Rise of the Notorious (18 page)

“Why does it even matter, Marshall? It’s old news.”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” he muttered, finishing the last sip of wine in his glass and sliding from the seat. He stared down at her, a haunted sadness in his expression. “This isn’t your blood, Charlene. But it is mine. I need to know the whole story.”

She stayed where she was as he walked away, watching after him as she thought of her children.
They
were her blood, her one claim to the Vasser empire. She would not stand by and let them be threatened.

Wyatt slipped into
his Porsche and turned the classic rock on full blast. With the windows rolled down to let in the chilled April night air, he took off down Park Avenue and cruised the streets of New York in an attempt to clear his head before his date with Madison.

He toyed with the idea of cancelling and making a run to Atlantic City, craving now more than ever the bright lights, easy money and casual conversation. It would please him to be back in his element, away from the lavish, ostentatious world Madison lived in. These days, it seemed as though the very city itself was beginning to strangle him.

He had never understood what it was about New York that drove so many people to its streets, to its monuments. While he could appreciate the history of the place, he could not understand the driving need people all over the world felt to come to this bustling metropolis.

Then again, perhaps many of them came for the same reasons he had. Retribution, guilt, friendship, even love. The guilt and the friendship he had seen to with his attempt to help Win. Granted, the whole thing had, in essence, backfired in his face. But how could he have predicted that Win would kill himself?

That left retribution and love. He hadn’t really intended on exploring those two when he’d come to the city, but now it seemed he had no choice. The men who had ruined his life surrounded him, as well as the woman he had been forced to give up. How could he turn his back on her now, when she so clearly needed someone on her side? Someone other than her brothers, who were so wrapped up in their own agendas and issues it was amazing they even noticed Madison anymore.

Then again, maybe his hanging around was only distracting her from her true purpose, her destiny. Maybe, just as he had wondered all those years ago, his need for her was something she should avoid for her own well-being. It had occurred to him many times over the years that his presence in her life had hurt her more than helped her. And as much as he wanted to deny it, he couldn’t.

Look at her now, he thought proudly. Queen of her family’s empire, brilliant and stunning and a true success. More capable and clever than she had been at nineteen and as ambitious and ruthless as Cyrus had been.

In the years he had been away from her, she had risen from the ashes of destruction as a goddess of a woman, glorious and strong.

Then he’d slithered back into her life, just as her entire world was crumbling all around her. He was confident that she could hold her own without him, but he’d be damned if he’d leave her again. Not when his own selfish needs were churning within him, blinding him to what was best and instead urging him toward what he wanted. What he had to believe
she
wanted as well.

Madison loved him still, he could see it in her eyes. While she may hate him more than love him, he was willing to gamble that in time he could earn back her trust and find his place in her life once again.

He thought of his business back in Maine, his home in the seaboard town of his childhood. He missed it, craved it, but he could not go back there. Not yet.

Linc had been generous enough to wave the cost of the hotel room for him, but Wyatt still insisted on paying his way. He had enough stored up in his savings to at least last him another few weeks, so he had time.

Once that time was up, he would have to make a decision. Give up his life in Maine and stay with Madison in New York, or give up on her yet again.

He fumed at the thought, wondering what would have become of them had the dice been rolled differently, had the cards been played in his favor…

Would she have stayed in Las Vegas? Or would she have dragged him here, to the city he despised to be her lapdog? Showered with expensive clothes, cars, and anything else she could force on him.

That’s what she had done then, so what was to stop her from doing it now?

They were both different people this time, he realized. Back in those days, he’d been helpless to refuse her. Obsessed was too light a word to describe what he had felt.

And she…well, she had been as all young women are when they first discover the power females wield over men. She had used it, abused it, and tortured him with it until he’d been all but helpless in a puddle at her feet. Until he’d had no choice but to fight, or else lose himself to her.

Those had been the rougher times in their year-long affair. Perhaps they had been what led up to his ultimate decision to leave. Not that he’d been given much of a choice, but the decision had been presented to him regardless.

If he had refused, she would have been ruined, and he along with her.

No, the best course of action had been to leave without a trace, giving her time to become who she had to be for her family, and giving him time to shake loose the wanderlust and wildness from his nature.

But it all came back to now. He was committed to seeing it through and giving her his support as she pushed forward.

She was beginning to come around to the idea that she loved him. Once she accepted it, then he could tell her the truth about why he had left her. Until then, he wasn’t sure if she could handle it. Especially not while she was burdened with so much deception and distrust within her own family. The truth he had to tell her would without a doubt shatter many of her illusions, and while it would serve his purpose, it would only harm her.

Surprisingly, Madison’s loyal companion Raoul had yet to show his face, but Wyatt was willing to bet that the Spaniard was stewing with both rage and suspicion.

He remembered the look on Raoul’s face when he discovered Madison and him together, making out in a dimly lit hallway near the maid’s station in the casino in Vegas. Raoul had flushed an angry red at the sight of his boss wrapped up tight with the dealer he had never much liked to begin with.

At the time, Madison had brushed it off with a laugh. But clearly she had not noticed the fury in the man’s eyes the way Wyatt had.

It was a moment he wasn’t likely to forget anytime soon.

Wyatt whipped his car around and headed toward Madison’s town house, having done enough driving. He was ready to face his demons and bring them the fight that had been coming for a very long time.

J
ust three days after the accusation leaked that she had killed her father, Madison faced yet another hailstorm in the press. Only this time, instead of being hit with grief and outrage, she found herself somewhat amused.

VASSER HEIRESS IN DANGEROUS ADDICTION SPIRAL

Inside source unveils disastrous state of the young woman now running the last of America’s great hotel empires.

“So…” Linc began, eyebrows lifted apprehensively as he watched his sister. He didn’t like the odd smile quirking her lips, or her silence. “I would normally say we should ignore this, but it’s not a tabloid. It’s the
New York
Fucking
Times
.”

Beside him, Grant let out an irritated huff of breath and lifted the newspaper from his sister’s grasp, causing her to look up and meet his gaze.

“I’m going to put in a call to the paper and request that they rescind the article on the basis that there are no facts to this,” he said evenly, gauging her reaction. “We don’t have the time right now to waste on personal attacks. We need to continue moving forward.”

Madison laughed, though there was a blatant tartness to her voice as she spoke.

“I find it interesting that I am the focus of all of these attacks,” she said, eyes darting back and forth between them. “It’s as if someone has it out for me.”

“It’s probably just Jorja, trying a different angle,” Linc ventured. “She’s still out for vengeance over what happened to dad, even though I’m still not convinced this isn’t just some big publicity stunt she created to get her name back in the papers.”

“You think she tampered with the drugs to kill our father and subsequently has manufactured all this drama just to get people talking about her again?” Madison asked, one eyebrow raised in doubtful amusement.

“It’s working, isn’t it?” Linc grunted. “I looked it up. DVD sales on her past flicks have practically doubled. People are writing op-eds hailing her as some kind of hero, out to expose the big, bad, evil, hotel family that destroyed her happiness. It’s pathetic, but it’s working to her advantage.”

“That doesn’t mean she’s the one behind this,” Grant reasoned, rolling the paper up in his hands. “She is still the most likely suspect, but we can’t go around accusing her without proof.”

Madison sighed and leaned back in her chair, chewing on her lower lip as she gave the issue some thought. Her brothers were right; Jorja was most likely the “family insider” that had been feeding false accusations to the press. She did have a motive and a known hatred for the family.

But if Jorja was responsible for these public, blatant attacks on the family, then was she also the one behind the threatening letters Madison had received? Somehow, she just didn’t peg Jorja Hale as being the type to send menacing letters.

The woman’s style was flashy and obvious, such as her repeated appearances on talk shows to discuss her troubles with the Vasser family. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that she had now stepped up her game and was tipping off the press as a “secret” inside source to the family. And the press probably ate it all up because they knew Jorja had been involved, on and off, with the family for so many years that she must be privy to their habits and intentions.

But while that narrowed down the case on who was leaking lies to the press, that still didn’t answer the question of who had sent the letters.

The letters that remained Madison’s dirty little secret.

“Linc, I want you to draft up our formal response, keeping it as simple and concise as you can make it. Tell them that this accusation is false and that we hope a paper as prestigious as the
Times
would come up with more facts before publishing slander.” She turned to Grant, a spark of heat flashing in her eyes. “When you speak with the asshole that wrote this, tell him—”

Carrie’s voice suddenly floated through the intercom, causing the three of them to stare pointedly at the phone. “
Jorja Hale on line one for you, Ms. Vasser.
”

“You’ve
got
to be kidding me,” Linc muttered. “Calling to gloat, most likely.”

“Do you want me to talk to her?” Grant offered.

Madison merely waved him off and grabbed the phone herself. “This is Madison Vasser.”

“
My, my, how the mighty have fallen
,” Jorja gushed, laughter in her voice. “
You catch that juicy little article about you in the
Times
today?
”