Their third full day here was coming to a close, and he was already losing his shit. How the hell could he handle this for another ninety plus? More importantly, how could he keep Madison from slipping through his fingers?

  Fuck that. She was his, and she didn’t deserve to stay trapped in this glittering cesspool of backstabbing, greed, and depravity. But without any clues or help, he didn’t know how to save her and salvage their future. He would figure it out, though. He’d be goddamned before he let an asswipe like Todd Pershing defeat him. The entitled prick might have money and be underhanded as hell, but Matt had outsmarted men way better than Todd.

  He glanced to his left, looking in the distance past a park and a smattering of retail shops near the water, then meandered to the end of the balcony for a better view. In the corner, half-hidden behind a tall potted tree, he spotted a door he hadn’t noticed.

  A point of entry into Pershing’s room? Had to be since it was accessible from the same balcony. The blinds were closed, so Matt couldn’t tell for sure, but he’d bet this opening led directly into Todd’s suite. And there was no panel for a key fob in sight.

  Yee-fucking-haw.

  Before he lost all sunlight, Matt studied the eaves, roofline, and surrounding area. He saw no surveillance equipment. Was it possible Todd hadn’t wired this part of his unit to capture sight and sound? There was only one way to find out. And if he got caught? Well…fuck Todd Pershing. Matt was going to bring the chump down, and this entry point just might be the break he needed.

  Wiping all excitement from his expression, Matt headed back into the unit and passed a handful of hours with mindless TV and a phone game. Dark had fallen hours ago, and the city was beginning to slow down when Matt dragged on a pair of shorts, grabbed a towel from his bathroom, and headed back onto the balcony.

  As soon as he cleared the door, he did another surveillance sweep. Nada. And the more Matt considered the reasons why, the more he understood. Todd didn’t want any technology capturing spaces where he played. Otherwise, his actions might be used against him for blackmail fodder later. Since this balcony was accessible from his bedroom, Matt bet it wasn’t wired.

  Did Madison know that? He’d ask her that question later, but his guess? No.

  Busting past Todd’s door was zero problem. Matt hadn’t always been upstanding, and a little teenage delinquency had taught him a thing or two about locks. After less than a few minutes and a bit of light from his mobile, he found the vulnerability in Todd’s door. With a few turns of his wrist and a little finagling, he heard a click. Matt twisted the knob and walked right into Toddhole’s bedroom.

  Game on, motherfucker. Let’s see what you’re up to.

  Matt crept around the room fit for a poser who thought he was royalty, shaking his head. Bougie, hand-scraped concrete floors were covered by geometric rugs and a pair of contemporary gray chairs. Beyond that, a platform held Prince Todd’s plush bed like it was a fucking throne. Twelve horizontal feet of sleek electric fireplace had been built into the wall under the edge of the dais, flanked by actual stairs, as if his bed was on a goddamn stage with lights.

  He climbed up to reach the bedside, where he could view the gigantic big screen mounted to the ceiling and grab the laptop sitting forgotten on the nightstand, all gleaming, shiny, and silver. Cautiously, Matt lifted the lid, standing beyond the built-in camera’s range, just in case. But the computer was completely out of battery. Dead end…at least for now.

  With a sigh, he shut the lid and set down the laptop, then searched the rest of his space. Nothing in the nightstand drawers. Ditto the dresser on the far side of the room.

  Loping down the stairs, Matt made his way to the other end of the suite, pushing into the douche’s bath. Son of a bitch. This asshole clearly thought he was fucking special. Gray slate covered the floors and walls of the gigantic room. An antique black dresser had been converted to a vanity with contemporary square sinks and Carrara marble counters, accented by sleek black fixtures. But it was the enclosed shower room with freestanding tub—bigger than Matt’s entire bedroom back home—that made him roll his eyes.

  A quick search of the wet area turned up nothing, so he moved to Todd’s closet beyond.

  Was this fucker kidding? The place where Madison’s husband kept his clothes was as big as Matt’s kitchen and living room put together. He had a giant circular skylight that illuminated double racks of clothes on both sides of the closet, along with a pair of built-in dressers, a shoe tree, a special drawer for jewelry, and a fucking briefcase holder that doubled as a cocktail table. Even the plush ottoman in the middle of the roomy space had a stylish cashmere blanket thrown over its tufted surface.

  Matt just shook his head. Todd Pershing might be wealthy as hell, but none of these trappings had bought him happiness.

  Quickly, Matt rifled through all his drawers, shoved his hands in random pockets, and even looked in some of the guy’s size nine narrow shoes. Nothing.

  Bullshit. There was something here. The hair on the back of Matt’s neck stood on end. Todd had locked this whole suite and had told Madison to keep the fuck out for a reason.

  Matt examined the space with a fresh eye. If this area was his, where would he hide something?

  Someplace obscure. Not in plain sight. Where most people would never think to look. The most inconspicuous, innocuous place he could imagine.

  Calculating his options, he began searching the suite again, starting at the balcony door and working his way back across every nook, cranny, and crevice. He’d circled back to the closet again when he dropped to the floor, lifted the ottoman, swept the area rug aside, and…bingo! A storage compartment in the floor.

  The only problem? It didn’t have a normal key because it wasn’t a normal lock. This resembled a divot in the door, as if it would only open with a particular item hitting the pressure point just right.

  What the fuck could that be? Something small. Something hard. A metal sturdier than, say, gold.

  Matt did another sweep of the closet, bathroom, and bedroom. Nothing.

  Whatever opened that compartment wasn’t here. So where the fuck did Todd keep it?

  Suddenly, a loud click pierced the quiet. Matt froze. The slam of a door followed by a man’s grumble. “Fuck. I smell like goddamn beer. Clumsy cunt.”

  Todd Pershing.

  Matt’s heart raced. In the shadowy closet, he glanced at his phone. Not even midnight, and the douchecanoe was already back? How the hell was he supposed to get out of this room without tipping off Toddhole?

  With a giant sigh, Madison’s husband stomped into the bathroom and flipped on the light. Less than six feet and a single slab of wood separated them. Matt melted behind the door of the closet, into a corner.

  “Uuuuugh,” Todd groaned out as he flipped up the toilet lid and started to urinate. “Good piss.”

  He slurred like he was drunk. Helpful, but if the asshole was sober enough to aim into the toilet bowl, he was sober enough to remember an intruder in his room.

  The stream of urine stopped. The sound of the flushing toilet filled the space. Todd flipped on the shower, then silence fell. A million thoughts streaked through Matt’s head at once as he righted the closet and slinked behind the door, crouching between the bastard’s expensive AF suits. He had to hope like fuck that he could sneak past a naked Todd in his shower palace and make it to the balcony again before he was spotted.

  But the odds sucked.

  Fuck, this night was probably going to end in violence. And once he’d beat the shit out of Prince Pershing, he’d have no way of protecting Madison. He’d either be on the run or in jail.

  After the clink of a belt buckle and the clop of shoes hitting the tile, Todd suddenly ducked into the closet and tossed his clothes into a hamper, his fleshy and naked white ass almost within arm’s reach.

  Matt held his breath as the jackass tossed his belt onto the ottoman and turned, his drunken stare fixed on a shoe rack not two feet away, frowning as he studied the shelves while he swayed on his feet.

  Todd’s phone dinged from the bathroom, and he dumped his loafers with a grunt, hauling ass back to the vanity. If Matt got caught, serious shit would go down. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the sight of Todd’s flaccid dick flapping as he walked made him grimace.

  Over the pelting of the shower spray, Matt heard Pershing slam down his phone. The whoosh of the giant shower door followed. Then Todd stepped in with another groan.

  Matt gathered his wits—and his balls. The next sixty seconds might well decide his fate because if he was going to get the fuck out of here, it had to be now.

  “Goddamn bitch left me with blue balls,” Todd spit in anger.

  Thirty seconds later, he groaned in a completely different tone.

  “Oh, yeah… Suck my cock, little girl.”

  Since Matt knew Todd had entered his suite alone, he cringed. The son of a bitch was beating off in the shower.

  Wincing, Matt crept from his hiding place. If Todd was as immature and selfish in bed as he was out of it, his one-handed jerkfest wouldn’t last long.

  Tiptoeing to the door of the closet, he risked a peek into the shower. He’d need eye bleach after this, but he had to make sure Todd didn’t beat off with his eyes open.

  He didn’t, thank fuck. Instead, Todd rested one palm on the back wall above his head. His other hand… Well, all Matt saw was the bastard’s shoulder bunching as he furiously pumped his elbow.

  As he turned from the scene, wishing he could unsee it, Matt spotted something on the bathroom counter beside the smartphone.

  That signet ring with the raised skull he’d noticed Todd wearing the day they’d flown into DC.

  The size, the shape, the protrusions—this ring was the key to the locked compartment in Todd’s closet floor.

  Matt didn’t give himself time to plan or worry or talk himself out of it. He crept two steps into the bathroom, and just as Todd was groaning and cussing out his big orgasm, he swiped the ring from the counter and raced from the room. With any luck, Todd would be too drunk to remember exactly where he’d put it.

  Praying for the best and bracing for the worst, Matt stepped onto the balcony as Todd cut off the shower. Two minutes later, he was climbing from the pool after a quick dive in. He toweled off, then he pushed back into the main living area like he’d merely taken an evening swim before standing guard at Madison’s door for the rest of the night.

  On Thursday morning, Madison woke to a slew of reminders lighting up her phone. Mani and pedi at nine. Massage at eleven. Facial at one-thirty. She’d booked a waxing appointment at three.

  So many people loved spa days. They cooed about the luxury of being “pampered” for hours. For Madison, these monthly appointments Todd had forced on her felt like a ritual. Like work. Being stuck in one place for so long, alone with her thoughts, without the option to do anything but breathe and lie still… Her nail tech, masseuse, and esthetician were all lovely people, but Agatha had drummed into her head that anyone providing a service could also be easily bought, so she needed to keep her mouth shut. The senator’s wife had a bleak, cynical outlook…but sadly, Madison saw her point. Besides, she wasn’t the sort to drop into an appointment and unload her life problems on someone already working. Actually, she wasn’t great at sharing her problems at all.

  Sighing, she rose and dressed, not surprised to see Ethan waiting for her in the kitchen with a smile. “Morning, sweet pea. You good?”

  After another night of tossing and turning and wondering what to do about Matt and the ugly truth Todd had bludgeoned her with? Not really. “Fine.”

  He scowled. “Don’t lie. You suck at it.”

  “So I’ve been told,” she tossed back wryly, eyeing the cup of coffee in his hand. “Is that for me?”

  A grin spread across his face. “How bad do you want it?”

  Madison was not in the mood. “How bad do you want to keep your balls outside your body cavity?”

  “Wow, that escalated fast. You woke up and chose violence. It’s kind of sexy.”

  “Back off and let me breathe, huh?”

  “Party pooper. Breakfast?”

  She wasn’t hungry, just exhausted. She wished going back to bed was an option. But if she didn’t eat, it would only make the day feel that much longer. Besides, Matt would catch up to her at some point. He would insist on being alone with her. He would want to be in bed with her. He would demand to be inside her.

  She would need her wits and strength to tangle with him.

  Madison settled for another English muffin with peanut butter. After she choked most of it down, she and Ethan headed out of the apartment. They caught an Uber to the day spa a few miles away.

  “Where are you going to hang out?” she asked. The salon didn’t have much of a lobby. “There’s a park a few blocks down.”

  “Because that’s the perfect place to be if someone is trying to harm you,” he drawled.

  No matter how much she argued, Ethan remained her shadow. He cracked jokes about toes and foot fetishes while the usually stoic pedicurist brushed on her polish with a grin. He stayed mercifully mute during her massage, but he asked a billion questions during her facial, mostly why the shit the esthetician put on her face reeked. Madison wanted to be annoyed. Instead, she found herself entertained. She actually enjoyed the appointments she usually regarded as a chore. Still, she drew the line at having him in the room while she had her girl parts waxed.

  After that torture, she dressed and exited, expecting Ethan to be waiting with a smile and an incorrigible quip.

  Instead, she found Matt, tense and pissed as hell. Madison stiffened as his stormy gray stare drilled into her. He was going to demand answers…and what could she say that didn’t sound snippy and jealous and juvenile? She didn’t have any right to question what he’d done when they were apart. Her head knew that. Her heart didn’t care. It hurt.

  “You done here?”

  “Yes.” She turned away, refusing to drink him in with her hungry eyes, despite how hard and male and sexual he looked in well-worn jeans and a gray T-shirt that stretched harshly across his shoulders, biceps, and chest. “As soon as I check out and make my next appointments, I’ll be ready to go.”

  Madison faced the woman behind the desk, who greeted her with a bland smile. Quickly, she took care of business, then turned to Matt. He was already right behind her, taking her elbow in hand and leading her to the door as if he couldn’t wait to get her alone.

  Despite his incredibly busy sex life while they’d been apart and the omissions and half-truths he’d given her, her pulse jumped at his touch. Her skin tightened. Her imagination ran wild. Her sex gushed wet.

  What the hell was wrong with her?

  “Let’s go.” He all but hauled her out the door toward an unfamiliar black SUV waiting at the curb.

  “Where?”

  He turned a grim expression on her. His voice dropped as he growled in her ear. “Someplace we can talk before I spank your ass red for avoiding me, then fuck you repeatedly until you can’t remember any man’s name but mine because you’re screaming it over and over. Whatever is going on in that head of yours? You’re mine. You gave yourself to me. I’m not letting you take that back.” He opened the passenger door. “Get in.”

  Speechless and dizzy, she did, buckling up as he tossed himself in the driver’s seat and pulled away from the spa like he was trying to outrun the devil. Madison didn’t know what to say as she watched him drive with controlled rage, constantly checking mirrors and changing lanes, until they reached another high-rent district.

  Wordlessly, he ushered her into a clothing boutique. Madison had never shopped here. The wall displays were full of adorable outfits, complete with accessories that would have excited her on another day. Now, she barely glanced as she walked by, prodded by Matt until they reached the back of the store, headed through a door, and ascended a dark staircase. At the top, he stepped around her to shove the key in the lock. Then he all but carried her inside and slammed the door behind them, securing it decisively before he disabled the alarm system.

  In front of her was a super-modern apartment. Every surface was so white, the place looked almost sterile, like an operating room. But every accent was black—sofa, barstools, kitchen fixtures, standing lamp, even the huge hardbound book on the bleached oak coffee table. The severe decor was only slightly softened by a wall of windows that showed off views of the nearby vicinity and allowed the late afternoon sunlight to flood in.

  Matt tossed the key on the breakfast bar. “This is the space Deke found for us for the next three months.”

  Madison had a lot of questions, but one jumped to the front of the list.

  “We can talk here? Todd has no idea⁠—”

  “None.”

  “He’ll know when I left the spa. I’ll bet he had someone following us.”

  Matt nodded grimly. “I took care of him.”

  That didn’t surprise her. Todd only thought he was smart, but what he really had was money and people in his back pocket. Matt actually had brains and skills.

  Madison crossed her arms over her chest and backed away, trying to adopt a casual pose, like nothing bothered her. “That will piss him off.”

  “I only give a shit about you. You’re avoiding me, and it’s about more than the electronic eyes and ears on us at Todd’s place. What’s wrong?”

  How did she even explain this without sounding ridiculous and insecure? Matt was living in the same apartment as her husband, suffering his chokeworthy personality while protecting her, and she was struggling to get past what he’d done while they were separated. Yes, because she’d been completely in love with him from the beginning, while he’d obviously had his head—and all the protruding parts of his body—up other women’s vaginas. Because she worried Matt viewed her as a trophy, he would win if he outplayed Todd, not because he actually loved her.

  No one but your father loved you before you married me. No one is going to love you after, either.

  Madison tried to shake Todd’s nasty comment from her head and approach this like a rational adult. All she wanted to do was scream and cry and make Matt tell her that nothing her husband had spewed was true.