Page 24 of Wretched Heart
“I always think there’s some phallic symbolism going on with private jets,” she tells Reid, who seems to have become her best buddy. “Would you say it’s bigger than Barrett’s? I didn’t really get a proper look at his.”
“It’s big enough to put you in the fucking hold if you keep this up,” I mutter as I stalk onto the plane.
The flight is a short one, making the hour it takes to drive from the airfield to the Corbyn mansion seem endless. It doesn’t pass my notice how much quieter Maddie grows the closer we get to her home. In fact, I don’t hear her utter a word in the second SUV we had waiting for us when we touched down. Jake has timed our trip to perfection and we drive through the elegant gates of the Corbyn mansion with two minutes to spare.
I’d seen a description of their assets on paper. It was a depressing read thanks to Hugo’s mismanagement, but I’m begrudgingly impressed by their ancestral home. It’s an impressive colonial-style mansion with a sweeping drive, manicured lawns and no peeling paint in sight. I should know by now that looks can be deceptive, especially when it comes to the Corbyns.
When I climb out of the SUV, I keep the door open for Maddie, but she simply stares straight ahead at the house. I can see her chest rising and falling steeply.
“Maddie?” I ask, extending my hand towards her.
Her eyes swivel to me. “You won’t leave me here, will you?”
“I might have made that promise under duress, but I keep my word. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”
A breath escapes that’s almost a laugh. “I don’t want to.”
Reluctantly, she takes my hand and the tension in her clammy grip snakes up through my arm and down my spine. I’d thought maybe it had been embarrassment that had made her so reluctant to come back to Brimstage, but there’s no mistaking the pure terror thrumming through her body.
Against my better judgement, I keep hold of her hand as we walk up to the house, ignoring the looks from my brothers. My stomach churns and my mind spins as Maddie’s hand trembles beneath my fingers. I stroke my thumb across the back of her hand. Something is very wrong.
It’s almost dizzying as yet again, my opinion of Maddie is subjected to another revision. I glance at Mace. “You two stay at my back. I don’t think this is going to go as planned.”
Before either can ask what I mean, the door opens and we’re invited in by an elderly housekeeper whose eyes shine at the sight of Maddie. It looks as if she wants to offer comfort, but she remains professional and simply asks us to wait in the marbled foyer. The rising staircase ahead splits in opposite directions.
“He’ll make us wait,” Maddie says as she pulls her hand from my grip.
She fumbles as she searches for the pockets of the hoodie. Reid’s long torso means they’re down by Maddie’s hips, and when she eventually finds them, she hitches up the hoodie so she can slip her hands from view. Her shoulders fold in on themselves.
Missing the warmth of her touch, I’m stepping an inch closer when we hear footsteps echoing from deeper in the house. Hugo appears around a corner in a dark grey suit. He makes a show of fixing his tie and doesn’t look up until he’s almost upon us. His eyes are cold and unyielding until theysettle on Maddie, who has her head bowed. Hugo’s pupils dilate and his cheeks flush.
“What the hell have you done to my sister?”
Maddie looks up through her eyelashes. Her words are weak, tentative, when she says, “They didn’t do any–”
“I wasn’t talking to you, Maddison,” he barks, and I notice Maddie flinch. “Get up to your room now. We can discuss this later.”
My hand goes to Maddie’s back. Fuck, she’s quaking. “I don’t think so,” I tell Hugo, keeping my voice low and controlled.
Her brother glances at me. “I know who you are,” he says. “And you’re very much mistaken if you think I’m about to do business with you.”
“That’s a shame,” I say, working my jaw to ease the tension that’s making me want to snap this fucker’s neck. “We must have missed the queue of investors lined up outside to make a deal with you. Heard any more from Barrett?”
I know for a fact that Barrett will have gone off-grid for a while. He’d arrived for his honeymoon in the Bahamas with two long-legged women, neither of whom were the escort we’d secretly recorded him with. He’s going to be preoccupied for the foreseeable. It’s not in his slimy nature to confront us directly, but we can expect some form of retribution further down the line.
“There’ll be other deals,” Hugo says with a sniff.
“Hugo, will you please listen to him?” Maddie says, raising her head for the first time. “We’re not going to get a better offer.” She chokes on that last sentence. I don’t know if she’s deliberately reminding me of the alternative offer I’d declined in the shower, but she plants it in my headnonetheless.
Her brother’s nose scrunches as he snarls. “You might be right, dear sister. It certainly looks like your market value has depreciated overnight. So, tell me, which one did you fuck, or was it all of them?”
“No one touched me,” she says.
Hugo’s shaking his head. “We can get you examined,” he says with a sniff.
“Jesus,” Reid mutters behind me.
“What kind of fucked up family prostitutes their women?” Mace asks, not as reluctant as our younger brother to voice his disgust.
