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CHAPTER ONE
Tonight was the night. After fourteen long years, Maddux Wilder was finally going to extract the revenge he’d been plotting and planning against the man responsible for his parents’ deaths. Theodore Cole had no idea that he was about to become Maddux’s bitch, which made his retribution all the sweeter.
Maddux smirked to himself as he tossed back a shot of bourbon while waiting for his sister and brother to meet him in his private penthouse office, located on the top floor of the five-story massive warehouse he’d renovated, modernized, and adapted into a functional, practical structure that he and his siblings lived in and shared. Each floor was specific in its design and purpose . . . from the ground level that was a common area and where tonight’s charity ball would be held in the upscale ballroom, to the second floor where the three of them each had sectioned-off offices for business, to the third through fifth levels that were designated as living spaces.
His brother, Hunter, resided on the third floor, while his sister, Tempest, occupied the fourth, and since Maddux had funded the entire project, he’d laid claim to the top level of the building, which he’d transformed into a penthouse apartment that included a rooftop terrace and a three-hundred-sixty-degree view of the New York skyline.
Realtors had called him certifiably insane for purchasing the dilapidated building in the run-down warehouse district of Brooklyn when he easily could have purchased an entire city block of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. But being one of those pretentious city boys had never been his style, and he’d instead invested in the immediate surrounding area so that he could gradually gentrify the neighborhood, which was already a work in progress.
He might have billions in the bank thanks to the success of MadX-Tech, but deep inside, he liked living close to where he’d grown up because it reminded him of his roots, where he’d come from, and most importantly, of his deceased immigrant parents who’d worked their asses off to provide for their family before their lives had been cut short. And living here kept him humble in the face of the obscene amount of money he’d accumulated in such a short amount of time.
But just because the outside of the warehouse looked weathered and he even had two men on payroll to clean up the trash and graffiti that appeared around the building on the daily until the entire neighborhood was renovated, that didn’t mean he’d spared any expense inside the structure during the remodel. Including a state-of-the-art security system that ensured the only people who got into the building were actually invited inside. Including the men and women who would be arriving shortly for the ball. The only way past security was their name on tonight’s guest list and proof of identification to confirm who they were.
He set his empty glass on a round, polished wooden table and poured himself a second shot of the dark amber liquid, finding it amusing that the crème de la crème of New York’s society didn’t hesitate to travel to Brooklyn to attend the opulent Wilder Way charity ball because it was always the event of the year. Anyone who was rich, powerful, or influential in any way wanted to be seen at the lavish affair, which was covered by the New York Post’s Page Six.
Yes, the power that came with money and wealth was like an intoxicating drug that everyone wanted a hit of, but for Maddux, building his fortune had always been a means to an end. One fueled by the desire to destroy the man who’d so callously ripped Maddux’s family apart. For years, he’d controlled his rage, had honed that fury into something more deliberate and precise, waiting for the right moment to present itself.
Now, retribution was so fucking close he could taste it.
“Starting your celebrating without us?” his sister, Tempest, asked in that sweet, lilting voice of hers just as Maddux lifted his glass to his lips.
He swallowed the drink, watching as his stunning sister sashayed into the room with her normal dramatic flair that never failed to turn heads wherever she went, followed by their brother, Hunter, who was tugging at the collar of his white dress shirt, his expression darkened by an annoyed grimace.
“It’s about damn time you two showed up,” Maddux said, pouring them both a tumbler of the same bourbon he’d already indulged in, and topping his off in the process. Yeah, he sounded gruff and like an asshole, but these two siblings that he’d raised on his own meant everything to him. They were literally the only two people on the planet that he loved.
“Goddamn bow tie took me forever to get right and it still feels like it’s choking me,” Hunter muttered irritably as he gave Tempest a sidelong glance. “I fucking hate black-tie affairs and I’m only wearing this stupid tuxedo because I don’t want to look like a bum off the streets in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.”
Tempest glided up to Hunter and pushed his hand away from his throat with a sigh, then did a little trick that loosened his brother’s bow tie just enough to ease the grumpy look on his face because he could now breathe again.
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p; His sister patted Hunter on his chest in a placating manner. “You know, if you had a woman around, she would have taken care of the bow tie situation for you like I just did,” she said pointedly, always finding a way to remind both Maddux and Hunter that they needed to find a nice girl to settle down with.
As if that was ever going to fucking happen. Up to this point, there had been no single woman who’d interested him long enough to make a lifetime commitment to. Then again, he didn’t date, and he specifically chose female companions for the sole purpose of fucking, and always picked ones who were agreeable to his kind of more depraved tendencies in the bedroom. Women were easily lured in by his dark good looks and the handsome, chiseled face he knew he’d been blessed with, but they were always, eventually, driven away by his brooding disposition, brusque attitude, and his lack of attention and affection.
They all thought they could tame the beast, but it would never happen because he had no room in his life for that softer, weaker emotion called love.
“As for me being a few minutes late,” Tempest went on as she executed a theatrical twirl that made the skirt of her ball gown billow around her legs before she stopped and struck a regal pose, “this kind of magnificence takes time.”
His sister was magnificent and strikingly beautiful. There was no disputing that claim. The formal dress she’d chosen for tonight’s Wilder Way charity ball, the theme of which was fairy tales and happily ever afters—Tempest’s idea, not his—was a deep scarlet red and very fitting to her personality and her fiery name. But as her older brother, Maddux couldn’t help but scowl at the low neckline that displayed way too much cleavage and the amount of leg displayed by the front design of the dress.
“Jesus, Temp, could that slit in your dress get any higher?” he groused.
She batted her long black lashes at him. “Oh, dear brother, it most definitely could,” she said in that sweet, patient tone she’d perfected just to use on him because she knew it irritated the shit out of him. “But I thought I’d leave a little bit to the imagination,” she added with a saucy wink.
Hunter laughed. “That’s surly Maddux speak for you look gorgeous, Tempest.”
Her red, glossy lips curved into a soft, appreciative smile. “Thank you.”
His brother’s gaze swept over her pretty face, her lovely features made more prominent by the dark hair she’d swept back into some kind of intricate updo that was held together with random sparkling rhinestones and pearl pins. Maddux didn’t miss the melancholy look that etched Hunter’s expression, and he steeled himself for what he knew his sibling was going to say before he even spoke.
“You look so much like Mom,” Hunter said to their baby sister, his voice rough with the kind of emotion they only visited on rare occasions, and tonight was definitely one of those. “She’d be so proud of the woman you are today.”
Maddux felt his throat tighten and saw the sadness and glimmer of moisture gathering in his sister’s eyes, which she valiantly held back as she gave them both a tremulous smile to dispel the too sentimental moment settling between all of them.
“And you two look extremely dashing in your tuxedos.”
Maddux arched a brow. “Dashing?” he mocked the old-fashioned term. “Really?”
“Yes, really, Maddy,” she said, right back to her sassy self while using the nickname she’d given him the first time she’d ever spoken his name as a toddler. “At least I’d never make the mistake of calling you Prince Charming.”
She snorted at her own retort, and Hunter snickered in solidarity because that was the last label anyone would use to describe Maddux, who was more ruthless beast than the man of any woman’s dreams.
“But for the sake of the theme of tonight’s ball, dashing definitely fits.” She gave her head a distinct nod that made the long, ruby earrings hanging from her lobes dance against her slender neck. “Fairy tales and happily ever afters,” she reminded him.
Maddux refrained, just barely, from rolling his eyes as he handed Hunter one of the short glasses of bourbon, then Tempest the other, so they were all three holding a cut crystal tumbler. “By the way, you did an amazing job transforming the ballroom,” he complimented his sister, who was solely responsible for coordinating the event’s theme and selecting all the decor.
Out of curiosity, Maddux had taken a look a few hours earlier just to see the general setup of the lower level of the warehouse, and he’d been blown away by the transformation and details he’d encountered. As he’d walked into the ballroom, he’d literally felt as though he’d been transported into an enchanted land in a whole different world.
“This year’s charity ball is going to be one for the books, that’s for sure,” Tempest said, exhaling a deep breath.
“In more ways than one,” Hunter added, more serious now since all three of them were very aware of what was going to happen at some point this evening. For the Wilder siblings, tonight’s event wasn’t going to be all fun and games.
Maddux solemnly nodded in agreement. “Yes, it will be.”
“He stole our parents from us and ruined our lives, Maddy,” Tempest said in a strained whisper, her lower lip trembling ever so slightly. “Make him pay.”
“I will,” he promised, gently squeezing his sister’s hand, even though a part of him knew that nothing would ever come close to making up for the cruel, brutal devastation that Theodore Cole had wreaked on their lives fourteen years ago. But Maddux was going to do everything in his power—of which he’d amassed plenty of over those long years of waiting and strategically planning—to make certain the man wished he were dead.
Hunter lifted his tumbler in the small, close circle they’d made around each other. “To Mom and Dad,” he said, offering up the toast.
“To Mom and Dad,” Maddux and Tempest both repeated wholeheartedly at the same time.
The sound of three glasses clinking simultaneously echoed through the office, then they each downed the fiery liquid fortitude.
The trap had been set, the wheels already in motion, and by the end of the night, Maddux would have Theodore Cole by the balls.
