’re leaving before the six weeks is up, when you’re ready to pay me back, mail the damn check.”
“Trust me, I will. I don’t want to see you any more than you want to see me.” Her voice hitched.
A muscle worked in his jaw, and his gaze drifted to her abdomen. “If it turns out that you are pregnant, let me know. I won’t marry you, but I’ll make sure you get the compensation you need.”
His attention jerked back to her face when she let out a string of words that were ugly and questioning his parentage. “Someday you’ll look back on this moment and realize that you became the poorest man in the world because you lost me.”
“We can talk in the morning about clearing your things out. Good night, Maddie.”
She stood there for a second looking at him like she was waiting for something more, and when he didn’t speak, she turned around and walked up the stairs to her room.
Chapter Seventeen
Maddie shut the door and dragged her suitcase from the closet. They’d talk more in the morning? Pfft. Not in this lifetime. Her heart was breaking, and she wasn’t staying another second. She’d pack tonight so she could leave immediately. Without trust, there was no foundation to build on.
He didn’t trust her despite everything they’d shared, and she wasn’t willing to accept anything less. He’d believed she’d played him and she’d lied and agreed that she had because she’d been so…flattened that he’d believed that.
Having grown up in a home where she wasn’t wanted, she’d be damned if she’d ever live that way again. Cole obviously didn’t want her here. She called Joy and asked if she could spend the night there. Joy, being the friend that she was, immediately said yes, no questions asked. Maddie thanked her, hung up, then she packed everything she needed to take with her.
Maddie opened her laptop, started her writing program, and quickly typed up a letter of resignation from the hotel as well as a promise to pay Cole back. She hesitated for a second, then sent it to his work email. She closed the laptop and slipped it into the carrying case.
As soon as she heard Cole in the shower, she dragged her cases downstairs and loaded them into her car. When it started the first time she turned the key, she could have wept w
ith relief. She drove away from Cole’s house without a backward glance and cried all the way to Joy’s.
Joy greeted her at the door and without a word dragged her inside. “Sit.” She guided her to the sofa and disappeared for a second, then returned with a pint of ice cream and a spoon. “Start from the beginning and tell me everything.”
When Maddie did and she was finished, she wiped her eyes with a tissue. “That’s why I can’t stay with him or at my job at the hotel. I can’t be around him.”
“I understand. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find a new place to live, tell my sister the truth about the money, then I’m going to find my grandfather and father and have what will probably be an ugly conversation. From there, I’ll find a job and move on with my life. Without Cole.”
“That short list is all? How easy,” Joy said.
Maddie laughed in spite of the pain hammering at her. Definitely not easy but she’d make it. She always did. She’d lied to Cole because she was lashing out at his mistrust. Now he believed she’d used him right from the start. That she’d never loved him. Maddie had been a fixer all her life, but she couldn’t fix this. Cole had to choose between trusting her or remaining blinded by his thirst for revenge.
…
A week later, Maddie was sitting in the kitchen of her new apartment. Understandably, Dani had been angry when she’d called and told her the truth. She’d flown to Chicago yesterday and had shown up on Maddie’s doorstep with Sammy in tow.
First thing this morning, Dani started baking, something that she did when she needed time to think. She dropped a plate of cookies on the table with a hard thunk, then wordlessly wheeled back to the counter for the coffee. She paused by the back door to check on Sammy playing in the courtyard. When she was satisfied that he was fine, she faced Maddie.
“In answer to your question, yes, I’m still mad at you. It’s bad enough that you kept me in the dark about what was going on at the hotel, but you agreed to a mistress deal to give me money.”
“Technically, the mistress deal wasn’t all about the money,” Maddie admitted. “It was sponsored in part because it was a reason to sleep with Cole.”