There was no time for fear and no room for error. She had to get out—of this apartment, this building, this town—now.

  She whirled and sprinted for the door, almost dizzy with relief when she grabbed the cold handle and tugged. The click sounded incredibly loud in the uneasy silence, but the door opened. She wrenched it wide, scrambling when it nearly hit the adjacent wall. With quick reflexes, she managed to stop it and was halfway out of the unit when she heard precisely what she dreaded.

  “Madison!”

  She glanced back to find her husband shirtless and shoeless, his eyes full of rage. He still held the dripping knife.

  “Stay away!” She dashed into the penthouse’s lobby, frantically pressing the call button for the elevator, praying the car would reach her before a homicidal Todd did.

  Because he had this floor all to himself, there were no strangers to protect her or offer their aid. There would be no witnesses to tell the world what really happened. And after seeing her husband’s face, she knew he wouldn’t bother with threats. He would merely end her and let his grandfather’s people take care of the dirty details. She’d never get to say goodbye to her father, much less hold his hands through his upcoming treatments. She would never get to tell her girls back home—Haisley, Gracelyn, and Charlene—how much their lifelong friendships had meant to her. She would never see Matt Montgomery, the man she’d never stopped wanting, to ask why she hadn’t been enough for him. She would be dust.

  No. Her life couldn’t come to that. She wouldn’t let it.

  “Get back here!” Todd demanded from the foyer, hiding the blade behind the door. But she had no doubt he gripped it, ready and waiting.

  The elevator still hadn’t come. Oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, god.

  Panicked, she looked around for an escape route. To her left sat a door. She hadn’t noticed it earlier, and she had no idea where it led, but it was her only escape.

  She backed away, horrified when he suddenly lunged and gave chase, the knife raised threateningly.

  Madison didn’t stop. She bolted through the door and shoved it closed behind her before racing down the stairwell. Of course, she was alone. People not running for their lives took the elevator.

  When she heard the door crash behind her, she squealed in terror, sprinting as fast as she could with every part of her on adrenaline overload.

  In blind panic, she scampered down one flight, two, then three…aware of Todd gaining on her. Did this stairwell have cameras? Would anyone see her? But who was she kidding? If her husband offed her here, the surveillance equipment would either sadly “malfunction” or the video of her murder would mysteriously “disappear.” There would be no escape and no justice if she didn’t secure them herself.

  “Stop running, bitch!” Todd growled about halfway down. “I won’t hurt you.”

  She didn’t dare listen. “Liar! Go away!”

  “No. You’ve been a thorn in my ass for two years.”

  “I didn’t see anything,” she lied, even though her common sense told her that didn’t matter.

  “You saw everything.” Like a man with renewed purpose, he ran faster.

  Finally, she had the presence of mind to run out of her heels and leave them behind, dashing on bare feet toward the exit as fast as she could. In that moment, she thanked god that she’d always enjoyed a good run or a challenging spin class. Between that and her fight-or-flight instincts, she managed to race down the last three flights, putting distance between her and Todd, until she shoved open the next door with a cry, emerged into the marble-floored lobby, and skidded to a stop in the middle. The massive drum chandeliers overhead flooded the expansive space and seemingly shined a spotlight on her.

  At her intrusion, heads turned. Discerning gazes swept over her from head to toe with a sniff of disdain. Then people looked away, whispering judgmentally to one another.

  Madison didn’t care. She spun around to the stairwell door as it opened again. For a split second, Todd appeared in the frame, then saw other people whip toward the sound. He slinked back to the shadows, but not before she caught the warning on his face. She might be getting away now, but he was coming for her…

  Wrenching her keys from her pocket, she fled through the grand lobby doors, careening around the side of the building and through the parking lot until she reached the swanky German car her husband had insisted she needed.

  Madison would bet anything he could track it, along with her phone. Now she was on the clock, and she had to ditch every way Todd could possibly trace her—before he caught up with her and finished what he’d started.

  When she reached the car, she flung herself in, locked every door, then skidded out of the lot, blending in with traffic. Tears poured down her face.

  She couldn’t stop to unpack everything she’d witnessed and what that meant for her future. She had to get out of town and come up with a plan to stay safe. She didn’t have a moment to lose.

  Within ten minutes, she found a big-box store. Inside, she bought two boxes of dark brown hair dye, a ball cap, cheap sunglasses, flip-flops, a cable to transfer files from her smartphone to a USB drive, and a burner phone. While she set up the new device, she offloaded a collection of precious pictures of her dad and her friends, along with the disturbing video of Brent Westbrook’s murder, onto the portable storage drive. Then she tossed the fancy phone onto the passenger seat, slipped on the sandals, gathered her purchases, flung her credit cards all over the parking lot, and used the last of her cash for a taxi to take her to the train station with a stop along the way at a pawn shop.

  Inside the sleazy little store that would make a black light shudder, she hocked her wedding ring, blocking out the day Todd had slipped it on her finger and the girl who’d been stupidly hopeful about their tomorrows. That had been an illusion. Tonight, she was burning that girl from her mind forever.

  Since the three-carat diamond was a family heirloom, Winston Pershing would, of course, find it. That meant Todd would, too. If they hadn’t already guessed, they would know she’d fled. But she would be long gone by then, god willing. The question was, how far away would she have to go to escape their corrupt clutches? And how would she keep her father safe?

  Flush with cash from the pawn dealer, she hurtled back into the taxi and sent a one-line text to Sadie, the only person she considered a friend in DC, who had insisted she check in after seeing Todd.

  Help.

  Two seconds later, Madison’s new phone rang, and she answered without speaking.

  “Is that you?” Sadie asked.

  “Yes.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Madison didn’t dare talk in the cab. In truth, she hated to drag her sweet, sassy friend into this mess. The fact her mother, Willa, was the Pershings’ long-time housekeeper only put them both in an awkward position. “I need my bag.”

  Sadie gasped. “The go-bag you set aside last week so you could leave Pershing’s pompous ass?”

  “Yes.”

  “About damn time. Where you at? I’ll bring it. But I’d sure love to smack him upside the face with it first.”

  “I-I’m heading to Union Station, but we can’t meet there.”

  Too many cameras. If she and Sadie connected in such a public place, the Pershing machine would find out Sadie had aided the enemy, and they would be merciless. Madison had to spare her friend their wrath.

  “There’s a coffee shop down the street. It’s a dive, but they’ll be open,” Sadie suggested. “I’ll leave campus on my bike now and meet you in the ladies’ room. How far away are you?”

  “Um…” Madison looked out the window, trying to push aside the night’s horror long enough to glean where she was. But she’d lived in Alexandria since marrying Todd. She wasn’t terribly familiar with downtown DC. “Ten minutes?”

  “You’ll beat me there,” Sadie warned. “But I’ll hurry.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  “You sound rattled.”

  Madison bit her lip and tried to stop shaking. “If something doesn’t feel right…”

  “No one will follow me, girl. In case you haven’t guessed, I’m beneath their notice, and I keep it that way. But if I think I’m being followed, I’ll hit your new digits and bail.”

  “Be safe,” Madison whispered, hoping she wasn’t making a grave mistake.

  They rang off, and she stopped the cabbie in front of the coffee shop. As she exited, she shoved her artificial blonde hair under the ball cap, tied her designer coat around her waist, and looked down as she entered, heading straight for the restroom and locking the door to the one-holer with trembling fingers.

  She flipped on the light and stared into the mirror. Madison almost didn’t recognize her chalky face and eyes that had aged a decade in a handful of hours.

  While she waited for Sadie, she indulged her compulsive need to wash her hands. Her eyes stung. Her throat constricted. Guilt for not calling the police and not saving Brent’s life ate at her. Brent’s mother was a sweet Southern lady…married to a ruthless bastard of a consultant who did oppo research on political enemies in the swamp for exorbitant fees. Montrose Westbrook worshipped money and would likely accept a chunk of the Pershings’ boatload to sweep Brent’s murder under the rug. His wife, Genie, would weep for the loss of her only son.

  Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door. Madison nearly jumped out of her skin and barely muffled her scream.

  “Girl?” That voice belonged to Sadie.

  Madison let out a sigh of relief and wrenched open the door to find her friend looking amazingly gorgeous—as usual—except for the concern on her face. “Thank you for coming.”

  Sadie pushed her way inside, then locked up behind her, gray backpack in her grip. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but right after you called, Mama told me the family erupted in panic. The senator is pacing and furious as fuck. Todd’s daddy is frantically making phone calls. Predictably, Agatha is doing what a senator’s wife does—hobnobbing with the press she considers her ‘friends’ while giving Cynthia valium like it’s candy.”

  So they knew what Todd had done and were already doing damage control, including keeping her mother-in-law, who was prone to hysterics, sedated.

  “Where’s Todd?”

  She shrugged. “Mama didn’t mention him at the house.”

  That meant he was still out looking for her. “Anything else?”

  “The family is asking about you, girl. All over town… They’re ‘worried’ they haven’t seen you in hours. You have to get out of here. Change clothes.” Sadie shoved the bag in her hand.

  Madison tore into it, stripping off everything except her undergarments, then donning a pair of black jeans, a baggy black V-neck shirt, and some dark sneakers. She shoved her dirties in the bag. She’d dump them elsewhere later. “Better?”

  Sadie shook her head, sending her waist-length braids bouncing around her. “I still think what I thought the first time we met. You’re too beautiful not to be noticed and too delicate for this life. What the hell happened?”

  “I can’t involve you anymore. It’s dangerous.” And Sadie was a twenty-one-year-old honors student with her whole life ahead of her.

  She asked. “It’s already dangerous. Give me something.”

  On the one hand, Madison didn’t want to put Sadie in the Pershings’ crosshairs. On the other, if the family found her before she escaped town, Madison feared what they would do. They probably wouldn’t kill her—at least right away. But they would make her life hell because she’d proven more than once that she wouldn’t put the family’s reputation above her morals. Since then, they’d used every means possible to minimize her. How long before they silenced her altogether?

  “I went to Todd’s ‘love shack’ to demand a divorce. I found him. I watched him kill Brent. I caught it on video.”

  Sadie’s jaw dropped. Her dark eyes threatened to pop from her head. “Are you shitting me?”

  “I wish I was. I especially wish Todd hadn’t seen me and chased me down a stairwell with a bloody knife, threatening to kill me, too.”

  “Damn…”

  “I’d go to the police, but—”

  “Don’t bother. The Pershings own tons of cops and every judge in town. You gotta run, girl.”

  Exactly. “Where? I can’t hide forever.”

  “Go where they can’t touch you.”

  Madison scoffed. “Unfortunately, Mars is a little chilly this time of year.”

  Sadie put her hands on her hips, her brown skin gleaming under the harsh lights of the bathroom. “I’m serious.”

  “I am, too. There’s nowhere in the world their influence doesn’t reach.”

  Sadie sighed. “Then go home.”

  Madison gaped in return. “What the—”

  “Not that fancy-schmancy condo Todd bought to be your gilded cage. Go to Louisiana.”

  “That’s the first place they’ll look. And I don’t dare endanger Daddy.”

  “He’s in a medical facility. He’ll be okay for now. But you gotta reach safety, and all those badasses you know—”

  “Are now married and have children. I can’t put them in jeopardy.”

  “Not all of them.” She raised a brow. “What about Matt?”

  Madison rued the day she’d been lonely, imbibed too much wine, and spilled the deets about her weekend with the rugged cowboy. “As far as I know, he’s still single. But he didn’t want me then. He’s not going to want my trouble now.”

  “Make it worth his while, girl. You two have unfinished business. If he’s not interested”—she shrugged—“he’s not. But I’m guessing he wouldn’t want you to die.”

  Madison sighed. She didn’t want to gamble on Sadie being wrong…but she was out of options. “All right.”

  “Good. Now go. I’ll miss you, girl.”

  “I’ll miss you, too.” She gave Sadie a teary hug, fearing her life would never be the same again.

  After a promise to stay in touch, Madison slipped out of the coffee shop. No one looked at her twice.

  Nearly twenty-four sleepless hours later—after renting a cheap motel room long enough to dye her hair, using cash to purchase a last-minute train ticket to Atlanta, and then hopping a bus to Lafayette—she crept onto Matt’s property. Over the past two years, she’d stalked the heartbreaker on social media. He didn’t post often, but if he had moved, one of their mutual friends, probably Tessa Garrett or Laila Scott, would have mentioned it.

  Finally, with her destination near, the Louisiana sky opened up and the hot summer rain poured down. She slinked toward Matt’s brightly lit porch, wondering if he was even home or out with someone beautiful and willing who wasn’t fighting for her life, when he suddenly appeared at the window, phone in one hand, beer in the other, staring into the night. He was bare from the waist up, and he looked more solid and powerful than ever. Her breath caught. Her heart flipped. A battalion of butterflies dive-bombed her stomach.

  On trembling legs, she drifted to the window, getting a closer look at his rugged shoulders, hard chest, and the ribbed abs that disappeared into the waistband of his low-slung sweatpants.

  God, she couldn’t even count how many times she’d touched herself and thought of him…

  That isn’t why you’re here. Focus.

  The time had come to ask for his help. The question was, would he protect her? Or would he merely break her heart again?

  Chapter Two

  Lafayette, LA

  Matt Montgomery cursed as he stared out the window at the pouring rain. He’d lived in Louisiana for three years, and there were still things he didn’t understand about this state. Like swamps all over the damn place, hungry gators, and a community who spoke a version of French that sounded nothing like the language he’d learned in high school. Now he had to contend with a summer rain that lasted for days and felt like a hot, sticky blanket.

  Why did he still live here? Right, because he liked the people and the Southern hospitality. He loved his job. Nothing but his father and bad memories waited for him in Wyoming.

  And you keep hoping she’ll come back…

  With a curse, he turned away and paced the house he’d been renting since impulsively deciding to stay in Lafayette. He had no business thinking of Madison Archer. Or rather, Madison Archer-Pershing. Three years had passed since Trees and Laila’s wedding, when he’d spent that mind-blowing weekend in a suite, sharing champagne, cheese fries, his deepest secrets, and the most off-the-chain, mind-blowing sex of his life with her. Now, she was very much married to some bigwig senator’s grandson. She’d moved out of the bayou and moved up to the world of wealth and influence—two things he could never give her. Besides, he was no good for her. That weekend had proven it.

  Those realizations were the big turd on top of a giant shit sundae.

  His phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his pocket, praying it was work. He could use some adrenaline and action to take his mind off Madison and spice up his night.

  Instead, he found a text message from Casey, his latest friend-with-benefits. As usual, she didn’t beat around the bush.

  Rain turns me on. Let’s fuck.

  Normally, he would. In fact, since news of Madison’s engagement to Senator Winston Pershing’s grandson, Todd, had splashed across newscasts and social media, Matt hadn’t turned many offers down. A hookup at a bar here and a sexy sleepover with a neighbor there? Why not? A blind date? A flight attendant? A random quickie at the grocery store? Check, check, and check. Hell, he’d even nailed a former client, a gym pal’s little sister, and Madison’s high-school nemesis. He’d totally been game for that. When he’d met Casey at a community food festival and they’d gotten to talking about mutual acquaintances, she’d pointed out he had already fucked two of her friends. They’d apparently left with smiles, and she wanted some of that for herself. At the time, the arrangement had seemed perfect. After two weeks, he wasn’t interested anymore.