Page 150 of Grumpy Billionaire Bad Boy

"Something like that." She leans forward. "Kiss me."

And so I do, bridging the gap between us and pressing my lips on hers, my heart burning at not having found a way out of this yet, but determined to pull off the impossible. I refuse to accept that there's nothing I can do to save us all.

I walk into the hotel that I found Madison was staying at. She's using a fake name, but once I ran her picture through the facial recognition software I developed, it was a piece of cake locating her. I'll never forget the way my stomach turned seeing her strut across the hotel lobby floor as if nothing ever happened, as if she hadn't faked her death and left me to mourn the loss of her.

Combing through my thoughts, I try to reconcile what it is I want to say to her, but the only thing I can settle on iswhy.Why did you deceive me? Why didn't you tell me you were alive? Why did you leave me?

I pound my fist on the room she's inside and cover the peephole, obstructing her view out.

Like a fucking idiot, she answers, disappointing me somehow even more than she already has.

Madison's eyes go wide and before she can shut me out, I grab hold of the door and force it open, stepping inside and slamming it shut behind me.

I take her in, my heart pounding, my mind unable to comprehend that this is real, that London is telling the truth. There must be some kind of logical explanation for Madison faking her death and that's what I'm here to gather.

Only when I go to speak, that's not what I ask her.

"Why are you working with Joe Vito?" I go into the room, looking around and making sure no one else is in here. I had been damn sure of it during my investigation, but if recent events have taught me anything, it's that sometimes I'm wrong.

"Archer, I—I can explain."

"I'm waiting." I fold my arms and lean against the wall.

Madison's eyes dart from me to the door, back to me. She does exactly as I anticipate and makes a dash for it, but she's not as quick as she thinks she is, and I latch onto her arm and yank her away from it, throwing her onto the bed. She gasps and shuffles to scoot onto her elbows. "Archer," she mutters.

I wrap my hand around her throat, not so hard that it'll leave a mark, but enough she'll get the fucking point. "I'm not the same man you remember, Madison. He died when you supposedly did. Anything good you think you know about me, you need to fucking forget. I came here for the truth, and if you don't want to give it to me, I beg you to remember the bad parts of me, because that's all that's left. I will get it out of you one way or another. Now, you have a choice. Which would you prefer?"

She blinks up at me, a false sense of fear in her eyes. It took me until this moment to realize the moments I shared with her were fake, that it was all an act. Nothing about us was real, because if it were, she never would have left me the way she did. That's not what you do when you love someone.

"That doe-eyed look isn't going to get you anywhere, Madison. Cut it out." I shove her and step away, giving her a moment to compose herself and decide the path we're going togo down. "I don't care that we used to fuck, that means nothing to me.Youmean nothing to me."

"Fine," she finally says. "But I want you to know, I did care about you."

"Did. Past tense. Let's leave it there and move on. Tell me what I want to know and I won't snap your neck." I have never hurt a woman in my entire life, but Madison crossed too many lines to not have it coming. First, when she betrayed me, and second, when she shot the woman I'm in love with.

My heart stutters, my breath catching. It was only a thought, and yet it still stunned me.

Love. I shake my head. I'm sleep-deprived, I must be losing it. I have feelings for London, but that doesn't make it love.

"Fine, fine, I'll talk. Don't get your panties in a bunch." Madison sits up and fixes her shirt. "You look worse for wear, Arch. You having trouble sleeping?"

"Don't be concerned about things that don't concern you."

"For the record," she begins. "I never meant to hurt you."

"You didn't," I lie and lean my back along the wall in this hotel room that seems to be getting smaller by the moment. I don't want to be here, not with her, not when London is across town and with someone else. I trust that Seven will keep her alive. He enjoys killing too much to let the opportunity pass if anyone tries to pull anything. Aside from me, she's honestly probably in the best hands. Seven might be out of his mind but right now, he's the only brother I’m willing to bother with something this serious.

"Let me start at the beginning," Madison says and lets out a big, overly dramatic breath.

I hold out my hand. "The short version, Madison. Stop wasting my time."

"The short version is that Ricardo Gardella bought me. I was to be his baby-producing pet."

I cringe at the thought of that man coming anywhere near her, or any other woman for that matter.

"He and Joe were friends, or well, business associates, whatever. Anyway, Joe came by one day and offered me a way out. Said he would vouch for me, that we had to find the right opportunity. I didn't see it coming until it was too late and Ricardo nearly killed me, but it was the perfect out. Ricardo thought he succeeded, and I had to make it believable, which meant leaving everything and everyone behind. I couldn't involve you, otherwise he would have found out. You have to understand that I didn't want to leave you, Arch. It hurt me as much as it hurt you. I loved you, I really did."

"Not enough, apparently, because if you did, you would have known that you could have come to me, Mads. I would have helped you figure it out. Why didn't you tell me?" I hesitate and decide I don't want an answer. "Never mind, forget I asked. I couldn’t care less. So that's why you're working with Vito, because he did you a favor and now you owe him one?"

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