Chapter 36
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX
She was gone.
He couldn’t believe it.
When he pulled himself out of bed the next morning, he was still in shock. Even Spike seemed confused, barking around the house and sniffing the air for Madison’s scent. When he finally gave a heartfelt whine, Kyle had to grit back his own pain.
God! He’d had no idea anything could hurt this much, not even the beatings his father had given him for being too soft.
Well, his dad would have definitely gotten out his belt last night.
Kyle had broken down, with Spike in his arms, whining and licking his face.
He’d even let the little guy sleep with him since they were both upset about Madison being gone.
Dammit, he’d known she could dig her heels in, how protective she could be. How many times had he admired it? But now it was working against him. She’d decided this Dassault was going to ruin all of them, so she’d made the one-woman decision to save them all from their terrible fate.
What the hell was he going to do? He couldn’t see a plan forward with her blocking him. He needed help again. Operation Kyle and Madison needed support, and he knew exactly who to call. Forget about her being angry that he was calling their family together.
Everyone arrived together, and Kyle wondered if he had Brooke to thank for the perfect timing. She was the first to wrap her arms around him, and he didn’t care that he leaned in more than usual. “I’m so sorry, but we’re here. We’re going to figure things out.”
Axel gripped his shoulder. “I do not have a cleaver, but I will do what I can to bring you two back together.”
He choked out a laugh, remembering how Madison had taken her cleaver over to Axel’s to force him to see sense when he and Brooke were at odds. “It might come to that. Hey, Doc.”
“I’d hoped our dark times were over,” Sawyer said, giving him a man hug. “I wish I could have been there for you guys last night.”
Phoebe socked him in the shoulder before giving him a bear hug. “Tell me where Madison is. I’ll break into her place the way she did mine and force her to talk to me.”
Another one of Madison’s classic charge-in moments, lying her way into Phoebe’s apartment to keep Phoebe from walking away from Sawyer. She’d helped all of them, but she wouldn’t accept help in return.
Dean tapped Kyle on the shoulder, his phone in the air. “She’s at the restaurant. I kinda hacked into her phone. Don’t tell her, but we were worried.”
He huffed out a relieved breath. He’d hoped as much. He’d installed a cot in the back room of the restaurant in case someone needed a break, so she’d probably slept there. “Thanks for checking,” he said, giving Dean a half hug.
Jacqueline kissed his cheeks, murmuring assurances, but then Thea came forward, trying valiantly not to cry. “This is all my fault! I was the one with the brilliant idea to send the breadbasket to Christophe Flaubert. I thought he was nice.”
“Chérie, we’ve discussed this,” Jean Luc said gravely as he rubbed her back.
“Thea, you were right!” Kyle hugged her again, rocking them in place. Hadn’t he tortured himself with the same thoughts before reframing them? “Flaubert wanted to help.”
“But Auguste would not hear of it, of course,” Nanine said tightly as she came through the door.
Kyle met Nanine’s eyes. She was standing next to Carl, her hand tightly clenched around his. Her usual understanding gaze was absent. Instead, he saw a helpless rage in her eyes.
“No, he wouldn’t.”
Keeping an arm around Thea, he drew Nanine close. She kissed his cheeks Parisian style and then laid her head against his chest. That alone devasted him. Nanine had always been strong—at least until the heart attack and the destruction of her restaurant.
She straightened and touched his jaw. “Madison came to see me this morning to tell me what happened and why she feels she has to leave because of Auguste’s threats.”
His heart pulsed thickly in his chest. God, if she’d done that, she was moving fast. “I see.”
“Let’s all sit down,” Brooke said softly. “We have much to discuss.”
“Does anyone want coffee?” he asked, remembering how every crisis had been handled with a crème, another reason he was glad he’d tucked Spike in a side room so he could devote his full attention to the task at hand.
His friends shook their heads and shrugged out of their coats.
The trail of people into the salon was like a funeral procession, and he fought off his rising alarm.
These were their roommates, their family.
They’d figured out solutions to everything they’d faced together since coming back to Paris last August.
Did everyone think there was no hope?
He didn’t sit. He couldn’t. Facing the room, he swept his hand in a gesture that encompassed all the people gathered in front of him.
“Look, if you’re all thinking the situation is hopeless, maybe I shouldn’t have called this meeting.
Because right now, I’m looking for help.
I refuse to accept defeat. I love Madison… ”
His voice broke, and he had to look off for a moment to regain his control.
“Kyle,” Nanine called, waiting to continue until he turned his head.
“We all love you both too. Very much. When Madison came to me this morning, I immediately knew something had happened. She cleverly used my own words against me. Do you remember how I told you that I would only speak of what happened to Nanine’s once and never again? ”
He nodded, remembering that horrible moment. She’d still been in her hospital bed, stuck with tubes, looking fragile and scared.
“Madison told me the same. When she finished, I was too in shock to say anything, and then she was embracing me and running out the door.” Nanine touched a shaky hand to her elegant brow line.
“After she left, I sat and thought of what had befallen me and Nanine’s at Auguste’s hands, and now what is befalling Madison and Nanine’s as it now stands. ”
She took Carl’s hand, and they shared a look before she returned her gaze to Kyle.
“I do not know how much it will help, but I came to tell you I would like to tell my personal story to our dear friend Gustave at Le Monde, including how Auguste is improperly using his influence again. I will dare the Michelin people to listen to him again, and I will dare anyone to cooperate with someone so dishonorable. This man will not ruin our family.”
A few gasps echoed in the room. Kyle clenched his jaw to keep it from gaping. Nanine was the most private of people. That she would be willing to share this kind of story publicly…
“But your heart!” Brooke protested.
Nanine tapped her chest. “It is strong enough for what must be done. To do nothing would be the end of everything I stand for.”
Kyle knew to look past the tragedy in Nanine’s voice. He must. “Nanine, I do not know if that will help either. Certainly, it will be the talk of town, if not the culinary industry. Are you certain?”
Nanine looked around the room. “With my whole being.”
“Then I say blast the bastard with everything you’ve got, Nanine,” Brooke said in a clipped tone.
“Hear, hear!” Sawyer called out.
“Then we are agreed.” Nanine smoothed the seam in her wool pants. “I will call Gustave after we finish.”
“What about Madison?” Thea asked, clenching Jean Luc’s hand. “We can’t know for certain the article will work unless by some miracle Nanine’s wins a star. The announcement is in just over a week.”
“Gustave would have to rush the article,” Brooke added. “It’s—”
“A hell of an order,” Dean finished in as somber of a tone as he’d ever spoken. “Maybe I could kidnap Madison? Of course, I’d need help. Doc, how are you at throwing a fishing net over someone?”
“I’m your girl there,” Phoebe put in.
Sawyer’s face registered an almost comical amount of alarm as he said, “Your biggest obstacle, Kyle, is that she’s being protective, trying to save you from ruin. Us too.”
“Yes, that more than anything is why she is planning to leave,” Nanine interjected. “She wants her star, but her love is great for you, Kyle. And for all of us here.”
“Love is a powerful driving force,” Sawyer added, taking his spectacles off and cleaning them. “To sacrifice oneself and one’s desires so the person who holds your heart does not share the same wretched fate is the most noble act of all.”
“Leave it to Madison to be a martyr for love,” Brooke drew out, tapping her thumb and forefinger together.
“And yet her loyalty is one of the reasons we love and respect her,” Axel added with his usual Nordic somberness.
“Yes, it is,” Kyle agreed, his heart heavy. “None of my arguments would sway her.”
Phoebe winced. “Sorry, Kyle, but I live with eloquent argumentative discourse. Mere reason won’t work. You’re going to have to get right in her face. Tell her you’ll dog her to the ends of the earth. That you’ll camp outside whatever place she hangs her hat—”
“Cross a desert without shoes,” Dean broke in with a wince. “Basically, you have to convince her you’re not giving up.”
“Ever.” Brooke gave him a steady look. “Even if Madison continues to push you away.”
He closed his eyes, needing a moment. Brooke was right. He was going to have to keep fighting Madison, and she was one hell of a fighter. How were they supposed to not keep breaking each other’s hearts?
“Your task is not to seek for love,” Sawyer softly quoted, “but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it, and embrace them. Rumi. That is the journey Madison faces, and you must help her navigate it.”
Dean groaned as he held his head playfully in his hands. “Jeez, Doc, why don’t you simply bash his head in and put him out of his misery? I wouldn’t have a clue what to do on that score.”
But suddenly Kyle shoved out of his chair because he did, and that was all that mattered.