Chapter 6

Madison’s POV

 I felt a gentle tap on my arm, waking me up from my nap. Upon opening my eyes, it all comes back to me…the events of the past day. Apparently it was not a dream and I’m officially living my own personal telenovela.

“The air hostess just came to inform me we’re about to land, I could carry you off the jet—but I don’t think that would be appreciated.” Ethan said with a tight smile.

 I could see he was also starting to feel the pressure we are about to be tackled with. Returning his smile, I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and turned back to the window, enjoying the last few moments as we landed.

The cabin pressure hissed, welcoming us into the hot, heavy air of a New York morning, as we stood up to make our departure from the jet—there was a change in Ethan’s body language. Gone was the easygoing man who made jokes, in his place was a celebrity billionaire. He stood taller than before and that ‘I’m important’ energy was oozing from all his pores.

  Stepping on to the tarmac, we were met by the Maverick’s Head of PR, Jones. ‘How do I know who he is?’ Well, he’s only one of the most sought out manager, for majorly his scary, straightforward, and ruthless approach to all things PR…of course I know who he is.

With arms crossed and a no nonsense tilt to his head he said, “You look like shit, Ethan.”

“Nice seeing you too Jones” Ethan responded, playfully exasperated.

“And yes, we have the lady of the hour, whom I used my entire night scrubbing from the internet,” he reprimanded, making me slightly shrink in on myself before adjusting back with a hopefully convincing confident raise of my chin.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly jumping for joy here,” I managed to get out in a breath. Jones looked as taken back as I felt, turning back to address Ethan—“This might actually be salvageable. The Board of Directors called an emergency meeting upon seeing you two ‘Break the Internet,’ they think she’s a corporate spy or gold digger.”

 

 Ethan took a calm step forward and placed a possessive hand on the small of my back, “She’s my wife Jones, tell the board I’m going to freshen up and hopefully have a double espresso, the meeting can wait till then.”

"Oh the Board isn't your major problem," Jones said, stepping aside to reveal a guarded black SUV with tinted windows. "Your father is in the car. And he’s already drafted the annulment papers."

Ethan’s grip tightened.

  ‘Poof’, there goes my wishful thinking, hoping I could at least get myself together before having to meet another member of the billionaire family.

  Having no other choice, we started moving towards the vehicle. The door to the SUV was opened for us by one of the bodyguards. Inside the air conditioning was set bone chilling high, it could rival the aura coming off of the man singularly seated inside the car.

The billionaire was he gently scrolling on his tablet completely unbothered, for the first fifteen seconds, no words were spoken; making me feel itchy and a little dehydrated. 

“A Vegas marriage, Ethan?” Micheal Maverick finally uttered in a calm voice of a person that has never had to shout—knowing he’s always being paid attention to.

“Surely, you did not think that low of me. You must have known I expected a scandal eventually, but this…this, was clearly not thought through—least of all by a son I raised.”

 To his credit, Ethan didn’t flinch, his hand tightened on my back; almost unnoticeable.

“It wasn’t a scandal, it was a choice, Father.”

“It was a choice made under the influence of alcohol and poor judgment,” Michael snapped. He pointed at a thick brown envelope laying beside him. “Those are annulment papers. I’ve already spoken to the Archbishop. For a generous donation, this weekend will be wiped from the record. You’ll sign them, she’ll be compensated for her... time... and we will tell the press it was a staged PR stunt for a new procurement."

  Micheal fully turned his gaze on me, making me straighten, behind his eyes, I could see he was just a man trying to protect his legacy.

“Tell me, Madison, is it? he started, “What is it you want? Your school debt paid off? A new apartment? Money? What is your price? Everyone has one. Name it and we can settle, you could be out of here in less than an hour with a new life awaiting you and your entire family.” 

Ethan’s hand found mine and locked on it tightly. “She’s not signing anything; neither am I,” he responded through clenched teeth.

“I can handle this mess and I’ll like to do that without you constantly breathing down my neck every few minutes, we’ll proof to both you and the public that this marriage is real and not a stunt. Unless, that’s not what this is about at all; tell me Father, are you going back on your words?”

At that, tension descended fully in the car— it looked like I was looking in on a matter I had no say in. Men were speaking for me in every direction not to talk of the secrecy surrounding Ethan’s words to which I’m not privy.

What have I gotten myself involved in? Deep down, in my gut, I have a feeling this could either end bad or drastically bad with me being the only casualty.