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The epiphany hit him like a bolt of lightning, knocking sense into him as his brother and sister stepped out onto the terrace to join him. Jesus, what a fucking idiot he’d been for agreeing that Arabella walking away was for the best. It wasn’t for the best. It was, quite possibly, the worst mistake he’d ever made.
“What’s with that frown on your face?” Tempest asked, tipping her head at him curiously. “Is the discussion you asked us up here for that bad?”
“No.” Maddux crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “I just realized what a dumb ass I am.”
Hunter snickered. “You just realized that? I could have given you that news flash years ago.”
Wanting to be civil, Maddux refrained, just barely, from flipping off his brother because he had set himself up for that reply.
A spark of optim
ism glimmered in Tempest’s gaze. “Dare I hope that this dumb-ass revelation of yours has something to do with Arabella and the fact that you’re miserable without her?”
Maddux grimaced at this sister’s too accurate observation. “Is it that obvious?”
“To me, yes,” she said with a soft, affectionate smile. “Only because I’m a woman and I noticed the changes in you while she was here. Despite everything with her father, you seemed incredibly fond of Arabella.”
Maddux didn’t want to get into his feelings about Arabella with either of his siblings, especially when it was becoming increasingly clear that being fond of Arabella was a very mild term for the emotions weaving in and around his heart. “Yes, my moment of clarity has to do with Arabella,” he admitted, and was relieved when neither sibling, especially Hunter, balked at what Maddux was insinuating. “But before we get to that conversation, there’s something I need to tell you both.”
Tempest and Hunter looked at him expectantly, and Maddux forged ahead. “I went to my lawyer and had him transfer all of Theodore’s assets to Arabella. I know I didn’t run it by either of you, but the decision wasn’t up for debate. The papers are done and just need to be delivered to Arabella for her signature, and then everything will be in her name, where it belongs.” Maddux would be out three million dollars for paying off Theodore’s debt, but that had been his choice, not Arabella’s, and that money didn’t matter to him. Arabella did.
His sister reached out and gently touched his arm. “It’s the right thing to do,” she said.
Hunter nodded solemnly. “I agree. She doesn’t deserve to suffer for her father’s offenses.”
Relief swept through Maddux. He’d been unsure about Hunter’s reaction, but it was clear that his brother was trying to make amends. “I’m taking the papers to Arabella tomorrow, and if I’m lucky, she’ll be coming home with me. Permanently.” He’d do everything in his power to persuade her to be his.
Always a romantic at heart, Tempest grinned happily and clasped her hands against her chest. “I knew this day would happen eventually. I knew some special woman would come along and chip away at all those hard edges you’ve built around your heart. And I’m so glad that woman is Arabella. She’s soft and sweet where you’re gruff, and you need calm and gentleness in your life. And I get the feeling she’s not going to back down from your occasional surly attitude, either.”
A grin tugged at the corner of Maddux’s mouth. True, Arabella had already proven she could go toe to toe with him. The only time he wanted her submissive was in the bedroom, and so far that hadn’t been an issue between them. No, his Bella loved surrendering her body and pleasure to him.
“Thank you,” he said to his sister, and shifted his gaze to Hunter, wanting and needing his blessing, too.
Hunter exhaled a deep breath, his expression filled with sincerity. “I know she’s nothing like her father, and if she makes you happy, then that’s all that matters.”
“She does,” Maddux said, surprising himself with the spontaneous admission.
Tempest placed her hand on Maddux’s cheek, looking into his eyes, searching for something, and seemingly finding it. “Yes, she does make you happy, and you deserve that, Maddy. You both do.”
Maddux would have gone after Arabella regardless of his siblings’ feelings, but he was incredibly grateful that he had their support, and that Arabella would be welcomed into their family and treated with respect.
He just prayed that his powers of persuasion were strong enough to convince his Bella that she belonged with him.
Arabella taped up a box filled with her father’s personal items and added the carton to the stack of others she’d been piling into the living room. Her dad had so much stuff, and with prison time looming in his future, it made the most sense to pack up things she thought he might want to keep and put them into a storage unit for now. She’d sell all the other unimportant but valuable items in the apartment and donate the rest.
It was an arduous, emotional process going through his personal effects, but it had to be done because she’d made the decision to move out of this too big and luxurious apartment she’d shared with her father in the city and would probably downsize to a cozy one-bedroom place near her work. This apartment belonged to Maddux, and considering what her father still owed him, he’d no doubt want to sell the place to offset the three-million-dollar debt he’d paid off, and she couldn’t blame him for that.
After everything that had happened with Gavin and her father’s arrest, Arabella had requested two weeks off from work to sort through her emotions, get her father’s affairs in order considering the legal battle he was facing—though Arabella harbored no illusions that her dad wasn’t guilty—and have the time to figure out the direction of her life and carve out her new normal, which she hadn’t quite figured out yet.
She’d spent her days keeping her mind occupied with the to-do list she’d made, while at night she’d cried a lot of tears. For the things her father had done to hurt other people, for the loss of her only parent that now left her feeling alone in the world, and for the fact that she’d fallen in love with a man who held her heart and a piece of her soul . . . and she knew he always would.
At the thought of Maddux, her heart clenched in her chest, and she sat down on the nearest couch cushion, needing a moment before she dove back into all the packing again. There was no denying that she missed him, so much. More than she’d believed possible. There were so many times since that night at the hospital that she’d questioned her decision to walk away from him, and her reasons for doing so, when she knew they’d formed a strong, intimate bond in a very short time. But considering how quiet it had been, and she hadn’t heard a word from him, she kept trying to convince herself she’d done the right thing. For both of them.
But had she? That was the question that haunted her. Confused her. Tangled up her heart and emotions and made her wonder if maybe, possibly, she’d given up much too soon on convincing Maddux that they might be able to take everything good about their time together and build a steady, permanent relationship from there based on creating happy, fun memories, that helped to ease the dark, painful past.
She wanted that for Maddux. She wanted it with Maddux. She didn’t want them to end like a tragic fairy tale. She desperately wanted her happily ever after with him.
The doorbell rang, startling her out of her thoughts. She wasn’t expecting company, and she stood up and grimaced as she glanced down at the dusty, faded jeans and plain T-shirt she was wearing. She’d run her fingers through her hair so many times in the past few hours, she knew it was probably a tousled mess, and she didn’t have a lick of makeup on.
