Page 74 of Madden

Chapter Twenty-One

Brielle

Two knocks hit the doorframe when I’m at work on Monday morning, and I turn to see Davis standing in the doorway.

“Morning,” I grumble, holding my coffee cup to my lips and taking a sip.

“Good morning,” he replies, but he lacks his normal, upbeat tone today, which tells me right away something is up.

I quirk my brow, waiting for him to spill whatever he’s here to tell me.

“Did you happen to see the article I sent you this morning?”

I shake my head. I came in to over two hundred new emails in my inbox from over the weekend, and I’ve been mining my way through them.

“It must’ve gotten mixed in with the others. Why?”

He chews on his lip and nods toward my screen.

“You know, Davis, if you keep coming to my office with things like this, I’m going to start thinking something’s wrong every time you show up.”

He mumbles, “Sorry,” and I set my coffee down, scrolling through my emails to look for the one from him.

I’m already on edge with the way my conversation went yesterday with Madden. Now, adding this to the fire, my anxiety has my heart rate skyrocketing.

The email is nothing but a link, and when I notice the URL directing me to a Hollywood Tea article, I know it can’t be good.

MADDEN COLE REPORTEDLY BURSTS INTO A FIT OF RAGE AFTER FINDING OUT HE’S EXPECTING A CHILD WITH EX-FLING HANNA TAYLOR.

The article title stops me in my tracks, and the words, “What the hell,” spill out of my mouth before I have a chance to stop them.

I wonder if this is why Madden was upset on the phone.

“Did you know?” Davis asks, and I shake my head, my eyes skimming over the article.

It goes on to explain Madden recently found out about the unexpected pregnancy after a conversation with Hanna. Their inside source shares when she told him, Madden didn’t take it well, and in a fit of rage, he threw a chair, breaking.

“It can’t be true.” I press my hand against my heart, feeling my chest ache. “I think she’s lying because this isn’t what happened. It’s not true.”

My eyes flit across the page. The article goes on to say how the outburst left Hanna with injuries to her hand.

Hollywood Tea claims they’ve reached out to Madden’s team, and so far, they have no comment on the incident.

Tears prick my eyes, and I turn to Davis, shaking my head.

“She has to be making it up. This can’t be true.”

“How do you know?” he questions, quirking his brow.

He already knows about our date from the article they posted about him visiting Granite with an unknown woman. That woman being me. Why hold back now?

“Well, I went to Carolina Beach last weekend to see him. They had their album release party for Come Hell or Havoc, and he invited me to stay with him. The next night, we went down to the beach to watch the sunset, and while we were gone, we got a call from security that someone had broken the window at the back of his house.

“I was with him the whole weekend, and I stayed with him when we went back to his house and met with Abel, his security guard, and the police officer. I heard them talk about the video surveillance showing it was a man who came onto his property and how they caught him doing it. She very well might be pregnant, but she’s lying about him breaking the window in a fit of rage.”

If this doesn’t prove she was behind the break-in, I don’t know what will.

This isn’t the Madden I’ve gotten to know over the past few weeks. I can’t help but feel like this is an attempt to drag his name through the mud. The barrier holding the tears back from spilling over gives way, and they start streaming down my face.

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