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“You had plenty of time to do that before tonight. Do you know how many times I tried reaching out to you? To call you? To see you?” Her voice shook. “I hadwantedyou to explain yourself. I thought I would have been okay with whatever you might have said, but I was wrong.”
“It’s not what you think,” he pleaded. “I did it to save you from—”
“You wanted tosaveme?” Eloise’s bark of laughter drew the attention of some of his guests. A few of them even noticed the way he was still holding her wrist in his grasp. Already, he could predict the sort of things they might whisper when they thought he wasn’t paying attention. “If you wanted to save me, you wouldn’t have made me fall in—”
“Attention, everyone!” Madeline clinked her champagne flute with a spoon, and the whole room grew eerily quiet. Her eyes met Shane’s for just a second, but that was all it took. This was it. There was no going back once Madeline made the announcement.
Shane reached for both of Eloise’s hands. “I need you to come with me. Now.”
“I’d like to take this moment to thank each and every one of you for coming tonight. As you might have guessed, this isn’t an ordinary party.”
Eloise’s eyes were locked on his cousin, much like every single guest in that room. It wouldn’t matter if he got her to listen to him. He wouldn’t be able to get her out of that room before Madeline did whatever it was she planned on doing.
“Shane. Please come here.” She reached her hand toward him, and he froze. Eloise locked her eyes with his, confusion the only clear thing he could read from her. He gave a subtle shake of his head, and Madeline laughed. “It would appear our host is a little shy tonight. No matter, I’d like to take this time to share a little story with you. My aunt and uncle were unable to conceive, though they truly wanted a child of their own. Luckily, they were able to find a lovely young woman who needed to put her baby up for adoption. That baby was Shane. He was lucky enough to be welcomed into our family, and no one is more grateful than I am.” Her dark gaze seemed to latch onto him, locking him in place. “Because after all these years, we have found that we have a mutual interest.”
Shane released Eloise’s hands and took a step toward Madeline, but he was too late.
“Shane? What’s going on?” Eloise said quietly beside him.
Madeline let her gaze sweep through the room. “You have all been so welcoming to Shane. He’s found a new family here. And I hope to be part of that family as well when we become business partners as soon as the paperwork is signed.”
He waited for the moment when the room would ripple with gasps of shock or stone-cold silence, but it didn’t come. Instead, those around him clapped politely. A few even raised their glasses toward him.
He spun around to find Eloise, but she had disappeared. Shane stood tall, still searching for the woman he needed to speak to most. Eloise needed to know what had really happened. He didn’t know if she’d listen to him or even forgive him, but he had to try.
A strong hand wrapped around his forearm, dragging him backward through the crowd. It wasn’t until they had slipped away from the waves of people that Shane got a good look at who had rescued him.
Tristan scowled at him, his arms crossed. “What have you done?”
“What haveIdone?” Shane jabbed a finger toward the way they’d come. “Do you honestly think I had anything to do with that? She has me over a barrel.”
His friend didn’t look convinced. “The last time we spoke, you said you had a plan. What happened to that?”
Shane paced through the quiet hallway, raking both hands through his hair. “I don’t know. Things just got away from me.”
“Youthink? Geez, Shane. You and I both knew how far Madeline could take this—”
“Really?” Shane shot back. “You think I could have predictedthis? She’s gone completely mad. And I don’t have any choice but to let it happen.”
Tristan stared at him, mouth gaping. “What do you mean you don’t have a choice. She doesn’t have a loaded gun to your head, does she?”
Shane slowed, turning to face Tristan. His wife would soon be caught up in this fiasco as well. There was so much at stake here. The only option he could see would be to sell everything and move away, taking Madeline as far as he could from Copper Creek. Deep down, he knew that Madeline wouldn’t stop with him. She’d do whatever it took to get her hands on everything. She’d be the next corrupt politician running the town if she had her way.
“I can’t stay here,” he said as he brushed past his best friend. “I need to make arrangements so that I can leave here and take her with me.”
“You’re not making any sense, Shane. You can’t just leave.”
“Why not?” Shane spun to face him again. “She’s here because of me. She wants my money and power. I’m not going to let her control this place and bleed it dry like I know she is fully capable of doing. I refuse to be the cause of this town’s destruction.”
Tristan grabbed his arm again, stopping him from storming off. “Then what? She’ll just do what she does in the next town and the next. What does she even have over you?”
Shane glowered at Tristan. “Let go.”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s not my secret to tell. Madeline is just lucky she found someone to threaten that I also cared about enough to protect. She’s not going to stop. Now, let go so I can find Eloise. I need to tell her I’m sorry.”
Tristan released him, holding both of his hands up. “You don’t want to do that.”
