Page 148 of The Renegade Billionaire
I step into his space, anger boiling in my veins. “Alistair may have been the one to print it, but he was publishing your lies, your betrayal. As far as I can tell, you’re the only shit stain in the building, and I’ll be damned if I allow you to disrespect my fiancée in any way.”
“Oh, shit,” Sage mutters. “You’re kind of supposed to ask her before you publicly claim her.”
“Fiancée? You’re going to marry this fucker? Do you even know who his family is? They’ll ruin you, Mads. You don’t belong in that world.”
I take a step to the left, blocking his view of Madison.
“And what? You think she deserves you? All you’ve done is hurt her. If anything, I’m the one who doesn’t fit in her world, not the other way around. But the difference between you and me, Harry, is that I’ll give up my whole fucking world just to spin in her orbit while you only try to drag her down to make yourself feel better. You’re not a man, Harry. You’re a fucking sleazeball who never deserved her.”
“Hell yeah,” Blissy shouts, and people around us clap and cheer. It’s fucking weird. It’s like we’re in some shitty realitytelevision show, but I don’t care how much mud I have to sling. His will never touch Madison.
“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” he hisses, the stench of cheap whiskey and cigarettes clinging to his breath.
“I’m sure we’ll find out. Now I’m going to ask you to leave, and if you ever set foot in here again, we’ll get a restraining order against you.”
“Madi,” he bellows. “You don’t want to do this. You don’t want to choose his side.”
“Go to hell, Harry.” She doesn’t shout it, there’s no venom in it. Her tone is flat, indifferent, and I know firsthand how much harder apathy hits. “I’m done listening to your sob stories. I’m done being your punching bag. I’m just done with you.”
“You’ll regret this,” he shouts, pointing to everyone in the room.
The door opens behind him, and Cian stands there, his face turning red. “The one time I bring my girls out, and this is what I gotta deal with?”
Harry turns toward Cian’s voice. At least he has the good sense to shuffle back a step.
“Out. Harry. Now.” Elle stands behind Cian, holding the baby, and just the flash of Pepto-Bismol pink makes my chest squeeze.
When I turn to check on Madison, she’s gone. Grey points toward the office, and I don’t waste one more second on the oxygen thief.
Madison is my priority.
She’ll always be my priority.
I find her in the closet, of all places. She’s rearranging paper and boxes only to put them right back where they started.
“Madison,” I say from the doorway. She doesn’t turn around.
“I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute, I’m looking for…something.”
I enter the room and softly close the door, then meet her at the closet. Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I trap her arms at her sides and hold her.
“I’m not jealous of Elle,” she says shakily.
“I know.”
“It just caught me off guard.”
“I know that too.”
“How can I feel so happy for someone else but also so sad for something I’m not even sure I wanted?”
“I don’t know, but I get it. I do. I had that instant ache in my chest when I saw the flash of pink, but my sadness doesn’t distract from my happiness for them. It’s just life, sweetheart.”
“Yeah.” She turns in my arms and rests her cheek on my chest.
I’ve never felt more content than I do standing in this closet, holding her close.
After a long moment, she pulls away. “I need to go see Elle and Keela. Will you come with me?”
