Careless and selfish.
She crossed one leg over the other. “I told you. I want in.”
“No.”
“I’m no fool, Maddox. I know a good thing when I see it. You hit the jackpot with your little wife. Your numbers have been skyrocketing, and you need me if you want to keep that momentum going.”
He needed her? He’d done all of this without her.
“How could you possibly know what my numbers are doing?” Duncan wouldn’t have told her. Beastly though his best friend could sometimes seem, Maddox refused to believe Duncan would sell him out, especially to Ruby. He knew their history as much as Maddox did.
Maddox didn’t know what to say. Ruby was the reason he’d been seeking out investors for years after she pulled her backing from him. Right when he’d needed her the most.
He didn’t need her now, nor did he need this. Although, he supposed it was good she’d come here to him rather than targeting Adelie. As long as Ruby stayed away from her, he could handle this.
Ruby removed herself from his desk and strutted toward him. He got a waft of her snake scent as she tiptoed in and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He attempted to pull back, but not soon enough.
“You know where to find me,” she said, tucking something into his breast pocket and waltzing out.
Stunned, Maddox waited until she was gone to examine the business card. She’d changed her logo, but her name blared like a neon sign. Ruby Regina. Investing Insights, Strategies, Services, and Solutions.
“She should add a subheading,” he said to his empty office as he crumpled her card and lobbed it toward the garbage can. “Will backstab at first sign of failure.”
It was amazing she still had a business if she treated all her clientele the way she’d treated Maddox. It probably didn’t help that they’d been dating on top of their business relationship.
The scathing words she’d said to him the last time she’d been in this office had rubbed him raw for years. He’d done his best to push them aside, to push her aside and let go of the hurt they’d caused.
A failure. A washout. A desperate man with nothing. Her words had taunted him like bullies, and now she had the gall to not only offer to back the park she’d once called pathetic, but to kiss him on the cheek?
She knew he was married. She knew he was with Adelie. Maddox glanced at his phone, and his heart sank. It’d buzzed earlier, but he’d been on a phone call and hadn’t checked the message. Now he wished he had.
“Oh no,” Maddox said, dashing out the door.
Here, he’d thought he’d been Ruby’s first stop, but like always, he should have known better. Ruby was a viper. She’d snag her teeth into any unsuspecting victim she could if it meant her own personal gain. She was going to ruin everything he’d built with Adelie. He had to get home as quickly as possible.
***
Adelie was fuming. She hated women like Ruby. Women who thought because they wore heels and makeup and looked like the model Maddox had tried to make of her, that it somehow put them on a pedestal above others.
The judgment and criticism in Ruby’s expression had drifted off her like a stench, and it still permeated Adelie’s thoughts and set a match to her blood.
“How dare she?” she said aloud.
What business was it of hers whether Adelie and Maddox were married or not? And what had she meant, about Maddox playing things properly?
Adelie stared at the ring she’d been so mesmerized by before, but it seemed to have lost some of its luster. The only thing that seemed clearer than glass was her own stupidity for ever trusting him.
“I should never have signed that contract,” she spat to her suitcase, grateful yet again she hadn’t completely unpacked it. “I should never have done the photo shoot, should never have agreed to this stupid…” Her strength broke. She rested her hands on the suitcase and lowered her head, choking back tears.
Footsteps hammered in the hall outside her door, and then it was flung open and Maddox stormed in. He drew her to him, but she pushed him away.
“Stop,” she said.
“Ruby came here, didn’t she? Adelie, I’m so sorry.”
“Me too,” Adelie said. “I’m sorry I fell for it. For you.” She wished she had more things to slam into her suitcase. She rolled up her favorite blanket and hugged it to her chest, needing to hold onto something.
“What did she say to you?”
“Just that I’m nothing more than a pawn in your marketing scheme. So clever of you, to pretend to protect me only to sic her on me with a news crew.” Granted, it wasn’t a crew, but she was going for dramatics here.
“She what?”
Adelie sniffed. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sure you’ll see the story on tonight’s broadcast.”
“Adelie—I’m so sorry. I’ll talk to Juan. She never should have been allowed through my security.”
“She used to be allowed, though, right? So, he probably thought she was legit.”
“I’m sorry,” Maddox said again. “I didn’t think—I should have spoken with him about her. I was just relieved to be back here.”
Adelie’s heart hardened. She couldn’t keep crying like this. She couldn’t let him affect her anymore. And most of all, she couldn’t stay. “Guess it’s good I never unpacked.”
He winced. “I was hoping to have you unpack a little closer to me.”
“Why, so you could have cameras there too?”
Maddox brow snapped down so fast, she sensed he was truly offended by her insinuation. Honestly, what else was she supposed to think? Just when she was starting to trust him.
“I’m serious.” He turned her to face him. “I meant what I said this morning. You’re important to me, Adelie. This—our marriage—wasn’t a marketing gimmick.”
Another tear leaked out. She wriggled free of his touch. “I knew better than to agree to any of this. I’m leaving.”
“You can’t,” he said. “There will probably be
