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“Yeah, don’t remind me. You’ve been through worse.”
After he left, I shook my head, dialing Max.
“I heard Francesco arrived,” he said.
“He did. Not a happy camper.”
“You asked for him.”
“I know. Look, I’ll make this short. Sean took the bait, contacting O’Rourke. Did you know the guy was Killian’s nephew?”
Max took a deep breath. “No.”
“Well, Francesco knew.”
“Interesting. I wonder what else he knows.”
Could I put it past the kid to use the situation with Madisen to sabotage my authority? Not in the least. With me out of the picture, he’d have a single man to bring down and claim his father’s power. As my father used to remind me from time to time, it was always best to keep your enemies very close. “Perhaps I’ll have a chance to find out. I don’t want to talk out of turn, Max, but if this thing with Killian goes south, you need to make certain you have the right people surrounding you.”
“Already taken care of. No one is getting inside the estate.”
I’d heard that before.
“I was thinking after the situation with Madisen has been handled that you should make an unexpected trip to New York for a special meeting,” he suggested.
Chuckling, I knew exactly what he meant. “It was already on my mind. Stay alert, my friend. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“I do as well. Take care of that lady of yours.”
I almost reminded him that she didn’t belong to me but that was no longer the case. She was all mine. I ended the call, able to smile. As I turned toward the cameras, I took another deep breath. Even her scent remained in my nostrils. My cock ached all over again.
I glanced from one screen to the other as a loud crack of thunder sounded off in the background. The storm was getting closer. When the lights flickered, I bristled and immediately turned toward the door. This time my thoughts drifted to the fact Max had almost lost Raleigh in a similar storm, the power outage allowing an assailant access to the house. I wanted Madisen right by my side until this was over.
* * *
Madisen
I’d always loved storms. I had since I could remember. I’d been the kid who’d refused to come in from the rain. When there was a terrible thunderstorm, I danced on the lawn, spinning around in circle after circle, unaware of the danger from lightning.
As a powerful surge of energy flashed in the sky, the fractured bolts leaving a blue neon glow in its wake, I took a deep breath. The way the lights in the pool flickered from the few drops of rain were so beautiful. Unfortunately, the oversized deck hid much of the resort-like facility. I pressed my hand against the glass, the little girl inside of me wanting to run and play in the rain.
A memory surfaced from years before that I hadn’t remembered. One time, Danny had been asked to babysit me while my parents took Mike to the emergency room. I’d been four or five, maybe younger. I laughed as I remembered slipping out of the house into the dark, playing in the rain and mud. Poor Danny. He’d lost me in the darkness and my parents had almost not forgiven him.
I had no idea why the memory had surfaced, but I felt like the kid again who wanted nothing more than to play in the rain.
“You used to love storms,” Mike said from behind me.
I tensed, not wanting to get into an argument. “That was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, but some things never change.”
“Meaning what?”
He flanked my side, his hands in his pockets. “Danny’s the same. Exactly the same.”
Curtailing my anger wasn’t one of my strong suits. “Meaning what?”
“Once a user, always a user.”
