Chapter 7: Save Your Fake Concern

• The silence stretched on for seconds and then minutes. The cherry, sunlit room felt gloomy and oppressive. Catherine’s palms grew sweaty, and her mouth felt dry, but she didn’t dare say anything else.
• Finally, Madison broke the silence, “What are you talking about? How did I encourage you to elope? As if I could make two people fall in love and want to run away together.”
• Catherine squared her shoulders and said, “Did they hurt you out there, Madison? Did they hit your head? How can you have forgotten something that only happened a few weeks ago.”
• She closed her eyes as if trying to remember the details, but they were as clear as day. She’d replayed her conversations with Madison over and over in her miserable years with Marco, and they’d haunted her every day in prison.
• “I remember you said you would help make sure I was happy because that’s what sisters do for each other,” she said. “You transferred me 100,000 pounds and told me you had a contact who could help Marco with his passport and visas. I told you that the money was too much that I didn’t know when I could repay you, but you insisted.”
• She continued, “I thought it was a little strange that you didn’t even want me to pay you back, and I remember crying because I was so grateful. What an idiot I was! A few days later, you told me you had plane tickets for Marco and me to fly to Canada. You said we should spend our honeymoon in Vancouver and let things calm down here before we returned to Europe. You really don’t remember any of that?”
• By the time she finished speaking, her hands had shaken, and her knees felt weak. She’d never stood up to someone so aggressively before. Like Madison, she’d gotten her petty revenge by stabbing people in the back.
• All her life, people had treated her like a fool: her family, her friends, even Marco and Madison. She’d been such a suggestible sucker, she’d let them walk all over her. First, her uncle had laid claim to the family fortune when her father died. He kicked her stepmother and brother out of the family estate and cut their allowance down to nothing. When she objected, he made her believe that they were trying to steal her inheritance and that he was protecting it. She’d trusted him.
• She’d fallen under Madison’s spell just as easily. She practically worshipped the ground Madison walked on—she was fierce and independent, and she wasn’t afraid to get into a little bit of trouble. After she’d landed in prison, she realized that Madison was manipulating her as well.
• “You’re talking like a crazy woman,” Madison said. “Did you sleep okay? Please tell me they weren’t too hard on you here.”
• “Save your fake concern for someone who cares,” Catherine said.
• “Okay, okay,” Madison said, raising her hands in defeat. “It seems we both have very different memories of what happened. But of course, only one of us can be right. So now the question is—who does Sean believe?”
• She stood up and strutted toward Sean. The thin silk slip clung to her generous figure and revealed her long, toned legs. She ran her fingers through her ruined hair, tossing it over her shoulders. Her hazel eyes widened, and her lips pouted. Catherine had seen her use the same act to get out of trouble with men before. The thought of her using it on Sean made her stomach turn.
• “Don’t go near him,” she said.
• Madison stopped and turned around, “You had no problem with me going near him when I was dressed up as you. You said you didn’t care if he didn’t realize we’d switched places until after the wedding night. You were willing to whore me out, and I loved you enough to do it.”
• Madison’s eyes filled with tears and a cold dread ran through Catherine. She’d forgotten what a good actress Madison was. She wanted to look at Sean to see what he thought, but she was terrified of meeting his eye.
• Madison dropped to her knees at Sean’s feet, and one of the thin slip straps slipped off her shoulder. Her breasts heaved up and down as she sobbed dramatically.
• “I’m sorry, Sean,” Madison said. “I know that what I did was wrong, but I was blinded by my love for Catherine. She’s not just my cousin or my friend, she really is a sister to me. Please forgive me for what I did.”
• “Is that so?” Sean asked, a warning edge in his voice.
• “It is,” Madison whimpered. “You have to understand, she and Marco loved each other so much. I’ve never seen her like that with a man before—he was all she could talk about. When she saw him, she got this look in her eyes, as nothing else existed for her. She told me she was willing to give up everything for him, and I’m a romantic at heart. I had to help them anyway I could.”
• “Catherine, is that true?” Sean asked.
• Catherine’s blood ran cold. Everyone knew that Sean Blair was a proud and jealous man with a quick temper. Madison was reminding him of the elopement on purpose, trying to make him fly into a rage.
• “It’s not true,” Catherine said.
• “Oh, Cathy, don’t lie,” Madison said. “Sean, I saw it for myself. Catherine’s love for Marco is the type of love that comes once in a lifetime. She may deny it now because she’s scared, but I know her heart like my own. She’ll love Marco for the rest of her life. No matter how long they’re separated, she’ll never have room in her heart for another man.”
• Catherine sucked in her breath. Madison was good—she played the role of loving and worried friend while driving a wedge between her and Sean.
• “Please,” Madison said, raising her dirtied hands like she was praying. “Let them be together.”
• Sean stood from his chair and stepped around Madison like she was filth on the carpet. Catherine watched him stalk toward her, her heart thrumming in her chest. He closed his hand around her upper arm, and his grip was like a vice.
• “What do you think?” he asked her. “Should I let you two be together?”
• She shivered and shook her head.
• “Say the words,” Sean said, squeezing her arm even tighter. “Convince me.”
• “Come on, Cathy,” Madison called from her spot on the floor. “Tell him the truth. Maybe he’ll go easy on you.”
• Catherine knew Sean would never go easy on her. He was a proud and powerful man, and she’d humiliated him by running away on their wedding day. He’d caught her once in her last life and kept her imprisoned in his house for fifteen days. She’d gone on a hunger strike and even threatened suicide, but nothing moved him. He was as merciless in his personal life as he was in the business world. Still, her time imprisoned in his home had been better than her time with Marco.
• “Sean, you can check my bank account information,” she said. “You can look at my emails and go through my computer. You’ll see that I’m telling the truth. Madison gave me the money and arranged the flights.”
• “I don’t deny doing that,” Madison said from the floor. “But it’s like I said, I was just trying to help a young couple in love.”
• Catherine seethed. Madison had a point—though Sean could check the facts, he might choose to believe Madison’s version of events. She closed her eyes, trying to remember the past, but it was hard. She’d lived ten years' worth of events between the elopement and this day. Had Madison ever said anything to reveal that she secretly wanted Sean for herself? Had she let anything slip in a text or email?
• She hung her head—nothing came to mind. Madison was far too cautious about making such a basic mistake.
• “I know it’s a bad situation,” Madison said. “But Sean, there are so many women who would love you and care for you and be the wife you deserve. Before you announce your engagement, they were practically lining up for you. Just let Catherine go and be with her love. This story can still have a happy ending.”
• “Catherine,” Sean said, pinching her jaw and turning her head up to him. “I asked you a question.”