Page 52 of Cruel Hearts

“Don’t worry about what Ash will do. Leave him to me.”

Nathalie cries on me until she falls asleep, her face buried in my suit jacket, my tie twisted around her hand. I carry her to the guest room that will be hers for the next little while.

Lucille will take care of her.

I sit on the couch and stare into the dark pit of the fireplace. This is where Stella and I made love, where I asked her to wait until I was ready to marry her. Where we sat the first night we met. I miss her so much there are times I feel like I can’t breathe anymore and I’m dying, minute by minute.

I brace my elbows on my knees and hold my head in my hands letting the pain and guilt swamp me. It’s no wonder I dream of my mother and how disappointed she is in me.

She would be ashamed to call me her son. Kagan Maddox would never look me in the eye.

I’m no man. I’m just a scumbag, no different from Vance Huxley or anyone else using Ash’s women. But I can try to be better. Be the kind of man Stella would be proud to have.

She used to be.

I pull her ring out of my pocket. It sparkles, the way her love used to spark in her eyes whenever she looked at me. I let tears run down my face. I’m such a fuckup. Wiping my cheeks with the heel of my hand, I suck back my sobs. Crying won’t get me anywhere, but a plan will.

I fall asleep on the couch, Stella’s ring clutched in my fist, feeling her body pressed against mine, even though right now I have no idea where she is.

When I wake up, my neck is stiff, though my body should be used to sleeping on the couch by now. I down some ibuprofen in a hot shower and dress. My routine is the same, but today feels different. I’m no longer dreading the twelve hours ahead of me.

Softly, I knock on Nathalie’s door and push it open. I want to reassure her, but she’s still sleeping and I let her be.

Lucille offers me breakfast but I decline, gulping fresh coffee and scalding my mouth instead, and she frowns.

Downstairs on the executive floor, the atmosphere is cheerful and upbeat, everyone rested and trading stories about what happened over the weekend. I have work to do, but I sit at my desk and stare into space. Mel is scheduled to arrive in King’s Crossing later today, and I want her to get started as soon as possible.

Things are clearing up in the murkiness that is my life. Ash isn’t the man I thought he was and it seems he’s done hiding it, too, but I can’t go head to head with him. Not yet. I need more, and I need to tread carefully. Going half-cocked against Ash is a good way to let him slip through my fingers and possibly get myself killed.

It’s still difficult to believe he’s turned into this kind of monster. There could be an explanation why he had Stella’s ring. Maybe she gave it to him before she ran off. Maybe he took it before Cardello spirited her away, but if that’s the case, why didn’t he say something? Give it back to me? All I would have done is throw it into the Renegade, but there was no reason for him to have kept it.

When Mel arrives in King’s Crossing, we’ll find answers.

I asked Lucille to take care of Nathalie and to show her how to order a few things online using our spending accounts. What she keeps at the penthouse won’t be enough if she’s going to stay indefinitely, and I don’t want her going back to her apartment—Ash might not let her leave again. I can send Douglas, later, if she left anything behind she wants to keep.

Sitting at my desk, I write Mel a note asking her to check into the complex. I wonder how much Douglas knows of Ash’s and Clayton’s business dealings. He’s always had his ear to the ground, and he visits Zarah twice a week. Like Lucille, my father’s driver is part of our family.

My phone vibrates, and the name of Zarah’s facility glows on the screen. I answer with a clipped, “Maddox.”

Iona Belsely’s voice trembles. “The exchange of power of attorney just crossed my desk, Mr. Maddox. Your attorney made it clear Ashton Black no longer has the legal right to make medical decisions on Miss Maddox’s behalf and you’re moving your sister out of Quiet Meadows.”

Finally, something is going my way, and that quickly, too. Ash couldn’t contest my decision, and he had no choice but to give me power over my own sister without looking like a cold-blooded asshole. I would have taken him to court and spent all my money fighting him. He knew it and chose to lose this battle to win the war.

He still thinks he can, and I’m happy to let him try.

“Good. I’ll be there within the hour. Have her ready to leave.”

I hang up on her babbling, summon Douglas, and shove my cell phone into my pocket. I don’t want to be behind the wheel alone with Zarah. That would be dangerous given the fact she’s scared of me and doesn’t like me. Douglas will be a buffer, and it’s my fault we need one.

Stopping at Peggy’s desk, I say, “I’m signing my sister out of Quiet Meadows, but she’s not well enough to be on her own.I need you to arrange for twenty-four hour nursing care, and I want whoever you hire to go through a substantial background check. No one is allowed near my sister unless they pass. If there’s so much as even a shadow of a doubt, aboutanyone, find someone else. And have her sign an NDA. She’s not to speak about Zarah’s care to anyone but me, Lucille, and her primary care physician. Please call him and ask him to meet me at the penthouse in an hour.”

Peggy reaches for the phone. “I’ll get right on it, Mr. Maddox.”

“Thank you. Also, call ahead to Lucille and let her know Zarah’s coming home and to freshen her room. I’ve let this go on long enough.”

On the ride to Quiet Meadows, tension tightens my muscles. I haven’t seen Zarah since the nurse knocked her out, and I don’t know if warning her I’m moving her home would have done any good.

“I’m not sure how long we’ll need,” I tell Douglas. We’re not in the town car today—he’s driving a Mercedes SUV which is a little less attention-grabbing, but not by much.

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