18. Chapter 18
Heath watched her go. That tight, angry stride, her hips swaying, shoulders locked, fists curled like she was ready to wreck someone.
And judging by the look on her face? That someone was already waiting outside.
He moved to the front window, staying in the shadows. The black BMW wagon sat in the driveway, gleaming under the afternoon sun.
If he was a betting man…
His jaw flexed.
Maddie’s voice rang out sharp and cold as she stopped just short of the car. Blocking the house.
She doesn’t want him inside.
His eyes narrowed.
Dr. David Walsh, long and lean, in a suit, stepped out. Arms crossed. Head tilted. Mouth already moving in sharp, clipped words.
Heath had seen this kind of man before. The one who doesn’t need to raise his fists to do damage. And he’d seen enough in that boardroom to be concerned.
Heath stayed put. Hung back. Observed.
Watched Maddie’s shoulders draw back. Watched her chin lift.
Good. She wasn’t backing down.
But the tone shifted.
David’s hands came up in a placating gesture. A peacekeeper move.
A manipulator move.
Heath couldn’t hear everything, but he caught snippets.
“Be reasonable, Maddie.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“We can fix this.”
A slight tilt of his head. The hint of a smirk.
“You’re being dramatic.”
Heath’s jaw clenched.
David shifted closer.
“You were always impulsive.”
Maddie’s spine went rigid.
“This is a mistake.”
Her shoulders squared.
Then—David’s voice darkened.
“You don’t get to throw this away.”
Not persuasion anymore.
Something meaner.
Heath’s blood heated.
The next words came sharper.
Angrier.
He caught—
“Filing those papers like this?”
“You’re the one in the wrong, Maddie.”
“You should’ve never—”
The sudden shift in David’s stance, the sharp cut of his voice, sent something hot and dangerous curling in Heath’s chest.
He stepped forward.
Hands loose.
Ready.
Fight mode engaged.
David didn’t know it yet. But he was one wrong move away from meeting the wrong fucking man.
And sure enough, David made that wrong move—pushing Maddie in the shoulder enough to make her stagger.
Heath moved before he thought.
One second, he was behind the window—watching.
The next—he was outside.
Fast. Explosive. Years of training kicking in like muscle memory.
David’s hand was on Maddie. Gripping her. Shoving her back.
And Heath’s fist was already swinging.
Crack.
The sick, clean snap of knuckles against bone.
David staggered back, dazed. Blood bloomed, bright and violent, from his split lip.
Heath didn’t stop.
Didn’t give him time to react.
He grabbed the front of that expensive suit jacket and slammed him against the car.
David choked, hands scrambling against Heath’s iron grip.
“Touch her again,” Heath said, voice like a low growl, “and I’ll bury you.”
David’s eyes went wide.
Not with fear—not yet.
But shock. Confusion.
Like he was processing.
“You,” David spat, voice garbled from his split lip. “You’re her contractor?”
Heath’s fingers tightened, fisting in fabric.
“I’m the man who’s gonna break your fucking jaw if you don’t back the fuck up,” Heath said evenly. “And that’s me being polite.”
David let out a short, pained laugh. “Jesus, Maddie. This is what you left me for? A trigger-happy handyman?”
Maddie was silent. But Heath felt her there. Right behind him.
Watching.
Breathing.
Shaken.
David’s gaze flicked to her, then back to Heath.
“Oh, I get it now.” A smug little smirk, bloodied and cocky. “You’re just the rebound.”
Heath smiled.
Then slammed him against the car again.
The metal groaned under the force.
David’s breath hitched.
Smugness evaporating.
“I don’t give a shit what you think I am,” Heath murmured, voice lethal. “But you should give a shit about what I am not.”
David swallowed.
“I’m not someone you can manipulate. I’m not someone you can talk circles around. And I’m sure as hell not someone who’s gonna let you lay hands on her and fucking walk away.”
David’s jaw ticked. “You don’t know shit about our marriage.”
Heath’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I know enough.”
A tense beat.
David breathed hard through his nose.
Heath leaned in.
Final warning.
A promise in every word.
“You ever come back here,” he said quietly, “I’ll make sure you leave in a body bag.”
David held his gaze.
Heath saw it, then.
That moment when reality sank in.
That he wasn’t winning this one.
That there was no charm, no bullshit, no legal loophole that would save him.
Just Heath.
Standing there. Ready.
David dropped his gaze first.
Heath let go, stepping back.
David adjusted his jacket, wiped the blood from his mouth.
Then—he turned.
Got in the car.
And drove away.
Heath stood there, breathing hard.
The only sound left was Maddie’s.
Soft. Shaky. Behind him.
He turned.
She was staring at him. Something unreadable in her expression. And fuck—
That was the part that scared him the most.