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“Zack is going to be president,” Liz murmured. “We’re going to win the election.”
They would be swept into the White House on a wave of sympathy.
History had been changed with a single bullet.
At her side, Gus nodded and took a deep breath. “I’ll help you. Let’s fix your makeup.”
“No. I go on like this. I’m not going to clean up a thing. I want the public to see what was done today. I want them to feel it. Connor, brief me on everything we know about this tragedy. I’ll take questions.”
Gus squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right by your side.”
But Zack would not. He would be the president of the United States.
So she would remain alone.
* * * *
Mad and Sara
Manhattan
Three years later
“Are you sure you have to go?” Maddox Crawford wasn’t usually anxious, but the evening had kind of gone to hell. It was supposed to be peaceful, damn it. This was the penultimate evening, the night before his engagement. Engagement Eve. Not that Sara Bond knew that. It was a secret he’d only let Augustine Spencer in on.
He’d shared the info on the down low with Gus because he hadn’t trusted himself to buy the right engagement ring. Despite his ridiculously privileged upbringing—or maybe because of it—he tended to think big when it came to jewelry and forgot about things Sara would value, like elegance and good taste. Apparently, shoving a diamond the size of his fist on a band of the most expensive platinum wasn’t the way to go. Who knew?
So that was why he had a half a million dollars’ worth of princess-cut diamond set on a pavé-encrusted rose gold band sitting in his dresser drawer, nestled in its velvet box, just waiting. Tomorrow night he would drop to one knee and beg the best woman he’d ever met to marry him. He’d done everything he knew to make the event romantic and sweet…but he’d hoped he would be spending Engagement Eve doing nasty stuff to his soon-to-be bride. He needed to remind her that while he came with some baggage, he also came with a super flexible tongue that could vibrate at just the right speed. Sure, she might be able to find some other scandalous billionaire who would love her—because who wouldn’t?—but she wasn’t going to find his tongue on any other man.
Of course, he’d already done the one thing that might ensure she married him. He’d gotten her pregnant. Not on purpose…but that fuckup didn’t hurt his cause.
Two days earlier, she’d cried and admitted her “terrible” state. He’d figured out he was supposed to be upset. So he’d frowned and told her they would make the best of it. Mentally, he’d danced a fucking jig and high-fived himself, then started planning exactly how he’d close that trap behind her forever.
Sara turned to him with a groan. “Yeah, I have to. I’m sorry, babe. I’m exhausted and I have to be up super early for that meeting. Besides, I know what will happen if I stay at your place. You’ll do that tongue thing and I won’t ever get out of bed.”
At least they agreed on that. “You don’t have to go to the meeting at all, you know. I happen to know the boss, and he’s cool with you missing that sucker. In fact, you can have the meeting moved to my place.”
Her warm chocolate eyes held mirth even as she rolled them. “Oh, that will impress my manager. The other employees are already whispering and speculating. Once we attend that gala tomorrow night and everyone realizes we’re together, there will be even more gossip. Is it too much to hope that people will be more interested in your new head of security? I haven’t met her yet.”
Oh, but she would. “Everly Parker will do great things. I’ll set up a meeting between the two of you when she gets back from the conference she’s attending this week. She’s young and smart.”
She was also his half sister.
He’d discovered the affair his normally good-for-nothing father had engaged in with his secretary years before. It had sparked an investigation that had led him to discover his shared blood with Everly. Unfortunately, he was almost certain she had no idea the father she’d grown up with hadn’t given her his genes. Mad wanted to tell her sooner rather than later…but he had no finesse. Luckily his almost fiancée had it in spades. Once he and Sara were engaged, he would get her advice on how to not freak Everly out. Because if he plopped his ass on a corner of Everly’s desk and suddenly said, “hey, sis, Dad was a bastard, wasn’t he?” she would probably lose it.
Sara grinned up at him. “Excellent. I’m glad you’re hiring more women. If Gabe doesn’t do the same, I’m going to protest outside my own family’s company. I swear, if I have to sit through another board meeting where some rich, entitled guy mansplains the world to me, I’m going to turn homicidal.”
He loved her idealistic side. “You know those rich guys kind of run our world.”
“Not when women like me and Everly Parker start taking over,” she shot back. “I’ve been thinking… We should steal Augustine from Zack.”
He also loved how confident she was. Sara knew damn well he and Gus had been fuck buddies for years and she didn’t feel threatened. It probably helped that he’d explained most of those late-night booty calls had been more about needing to not be alone than wanting sex.
Mad pulled Sara to his side, wanting his hands on her. Soon they would be at her building and he would have to let her go. “No can do, baby. I worked too hard to get her that job at the White House.”
She cuddled close. “Why? I always assumed Gus would head Crawford legal one day. I would try to convince Gabe to hire her, but we’re too small. Gus needs serious red meat. You get sued way more than we do.”
Ah, but soon they would share all those fun lawsuits—along with their lives. “I sneakily convinced Roman to hire Gus because he’s been in love with her since we were kids.”
He was sick of watching those two wreck their lives. If they didn’t get it together soon, he was fairly certain they would both end up alone and miserable, and his tender heart couldn’t take it.
He’d figured out long ago that all the biblical stuff about time was right. There was a time to be born and a time to die. A time to enjoy strippers and cocaine, and a time to get married and not do either of those things anymore. Roman didn’t understand that lesson yet, but he was going to.
Sara sat up as the limo rolled to a stop. “Huh, that kind of makes sense. I thought Roman loved Joy, but he always seems more alive when he’s near Gus.”
Exactly. Roman was a dumbass for refusing to admit that. Not that Joy hadn’t been lovely, but Mad had never been as enthralled with her as the rest of the gang. She’d seemed so implausibly sweet that her demeanor sometimes felt false. Sara was sweet like pure cane sugar. Joy had been saccharine.
“Roman and Gus had an affair a long time ago.” The rest of that story was theirs to tell. He owed Gus his silence about the baby she’d lost, but he could use Sara’s help to play cupid. “I don’t think either one of them got over it.”
Sara cupped his face in her palms. “You are not at all who I imagined you were. You are so much kinder and more thoughtful. You’re loving and charming and… You’re everything, Maddox Crawford.”
He was glad she thought so, but that was only because he w
as so good at hiding the fact he was a needy asshole. “I wasn’t until I met you.”
She leaned in and brushed her mouth over his. “You met me when you were twelve.”
“And that was the day I became a man.” He put his hand on her belly.
God, he couldn’t wait until he could feel their child there. Sara was going to be so gorgeous all round and full, and he was going to be the best dad-to-be ever. He would rub her feet and agree with everything she said.
He would be the kind of dad he’d always wanted, one who loved his wife and kid. One who put them first.
She laughed, the sound filling his soul. “I love you. And now I have to go. We’re really on for the reception at the Met tomorrow night? No second thoughts?”
Oh, they were so on. The Met was one of his favorite places. He’d found solace there as a kid, and he couldn’t wait to share it with his own. But tomorrow night would be even more perfect. The Met was debuting a new exhibit, one that Crawford Industries had sponsored. Tons of socialites and gossip writers would be there, so it was the perfect event for him and Sara to go public and announce their engagement.
“None at all. I’ll pick you up at seven.” When she pulled away, he tugged her back. “Hey, you don’t have to go yet. You know, we could do it right here.”
She groaned, but her smile was wide as she maneuvered out of his grasping hands. “We can’t.”
“I’ll be quick.” But he wouldn’t be. He would get her under him and not care that they were sitting in the middle of Park Avenue making the ground shake.
“I’ve always said you were the devil, Maddox Crawford.” The door opened, and his driver helped her out of the car. “See you tomorrow.”
He hated letting her go. After tomorrow, he would never have to do it again. He would be an engaged man, and he would make sure Sara understood that when she accepted his monster good-taste ring and his last name, she’d also accepted his neediness.
Mad also hoped she accepted what would likely be his latest lawsuit because he was going to fire Tavia Gordon as soon as he figured out her scheme. Something fishy was going on with the Crawford Foundation… But he refused to think about that now. Instead, he watched as Sara walk into her building, the doorman closing the door after her. She was safe for the night. And it was his last one without her.
