Chapter Thirteen

Maddie freshened up and then dressed and smoothed her dress down over her curves. In the reflection looking back at her, she thought she looked okay. She quickly curled her hair and swept it up off her neck, then put on a light makeup. When she was done, she exhaled slowly at the mirror. Her eyes were sparkling; her cheeks were flushed.

She put her palms over her face. Her reaction had more to do with the man she was with rather than the place. She slowly lowered her hands. Butterflies danced in her stomach. Her heart fluttered, and she flushed with anticipation. She opened the door and found Cole standing in front of the window in a black suit, his back to her.

“Drinking in more of the beauty out there?”

He turned. “It can’t compare to the one in here.”

The sexy gravel in his voice made the butterflies go crazy.

He held her gaze for a long moment after her murmured thank-you before he went to the small writing desk. “I have something for you.” He picked up a flat black case and opened it. “For your dress.”

Maddie gasped at the diamond necklace. “Where did you get that?”

“There’s a vault here. Now turn around.”

“I can’t…”

“You can. Please.”

Maddie gave in and turned her back to him. “They loaned this to you?”

He settled the jewelry around her neck and fastened it. His touch was warm against her skin. “I bought it.”

That made her spin around to face him. Though she’d never worn diamonds in her life, she was familiar with her mother’s vast collection and knew how expensive the necklace must be. She touched it. “We said no jewelry, remember?”

“I remember.”

“Then what…”

“Because I wanted to.”

“Cole—” His finger against her lips silenced her protest.

She moved his hand. “I feel like Cinderella.”

“Which makes me the incredibly handsome prince.”

“I love how shy you are,” Maddie said.

“I know. I need to come out of my shell more often.”

“Oh, absolutely.” Maddie laid her hand in the crook of his arm and walked with him to a dining room. The place was empty except for two older couples who didn’t even glance up when they entered. The host showed them to a small table covered with a crisp white tablecloth. A bottle of champagne chilled in a silver bucket of ice.

Maddie sent Cole a glance as he pulled out the chair for her. “Trying to impress this Cinderella? You don’t have to wine and dine me. Or shower me with nice things. It might complicate our deal.” A flash of an emotion she didn’t quite catch flashed in his eyes.

“I want to, and I do as I please.”

Maddie gave him a no kidding expression but didn’t make a comeback while the server took their food order.

After the man left, she and Cole talked for a few minutes before he reached for her glass and poured some champagne. She took it and held it up. “Shall we toast to being friends?”

“Friends?” He lowered his glass, and silence settled between them.

“I’m not your enemy,” she said after the server put their food on the table and left.

After a second, he raised his glass and gently touched it to the side of hers.

Maddie took a sip, then picked up her fork. “Tell me something about Cole Mitchell. Something that scares you.”

“Failure scares me. You?”

That one was easy for her. “Losing my family. Something that makes you happy?”

His smile was slow and oh-so-sexy, leaving no doubt about the meaning behind it.

“Out of the bedroom,” she scolded.

He reached for her hand, clasped it as he tangled their fingers together. “Truthfully? Spending time with you.”

“Wow. Guess you really do have the charming part of the prince down.”

“I’m serious.”

“All of this…whisking me away to the island…please tell me it’s not you feeling sorry for me because I was left behind for the original trip.”

“I feel a lot of things for you, Maddie, but pity isn’t one of them.”

She nodded, thankful for that much, then realized what he’d said. “What kind of things do you feel?”

Soft music began to play, and Cole came around the table to take her by the hand. “Dance with me.”

She went into his arms, and he slowly moved them around the room. Tipping her head up, she looked at his handsome face, her eyes searching for answers.

A muscle worked in his jaw. “I feel things I don’t want to feel.”

“And you don’t want to because?”

He glanced down at her. “Because I can’t allow myself to be weak.”

Understanding dawned. “You care about me.”

“I do, but not enough not to go after your family.”

She sighed at the warning in his tone. She wished he could let go of the past so that he could live fully present in the moment. Hanging onto things that other people did to you only hurt you. Maddie had already learned that lesson. You could have plenty of money like Cole had and still be poor. She didn’t have plenty of money yet she was by far the richer of the two.

“Still think we’re friends?”

“I can still care about someone even when I don’t agree with what they do,” she said. “Besides, because you are a good person, I think you’ll eventually forgive whatever wrongs you say were done against you.”

He stopped dancing and tipped her chin up. “One thousand and eleven.”

She didn’t understand that. “What?”

“Those are the number of marks on the wall in a windowless little concrete box on the first level of the juvenile facility. There’s a single lightbulb high in the ceiling. No bed and a hole in the floor to use to relieve yourself.” He swung her around, dipped her low. “Forty-one days in that hot, stinking hole thanks to your grandfather. I see a lot of things in his future. Forgiveness from me isn’t one of them.”

“I’m sorry you had that experience, but I won’t stop believing that regardless of whatever happened to you, you’re strong enough to let go.”

…

“I can let go?” he said softly, frustrated that she didn’t see the reality her grandfather hid behind his polished facade. “It’s not strong to let go, sweetheart. It’s strong to follow things through until the end.”

“You’re hell bent on revenge, and you’re not going to stop until you either destroy my grandfather or yourself. I certainly don’t want to see you hurt him, but I don’t want to see you self-destruct, either.”

He caressed the backs of his fingers along her jawline. “You say that only because you don’t believe he’s guilty of what I say he is.”

“I don’t,” she agreed.

“Then let’s go back to the room and I’ll show you. I have files in an online folder that I can access from my phone. You can see for yourself.”

At first, Maddie was reluctant, and he knew she was warring with her belief that her grandfather was innocent versus wanting to see what information he had. Apparently deciding on the latter, she nodded. “Fine. Let’s go.”

She was silent on the way back to the suite. As soon as he opened the door, he went straight to his phone and pulled up the folder.

Maddie took the phone and sat on the end of the sofa as she began to read the pages. She curled her legs under her, and he couldn’t help but feel that she was bracing herself.

“The teenage boys who really started the arson fire that you and your friends were accused of were the sons of families that my grandfather wanted to do business with.” She looked up at him. “That’s hardly damning. My grandfather did business with a lot of different families in Texas.”

“Keep reading,” Cole said.

“In exchange for consideration in the deal, my grandfather agreed to help make sure those boys didn’t take the fall for the fire.” Maddie’s face paled, and she began to scroll madly through the pages, no doubt reading detail after detail about the fire.

When she’d looked through the folder, Cole took the phone from her and accessed another. “Your grandfather’s testimony.”

She clutched the phone tightly as she read, then looked up at him through shell-shocked eyes. “The date…I never paid attention. Oh my God. I missed this. He couldn’t have seen you there that night.”

“How do you know?” That was the part that Cole had never been able to get an answer to. No one had been able to prove Samuel Russell was lying.

“Because it was my mother’s birthday that night and he flew with her on the private jet to New Orleans along with my father to celebrate with them. I didn’t connect the dates before. Oh no.”

Cole swallowed. “Are you sure?” There would be flight records he could get ahold of if that were true.

She nodded, her shoulders slumping. “How could he…” Without another word, Maddie leaped to her feet, fleeing the room. She barely made it to the bathroom before she was sick. When she leaned her head against her forearms, Cole could read from her body language that she wanted to deny the truth.

He gently squeezed her shoulder. “Here.” He passed her a wet washcloth before kneeling beside her.

“All your suffering…all your friends’ suffering…Adam’s death… My family did that.” She stared down at the washcloth. “No wonder you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you. Look at me.”

Maddie raised her eyes to his.

“It took me a while to realize it, but you’re nothing like your family.”

Her lip quivered. “I was so self-righteous around you. So sure I was the one on the right path and you were the one who was wrong. I can’t believe I talked to you about letting go and forgiveness.” She rose and moved to the sink to wash her face and brush her teeth, then leaned against the counter and closed her eyes. “I don’t know what to even think about my grandfather right now.”

Cole knew what it was like to experience the emotional smackdown when someone you looked up to was a fake rather than a hero. He’d been through that with his father and his mother. He’d thought that when Maddie realized the truth that he’d feel justification. Maybe even gloat a little. But he didn’t feel any of that. His heart ached for her heartache.

She turned to face him. “My grandfather should face up to what he’s done, and I understand now why you want revenge. But I’m so sorry. You’re never going to get it.”

Cole stilled. “Because you won’t testify to what you told me about that night, will you? It doesn’t matter. I can get flight records.”

“That’s not it. He has dementia.”

Her words made an ice-cold chill run down the length of Cole’s spine.

“Even if you do find him and confront him about the past, he won’t know who you are. No prosecutor in Texas will go after him.” Maddie’s eyes filled with tears. “He’s as forever lost to your revenge plan as he is to me.”

“If you’re lying to me…”

“I swear to you that I’m not.”

Everything he’d worked so damn hard for…and he’d failed Adam. All his carefully laid plans rained down on his shoulders, crashing at his feet.

“I really am sorry.” Maddie walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. After a few minutes, she looked at him, then reached up to press a kiss against his lips.