2. Luciana Creed #3
I swallowed hard as I looked down at the paperwork and instantly recognized every page. Just as I suspected; the freakin’ NDA.
The confidentiality agreement…
The signatures…
The attorneys…
Every decision I’d spent years pretending didn’t exist. Every decision I’d spent years justifying. Every decision that somehow led us right back here.
The crazy part was, I couldn’t even pretend I wasn’t responsible. I was the one who had those papers delivered to Gia as a reminder of what she’d signed and a warning to stay the fuck away from my husband.
I took a step backward before catching myself.
The movement was barely noticeable, but Maddox saw it.
He chuckled as he shook his head. “There it is.”
I looked up, frowning. “What?”
“That look.” His voice was dangerously low.
“The same look you had when I walked through that door and asked why you didn’t tell me.
” I still didn’t have anything to say, but he continued anyway.
“Funny thing is… I almost wished she’d just told me, because maybe then I could’ve convinced myself she was lying.
” The silence that followed was brutal, but then he hit me with, “But paperwork don’t lie, Luciana. ”
And just like that, every last bit of control I thought I still had slipped through my fingers.
Neither one of us said anything until the silence became unbearable.
Neither one of us even moved a muscle. Neither one of us looked away.
The paperwork remained spread across the island like evidence from a crime scene, and no matter how bad I wanted to look elsewhere, my eyes kept drifting back to it.
Maddox eventually let out a slow breath before dragging his hand across his beard.
The disappointment on his face hurt worse than anger would’ve. Worse than yelling and accusations because disappointment meant he expected more from me.
“You know what’s crazy?” he asked in a low voice. It was so low that I barely even heard him.
I swallowed hard as I asked in a mumble, “What?”
“After everything Gia told me, after everything I read, I still kept waiting on there being another explanation.”
I looked away because there wasn’t one.
Maddox laughed to himself again, shaking his head.
“I been sitting here trying to make this shit make sense ever since I left Vegas.” His jaw tightened before he continued. “You keep talking about being scared. About protecting us. About protecting our future.” He paused for a second before asking, “But, was you ever gonna tell me?”
I opened my mouth. Then closed it right back. Then I looked away, because every answer sounded terrible.
Yes would’ve led to another question… When?
No would’ve destroyed whatever was left standing between us.
The silence that followed said more than anything I could’ve come up with.
Maddox stared at me for what seemed like forever before nodding slowly to himself.
“That’s what I thought…”
Those words hit me like a punch to the guts, because it was like he’d already accepted the answer before he asked.
Tears blurred my vision again as I wrapped my arms tighter around myself.
“Maddox… baby…”
He shook his head. He looked tired—a tired I had never seen on him before.
Then he asked the question that finally broke whatever was left inside me.
“What would’ve happened if I never ran into Gia again?”
My entire body froze, because unlike the first question, there was no hiding from this one.
No explanation…
No justification…
No way to dress it up and make it sound better than what it was…
The answer was clear as day… Very obvious to say the least.
You never would’ve known. That’s what I wanted to tell him, but those words just wouldn’t come out. My heart wouldn’t allow me to say them.
My breathing turned shallow.
Maddox must’ve seen the answer all over my face because he looked away before I ever said a word.
For the first time all night, he seemed unable to look at me, and that shit hurt.
God, it hurt so bad, because Maddox always looked at me.
Even when he was angry… he looked at me.
Even when we argued… he looked.
When we disagreed… he looked.
Now it felt like he couldn’t stand to.
A long silence settled over the kitchen before he finally pushed away from the island.
I watched him walk toward the staircase without saying another word.
“Maddox…” My voice cracked as I called out to him, following behind.
He stopped halfway up the stairs but never turned around. I waited at the bottom, not saying a word, hoping he’d come back down.
I prayed he would.
Hell, or at least say something—anything.
Instead, he continued walking. When he reached the top of the stairs, he walked right past our bedroom.
My chest instantly tightened.
Nooooo…
I heard the guest room door open and then close, and just like that, the reality of everything finally settled over me.
I stood alone in the kitchen staring at the staircase while tears slid down my face, because for years I’d convinced myself I was protecting my marriage.
Tonight was the first time I allowed myself to consider the possibility that I had destroyed it instead.