Page 46 of The Billionaire's Royal Crown

“No, I don’t think she did either.” He shoved aside the thoughts in his brain that said otherwise; his mother wasn’t the type to snap and do something foolish. She was innocent. “For now, all we can do is wait.”

“Right, okay. Let me know if you hear anything?”

“I will. I’m going to check on Maddie.”

“Okay. Thanks, Nate.” Stephen hesitated for a moment before he pulled his brother into a hug, clapping his back.

It seemed like it had been eons since they’d shared a brotherly hug. Chloe had torn them apart once, and now she was bringing them back together. Maybe something good would come from all of this mess.

Nate pulled back, patting his brother’s shoulder. “We’ll get through it.”

After another nod from Stephen, he left his brotherbehind and climbed the stairs, snaking through the halls toward Maddie’s room.

Music blared from within as he banged on the door. “Maddie! Open up.”

She didn’t answer.

“Maddie! Come on, open the door. What you heard…look Stephen was just upset, okay?”

He banged against the door again before he sighed. “All right, fine. I’m coming in, ready or not.”

He twisted the knob, finding the door unlocked, and pushed into her room. He inched further into the frilly room, finding Maddie lying in a heap on her bed.

He twisted the knob on her speaker to turn down the music. “Leave it up,” she complained.

“No, I won’t. Come on, Maddie, you’re a kid, but you’re not a baby.”

Her features twisted as she curled her fingers into fists. “Do you think Mom’s going to jail for a long time?”

“No,” Nate said with a shake of his head.

“Well, that’s not what Stephen said.”

“Well, Stephen is…just…saying stuff, okay? He’s…just upset.”

She sniffled again. “You stink at this.”

He let his head fall back between his shoulder blades. “Yeah, well, I’m sorry I’m not Mom, okay?”

“Or Dad.”

He rubbed his temples. “Or Dad.”

“You better start learning,” she answered, her lips still tugged into a tight frown. “If you and Ellie have kids, you don’t want to stink at talking to them.”

“I will just…let Ellie talk to them if I’m bad at it.”

“That’s crappy, Nate. You should be a good dad.”

“I will be a good dad. I will be…but…okay, Maddie, look, we don’t know what’s going to happen. All we can do right nowis stick together. Mom didn’t do this, so let’s just…hope the truth comes out really soon, okay?”

“What if it doesn’t though?” She sat up, tears welling again. “What if we all lose Mom because they think she did it?”

“We’re going to fight to make sure that doesn’t happen, okay?”

Maddie sat back on her heels, chewing her lower lip. “Right. Okay. Maybe we should…like…investigate or something.”

Nate screwed up his face. “What?”

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