At the Pleasure of the President Read online

“I know.” Had she hurt the baby?

  As the question pelted her brain, Sara gasped and cradled her stomach.

  Holland seemed to understand her panic. “You’re fine. The baby is fine. You’ve just had a shock. You’re at Camp David in the Aspen Lodge. You’re safe here. Nothing can harm you.”

  The president had the largest of the eighteen cabins that made up Camp David. She understood that. What she hadn’t known about Camp David was it apparently could bring back the dead.

  Her brother stared down at her, concern etched on his face. “Sara? Are you all right?”

  “Well, her blood pressure is great. The baby’s heartbeat is strong and well within normal range. Seriously, she’s fine,” Holland reiterated. “At least physically. Emotionally, well, I’d like to murder all of you because how could you break the news to her this way?”

  “Drama,” Gus said with a shake of her head. “The Perfect Gentlemen all love drama.”

  “We didn’t mean to spring Mad on her,” Roman argued. “Gabe was supposed to tell her gently. And Mad wasn’t supposed to be outside. Did you forget that part, dipshit? Marines are crawling all over this base, securing it. You can’t possibly have every one of them on the payroll the way you do the Secret Service.”

  Mad groaned. “Thomas is not on the payroll. I don’t have a damn payroll. Did you forget the outhouse story?”

  “I doubt the marines patrolling this area read tabloids,” Connor pointed out with a raised brow. “None of them will recognize Mad without a martini in one hand and a hooker on his arm. He’s also lost weight and his hair has grown out. I think we’re safe, but he’s got to be better about staying inside.”

  Sara tuned out because none of this chatter explained how and why Mad was here. He’d been dead. The FAA had even sworn his remains were among the wreckage. She’d finally gotten to a place where she could breathe and now…

  He was back. Alive. Real.

  Where had he been all this time?

  She forced herself to remain calm. She couldn’t pass out again. She couldn’t afford to be weak.

  “I need a moment alone with Maddox.”

  Gabe took her hand. “I’m really sorry. I meant to intercept you before you came inside. I was going to ease you into this.”

  “You’ve known all this time?”

  Somehow the idea that Gabe had been in on whatever scheme this was felt even worse than Mad’s betrayal. Gabe had been her rock. He’d been the one person in the world she could count on. If he’d kept the truth from her… Sara couldn’t fathom it. She would be utterly alone.

  “He didn’t,” Mad insisted, still kneeling beside the bed. “No one did. I couldn’t tell any of you.”

  “Why don’t we let them talk for a bit?” Zack was a calm presence in the midst of the chaos. “Apparently Freddy has been located. Presuming Thomas can adequately calm Mad’s paranoid friend, they should be here in ten minutes.”

  She didn’t know who Freddy was and had no idea why the man should matter. She didn’t care right now. “I’d like for someone to explain what’s happening. Gabe, could you?”

  “What? Sara, I’m here. I’ll tell you everything.”

  Gabe squeezed her shoulder. “You should talk to him. We’ll give you two some privacy. But to answer your question, Sara, I’ve only known that Mad’s alive for an hour and a half, and I’m still processing myself. I’ll be outside if you need me.”

  Slowly, they all walked out until she was left with the man who’d broken her heart.

  Sara hated how vulnerable she felt around him, how unsure. She didn’t know what to say. She had no idea what Mad wanted. Why was he even bothering to talk to her when he’d made it crystal clear he was done with her and wanted nothing to do with their baby?

  When he tried to take her hand, she jerked away and swung her legs over the edge of the mattress. The last place she wanted to be with Mad was flat on a bed. It had always been way too easy for him to talk her into one.

  Mad stood and started crossing the floor in long, rapid steps—a sure sign that he was disconcerted. He always paced like a lion in a cage when he was nervous or unsure how to handle a situation.

  Then he stopped in front of her, fingers curled into fists. “Sara, I know you’re confused right now.”

  She was, and even though she had moved on for the sake of her sanity, she felt torn between the traitorous urge to throw her arms around him and the desire to punch him in the face. Instead, she steadied her breathing to keep herself calm. “I wouldn’t say confusion is all I’m feeling, though I would like an explanation. Did you get into some trouble that forced you to fake your own death?” A million scenarios ran through her head, all of them bad. “Did you sleep with someone’s wife? Owe someone money? Oh, god, don’t tell me there are problems at Crawford. What did you do to the business?”

  He frowned at her, the formidable expression doing nothing to lessen his fallen-angel good looks. “No. I put the business in Gabe’s hands because I knew if I didn’t come back, he would turn it over to you. I didn’t bequeath it to you directly because you’re pregnant and didn’t need the stress. And the press would have gone insane with speculation. I tried to think about you.”

  “You broke up with me via text.”

  His face flushed. “I had to. I did it to protect you.”

  “Protect me?” Who was he kidding?

  Was he claiming that he’d been cruel to be kind? That vicious text had been his way of keeping her safe? She didn’t need that kind of protection. She’d needed a partner, and he had proven a poor one.

  “Sara, I was investigating something fishy at Crawford. Do you remember Tavia Gordon?”

  Tall, gorgeous, always fashionable. “She was the head of public relations at Crawford.”

  “She also ran an organization that supported women and educated girls across the globe,” Mad reminded her.

  Sara was well aware of the woman, mostly because Mad had slept with her in the past. “Yes, the International Women and Girls Education Foundation. It died off when she was killed.”

  “And also because it was a front for the Russian mafia.”

  She shook her head, trying to absorb Mad’s claim. “What?”

  “Yeah. I knew something was off,” he said quickly, as though he worried she wouldn’t stay around for his explanation. “A worker at the foundation anonymously sent me a note telling me that a surprising number of the girls the foundation helped went missing every year. When I started looking into it, I realized quickly that Tavia was selling those girls and had rigged a financial component for their operation by using the funds from the annual gala the company held to support it. I intended to fire her.”

  “That’s horrifying, but what does any of this have to do with us?”

  Mad sidled close to her, sinking to one knee again. “Because the night before I broke up with you, the head of the Krylov syndicate came to see me.”

  A chill went up her spine. “What happened?”

  His gaze shifted away. “Let’s just say my body was black and blue for at least two weeks. There were moments I was sure I was going to die.”

  Krylov had viciously beaten Mad? Even the thought made her sick to her stomach. She hated that some criminal had damaged both his body and his spirit. He’d always been so larger than life that it was sometimes easy to forget he was just a man. But that didn’t really explain anything.

  “Why didn’t you call the police?”

  “A lot of reasons. Mostly because Krylov alluded to the fact that Zack was involved with their plot. He intimated that if I brought him down, I would be taking Zack down, too.”

  “What?” Zack was one of the most honorable men she’d ever met. He was stalwart and stable. Solid. He would never be involved with anything criminal.

  “I know. It threw me for a loop, too. So I did what I had to do.”

  “You suspecting Zack of being involved in a Russian mafia scheme is the reason you broke up with me?” That sounded far-
fetched and illogical on so many levels. Sara understood that he’d probably been scared, but Mad had a huge network of people who loved him. He’d hardly been alone. “What did Zack say?”

  Mad sat back, putting more distance between them. “I couldn’t go to Zack. Sara, I couldn’t go to anyone. I needed to figure out what was really going on first.”

  “You?” Of all people?

  “Yes. Why not me?”

  “You don’t have any investigative skills,” she pointed out.

  “I couldn’t trust anyone else. I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You couldn’t trust me?”

  The truth hit her squarely in the face. Mad had never really cared about her at all. She’d been ready to raise a family with him, and all he’d done was lie, use her, and keep huge secrets.

  “Of course I trust you. But these people meant business. They could have killed me. If they’d understood how much I loved you, they would have used you against me. They would have used the baby, too. I couldn’t risk you both. The minute Krylov and his cohort started beating me, I knew I’d do anything to protect you.”

  She shook her head. “But you didn’t protect me. You left me ignorant.”

  “I couldn’t tell you, baby.”

  She stood and shook her head. “Sure you could have. Your mouth works, Mad. But for weeks, you dated other women instead. I was alone. Before you fake checked-out, that is.”

  “All those dates were a cover. You have to see that. I wanted the syndicate to think I was exactly who they believed me to be, a playboy with no real ties to any woman. If they had come after you, I would have never forgiven myself.”

  “So instead, you told me you would pay for my abortion.”

  “Because I knew you wouldn’t do it, but I had to make our break seem real and believable. Without meaning to, I got myself deep into something dangerous and I had to keep you out of it.”

  Sara shook her head in disbelief. His explanation still didn’t make sense. The fact she was talking to him at all barely computed, either. She’d made her peace with his passing. The wound had started to heal. Now, he’d ripped it open and poured salt deep into it.

  “And it never occurred to you to tell me any of this? You know I can keep a secret.”

  He shook his head. “I couldn’t risk them coming after you to find out what you knew. And to be honest, I thought you would guess that something was horribly wrong and that you would trust me while I fixed it.”

  “Trust you? Oh, I won’t ever trust you again, Maddox.”

  The truth was, any trust she’d had in him evaporated the moment he’d sent that text.

  He rose and faced her. “Don’t say that. I did this for you. I did this so you would never know the danger I felt with Krylov. I did this so that, when it was all over, I could stand in front of you and be proud that I protected you and our baby the way a real mate and father should.”

  In Mad’s twisted mind, he’d painted himself as the hero of this complicated tale.

  “So you’re saying the danger is over now, and you’re back? But didn’t Tavia Gordon die months ago?”

  “Yeah, but since the plane crash, I’ve been digging deep, trying to root out answers. This criminal plot is more complex than I ever realized. Sara, you have no idea what I’ve discovered. The foundation barely scratched the surface. This conspiracy goes back forty years.”

  Should she be glad he’d decided to let her in on his secrets now? The whole gang was here, all the Perfect Gentlemen, along with their wives or fiancées. They’d even included Liz, presumably so she could be in the know, despite the fact that being around Zack only amplified the pain of her unrequited love.

  Or was this sinister plot Mad had been trying to unearth the reason Zack had started dating other women? Had he taken a page from Mad’s book and rejected Liz the same way Mad had dumped her?

  “So why tell me now?”

  Mad cupped Sara’s shoulders. “Please understand…but I never meant to reveal any of this to you until the danger was completely over. I didn’t realize you were in DC.”

  In other words, he hadn’t asked to have her brought here. She’d simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time when Zack had ordered the Secret Service to bring all the women to Camp David. “You don’t want me here. I’m not surprised.”

  “Oh, I do, baby. I’ve missed you so, so much. God…” His face twisted with something that looked like agony. “If you only knew. But you shouldn’t be near me now. I need you to be safe,” Mad insisted. “I never wanted any of this to touch you.”

  “Not touch me? Are you joking? Whatever this is has touched me in more ways than I can count. It’s ruined my life.”

  “No. No, baby. It hasn’t. I promise. It’s merely postponed our future.” He cupped her cheeks, staring into her eyes with that look that never failed to make her weak, the one that urged her to believe she was the only woman for him. When he looked at her like that, the world fell away. There were no more problems or worries, just the two of them, together always.

  But that was another one of his lies. “We have no future.”

  “Don’t say that. It’s not true.”

  But it was.

  Sara stepped back. “Whether you wanted me involved or not, I am now. Tell me everything that’s going on.”

  He shook his head. “You should go back to the Hamptons. Believe me, I don’t want to let you go, but I have to think about you. About our baby.”

  From what she could tell, he hadn’t been thinking at all. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here and I’m listening in on whatever you’re up to.”

  “Sara, I don’t think that’s—”

  “It doesn’t matter what you think anymore, Mad. Let me make this very plain. It’s obvious you thought I would be so happy you’re alive that I would forget the way you treated me when you left me, but I can’t. It doesn’t matter why you broke things off so horribly. There were a hundred ways you could have played this, but you chose the way that hurt me most.”

  “I didn’t do it for the purpose of hurting you. I never wanted to. Please—”

  “You just said it yourself. You had to ensure I wouldn’t come after you. Well, you did an excellent job. There’s nothing between us now and there never will be again.”

  She started to brush past him, but he caught her arm, his gaze steely as he drew her back. “There is something between us. That baby in your belly is mine, and I’m not giving up my rights to it or to you.”

  This was a different Mad, a more forceful Mad. In the past, he’d always been an imp, an instigator. The man standing in front of her now seemed far more like a warrior.

  “You gave them up the minute you sent that text.” She couldn’t back down. She couldn’t let him see that he intimidated her. Nor could she think about the fact that she found this new Maddox even more intriguing than the old one.

  Sara yanked her arm from his grip and walked out of the room. It was time to figure out her future.

  On her own.

  * * * *

  Zack sat in the great room, surrounded by his friends. Yet he’d never felt more apart from them. It seemed completely surreal that Mad sat across the room at the bar, talking to the man who’d destroyed his whole world mere months ago. Sure, he’d suspected for a while that someone sinister was coming after him and his friends. Then Freddy had confirmed Zack’s worst fears by showing him the terrible footage he’d compiled. Zack had realized then precisely why Joy had been murdered—and he’d been forced to confront the possibility he might be the very enemy he’d been hunting.

  He glanced across the room. Elizabeth had chosen a seat as far away from him as possible, one beside Sara. He was pretty sure Mad’s private conversation with his pregnant ex hadn’t gone the way his recently risen friend had hoped. Both Mad and Sara had emerged from the bedroom looking utterly miserable.

  Pretty much the way he felt.

  “I understand they more or less brought Freddy in against h
is will,” Roman whispered, sending a sidelong glance at the conspiracy twosome.

  Mad and Freddy were an odd duo. Zack wished they’d vlogged the last few months when Mad had apparently lived in the wilderness with Freddy as his survival guide. He would pay to watch that reality show.

  “Thomas brought him in. From what I gather, Mad expected Freddy to help him explain the last few months, but Freddy resisted because there were too many guards.”

  The steely man with the russet hair glared their way. He had a stare like a crowbar, trying to pry their intentions from their heads. Then he whispered to Mad. Unfortunately, Freddy’s low tones were pretty loud. “Are you sure we should be here? Because it would be really easy to bury us in the woods. Did you notice this place is surrounded by woods? On the other hand, if tonight goes bad, we can probably live off this land.”

  He was in full-on Freddy mode—paranoia mixed with hyper intelligence and meticulous attention to detail, topped off with a dash of pure crazy. Zack had looked into Freddy’s military records. The man’s career as an intelligence officer had been impressive…until he’d been captured and held by the enemy for almost a year. Something had fractured inside him during his imprisonment. Shortly after the prior administration had negotiated his return, Freddy had been discharged. The mind of an intelligence officer was still there, just buried under all the other issues.

  “I’m never living off the land again. I would rather die,” Mad replied.

  Zack couldn’t help but grin. Yeah, Mad’s version of camping had been a fire on the beach, imbibing a load of liquor, then going back to the beach house with a woman or two to either have sex or pass out.

  God, sometimes Zack wished he could be back there, when the six of them had been really tight. When the world had been their playground. Not that they’d had a multitude of possibilities. Their paths had been set from birth, with the singular exception of Connor. But he’d chosen his road when he’d met the rest of them and gotten caught up in their undeniable destinies.

  “Are you sure we should tell him?” Freddy glanced his way.

  There was no question who the man meant. Mad nodded at Freddy. “The president needs to know. We agreed. C’mon, even you have doubts that he’s in on the conspiracy. I know I’ve never wanted to believe it, but over the course of the last several months, Zack’s actions haven’t been those of a Russian operative.”