Novels by James Wald

Maddison's POVThe silence they had so carefully built after that serious misunderstanding about who fathered Maddison's baby…the paternity test wouldn't last long at all. Maddison’s stomach had turned upside down as soon as Grant's phone dropped on the table. The CFO's trembling voice had shattered the silence in the room.Their personal troubles were far from ending, because the call from Marcus Lex was proof that they…their family had an even greater battle looming in the future. Government officials…SEC had emerged out of nowhere.And the next three days at home resulted in complete chaos. Their tush penthouse, where they always felt so safe, turned into a buzzing center of activity. A type that Maddison had never witnessed since she moved in. Phones stopped dialing, and no one slept for more than two hours daily. They now moved all their research…discussions to the top floor of Harrison's enterprise shortly after. Maddison and Grant had reduced their lives to that one place becau

Maddison's POV“Because I know what they’re capable of,” Grant muttered, keeping his voice low. “The board, the investors, the media. Maddison, they’re like sharks. The moment they smell blood, they go crazy.” When he spoke, he had to bend his neck in order to meet her gaze, since he was now sitting on the coffee table in front of her.“I've put everything into it. Into this company. Seeing that headline online, watching them try to turn our unborn into a joke made me panic,” he’d said. He shook his head. He had appeared embarrassed, as though he was looking at the hands he was using.“You panicked with a plan,” Maddison said. She was remarkably calm, and this was the absolute opposite of what was happening in Maddison. “This was a feeling problem. Which you’d of course tried to fix with a lab's piece of paper. Isn't it?” Maddison continued.“I tried to build a wall,” he told her. “I wanted a document so strong and real that no one could hurt you and the unborn baby again. Never again

Maddison’s POVJamie’s tone had changed. His nice, cool attorney’s demeanor simply vanished. He was now putting on a much tougher-looking expression."When we asked for the RUSHED report on the test result," he said,"they quickly put their best hands to get the results. They'd picked up something peculiar from last night right away.""What?" Maddison asked. She was rubbing her eyes in anger. "What happened?"“Someone had tried to bribe them.”It was like the breath was being sucked out of the room. Maddison’s chest was tightened. She just couldn’t breathe.“A bribe?”“A lab worker said he'd received a call from a burner phone or something like that,” Jamie began speaking in careful sentences. “There was an offer of fifty thousand dollars. Cash. The caller didn't want them to change the results, not exactly. He just wanted to swap the samples.”Maddison’s stomach was doing somersaults at that instant. Her feet felt like they were planted on the ceiling.“Swap them?”“He wanted the test

Maddison's POVThe luxurious penthouse now felt like a glass box that had imprisoned her.This had been going on for a day since the clinic visit at Dr Evans’. The silence was kind of deafening. And this was worse than the noises of the various sites Maddison had worked at since when she had been the LEAD ENGINEER at Harrison Enterprise.She was standing in the vicinity of the kitchen when she looked at the herbal tea she had brewed. The tea had been cold for the last hour. Her finger then traced the rim of the cup.Round and round. A circular motion of her nerves.Tick. Tick. Tick.The old clock in the corridor was purchased from an auction in London by Grant. And the ticking of the clock had always been reassuring to her, but now it was as if the countdown of a bomb was ticking inside her.However, Grant did neither work in the living room nor did he made the usual series of phone calls that he normally did each day. He only stood beside the huge window, staring at the city of Charl

Maddison's POVHis eyes flew open. For a moment, everything was blurry before coming sharply into focus on her face."It's nothing," he had managed to say. He was breathing heavily. "Just dizzy.""He's going to pass out!" cried the nurse. Her friendly voice had ended just as soon as she said the words. The tubes were switched in the blink of an eye. "Breathe! In through the nose and out of the mouth!""I am breathing,” Grant growled the words out, but a weird whistling escaped him. He’d leaned his head against the wall behind him. "Just get it over with,” he’d said.Maddison just stared at him. A sick feeling had churned in her belly. This was more than being afraid of needles. Grant was the type of man who could walk through a construction zone where steel beams had swung through just above his head. He would not be afraid of sharp things."Is it your chest?" Maddison had asked. She reached out and touched his knee. The angry flush had now left her face to be replaced by a chilling d

MADDISON'S POVThe silence in the black car was heavy. It was pressing against Maddison's ears, damping the sound of the engine and the soft squeak of the tires on the pavement.Maddison had to be seated by the right against the passenger side of the car because being anywhere but near the middle armrest felt as though she was not safe.Her eyes were fixed on the dark window sliding past the cityscape's blur of color gray. This was only the first day since she'd left the living room to walk out on Grant and leave him in the quiet space when she'd decided to participate in this ridiculous plan. This crazy test…the paternity test. It was just yesterday.She had not slept the previous night. Dark circles under her eyes were hidden behind large sunglasses."The driver is going to take us through the back door," Grant had mentioned.His voice startled her. It was rough and deeper than usual, as if he had been shouting the whole night.She looked up and saw a bus going by. "Okay."The word