13. Maddox
MADDOX
M ost of the time, growing up in a small town is a gigantic pain in the ass. But today as I rush through the hospital, I’m grateful for it. No one stops me as I push through the doors in a blind panic. And the familiar face at the check-in doesn’t blink twice when I stop. “I need Lennon Windsor’s room. Where is it?” I bark at her, not caring how I sound.
Her fingers fly across her keyboard before she looks nervously up at me. “She’s in room 504, Mr. Beneventi. Take the elevators to the second floor, cross the skybridge, then take the next elevator to the fifth floor.”
“Thanks.” I walk away without a badge or a fucking care.
I know Rome’s behind me, silent.
I can feel him, but he’s smart to give me space because the quick ride here felt like a goddamn lifetime.
I haven’t even had twenty-four hours to process the bomb Lennon dropped, but fucking hell, whatever’s between us doesn’t matter. That’s my woman and my baby in that room.
Even if they’re not. Even if they can’t be.
We don’t bother with the first elevator, just taking the steps to the skybridge, then hop in the second elevator. Thankfully alone.
“Breathe, brother. You don’t know that anything is wrong with her.”
“She’s in the hospital,” I say so fucking tightly my jaw hurts. “And she’s fucking pregnant with my kid.”
Rome’s whistle bounces off the metal box we’re riding in. “Shit. When did you find that out?”
“Yesterday,” I groan and drag my hands down my face. “Fuck,” I give in and yell as the chaos raging in my head drags me down.
“Get it together, Madman. You’re no good to her if you’re a fucking mess,” he warns, and he’s right.
He’s being the voice of reason.
He’s being me.
Shit.
The doors open, and Rome grabs my shoulder. “Slow it down, man.”
I shrug him off but take a breath before we move down the hall, looking for 504. It’s not hard to find—because it’s the only room with Maria standing guard outside the door.
She sees me coming and hardens her stance.
“Who’s that?” Rome growls.
“Her bodyguard,” I snap back as I see Maria’s hand go to her right side, where I’m sure her holster sits on her hip under her suit coat.
“Is she in there?” I ask once we’re stopped in front of the woman who’s guarded Lennon for as long as I’ve known her.
Maria looks behind me at Rome. “Who’s this?”
“My brother,” I growl and grab the door, moving around the woman standing in my way.
“If I hear a single raised voice, you’re gone. Do you understand?” she threatens. “I’ll have her on a flight so fast, she won’t have time to be furious with me.” Her hard shell cracks, and I see it. See that she’s concerned for Lennon. And if I’m right, upset with herself.
What the hell happened?
“Understood.” I don’t wait for a response, just look at Rome. “Go. I’ll get a ride home.”
“Not a chance, brother. I’ll be right here.” He looks at Maria and grins. “Right next to Robo-Barbie.”
I ignore them both as I push into Lennon’s room and find Dr. Mackenzie Hayes-Sinclair standing next to her with an ultrasound thing in her hand.
“Maddox?” she asks, clearly confused. “What?—”
“I called him,” Lennon whispers, and I get my first look at her.
Fuck... “Len... your face.”
Forgetting Kenzie exists, I move next to Lennon’s bed and gently cup the side of her face not currently bruised and swollen. “What happened?”
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this, don’t we?” she laughs through red-rimmed, tear-filled eyes.
“This isn’t funny, princess. Are you okay?” I wipe her tears with my thumbs, careful of the bruising.
“I’m okay. Dr. Hayes was about to check the baby though,” she whispers, and I look back at Kenzie.
“Would you like him to step out, Lennon?” Kenzie asks as she rests her hand on Lennon’s blanket.
“No,” Lennon murmurs.
Yeah. That’s not fucking happening. “I’m the father, Kenz.”
If I didn’t know Kenzie the way I do, I might not catch the surprise in her eyes, but she’s family, and we grew up close. I know this woman as well as I know my sister, and that shock is right there.
Lennon doesn’t hide hers nearly as well.
She sucks in an audible breath, and I take her hand in mine and squeeze.
Yesterday’s argument forgotten.
Kenzie nods and pulls down the blanket, then pushes up Lennon’s shirt, and I have to hold my fucking breath when I see the familiar purple bruising along her side and ribs.
She didn’t fall. Someone kicked her.
This tiny woman who’s pregnant with my child.
I see red. Fucking murderous . And yet somehow, I manage to keep my shit together for her sake as Kenzie keeps going. “This might be a little cold,” she warns her before squirting jelly on Lennon’s flat stomach.
Her abs may not be as pronounced as they were the last time we were together, but she doesn’t look pregnant. Is that normal?
Lennon squirms as Kenzie runs the ultrasound thing over her belly, and immediately, a thrumming fills the room.
My eyes lock on Lennon’s tear-filled ones, only these aren’t sad tears.
“That’s a strong heartbeat,” Kenzie tells us as she continues to move the thing around.
“Heartbeat?” I ask, silently awed. “That’s the baby’s heartbeat?”
Lennon nods. “That’s our baby’s heartbeat.”
“Everything looks great, guys,” Kenzie confirms, and Lennon sags against the pillow and cries silent tears. “There aren’t any issues.”
Lennon covers her face. “I’ve felt every emotion over the past week. All of them. Fear and frustration, and anger... And then today...” she sniffs. “When I wasn’t sure...” She wipes her cheeks and looks up at me, her lower lip trembling. “Today, when I thought I might have lost it...”
“Shh...” I whisper and kiss her forehead. “You’re both okay.”
Kenzie stands back and gives us a moment before interrupting, “The baby is measuring on the smaller side for your due date, but considering you mentioned dancing until recently, that could be why. It also happens to be cooperating, if you’d like to know the sex.”
“I want to know.” Lennon smiles up at me, like she’s asking permission, and every wall I’ve put up comes crashing down.
Like I wouldn’t move heaven and earth to give her whatever she needed.
I run my hand over her hair and watch her watching the screen.
Yesterday forgotten as we fall into new roles. “Then let’s find out, principessa .”
“Well, it looks like the world is going to be dealing with another Beneventi boy in a few months,” Kenzie announces, and I stare at the screen, completely overcome.
A boy.
A baby boy.
My world tilts on its axis, and my center of gravity irrevocably changes.
I gently press my lips to Lennon’s head. “We’re having a boy.”
* * *
Lennon
I close my eyes and soak in Maddox’s silent strength.
“I’m going to leave the two of you,” Dr. Hayes-Sinclair announces as she wipes the jelly off my belly and pulls my shirt back down. “A nurse will be in to go over your discharge papers, Lennon, but here’s my number. Please don’t hesitate to call my office with any questions.” She jots something down on the back of the card before handing it to me. “Here—I added my cell phone number on the back. If you need anything, call.” She holds my gaze, making sure I understand what she’s saying.
This woman I’ve never met before but is married to my best friend’s brother.
Shit. Grace ... My family.
They’re all going to kill me.
“Thank you, Doctor Hayes. Is there any way you could make sure this stays quiet? I’d rather not have the whole incident get out, if possible,” I admit, embarrassed, then watch as she looks from me to Maddox.
“I’ll do what I can, Miss Windsor.”
“Thank you,” I murmur as Maddox thanks her and walks her to the door.
I can’t hear what’s said between the two of them, but when he turns around, emotions are running rampant behind his eyes as he comes back to my bed side. “Everything was okay with your MRI?”
I nod slowly and regret the movement when my head swims.
“What happened, Lennon?”
I look away as humiliation chokes me. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Who hurt you, princess?” His words are soft but fierce, and I worry what he’ll do once he knows the truth.
“It won’t happen again. I appreciate you coming. . .” I babble, nervously. “I was worried something was wrong with the baby.”
I run my palm over my stomach and bite down on my lip to try to control the sob ready to spill over. “We’re having a boy.”
Wonderment fills me.
And Maddox smiles like I’ve never seen before.
It’s beautiful and warm and full of life.
It’s everything I don’t feel right now but wish I did.
“I’m not sure it felt real before now,” he says in a low, hushed tone. “I mean, I knew what you said. It’s not like I didn’t believe you. It just didn’t feel real until I heard his heartbeat. And then she said he’s a boy...” He gently cups one side of my face, and his thumb rubs my cheekbone. “And you’re both okay. We’ve got a lot to figure out.”
“We do.” I wrap my fingers around his wrist, momentarily forgetting any anger I’ve been clinging to when I think about this man. “But I’m not sure I’ve got the energy to do it now.”
“You know you’re going to have to tell me what happened at some point.”
“I know, and I will.” I squeeze his wrist and drop my hand. “But for now, I just want to get out of here.”
I can tell he wants to say more. He’s never been a man of inaction. This is killing him. But as usual, he’s doing it because I’ve asked. Maddox’s eyes search mine, trying to reconcile my answer with his need to control the situation. “Come home with me.”
“What?” I sputter. “Why would I do that?”
“Because I can keep you safe.” The certainty in his words is so strong, it almost makes me believe him. I want to, but I can’t.
He can’t keep me safe. No one can.
“You can’t save me from my future, Maddox. Even if I wish you could.” The words break what little joy I’d managed as the reality sets in. This is my future. This is what my life will look like. This is what my family forced on me.
“Monty did this?” he growls and drops his hold as I realize my mistake. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
His words leave no room for argument, but I can’t not argue them.
“You can’t,” I force the words from my lips, even though I wish I didn’t have to.
“You can’t seriously still plan on marrying him.” Maddox is looking at me like he doesn’t know me. Like he can’t believe what I’m saying. And I can’t blame him. If you didn’t grow up in my world, this seems insane. Contract marriages are unheard of in most circles. Lucky me, I didn’t grow up in most circles.
“I don’t have another option.” My words are a plea for him to understand. “There’s no way out of a contract like ours. Trust me. If there were, I’d have used it to end this ridiculous sham already.”
My God, how I wish it were that simple. I tried. I searched for a loophole that doesn’t exist. I begged my parents... my grandfather. I tried, to no avail.
This is it. This is my lot in life. My future.
Maddox runs his finger through his thick, dark hair.
Hair I remember touching. Pulling.
Then I remember I’m not the only one who did those things, and my heart wars with my head. Inconvenient as that may be.
He lifts his head to the ceiling, then looks down at me. “What if I came up with a way?”
“My brother’s lawyer couldn’t even find a way. I don’t think you’re going to find what you’re looking for, Maddox.” No matter how much I wish he could. “I promise I won’t keep the baby from you. No matter what Monty says, I’ll find a way.”
“You wouldn’t be able to legally marry him if you were already married, Lennon.”
I freeze at his words.
Unable to breathe.
Unsure I heard him right over the ringing now playing a symphony in my ears.
“I don’t understand...” I slowly sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed, grabbing onto Maddox as his hands move to my sides to help me down. “What are you saying?”
He steadies me on my feet, and I watch his Adam’s apple work as he swallows. “Marry me. Stay here with me. You can’t marry Monty if you’re already married to me. So marry me, principessa .”
I work his words over in my mind.
Marry one man I don’t love or another I absolutely loathe.
Is this what my life has been reduced to?
“Why would I do that?” I ask him, even though the answer is staring me in the face.
“Because I’ll keep you safe. You and our baby. Because no one will ever hurt either of you as long as I breathe.” He presses his lips to my forehead. “Because I don’t play by their rules.”
A shiver dances down my spine with his powerful words.
No one will ever hurt my son.
“Marry you and I can’t legally marry someone else,” I repeat slowly, trying to work it out in my mind. “That could work.”
“We can make it work,” he tries to convince me. Maddox has this way of saying something with such surety, you’d swear it was gospel. “We’d just have to get married before you’re supposed to marry him.”
That’s his first mistake. “We’d have to get married as soon as possible. If not, he’s going to expect me to come home and marry him in a month. He was calling his mother to move up the date this morning.”
A muscle ticks in Maddox’s jaw, and I realize I just confirmed it.
Confirmed without a doubt that Monty was with me this morning.
Damn it.
“Fine,” he grinds. “We’ll get married right away. We can go to the courthouse tomorrow?—”
“No,” I stop him. “That won’t work. He’ll try to get it annulled. I know him, and doing this will be like waving a red cape in front of a raging bull. Telling Monty he can’t have something will only make him want it more.” I hate Montgomery Hastings on a molecular level. I loathe him. But I also know him, and I’ll never underestimate him again. “If we want this to work, it has to be big and splashy and as soon as possible. It needs to be covered by every international news outlet in the world. I need to be as badly damaged goods as possible.”
Maddox’s grip on my waist tightens. “You could never be damaged goods,” he growls.
“They have to think I am.” I pull back, not wanting to be this close. Not wanting him to cloud my judgment. “The world needs to know I’m married to another man. His pride needs to be crushed in a way that would make it impossible for him to marry me.”
“And if I can make that happen?” he pushes, stepping back into my space.
I put my hand out in-between us and wait for him to take it in his. “Then I guess I’m marrying the lesser of two evils.”
Maddox arches his brow in question but shakes my hand anyway. “Then let’s find the nurse so we can get you out of here and get your stuff. It looks like you’re marrying me, princess. Might as well move in. We’ve got work to do.”
“Aww... That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me,” I tell him, sarcasm dripping from my tone. “But I don’t need romance. This is going to be a marriage in name only. I’d say let’s have a contract drawn up, but I’m not sure I ever want to sign another contract for as long as I live.”
“We’ll see,” he murmurs as he heads for the door.
“Where are you going?” I ask, confused.
“To find the nurse and make sure Rome and Maria haven’t killed each other yet. It’s about time I take you home.”
Home. Ha. That’s a joke.
This will never be my home, but it seems I’m out of options.
Once this is done, I doubt I’ll ever be welcome in Mornea again.
I’ll have to give up my inheritance. My title. My right to the throne.
I’ll no longer be any kind of a working royal of Mornea.
But... My baby boy will be safe.
He’ll be raised by a man who loves him.
One who will give him a good life, far from the spotlight.
Far from the crown.
Here, I won’t have to worry about Monty.
Here, I’ll just have to worry about my heart.