Chapter 41
In all the times Maddox had organized events over the years, they had never wanted one to end as much as they wanted this rotary club breakfast to end.
Attendees had started arriving only minutes after Denise had rushed inside the Sycamore Lodge to find Oliver, and Maddox hadn’t had a free moment to themself in the two hours since.
They’d smiled and served and problem-solved on autopilot, all the while trading glances between their watch and the banquet hall doorway where they hoped to catch a glimpse of Denise coming or going.
But no such luck. Once they were finally free, they frantically searched the premises for Denise.
Out of sheer denial, they left off logging onto the front desk computer to see if she’d actually checked out until the end.
But once they did look, it only confirmed what the unanswered knocks at her door and the empty parking spot where her car used to be had already told them.
Denise had left.
Maddox leaned their elbows on the desk and stared into space.
When they’d showed up in the lobby, Bobbette had asked them to cover the desk for her while she took a personal call. At least now they didn’t have to explain to anyone what the trouble was, and they could worry in peace.
The panicked and pained look on Denise’s face when they’d found her on the porch was seared into Maddox’s brain. What could have happened? And why wouldn’t she talk to them?
They shook their head in frustration. As they did, a letter-sized white envelope on the desk caught their attention because it seemed out of place. When they picked it up, they noticed their name written on the back, and their heart skipped a beat. Had Denise left them a note?
When they ripped it open, the only thing inside was a check.
Their growing agitation was making it hard to focus on the characters, but when they finally forced themself to slow down and read it carefully, they nearly dropped it.
The check, which was from a Farrington Parks account, was made out to them in the amount of ten thousand dollars and signed by Darby Kent.
“What the hell is this?” they said aloud.
“That’s payment to ensure you forget you ever knew my cousin,” an unpleasant voice drawled from across the otherwise empty lobby.
Maddox wondered if they were still back in their room having a nightmare when Darby Kent stood from the chair near the fireplace and sashayed over to the desk. She didn’t look that different than she had seven years ago, except that her eyes were even colder. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m doing what I always do: looking after the family’s interests.
” She stepped closer and leaned on the desk.
“For instance, I’m dealing with the fact that some hotel flunky my cousin got involved with is threatening to spread a nasty rumor about being sexually harassed, if we don’t hand over ten thousand dollars. ”
“What are you talking about?”
Darby casually studied her long, manicured nails. “That phone call Denise got before she left? It was my uncle. I imagine he was not so gently letting his little princess know that she’s been screwing a blackmailer.”
The hairs on the back of Maddox’s neck stood up, but they forced themself to stay calm. “Seriously, Darby? Blackmail? What is this? A soap opera? Denise would never buy a ridiculous story like that.”
“Nothing ridiculous about it,” Darby answered with a lazy shrug. “It’s not like the poor thing hasn’t been played by a money-grubbing asshole before.”
Maddox’s blood boiled. How the hell had this callous woman and Denise come from the same family tree?
Darby smirked. “In fact, the amount you’re demanding is pocket change compared to how much it cost the family to make Carl go away.”
“I didn’t demand anything!” Maddox barked.
Their voice reverberated through the empty lobby.
Shit. They couldn’t let Darby rile them up like this.
It was probably part of whatever sick game she was playing.
Taking a steadying breath, they continued, “Denise knows I would never do something like that.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Darby said in a bored tone. “I’m sure you two have built plenty of trust in this grand love affair that’s lasted all of…what’s it been? A week? A few days?”
They tried their hardest not to flinch at the tiny kernel of truth beneath the sarcastic comment, but they clearly hadn’t succeeded, based on the smug grin on Darby’s lips.
Maddox gritted their teeth. “You know what? I can probably clear this up in a minute.”
They pulled their cellphone from their pocket and tapped Denise’s name in their contacts. It rang several times and finally went to voicemail.
“You were saying?”
“She’s driving,” Maddox muttered. Why were they letting themself be pulled into this debate?
“Anway, it doesn’t matter whether Denise thinks any of it is true or not, because Uncle Burt does.” Darby folded her arms. “When I told him about the blackmail note, he was absolutely ready to rake Denise over the coals.”
Cold sweat broke out on Maddox’s back despite their best attempt not to react to Darby’s words. “She didn’t do anything wrong!”
“She got mixed up with the help and tarnished the squeaky-clean Farrington Parks reputation. That’s plenty in my uncle’s book.
Denise will be lucky if he doesn’t kick her to the curb.
” Darby gave a harsh, strident laugh. “Oh, she acts like she’s too good for the family business and can’t wait to leave it, but she certainly keeps finding ways to stick around. ”
Maddox blinked. Even they had noticed that. Had those two years shown Denise that the Farrington legacy meant more to her than she’d thought? Maybe she hadn’t even realized it until her time at the company was coming to a close.
And now it was at risk.
Because of Maddox.
“And her grand ideas about the charity she wants to start?” Darby continued. “I wonder how far they’ll go if her dad backs out on the absurdly large contribution he promised her.”
Maddox clenched their fists. “He wouldn’t! After they made a deal, and she put in the time at the company like he wanted?”
“Well, I don’t know. I guess it depends on how much trouble he believes this whole thing is going to cause him.
” Darby leaned in and tapped her fingernails on the desk, grating on Maddox’s already strained nerves.
“Now, if he thinks the problem has been taken care of with the money dispensed and the troublemaker out of the picture…I imagine he’ll be in a much more reasonable mood. ”
There it is.
Maddox scowled. “And you’re here to convince me to help with that.”
“As I said,” Darby drawled. “Someone has to look after the family interests.”
They opened their mouth to protest, but Darby abruptly straightened to her full height and fixed Maddox with a hard stare.
“This is all in your hands, Maddox. You can keep calling Denise until she takes pity on you. Maybe she knows you didn’t try to blackmail her, and maybe you two can make a go of it.
Then what? She loses her career and tries to start her project with the setback of having no money from her dad.
But it wasn’t just the funds she was counting on.
It was the family connections too. Only how generous or confident will people be feeling toward Denise after she dragged her own family name through the mud with this affair?
How much of our circle will even want to associate with her anymore?
“And what about her own world? Her best friends are well-educated, ambitious, and successful. What exactly would you expect to have in common with them? How could you possibly fit in?”
Darby swept a derisive look up and down Maddox’s body.
“Maybe she’s temporarily out of her head in some wild, lust-fueled haze right now, but what do you think things will be like when she’s back in the real world?
Trying to live the life she’s spent years building?
How happy do you think she’ll be when she starts losing things?
Her goals and her friends? When her relationship with her only living parent is stretched to the breaking point?
I saw what happened the last time she lost everything.
You and I have both seen how fragile Denise really is. ”
Maddox wanted to argue. Wanted to shout at Darby and tell her how wrong she was.
How cruel and unfair she was being to them and to Denise both.
But somehow they couldn’t. Her words had wormed their way past the defenses they’d tried to set in place at the start of this twisted conversation.
And now a cold, tight fist of doubt—or maybe just reality—was squeezing around their heart.
“Take the money, Maddox,” Darby murmured. “Take it and stay where you belong. If you care about Denise even the slightest bit, you won’t force her to risk the people and things that matter most to her.”
Her eyes bore into theirs for a moment longer before she turned and stalked across the lobby and out the door.
Maddox stared after her then down at the phone still in their hand. They swiped the screen to Denise’s contact page, their finger hovering over the number. But the cold, clammy pressure in their chest tightened even more.
With a shaky sigh, they turned off the phone and put it back in their pocket.