The Billioniare's Bought Bride (Contemporary Romance) (14 page)

When he got home from his business meeting tonight, she’d tell him.

Madison sang to herself as she set the dining table.  Dread lingered in the pit of her stomach, but she forced herself to be cheerful. She’d planned the meal carefully, making sure to choose Dylan’s favorites from the four-star restaurant menu. All she had to do was call down when she was ready and the food would be sent up.

She sat on the sofa. After flipping through the television channels, she turned the power off. She was too nervous and excited to watch TV. 

The phone buzzed, and Madison picked it up.
             

“Mrs. Blackwater, this is Charley at the front desk. A man claiming to be your brother is here and he would like to come up and visit. His ID says Ted Johansson. Is it okay to send him up?”

Ted? In town? Madison frowned but shrugged. Her brother had always been unpredictable. “Yes, he’s okay. Send him up.”

She returned the phone to its cradle and rose to her feet. She allowed herself a cat-like stretch before going to the door. The high-speed elevator would whisk Ted up, and he
should be here about…she opened the door, and there he stood.

“Perfect timing,” he said, and brushed by her without so much as a greeting. “Is he here?”

“Hello to you too,” she said, closing the door, “and no, my husband’s not home yet.”

“Good.” Ted scanned the place as if imprinting the apartment’s décor. He strode through, peeking through doors before returning to the living room.

While she didn’t understand her brother’s actions, he was, after all, her brother and her upbringing demanded she should be polite. “Can I offer you something to drink?”
             

He gave a hollow laugh and didn’t even bother to remove his coat. “No. I won’t be here that long.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. Ted was stressed—even his blond hair was shaggy and unkempt.

He faced her, his expression angry. “It’s done, sister dear. Congratulations. You now have five million dollars, well, two-fifty if you count that your husband is entitled to half.”

Madison planted her feet firmly on the carpet to stop from swaying. Five million? That had been the principal amount of the Summerhaven trust. “Ted, exactly what are you talking about?”

“Your lawsuit.” He saw her disbelieving expression and scoffed. “You signed the papers; I saw your signature and it wasn’t faked.”

Frustration had her pushing her hair off her face. What papers? Did he refer to the ones Dylan’s lawyers had her sign? After the gift of the access strip, there had been many stacks of papers regarding the refunding of the Summerhaven Trust. She’d stopped reading
everything after a while. “Would you please explain what is going on?”

“You really don’t know, do you? God, Maddy, do you let everyone walk over you? I’m talking about you and Dylan suing me for the mismanagement of your trust. I just settled out of court today with your husband for five million dollars. Paid in full.”

“Five million dollars,” she whispered.

He leaned over her. He’d always dwarfed her, and today his proximity made her very uncomfortable. She drew back.

Ted gave a bitter laugh. “Yes, Madison. Five million dollars. What your trust would have been worth had I not invested poorly. You’ve bled me quite dry.”

The enormity of his revelation hit her. She’d sued her brother without her knowledge. “Dylan didn’t tell me.”
             
“No, I can see that.” Ted’s scorn was obvious. “You were such a willing little pawn. He used you not only for your land but also to enact his vendetta against me, against our entire family. You couldn’t listen to me, could you? You were always too high and mighty. Too stupid. You always believed him over your own kin.”

Dizzy, she sat on the couch. “I’m listening now.”

“Good.  It’s about damn time, even though it’s far too late. Your husband,” Ted seethed the word, “has taken the Johanssons for a full ride in every sense of the word.”

He bitterly sized her up and she flushed under his innuendo. Ted shifted his weight. “You didn’t check with a lawyer before you took his money to the county or to pay for the renovations, did you? Do yourself a favor, hire one.  Wisconsin is a community property state. By marrying you and paying for everything, he has a vested interest in half of Summerhaven. You tainted your assets by using his money.”

“No,” she whispered, a savage blackness descending over her. She’d always
believed it didn’t matter where you got married or divorced, except maybe California. Of course she hadn’t planned on getting divorced. She’d believed she could change her husband, recover the man he’d once been. Was she so truly foolish and delusional? 

Ted looked down his nose, spite evident. “If you split up, he can force you to sell Summerhaven or pay him for his half. You don’t have that kind of money, even with two-point-five million. You screwed yourself, quite literally, sister dear.”

Madison’s stomach churned, and she realized she was going to be physically ill. “I didn’t know.”

“Of course not.” Ted’s anger couldn’t be clearer. “You’re a dumb fool who thinks she’s in love. I warned you to stick with your own kind. Every since he met you all those years ago, he’s planned on taking your assets—all of them. The man is completely obsessed with you. Sick. Loco. To him, all you are is a possession.”

She’d never seen Ted like this, and he scared her. If Dylan was crazy, then Ted was even more so. She shot back with the only weapon she had. “You should talk! You stole my money! If you hadn’t raided the trust funds and drained them dry, I never would have been in this situation. I never would have had to marry Dylan to save Summerhaven from being condos.”

She stood up, wobbly on her feet. “You’re just as bad as you claim he is, Ted. You stole from family. All your high-risk investments hurt one person. Me! Family. Get the hell out of my house.”

“I didn’t steal from you. I made bad choices. The market’s been horrible. Everyone knows that.”

She bit back the vomit that threatened and gripped a bookshelf. “Save it. You spent my money on your playboy lifestyle and tried to cover it up. Go away. Get out of my life.”

“Sure, sis,” he hissed the last word. “I’ll leave. You just enjoy your precious
life
with your lying husband. I just hope he hasn’t knocked you up yet. He’ll want to, you know, because he’s so obsessed with being accepted by the old money society of Grandfather. He always has been. Ask him.”

“Get out.”

Ted moved toward the door. “I’m leaving. Just don’t come crawling to me when you need something.” With that parting shot, Ted was gone, the door thudding behind him.

Madison stumbled to the bathroom. She leaned over the toilet several minutes until finally even the last of the dry heaves stopped. She wiped her mouth.

Dylan had used her. That much was true. By marrying her, Dylan had married “old money.” If what Ted said was true, Dylan had gained interest in her land. Even the access strip wedding present contained hidden strings.

She flushed the toilet and brushed her teeth. The vision reflected in the mirror had hollow eyes, and she added some blush to her cheeks.

She heard the front door open, and heard Dylan humming as he entered the apartment. Of course he’d be humming, she thought scornfully. He’d gotten everything he’d vowed to have.  Her, her land, and the destruction of her grandfather and brother. So much for saying that a petty fight ten years ago hadn’t meant anything.
It had been everything
.

He stood in the bathroom doorway.  “Hi,” he said.  He leaned down to kiss her, and Madison hated herself for her physical response. Inwardly her brain fought his delicious onslaught, outwardly her body fired up, already willing and ready, addicted to his powerful chemistry and decadent
lovemaking
. “How did your visit to the doctor go?”

“Everything was fine,” she lied a shade too brightly. “Just a virus.”

Madison thought of the scan she’d hidden in her purse, and of Ted’s crass, but cryptic words:
He’ll want to knock you up.

“I’m glad it’s not anything serious.”

He drew her into his arms and she pushed him back.  “I’ve ordered dinner.”

He frowned at her rejection. “It can’t wait? I’ve missed you.”

Sure he had
. 

“I’m hungry.” Madison strode past him. The last thing she wanted to do was to touch her husband. Her husband. Even that had been based on a lie. She remembered his words the day she’d agreed to marry him. Love was an overrated emotion. Marriage was a business deal. She’d let herself forget that. Lost in passion, she’d believed she could change him.

Fat chance. The Dylan of long ago didn’t exist. Perhaps he never had.

Dylan didn’t follow her into the living room and she knew he was changing clothes. Madison dialed room service and was assured that the food would be up shortly.

Wearing a long sleeve polo shirt and jeans, Dylan entered the room. “So did the doctor tell you how long you’d feel ill?” 

Nine months.
“It should clear up soon.”

He frowned at her curtness. “Is something wrong?”

“Why would you think that?” She poured him a glass of scotch and soda and handed it to him.

“You seem odd, as if something is on your mind.”  He gazed at her over the rim of the crystal tumbler.

She briefly thought about waiting until after dinner, but she knew she wouldn’t eat anyway. Food would only make her more ill. “Ted dropped by today.”

Dylan lowered the hand holding his drink. His face was unreadable. “Really.”

“Yes.” Madison bravely pressed on. She had to have the truth. After all the lies she deserved that much. “He was quite agitated.”

“Did he say why?” 

She waited. Dylan’s eyes turned midnight black, but there was nothing else that suggested he experienced any emotion. No twitching of his cheek, no changing of the neutral position of his full lips.

She went to the bar and poured herself a tall glass of water. She needed something in her hands, something that would stop her from wringing them together. “Actually, he did. Ted made some nasty accusations. He told me quite a few things I didn’t know. Something about Wisconsin being a community property state, something about a lawsuit, and something about me being two and a half million dollars richer.”

She drained the water, and wished she could sit down.  Her legs shook, and she felt faint, but she refused to show weakness. Not this time. Not when he stood there, so immovable, so proud, so totally in control, a man who’d won every hand he’d played. “How could you, Dylan? How could you? You can’t tell me it’s not true, can you?”

He blinked, and he moved to replenish his glass with pure scotch. Her only consolation was he appeared, for the briefest of seconds, haggard. He turned back to her after draining the contents in one swallow. “No,” he said simply. “I can’t tell you that.”

She wanted to fly into a rage, to toss things, to throw something at him. She’d been raised not to behave that way, and she set the glass down before she succumbed to her urge.

He stood there, so calmly, so unapologetic.

She bit the inside of her lip, curbing her childish reactions. She would not let this
man get another emotional response from her. Not one. “So it’s true you own half of Summerhaven?”

“Does it matter?” he replied. His olive knuckles whitened as he gripped the glass, and he set it down. “Who cares whose stuff is whose? We’re married. We share all our assets. What’s mine is yours. Until death do us part.”

Somehow she managed to keep her voice from cracking. “We haven’t shared anything. You’ve kept things from me and I care about that. You knew about all this before our wedding.”

“Yes,” he admitted.

She hadn’t expected that answer from him. She’d expected him to lie, to protest, to do anything but be honest. Anger justifiably consumed her as he stood before her, his hands to his side, his chin high and proud. He held her furious gaze, not apologizing, not providing explanation.

“And Ted,” Maddy said. “All those documents your lawyers tossed at me, some of those gave you permission to sue him on my behalf.”

“Yes. I vowed to return your money to you.”  Dylan ran a hand through his hair. “He chose to settle out of court for five million dollars. He knew he was guilty.”

“Guilty,” Madison snapped the word.

“Very guilty.”  The muscle in Dylan’s cheek twitched.  He was now irritated. “He deliberately siphoned your trust as part of his shell game. He assumed you wouldn’t sue him for it, and after you sold Summerhaven, you’d have more money, enough to live on. He’s been moving money illegally with other accounts as well, and the Security and Exchange Commission is investigating him. As part of the settlement, you and I have agreed not to be blow the whistle on him. He’ll have enough trouble as it is, especially
when charges start being filed. This way his own family won’t have to testify or be involved.”

So Ted was in deep trouble, but surely that didn’t excuse Dylan’s destructive behavior. “So he lied and cheated. What’s your reason? Revenge?  Vengeance? Retribution? Obsession? All of the above?”