I Choose to Love Me

Madelaine

“Attention passengers arriving from London Heathrow on Flight 283. Your baggage is now available for pickup at Carousel 6,” the intercom announced as I cat-walked toward the conveyor belt, AirPods plugged into my ears while music played softly.

I was way too calm for someone who was on the radar of very dangerous mafia men, but I was trusting my dad not to let me get killed, kidnapped, or trafficked.

Plus, I was in disguise, so no one was going to suspect that I was nineteen-year-old Madelaine in this impeccably expensive suit and Louboutins. I looked like a sophisticated businesswoman attending a meeting or conference in the U.S.

Which was funny, because despite the fact that I was technically American, I had never actually been to America before. My dad lived here, but every time I saw him growing up, he came to spend time with me in London—and to fuck my mom as well.

They had me when they were teenagers. My dad was eighteen and my mom was seventeen. They were too toxic to get married then, and up until my mom died of cancer six months ago, they were still toxic, either fighting or fucking and refusing to move on from each other.

I grabbed my first suitcase and stayed on the lookout for the rest.

My dad joined the Mafia really young, at eighteen, and my mom wanted nothing to do with that life. She didn’t want me involved in it either, so she moved me to London where I grew up away from my dad and his lifestyle.

My mom must be crashing out in heaven right now because not only has that life finally caught up with me, it has practically dragged me in by the feet. And in about ten minutes, my dad’s best friend—the one she hated so much and never even allowed to speak to me—would be here to pick me up.

My music was interrupted when my phone rang in my ears. It was my dad calling again for what felt like the one millionth time since I landed. I didn’t blame him. I was all he had left, and he obviously didn’t want me dead or captured.

“Dad,” I said, pressing my lips together.

“You’re alive,” he sighed sarcastically.

I could tell he was trying to keep me calm and stop me from panicking, but I also knew he was deeply concerned about my safety.

“Yes. It’s been three minutes since you last called,” I replied, grabbing my second suitcase.

“This is serious, Maddy,” my dad said.

“Of course I know that. I’m the one who got attacked and had her ribs broken,” I reminded him. The men that were after him attacked me three days ago, I’m lucky to be alive.

“Ben is on his way. We’re staying on this call until you find him,” my dad said firmly.

There was a nose mask covering most of my face. I doubted anyone would recognize me anyway, but whatever made my dad happy. I might be the one with the broken rib, but he understood the danger I was in.

“You’re wasting your phone bill. Who the fuck is even letting you have your phone in jail?” I asked.

My dad was a powerful man. I was pretty sure his jail looked like a five-star hotel with a jacuzzi and a barbecue grill. I don’t know why he is in jail, just like I don’t know why these men are after me or him, my dad never tells me anything. All I know is that he is going to be out soon.

“I have my phone so you don’t die,” he reminded me.

I rolled my eyes.

As soon as my dad got the news that I was attacked on my way back from the store—where I had gone to buy new clothes—he immediately arranged for me to come to America where I would be safe with his dangerous neurosurgeon best friend.

I caught my third suitcase and carefully locked them together so they would be easier to move.

I knew I was only spending the summer here until the threat was eliminated and it was safe for me to walk the streets without fear of being decapitated, but I had anxiety and I always overpacked. Plus, I needed an opportunity to try all the new sexy clothes I bought.

“You are so ugly and not sexy. I’m always ashamed to show you to my friends because they laugh at me.”

I remembered my ex-boyfriend’s crude words and clenched my jaw.

It’s fine. Stephen is an idiot and my ex-boyfriend who I caught cheating on me with my best friend because he claimed I dressed like a hag and was too boring for him.

I might not have been able to beat him up, but I made sure to beat the shit out of my best friend while she was on her knees sucking his cock. I got a few scratches on my face, but trust me—she was in a much worse condition.

“Madelaine?” My father reminded me he was still on the call.

“I’m alive, Father,” I replied aloofly.

“Can you find your way out of the baggage claim? Ben has arrived,” my dad informed me.

For some reason, my heart skipped a beat.

My mom had instilled a deep fear of the man I was about to meet. He is a psychopath and a murderer, even though he is not in the mafia like your dad, she used to say.

I swallowed thickly and started to move.

The baggage claim was very close to the exit, so it shouldn’t be hard to find him.

It was raining lightly outside, a soft drizzle coating the already wet pavement. Walking in these shoes was hard and painful as fuck.

My dad cleared his throat before speaking again.

“He’s tall and dark-haired. He should be standing next to a dark blue Bentley. Don’t get in the car with him if he doesn’t have a dimple.”

“I don’t know what a Bentley—”

My words got stuck in my throat when my eyes landed on the man who perfectly matched my dad’s description.

He was leaning against his blue car, towering over it, his arms crossed over his chest. He was dressed like a two-thousand-year-old vampire in an all-black suit with a matching coat.

He was fucking gorgeous.

His daunting eyes narrowed in on me and he straightened, a smile spreading across his lips and revealing the dimples my dad had mentioned.

His beauty struck me like a blow, and I could already feel butterflies swarming in my stomach, his intimidating aura swallowing the entire space around him.

Dr. Benjamin Cavanagh. The eccentric billionaire dubbed the Mad Doctor.

“Do you see him?” My father crackled in my ear.

“Yes.”