PULSE: A Stepbrother Romance (34 page)

“Preston—are you okay?”

Maddy looked up at me from the heap of
sheets she’d made on my bed. Her brown hair was a tangled mess around her face
and her green eyes flashed with concern as soon as she lifted her head and saw
me. She was wearing an undershirt of mine and no panties. She looked more
stunning than I’d ever seen her before.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath,
inhaling the scent of her as I committed her image to memory. This was how I
wanted to remember her: her pretty face still bleary from sleep, completely
unaware of what was about to come; that light dusting of freckles across her
nose looking golden in the mid-morning light; her full, delicate lips chapped
from where I’d roughly kissed them the night before.

“We need to talk, Maddy,” I said,
willing my voice not to break.

She sat up on the bed and combed her
hair with her fingers, trying to wrestle it into place as I looked down at her.
Her gaze drifted to my knuckles. “Preston, you’re bleeding…”

“It’s over,” I said, trying to push the
words out past the lump in my throat. I could feel everything inside of me
screaming not to do this, to find some way to fuck Jane and my father over.

But there wasn’t a way that didn’t put
Maddy directly in the line of fire. My father had connections, and with an
almost laughably small amount of his fortune, he could make the rest of her
life a living hell. I couldn’t do that to her. She didn’t deserve it. I
couldn’t let her go down with the ship because of me.

“You quit?” she asked, a glimmer of hope
flaring in her eyes. She smiled. “That’s… that’s great! I mean, we’ll have to
figure a few things out now, but it’s what you wanted, right?”

I shook my head at her. She wasn’t
getting it. I had to leave no doubt in her mind as to what would happen next.
“No. I didn’t quit. It’s over.
We’re
over.”

Maddy stared at me for what seemed like
an eternity. With every moment that passed, a new expression washed over her
face. First there was dumb shock, then confusion, followed by a snort of denial,
and then her lips quivered. That last one didn’t leave her, and I could see her
emerald eyes filling with tears.

“You can’t be serious,” she whispered. I
rubbed my face with my hands, trying to hide my own tears.

“You’re so stupid,” I said, turning my
sob of despair into a rueful laugh. “You’re so fucking stupid, Maddy. Don’t you
get it? This whole thing has been one big laugh at your expense! I mean really,
how pathetic does a girl have to be to fuck her stepbrother?”

When I lowered my hands, Maddy was still
looking at me. I wished she wouldn’t. It only made things that much harder.

“Why are you saying this?” she demanded,
her voice cracking. “Why are you being so cruel to me?!”

“Because you deserve it!” I roared. I
tried to imagine Jane’s face instead of hers and felt my neck and face turn red
with anger. “Because you’re fucked up and desperate and everybody knows it but
you! My father and your mother—they bet me a sad, pitiful girl like you
would do
anything
to resolve her
daddy issues. I didn’t believe them, but look at you. I did it. I won!”

Maddy launched herself up from the bed
and crossed the room to me. Tears streamed down her face and she shook like a
flower in a storm as she cupped my face in her delicate hands.

“Stop it, Preston. I don’t believe you.
You wouldn’t do this to me. Not after everything…”

I seized her wrists and she gasped. I
knew I was hurting her, but I had to or she’d never believe me.

“You stupid girl,” I whispered. I
managed a sneer, though the disgust I spat was aimed at me and not at her. “You
filthy slut. You’d do anything to have a man tell you you’re not worthless,
wouldn’t you? You’re just like your mother—”

Finally, something inside Maddy snapped.
She slapped me so hard across my face I tasted blood in my mouth. Stars burst
in front of my eyes and I held my breath, staring at the wall as she panted in
front of me. At least now I had an excuse not to look at her.

“You’re a monster,” she said hoarsely.
My soul fractured. In every word, I could feel her beautiful, perfect heart was
breaking. “You’re a fucking monster. I hope you rot in hell.”

As she grabbed her clothes and hurried
from my room, I realized she’d never know that I already was.

MADISON

It
had been two weeks since I’d last seen him.

The agony had faded into a comfortable
numbness that, at the very least, prevented me from crying all night. In fact,
sleep came now more than ever. I found myself spending a lot of time
unconscious, and for that I was never more grateful.

Every moment I spent in slumber was a
moment I didn’t have to think about Preston Harvey and how he’d ruined my life.
And when the dreams came—the ones where we were still together, where his
lips crashed against mine so fiercely they stole my breath away—a bit of
wine was all that was needed to chase them away again.

He’d tried to call me more than a few
times since that morning in his room when he’d finally admitted he was the same
soulless beast his father was. He’d texted, too, but I never read them. After
the first three days I changed my number, and after that, he only made one
other effort to contact me. He sent me an envelope in the mail with a check
inside of me for one hundred thousand dollars.

I didn’t want to cash it. I wanted to
pretend like I’d never need anything from Preston, or my family in general,
ever again. But now that I was out of a job, the sad truth was that I’d have to
find a new one, and in the meantime I needed a buffer to keep a roof over my
head.

When I handed the check over to the
teller, I secretly wondered how much of his winnings from my family’s sick
little betting pool this constituted. I’d become so filled with rage that I’d
nearly snapped the pen in half when she’d asked me to sign the back of it. I
didn’t think that particular thought again.

What good would it do, anyway? It was
over and done with. I couldn’t go back in time and fix it now. And in a way,
Preston had freed me. I’d never trust my family again, and because of his
confession, I had finally cut ties with my toxic mother. It was a step forward
of some kind, anyway.

I spent my days distracting myself by
updating my resume, my LinkedIn profile, and a number of other job-related
things, anything that would take my mind off of my past and point my thoughts
toward the future, one that didn’t involve getting used and discarded ever
again.

I would even date, as soon as I could
get around to it. I wouldn’t let Preston Harvey put me off men. I wouldn’t let
what he’d done to me turn me angry and bitter. I wasn’t about to become my
mother, although now I could understand just a little bit better what had led
to her downfall as a human being.

It didn’t make it right, but at least
she wasn’t such a mystery to me anymore.

Just as I was beginning to run out of
things to do, I got the call that would change my life forever. It was a call I
hadn’t been expecting, one from a very prestigious law firm looking for a new
legal secretary to manage their office.

“Can you come downtown for an interview
around three?” the appointment-setter asked.

I glanced at the clock. It was nearly
noon. Fuck it—I’d make it. “Yes,” I said. “I’ll see you then.”

The first thing I did, after getting
dressed, was ride the bus for the very last time. It took me to a Volvo
dealership where I bought my first brand new car. It was a splurge, but it was
a well-deserved splurge, and one that would ensure I was self-sufficient from
now on. No more relying on public transport to get me to my new job in a swanky
office building downtown. I was a new woman. This Madison Hearst didn’t depend
on anyone but herself.

Once I had my new car, my resume, and my
interview clothes in order, I drove downtown and sat through the mid-day
traffic while waiting for the turn lane into the parking garage to open up. I
had no idea what the problem was. At first I thought there might have been an
accident, but as I got closer to the source of the jam, I saw that a parade of
news vehicles were blocking the intersection as they tried to find parking
spaces directly in front of the Harvey Tower. I shook my head and rolled my
eyes. It figured that they’d throw one more wrench into the gears of my life
before they were done with me.

Briefly, I wondered what the hell the
fuss was about. But it was probably just some stupid PR move Preston or his
father had coordinated. Maybe they hadn’t kicked any puppies this week. That
seemed newsworthy, all things considered.

Maybe it was something about the
wedding. That was only days out now. I couldn’t think of why Mr. Harvey would
do something like that at the tower, though. Maybe my mother had put him up to
it.

I finally made it to the garage and
parked, stuffing my printed-out garage pass between the dashboard and
windshield as I stepped out in the warm summer air. I felt good today. I felt
capable and vibrant. Preston obviously had done me the courtesy of not
blacklisting me, which meant that I now had a rather impressive resume at my
disposal. Thank God for small favors, I supposed.

By the time I made it to the sixteenth
floor office, I was still ten minutes early. I handed my resume to a very
sweet, bubbly receptionist and took a few moments to look around the lobby and
get a little better acquainted with what the law firm was expecting.

They took up the whole floor, and they
were clearly very expensive. From what I’d read on their website they dealt in
criminal law, which seemed awfully exciting. I would’ve been excited for the
job regardless, but knowing that I might spend my days involved with the kind
of cases I saw on
Law & Order
sweetened the deal. It was better than resigning myself to something like
worker’s comp and business law, anyway.

When Mr. Princeton emerged from his
office, my jaw nearly hit the floor. He looked like he’d just stepped out of
the pages of a men’s magazine. He wore an impeccably tailored suit and shoes
that probably cost more than my new car had, and he had one of those
million-dollar smiles that lit up the room brighter than any fancy chandelier
could. Not that he didn’t have those, too, but that smile was absolutely
radiant.

His smile nearly touched his ears as he
walked toward me, and I stood up, accepting his outstretched hand. “Madison
Hearst, I presume?”

“You can call me Maddy,” I said, and for
a moment, I was reminded of Preston Harvey and how he’d always called me that
whenever we were together. No one else ever had. It had only ever been him.

Stop
that,
I told myself, pushing thoughts of my
asshole of a stepbrother from my mind as I followed Mr. Princeton down the
hall.
You’ve moved on. He’s in your past.
Mr. Princeton is your future, and you should count your lucky stars that he is.

I sat down in his office and watched as
he closed the door and stepped around the opposite side of his desk. “I have to
say,” he began, adjusting his perfectly form-fitting blazer, “I’m impressed.
This is one hell of a resume, Madison—sorry. Maddy,” he corrected
himself.

I beamed. Then Preston really
hadn’t
added insult to injury. I was
relieved. “Thank you, Mr. Princeton,” I said. “This is one hell of a law firm,
from what I hear.”

He laughed. It was a sweet, honeyed
sound. “Let’s cut to the chase. Your qualifications are top-notch. And from
just the few minutes I’ve spent with you, you seem like the kind of employee
who would fit right in here at Princeton & Kline. All that coupled with the
personal recommendation we received from Preston Harvey himself, I’m ready to
offer you the job right here.”

I couldn’t help it. I had to ask. “Mr.
Harvey contacted you directly?”

Mr. Princeton nodded. “Oh, yeah. He
called this morning. Said he saw our ad on a jobs site and knew the perfect
woman for the job.”

My heart skipped a beat. Preston had
been trawling the job boards for me? Why? What the hell did he care?

A recommendation was one thing. The fact
that my stepbrother had been actively interested in my employment was another.
I knew for a fact that Preston had way better things to do than scour
Craigslist ads on my behalf. Had he grown a conscience since I’d been away? Was
he actually feeling guilty?

I tried not to think too hard on it,
though it flustered me all the same. “Working for Preston Harvey was… a
wonderful experience,” I said. And it had been—right up until the point
that it wasn’t anymore. I didn’t count it as a lie. “I’m so thrilled that he
was satisfied with my service enough to call you and get my foot in the door.”

Mr. Princeton grinned. “He spoke so
highly of you that I was afraid someone else had snatched you up already. You
seem to have it all, Maddy. Which brings us to your salary…”

I was on the edge of my seat now. I was
sure a place like this paid handsomely. Visions of renting an actual house
danced through my head, and Mr. Princeton was about to speak again when his
receptionist burst through the door.

“Mr. Princeton,” she said breathlessly,
“I’m so sorry to interrupt. But you have to see this.”

He frowned at her. “Can’t it wait, Amy?”

She shook her head so hard I was sure
her earrings were going to fly right out of her ears. “No, sir. Come quick.
It’s all over the news.”

Mr. Princeton raised his eyebrows at me.
“I guess that means you should come too,” he said.

I stood up, my stomach flipping as I
followed Amy and Mr. Princeton down another hall toward the break room. What
the hell was going on?

As soon as I walked in, I saw it plain
as day on the TV. Just outside Harvey Tower, several news crews had gathered
around my stepbrother, each one of them shoving their microphones in his face,
yet all standing so deathly still as he spoke. Someone turned it up and I
gripped my clutch tightly as I listened to what he said.

“…in cooperating with state and Federal
authorities, Harvey Enterprises has exposed Harold Verger’s intent to collude
with government officials in order to shut down the 39
^th
Street
homeless shelter on fabricated charges of code violations. Mr. Verger then
intended to demolish the shelter to make way for a person investment project: a
luxury condo development that would cater to the wealthiest citizens of this
fine city. Meanwhile, hundreds of homeless would be displaced, including
battered women and children for whom there was no other place to turn.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Preston was actually admitting to God and country what Harvey Enterprises had
intended to do just to retain a client—one with senatorial aspirations,
no less. He was selling himself, Mr. Verger, his father, and his own company
out to do it. But there he was, admitting everything on live television.

“Holy shit,” I murmured.

Mr. Princeton folded his arms. “You’re
tellin’ me.”

Preston continued, “In light of this and
other incidents which have come to light over the past few weeks, Harvey
Enterprises will be restructuring. Mr. Harvey—my father—will step
down from his position as the head of our company, and with the board of
directors’ unanimous approval, I will take his place.”

My knees almost gave out from under me.
This was huge. The only way it could have been more shocking was if a nuclear
bomb had detonated in the heart of the city. But then Preston delivered one
more surprise for me.

He looked into the camera and said,
“There have been a lot of people who were hurt along the way, people who didn’t
deserve it and who never should have been in the line of fire to begin with. As
a company, we have often asked others to sacrifice for us instead of being
willing to sacrifice anything ourselves. The future of Harvey Enterprises is
simple: more ethics, more honesty. If that means less money, so be it.” He
paused. I felt like he was staring right into my eyes. “If that means those
that we’ve hurt can finally see some justice now, so be it.”

“I have to go,” I said, turning to Mr.
Princeton. “I’m sorry. I really am. And thank you so much for everything. But I
have to go.”

“Maddy—” he began.

I was already gone. How could I possibly
stay here?