[MADDOX]I never felt so awkward before. It was my first. And now that I got some time to think about it—really think about it—it’s impossible to say how I feel.Approximately ten minutes ago, Zara walked out of her room and I had been deliberating ever since if planning this family gathering was a good call or just another trap I was willingly walking into.No. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t holding her responsible for making me doubt my decisions. Deep down, I knew I called this upon myself.I should have known she could pull off a white just as fine as she did with all the black, blues, and reds.God dammit. I knew she was gorgeous. I had known this fact since day one when she walked into my office. But tonight…in that satiny white gown that hugged her curves in the way I was reminded of all the times I got the chance to explore them with my own hands…she looked extravagantly beautiful. Truly so. A pure angel. Her long white hair curled and lifted in a simple up-do. Thin ringlets fra
“I knew that brain in your head wasn’t just there for the namesake,” she mocked, earning a scoff from me.“You really think the worst of me, don’t you?”“There’s nothing good about you, Maddox Richmond. Thousands of innocent lives must have been sacrificed to raise an evil like you.”She probably was right.I shrugged. “Either way, sure, I don’t have any problem with that.” Which was nothing but the truth. If she behaved well, there would be no reason to make things harder for her.When this time she looked at me, she seemed surprised. Perhaps she didn’t expect me to give up my trump card so easily. Little did she know that her best friend wasn’t the only one on the list of people I might easily destroy.“But I would expect the best performance and nothing less. To everyone in there, it should look like we are madly in love. We’d be expected to practice all kinds of things a couple does. Holding hands, hugging and kissing. Perhaps getting caught in the middle of a make-out…” I only ad
[MADDOX]There was no need for me to bother myself. I knew the man who stood behind me better than I knew myself.“Dad!” I said with a tone so bitter, I hoped he would get the hint and get the fuck off.Instead, the man chuckled deeply, and I felt my insides cringe and stabbed with thousands of swords altogether.“I knew you were a pushover but didn’t take you for a coward,” he all but jeered.I forced myself to turn around as I searched for his disgusting eyes and held back the need to scoff. “I’m all grown up, dad. I don’t have the naïve impulse to prove my worth to anyone anymore.”“Then why don’t you grow some spine and tell her all about it,” pointing the drink in his hand at where Zara and mom seemed to mingle with some of my aunts he said. “Tell her who Emily was to you…” shifting his gaze back to me, he leaned just a little to whisper into my ear. “…and what the hell happened to her that unfortunate day.”I knew what he was doing, trying to provoke me so I would lose my shit a
[ZARA]The fucker tricked me not once, but multiple times. For Christ’s sake, how could I have been so stupid?I tell you for sure though I wasn’t about to make any more fools of myself. He might have gotten his way with me every single time in the past, just because I let my heart fuck me up despite all the warnings my brain had been waving in my face. My unruly emotions destroyed me so frankly that I got myself into this hell of a situation without ever asking for it.How did I ever think that I could fall for a man like Maddox Richmond? He should have been the last person on this damn earth for me to envision my future with. In less than a ye, he completely wrecked me. He took away so much. From my childhood home to my mom’s shop, to my dignity, to my choices, to my freedom, to my future. Everything. He took away everything. As if except for his needs, desires, dreams and wants, nothing else mattered. No one else held any importance. He was such a selfish bastard who couldn’t get h
“Absolutely,” Maddox chimed, his fingers digging into my waist. “Thanks for taking care of my woman,” he must have seen us bumping together. “I’ll handle it from here. Thanks again. Enjoy the party.”“Don’t be absurd, Maddox. Is this how you introduce your family to your wife?” Zach said with plenty of attitude and scorn. His gaze trained on me more than the man he was talking to.I gulped. The tension between these two was enough to choke anyone into limbo. What the hell was up with them? What was I missing?“She has already met the people who matter. The ones left out simply might not deserve to be introduced.”“Still so petty,” Zach clicked his tongue, and for the first time, there was a fraction of a smirk curling along his lips. “Nevermind. I seem to have become acquainted with your beautiful Zara, already. You don’t have to waste your breath.”“Is that so?” Maddox sneered, although with how painfully his cruel fingers were digging a hole in my waist, he wanted to do more than ju
[ZARA]Two days passed in absolute anxiety. And now the moment I had been dreading since the second Maddox handed me the property papers of mom’s shop was finally staring me in the face.There was so much to unfold this time. So much had changed since the last time I saw mom.And Brandon.Hesitation crept on my nerves as I drew another deep breath and held the strap of my bag tighter.“I can talk to them if you prefer it that way,” Maddox whispered next to me, tapping a finger on the steering wheel, his gaze firm on me. “There’s no need to do it alone.”“No. I want to do this on my own,” I said for the millionth time perhaps, and as stubborn as the last time. But the thing was, no matter how much stronger I was trying to make myself feel, the more nervous I was growing.It was mom we were talking about after all. It was Brandon. The two most important people in my life. I knew the moment they would hear about the marriage, they were going to flip. Especially Brandon. Mom at least knew
[ZARA]During the entire drive back home, neither of us cared to say anything. No words were exchanged. Not even glances. All the time, I kept my gaze settled on the view of the city racing back outside of his lavish car.After Maddox, not so subtly, fractured my so-called father’s wrist, I couldn’t gather up the courage to say anything at all. He was burning up with anger. His eyes turned red and his face so dark with madness, I feared if I said to him anything at all, he would snap out something so ugly, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. Even mom couldn’t squeak a word in front of his seething self. Only my father kept screaming and crying in pain. Although when he turned around and met the fierce eyes of Maddox Richmond, he tried his best to gobble down the pain and whimpered quietly.Mom called 911 right away. After the van arrived, and the paramedics took him to the hospital, we dropped by his room to make sure he wouldn’t cause any more trouble for mom and me. Although Maddox per
His breath was warm against the crook of my neck, his arms closed around me in an unrelenting clasp. It didn’t strike me earlier, but when I started to relax and let him do as he wished (because when in the world did he take a no for an answer), I noticed something odd about him.I couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, it was more like a feeling…a feeling that was hard to explain.When the time dragged on and he made no attempt to release me, I slipped a hand to cup his cheek and made him look at me.“Maddox. Are you alright?”Instead of revealing anything, he swayed his head and sank his face back into the crook of my neck.“Just stay still,” he said after a while, exhaling against my shoulder. “It wouldn’t take long.”For some reason which was par my wits, his words brought another wave of emotion to bite me in the eyes. I managed to suck them all in, not wishing to become a wreck in front of him, but the more I tried to act as if everything was alright—I was alright—the harder it became. A