3. Hunter
Hunter
I t wasn’t supposed to be this difficult.
Foolishly, we’d gone in expecting the Corbyns to be grateful for our intervention.
We’d exposed Barrett’s plan to asset strip their paper mill, but Hugo’s stupidity was something to behold.
We’d all just watched Maddison disappear through the now-locked chapel doors, but her brother still tried to convince Barrett that all wasn’t lost.
“I’ll explain to Maddison that it was a misunderstanding,” Hugo had promised, prepared to sell his sister at any price.
“I’d say you underestimate her,” Barrett replied. “And you certainly underestimate me. The deal is dead in the water. I need to be pickier choosing my bride next time.” He shrugged off Hugo’s grasping hand. “Don’t contact me again.”
It was ego talking. Barrett didn’t like it when someone took away one of his toys, so now he was pretending he’d never wanted it. Too much of a coward to confront me directly, he just stalked up and down the aisle until Jake opened the doors at my command .
“We could have handled this without all the drama, Hunter,” Alice chided when Reid finally let her up from her seat.
“Go comfort your son, Alice,” I replied without looking at her. “I think he needs his mommy.”
Alice had controlled the Emerson empire for the ten years between her husband’s death and Barrett’s twenty-first birthday, but since he took over five years ago, she’s been fighting a losing battle to curb her son’s dubious business practices.
She looked every one of her sixty years as she disappeared out of the chapel behind her son.
I turned my attention back to Hugo. “I understand you’ll need time to regroup with your sister,” I began. “But I may be able to help.”
“Help?” he scoffed. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done? Do you know how much you’ve cost me?”
“Whatever investment Barrett promised was a lie. You’ve lost nothing.”
I didn’t like the way he shook his head as if I were the idiot, not him. The man was delusional. If he’d conducted any form of due diligence, he would have discovered that Emerson Holdings was a spider web of companies that Barrett delighted in using to trap unsuspecting flies like Hugo.
“Just get the hell away from me,” Hugo said with a sneer.
When he snapped his fingers, a woman appeared from the shadows holding a young girl’s hand. Hugo’s wife and six-year-old daughter wore matching bridesmaids’ dresses, and the little girl clutched Maddison’s bridal bouquet.
“We’re leaving,” he said. “We need to find out where the fuck Maddison has gone.”
“I have her,” I said coldly. I was done playing nice .
Hugo’s eyes swiveled back to me. “What did you just say?”
“I’ll bring her back to your house tomorrow at midday. And then we’ll talk business.”
It wasn’t quite a bluff. I had eyes on Maddison thanks to Mace’s tracker.
We’d planned for the possibility that she wouldn’t get into the SUV. Reid would have had a better chance of persuading the bride to come with us, but if he’d stayed in the car, that would have meant bringing Mace into the chapel.
Mace could have worked his tech remotely, but I was more concerned about placing him in close proximity to Barrett and Alice.
He doesn’t have a great track record controlling his impulses, which was why I’d told Jake to make sure my brother wasn’t behind the wheel of a vehicle when the Emersons left the chapel.
I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have mown them down, but you never know with Mace.
I was fairly confident Maddison wouldn’t get far without cash or a phone, and it was good fortune that sent her scurrying into a Moncrief hotel. I’m on home turf here, but that’s the only thing working in my favor right now as the runaway bride glares at me as we sit at the hotel bar.
Unlike her brother, Maddison has a backbone, and I’m starting to think I should have opened up my negotiations with her first. Maybe she can talk some sense into her brother.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the dynamics work between the pair.
But Maddison on her own is too much of a temptation to resist. I want her to myself for now.
“You want to talk?” Maddison spits out. “Unless it’s an apology, I don’t want to hear it.”
Our involvement in the Corbyns’ affairs seems to be annoying all parties concerned, and I’m tempted to put Maddison over my shoulder and deliver her back to her family, but I’m not thinking with my head right now.
I’m getting addicted to the way she’s looking at me, even if her eyes are full of hate and loathing.
And a little fear despite what she claims.
As I absorb her glare, I notice the server behind the bar creep into view. She shares a look with Maddison. “Can I get you guys anything?”
Maddison reaches for her empty glass and Melissa obliges by picking up the whiskey bottle. It’ll be Maddison’s fourth by my calculation, and I’d prefer her to remain relatively sober for the time being.
“We’ll have two double espressos,” I say with enough force to make the server pause. Addressing Maddison directly, I add, “I don’t think we need any more alcohol. Do you?”
Her pale skin turns crimson. Maddison’s anger had apparently only been simmering before now.
“I might be a pampered princess in your eyes, and maybe I have been brought up to obey, but you’re not my father.
Or my brother,” she says, her jaw clenched and her words tight.
“And thanks to you, I don’t have a husband to answer to either.
So fuck you, asshole.” She slides her empty glass towards the server.
“Fill it up, please, Melissa. And make it a large one.”
Melissa pours her drink so fast that it splashes over the sides. She wipes up the spill before daring to look at me. She raises her eyebrows. “Do you still want the coffees?”
As Maddison tips half the whiskey down her throat, I sigh. “I think I need one of those too,” I admit.
We wait in silence for the drink to be poured.
“Thank you, Melissa,” I say when she hands me my glass. “That’ll be all. ”
She looks disappointed as she backs away. “Just give me a shout if you need anything else,” she says, directing the comment to Maddison.
Once we’re left alone, I lift my glass. “Cheers, Maddison.”
The bride glowers at me like I’ve just insulted her. “My name is Maddie.”
Damn, I need this drink. Either that, or I could find another way of loosening us both up.
I trail my gaze down to her whiskey-damp lips, over her bare neck and shoulders, to the valley between her breasts as they’re pushed up by that hideous wedding dress.
The one she was wearing to marry Barrett, I remind myself. His bride. My eyes snap back up.
“Cheers, Maddie ,” I try again.
I welcome the warmth from the whiskey that soothes my cold and bitter heart.
“What’s going on with you and your brother?” I ask. “Are you deliberately setting out to destroy your mill? Because from where I’m standing, you both look pretty annoyed that Barrett isn’t going to do it for you.”
“I wouldn’t have let it happen.”
“You knew what he was planning?”
Maddie shifts in her seat. “Of course not. But Barrett said he’d give me more control on the board once we were married.”
“If you still believe that, then maybe you need to see that video again,” I reply, making a move to take my phone out.
Her face creases in pain as her hand shoots out.
Her arms are too short and her dress too big to reach me, but I don’t want a repeat of Maddie’s humiliation either.
“Look, I am sorry about today. I wish there’d been an easier way of doing it. ”
Maddie’s jaw ticks. “You mean like sending the video to me discretely before the wedding. Or maybe not sharing it with all my family and friends. Or not blasting the audio through the chapel so half of Bloomington could hear just how frigid I am.”
The accusation stings. “My intention was to publicly humiliate Barrett, not you. And it was the only way to guarantee his departure. You do realize you’re better off without him, don’t you?”
“Go to hell,” Maddie snaps. “Don’t claim to know me, or what’s best for me. Or even pretend to care.”
And now she’s pissing me off. I grab the key card from my pocket and slam it down on the bar. “You wanted a room for the night. It’s all yours.” I push it in her direction.
The brat scowls at it. “I don’t want it. I never said I wanted a room.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter. I pull the tracker back out of my pocket and put it to my mouth like I’m holding a microphone. “Testing, one, two, three.”
Her mouth drops. “You’ve been listening in on my conversation?”
I choose not to answer that question, and leave her mind to whir. She gasps.
“You sick bastard!” she hisses. “Did you listen to me using the restroom?”
“No, I didn’t,” I say with complete honesty. I’m grateful Mace isn’t here. He’d happily tell her he was the one tracking the conversation, and the noises.
“I don’t believe this! I’m leaving!” Maddie says, jumping off her bar stool.
Her heels are still tangled in her dress and the sound of ripping is strangely satisfying. I have the sudden urge to tear the rest of her dress into shreds. In truth, that urge has been there since the chapel .
As Maddie gathers up the skirt, I pick up the key card and stand.
“You’re staying here tonight, Maddie,” I say, grabbing her arm. “And if you make a scene, I swear, I’ll make you regret it.”
Maddie fights against my grip, but at least she stays silent as I march her towards the elevators. Before we leave the bar, I stop briefly to look back at the server who’s watching with a mixture of concern and disbelief.
“You were right about the tattoos, Melissa,” I call over.
I hear Maddie whimper as she realizes I’d heard exactly how she’d described me to the server. At least it keeps her quiet enough for me to squeeze her into the elevator, dress and all. We’re on our way to the top floor when my phone pings.
Mace: Do not go into the room with her. Do not fuck her.