by JA Low
“I’m happy to cooperate in any way possible,” I tell him.
“Great. Her call is going to be recorded when she rings you later today. Please act as normal as possible. This is our only chance to get her and get you free,” the detective explains the seriousness of this to me. I will do anything to rid myself of this woman and her evil clutches on my life. He hangs up, leaving me a tad stunned by the sudden turn of events.
“What’s going on?” Ariana asks. “Why is Madison called Madlina?”
“It’s a long story. Come on, let’s grab some breakfast, and I’ll explain it all.”
Ariana took the news rather well. Of course, she was upset that I kept it from her but understood why I did. Jackson called me once he heard the good news and gave me a rundown of how the phone call would go. I honestly just want this all over and done with. The light in that dark tunnel is becoming brighter now.
My phone begins ringing, and Ariana and I pause to stare at the buzzing device.
“You’ve got this.” Ariana gives me two thumbs up.
I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. “Hello?”
“Rhys…” Madison sniffles down the phone.
Damn, she’s a good actress.
“I’m in trouble.”
“What’s going on? Are you okay? Those people haven’t hurt you, have they?” Turning my concern up to a level ten.
“I’ve been set up. Some woman attacked me, and now I’ve been arrested. But I didn’t do anything. I told you these people are powerful. They have connections with the NYPD. I need to be careful.”
She sounds so scared.
This woman is a grade-A sociopath.
“What can I do?”
“I don’t have anyone else I can ask, Rhys. I’m sorry to do this to you, but can you post my bail?” I can imagine the plump pout she’s giving me through the phone. It was her signature move.
“How much is it?”
“You’re going to help me?” There’s a sound of relief in her voice.
“Of course. None of this is your fault.” I want her to know I’m on her side, so I keep playing the fool.
“Thank you, Reecy. I appreciate it so much. I know I don’t deserve your help at the moment.”
“I’ll take the amount off your settlement,” I add.
She chuckles. “You have a deal.” Then she tells me how much she needs, which is way more than I know the police were asking, and she asks me to transfer it to her personal account. I told her that I thought it was only via check and that I couldn’t pay direct. We argue back and forth, and eventually, she relents and agrees for me to pay directly to the station. Then we hang up, and I want a long, hot shower to rid myself of that disgusting phone call.
“You did so well, babe.” Ariana wraps her arms around me.
“I want this to end and for us to live happily ever after, in peace.”
“We will,” she reassures me.
37
Rhys
That afternoon I get a call from Detective Johnson asking me to come down to the station. I do as he asks and head on down.
Ariana wanted to come, but I asked her to stay behind until I know for sure that she’s safe. The last thing I want is the fucking Bratva knowing about her and using her to get to me. She nodded her head in understanding and kissed me goodbye.
“Rhys Davenport.” Detective Johnson holds out a hand for me. “Thank you for coming down so quickly. Things are a little crazy, but we were able to arrest Madlina after we posted her bail and she stepped out of the station. She is currently in one of our interview rooms,” the detective explains. “She’s been rather tight-lipped about everything, but we thought if we brought you in and surprised her by telling you who she really is that she might start talking.”
Well, that sounds like a stupid idea. Madison isn’t going to spill anything to the police. The woman’s certifiable crazy, but above all that, she’s super intelligent. Look at the fucking web she wove around me.
“I don’t think she will talk to me,” I reply.
“I think she just might.” He gives me a knowing grin, so I follow him down the hallway toward the interview room. “Just walk in and take a seat. Play stupid.” That’s the extent of the pep talk he gives me before shoving me into the room with her.
“Rhys?” Madison sits up, looking at me inquisitively.
“Why am I here?” I ask. “I posted bail,” I tell her, not having to fake the confusion in my voice. “What happened?” Standing by the door simply staring at her, she is cuffed to the wooden desk.
“I don’t know. They think I’m someone I’m not,” she explains.
“Madlina Ivanov?” Her eyes widen as I say the name, then her entire body stiffens as she stares at me. “Who the hell is that?” Slowly walking toward her, I raise an eyebrow.
“I don’t know,” she argues.
“I’m so confused, Madison.” Looking around the room, I spot a camera in the corner.
“I know.” She looks up, giving me her sad eyes. “So am I.” Then she leans forward and beckons me over. “I told you they were powerful people.” Her eyes look over my shoulder at the two-way glass.
“Why are they doing all this?” Waving my hands around in the air, but she just shrugs. Then a couple moments later, the detective walks in.
“Please take a seat, Mr. Davenport.” He motions to the chair.
“So, Miss Ivanov… you ready to talk?” he questions her.
“You have the wrong person?” she replies.
“But do we… really?” he argues. She’s taken aback by his sarcasm. “How are Michail and Oleg doing?” the detective asks, and that’s when I see the chink in her armor—she’s more than a little afraid of them.
“Who?” She tries to shrug off his questions.
The detective then proceeds to hand over the photographs of Madison with some men who I’m going to assume are the brothers.
“Does your husband know you’ve been sleeping with his brother while in jail?”
What the fuck! She’s been sleeping with her husband’s brother, too? This fucking woman is a nymphomaniac.
The detective hands over those incriminating images of her with Oleg. I look up, and she’s deathly pale.
“I didn’t have a choice,” she whispers ever so quietly. “He will kill me if he finds out.” Her hands clasp together as she begins to shake.
“Who will?” the detective pushes.
“Michail.” She looks up at both of us.
“You’re really not Madison?”
She shakes her head. “I’m not. I’m sorry, Rhys.” Madison or Madlina, whoever the hell she is, looks at me with sad eyes. “I’m just a pawn in all this. My life doesn’t matter to them.” She closes her eyes and leans back in her chair. “My role is to seduce men, even if I don’t want to.”
“Why me? Why do this to me?”
“You were simply collateral damage. They wanted your money. That’s all,” she explains. I just shake my head.
“Miss Ivanov, we are prepared to offer you protection if you’re willing to give us what we want? Otherwise, you will be spending a long time behind bars,” the detective warns her.
“Do it,” I urge her. “Bring these people to justice.”
She shakes her head. “They will find me no matter where you hide me. I’m as good as dead.” Her shoulders sag, and she closes her eyes.
“He’s your husband. He won’t kill you.”
She laughs sadly. “That’s where you’re wrong. Just because he’s made me his, that doesn’t mean he won’t hesitate to put a bullet through me.”
Fuck! She’s resigned herself to the fact that she’s going to be murdered. I don’t understand? This isn’t right.
“Rhys, I think it might be time for you to go,” Detective Johnson turns to me.
No. I have to do something to save her life. She doesn’t deserve it, but I couldn’t live with myself if I let her go to her death without trying something.
&nb
sp; “I’ll give you one million dollars if you go into the witness protection program so you can start again.”
Madison looks up at me. A small frown falls across her face. “Why?”
“Because at one time I loved you,” I tell her.
Tears begin to fall down her cheeks. “I’m sorry I tried to destroy your life, Rhys.” She sniffles through her tears. “You’re a good man and deserve so much better than what I did to you.”
“Yeah. I do deserve better.” Little does she know that I’ve found it. “Please think about it. The offer stands.”
Madison gives me a nod, and I walk out of the interview room and into the light—it finally feels like I am free.
“You’re home.” Ariana rushes over as I step into my apartment, exhausted. She jumps up into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist, and rains kisses all over my face.
“I’m free, Ari.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s done. It’s over. The prenup is null and void because Madison or Madlina, or whatever her name is… is already married. The marriage is annulled because it was never legal,” I explain, according to Detective Johnson’s words. “It’s as if the last couple of years have been scrubbed clean from my life.”
“How do you feel?”
“A mixture of hope and happiness because I can start planning a future with the woman I truly love.”
“Is that so?” She grins.
“Yeah, and just so we are clear… that woman is you, Ariana Blanco. You are my future.” As my lips capture hers in a kiss that expresses all the rollercoaster of feelings in this moment, the feelings that wash over me are those of total peace.
“And just so you know, I one hundred percent agree.”
38
Ariana
New Year - Turks and Caicos
“PJ all the way, baby.” Emma squeals as we all pile onto the private jet to fly down to the glorious Turks and Caicos Islands to celebrate the new year.
Things have moved rather quickly between Rhys and me. It’s been almost six months since we first met via a catfish, but it feels like forever ago now. As humiliating as that first meeting was, I wouldn’t change it for the world. Because never in my life did I ever suspect I would meet someone so genuinely kind, caring, and easy-going as Rhys.
Every day he pushes me to go out and grab Manhattan by the balls—his words, not mine. He lifts me up when I’m feeling down. He listens to me when I’ve had a bad day. And vice versa. I’ve never had a boyfriend who felt like a true partner in life.
Things with Rhys’ ex have finally been resolved. The divorce paperwork has been thrown out due to fraud. His business and finances are safe, and the paperwork explaining the annulment of his marriage to Madlina, aka Madison, came through. Everything from his past has been wiped clean, and we are both looking forward to starting this new year together without a heavy cloud over our heads.
Rhys told me that he offered Madlina, aka Madison, money to go into witness protection and that she took it, but as far as the case is concerned, that’s as much as Rhys is allowed to know. Good riddance, I say.
Still, Rhys is a better person than I am, wanting to help his ex like that after she messed up his life, but if it gives him closure, then I’m all for it.
In regard to his father and brother, yeah, that ship has sailed. Once he paid off his father’s debt and his brother ruined Thanksgiving, he hasn’t spoken to either since. I know it’s been hard for his mom. Rhys has told her that he has no ill will with her wanting to stay in contact with Stanford, but he would like not to be around when she does, and that’s totally understandable.
Things have been going great for my business too. Stella and EJ’s dream ranch has broken ground, and they have already started the building process. Emma and Anderson’s boathouse has been completed. Chloe and Noah’s boathouse has started and will be finished sometime in the new year.
Rhys has shared my information with his network of people, and I’ve been inundated with inquiries as have my amazing sisters all the way in LA.
Camila has bought a new home in the Hollywood Hills, and she wants me to help redesign it for her. So, Blanco Architects has been growing rapidly. I can’t thank my friends and family enough for their support because I wouldn’t be getting the attention I am if it weren’t for them.
“Who wants champagne?” Emma wiggles the bottle in the air.
It’s a crazy full place. We have my friends and their partners, my sisters, Rhys’ sister, Audrey, and Stirling, much to his annoyance, his mother and Patrice, her chef, who nearly fainted when she met my sister at the airport. It was hilarious watching Rhys’ mom and Patrice fawn over Camila. It still blows my mind that my sister is uber-famous and that to some people, she is a star. To me, she’s just my annoying baby sister.
Emma pours glasses for the girls while the stewardess grabs the guys some scotch.
“None for me, thanks.” Lenna waves her hand at Emma.
The plane stills.
You can hear a pin drop.
When Lenna realizes that everyone is looking at her with questioning eyes, she shakes her head. “Fine.” She sighs. “Logan and I are pregnant again.” The plane goes crazy with congratulations. “It’s twins,” she adds at the last moment, and we all scream and holler even louder.
Poor thing—twins.
“How exciting for them.” Rhys nuzzles into me.
“Don’t get any ideas.”
Now his divorce is behind him, he’s been ramping up the happily-ever- after chats. Usually, if a guy talks marriage and family so soon in a relationship, I would be freaking out. Red flags would be flying at full mast, and I would be finding the ‘Exit, stage left!’ as soon as possible. But with Rhys, it feels normal. I would love to have a family with Rhys one day, just not right now. I’ve only just got my business off the ground. Plus, we need to get married, so I’m not seeing kids in our future for another four years or so.
“Why not?” He grins. “You would look cute with a Buddha’s belly.”
I choke on my champagne. “Nope. Not yet,” I tell him.
“So, that’s not a no, then.” He gives me another gorgeous grin, and I can’t help but smile at him.
“Four or five years,” I reply.
“I’ll be an old man by then,” he grumbles.
He will only be thirty-eight or maybe thirty-nine. I would hardly call that old.
“Stop it.” I playfully hit his arm. “My parents are traditional. They would be mortified if I had a baby out of wedlock.” Plus, he still needs to meet them. I mean, it wouldn’t be a great first impression if I call my parents and say ‘hey, meet my baby daddy, Rhys.’ The Spanish catholic in them would be running straight to confession.
“So, all your saying is we need to be married before having kids?”
Hang on! I look into his blue eyes that are dancing with mischief.
“Don’t think I’m going to do an Emma and Anderson and accidentally marry you drunk in Vegas.”
He shrugs. “Sounds like fun to me. Plus, it looks like it’s worked out well for them.” He glances over to where Emma is sitting on Anderson’s lap, having an intense conversation in between kissing him.
Yeah, it did work out well for them.
“I don’t want a Vegas wedding,” I grumble.
“Fine. I promise… no Vegas wedding.” He takes a long sip of his scotch. “But you’re not opposed to marrying me?”
“Of course not.” Wrapping my arms around his neck, I say, “There’s no one else in this world I would rather hang out with than you.”
“So, you’re saying you would marry me because I annoy you the least out of everyone in the world?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
A wide smile breaks out across his face. “Beggars can’t be choosers.” He chuckles before giving me a heated kiss.
I love that things are so easy and light with him. And it’s the truth, I do love hanging out with him. He’s my best friend as well as
my partner, and you can’t ask for more than that in a man.
It takes us a while to fly down to the Caribbean. We land at the international airport, which is on the main island, and then we’re transferred to a gorgeous multi-million-dollar speedboat that takes us over to the private island, which houses the luxury home we have for the next week.
“Oh my goodness, look at this water.” Staring at the turquoise ocean, it’s the most beautiful color I’ve ever seen.
“Wait till you get to the island. It’s even clearer,” Rhys whispers to me as he helps me onto the boat.
“Whatever you do… do not break up with Rhys,” Camila states as she takes a seat beside me on the boat. “Especially if we get to travel like this.” I shake my head at my sister’s remarks.
“I wish Mom and Dad were here.” I link my arm with my sister.
“Me, too.” She lays her head against my arm. “They would be so proud of you. Of all of us.”
I nod my head in agreement.
Before long, we’re leaving the marina, and the captain is putting the pedal to the metal, and we are speeding across the glass-like ocean heading toward our private island. The wind is whipping my hair while my hand hangs on to my hat, not wanting it to fly off into the ocean.
Little Jagger is squealing with excitement as tiny droplets of saltwater hit him in the face before he’s distracted by the whistle on his life vest and starts blowing it constantly, which makes us all laugh.
It’s a quick trip over to the island, where we see white sandy beaches with lush tropical palm trees swaying in the breeze. This place looks like heaven, and I never want to leave.
Surely, we can work from here full time. Can’t we? We don’t need to go back to snowy, freezing cold Manhattan. Do we?
Rhys helps me out of the boat, and we’re met by the staff who have cold drinks waiting.
