Page 93 of Ruin Me

My blood froze at the thick envelope sitting on her pillow. My hand shook as I reached for the item. A sense of foreboding swirled in my gut as I ripped through the seal and extracted ten water-splotched pages.

Words, useless words stared at me. Apologies. Excuses. And sharp, stabbing pain. Each sentence inserted an icicle into my heart, closing off my arteries and atrophying the muscle in my chest.

She’d really left me and told me not to follow.

She’d lost her goddamn mind.

I crushed the pages in my hand. Despite her warning that I wouldn’t find her, I knew where she would go. She had nowhere else. And I would be right behind her. Madison belonged with me. I’d cautioned her before that she didn’t get to walk away. Apparently, my little bunny needed a reminder.

I called my man at the airport. “How many flights are scheduled to depart for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport?”

“One left maybe an hour ago. There’s another expected departure in two hours.”

“Meet me at my airstrip.” I disconnected and called my pilots as I stomped out of the penthouse.

My little bunny was going to get a taste of the wolf she would never forget.

Warring emotions fought a pitched-fork battle inside my chest. Anger at her for daring to leave in the most cowardly way imaginable. Worry because she was alone and without her bodyguards to keep her safe. And uppermost, was sadness. The stained letter I couldn’t leave behind told a story of the tears she cried as she wrote her farewell. I choked back everything because once I saw her again, nothing else would matter.

After a three-hour flight, I disembarked in Washington D.C. Golden rays from the sun peaked over the horizon, and I boarded the helicopter I’d arranged in transit. I was in no mood to face D.C. traffic when I was on a mission to save my future.

As I flew over the urban skyline, I barely noticed the growing congestion below. My thoughts were on what I would do once I saw Madison. She had a lot to answer for after leaving me with a ten-page break-up letter.

We landed on the helipad above her building, and I made my way to her apartment.

I nodded toward my guard. “Open the door.”

Once inside, I dismissed him. While I waited, I wandered through the rooms. Despite the length of time Madison had been in Douglas, her apartment maintained a memory of her scent. I breathed in deep gulps, but nothing soothed me. I’d once likened her place to a blank space, and I wished I was wrong. Her sparse furniture, blank walls, down to the few pictures she displayed on random surfaces felt like a tease. As if Madison had been here but not when. Only the lack of staleness in the air supported my need to feel her surrounding me, which made her obvious absence even more painful.

I found a seat to wait for her. Hours passed without me moving. The sun rose and sank, welcoming the night, and still, I sat waiting for her to walk through the door. Another sunriseand sunset passed, and still, I sat waiting. She had to be on her way. She would show up.

My phone rang nonstop. Omar wanted to know when I would be in again because I hadn’t shown up for meetings; my pilots called to find out how long they needed to be on standby; and Ife… Seeing her name on my caller ID affected me the most. Although Madison’s letter didn’t name her as the reason for her leaving, she didn’t have to. Ife was the only person who could convince Madison to leave me, and from everything I’d seen, she’d succeeded.

By day five, the truth began to sink in. Madison had no intention of returning. She’d truly left me.

CHAPTER 38

Madison

“Madison, sleep. You’ve been going nonstop since you landed five days ago,” Emily said.

I’d barely left her guest room, I was so busy trying not to leave a trail for Kent to follow. Now, I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept, my appetite was nonexistent, and I battled myself every day. From one second to the next, I convinced myself Ife would forgive me if I succumbed to my heart’s desire before recalling her steadfast refusal to absolve me for betraying her trust.

I lived in hell.

I shook my head and concentrated on Emily, eager for the distraction from my thoughts. “Has your contact gotten the documents I need to disappear?” Although I began the process of transferring my company to Emily and set myself up to escape to a country Kent wouldn’t find me, I had a few loose ends I needed to tie up.

Once I decided my destination, I’d call my parents and explain what I could. Leaving Kent felt like I’d ripped my heart from my chest. I had nothing left inside me to tell my parentsI was leaving and I wouldn’t return to Douglas. The next time I saw them, they would have to come to me.

Emily bounced on my bed. “I don’t get why you have to go so far.” She stiffened, then grabbed me, concern wrinkling her brow. “Did this guy abuse you? Are all these preparations because?—”

“Stop, Kent would never hurt me. If anything, I’ve hurt him by leaving.” I sniffed and blinked away the tears that refused to stay behind my eyeballs.

“Then why are you looking for countries where he doesn’t own real estate?”

I swiped under my eyes and cleared my throat. “Because if he owns property there, he has political influence he can use to find me. Not to mention he’s rich as King Midas and has no problem using his wealth to get what he wants.”

Emily ran out of the room and returned a few moments later with single-serve wine bottles and cheese crackers. “Then I have a proposal. My contact can get you the documents you need, but if your man is as influential as you say, he can compel organizations to use facial recognition to hunt for you.” She handed me a bottle and a snack.

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