Page 68 of Her Ex's Father
“She does. You need to respect that.” The flame of anger is growing in my chest, harder to keep at bay now that the boy I’ve been remembering has turned into the man who hates me.
“No.” He throws his rod onto the rocks, eyes blazing. “You think you’re the noble one here, the victim of circumstance. But you always get what you want. Mom, your empire, now Maddie. And everyone else—me, Mom—we’re collateral damage.”
“Don’t drag your mother into this.”
“Why not? Everyone whispers about it. How she died. The pills. The timing. You think I don’t hear it?” His voice rises, echoing off the water. “I’ve wondered it myself. Did you help her? Did you push her, so you could be free?”
My stomach twists, nausea making me sick. The memories come flooding back: finding her like that. On the floor. Too late.
“That’s enough.”
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You are.” My voice shakes with fury and something darker—pain. “I loved your mother. Her illness destroyed her, not me. She wanted out Derrick?—”
Derrick sneers. “You say that, but the way you parade Maddie around—Jesus, Dad, she’s barely my age. How long before she realizes she’s trapped too?”
“She isn’t trapped.”
“Really? You leave her alone for days at a time. She’s young, beautiful, bored out of her mind. You think she’s faithful while you’re off playing mogul?”
The words hit harder than I expect. My instinct is denial. Maddie is strong, independent, not the type to stray. I trust her.
But Derrick’s smirk needles me. “You sure about that? You’ve always been blind when it comes to women. Mom. Now her. There are things about her,” he hisses between clenched teeth, “things you don’t know.”
Anger roars in me, but beneath it, a sliver of doubt pierces, sharp and cold. Maddie is loyal. She loves me. Doesn’t she?
“Hugh told me you’ve been sneaking around the resort, and the lodge as well. What are you doing, Derrick?”
“Worried I’ve gotten to her? That the punch to the nose was just an act?” His words are bitter, vinegar, acid, but they’re a bluff; I can tell. Whatever his reason for slinking around, he’s obviously not going to tell me. Not now.
“Go back to the lodge,” I say finally, voice like stone.
“Gladly.” He stalks off, boots splashing through the shallows, leaving me alone with the river and the hollow ache in my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur to the water, the dragonflies, the trees. “I don’t know how to bring him back.”
Later, as dusk settles, I sit on the lodge’s balcony, drink untouched in my hand. The river glimmers silver below, steady, unchanging. But my mind is a storm.
I hear Maddie’s laugh in my memory, soft and bright. I feel the warmth of her belly beneath my hand, the promise of our child. I replay her whisperedI believe youfrom that night we made love, her eyes filled with trust.
And still, Derrick’s voice coils around it all:She’s young. You leave her alone. You think she’s faithful?
The thrum of blades cuts the evening air. I rise, moving to the railing just as the private helicopter lifts from the pad. Its lights flash, rotors whirring, carrying Derrick away.
I don’t stop him.
I just watch, the wind tugging at my shirt, wondering if I’ve lost him forever.
And worse—wondering if I’m losing Maddie too. Derrick’s words have hit their marked, hooked my delicate skin.
What if there’s something she’s hiding from me?
Chapter 25
Maddie
He should be here.
