All Chapters of CEO's UNEXPECTED WIFE : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

MADDISON'S POVThe silence and feeling of the hotel library had been a temporary shield and a break from the public shame which had been handed to her in the ballroom. The last words from Grant to her that night, the words that he had spoken while he was on the phone as his gaze burned into hers had echoed in the quiet that followed days after.We have to review all this trash…this embarrassment. All of it. I don't care what it costs to do itHe had turned around to her when he'd gotten off the phone, his face a mask of hard anger and firm plan. His orders were short, in a low voice that simply did not allow for argument; Go home. Lock your door. Don't answer the call of numbers you don't know. And Maddison… don't watch the news. Trust me.A car from the hotel's private garage had driven Maddison out into the night that evening, and Grant and his team were left to deal with the war that was declared on the company's Gala grand floor.For forty-eight painful hours, she'd obeyed him but

Arthur Sterling's warning hung in the air of the empty hallway, a final, somber note after the boardroom's mix of panic. Grant Harrison had just bet his empire on her. *******************************************MADDISON'S POVTo Maddison, on the floor of her apartment building, the first payoff of that bet had just come in the form of a black car, a group of silent men, and a firm, strong knock on her door.The knock was not just wild, It was worse. It was firm, strong, and solid, the knock of a woman who knew she was in her own house and was not planning to leave. Maddison stepped back from the door, her heart thumping against her chest like a hamster in a wheel. The flash from the street camera had been a slap but this sudden knock felt like it was an attack. They've got her address. Now they've turned up. A reporter? A crazy fan from the comments?She breathed quietly, wishing they would just leave her alone. The knock again, as steady, as tireless. And then, on the left side of

TYLER'S POV And her reality? Maddison's reality was; a billionaire on bended knee, a diamond knuckle-sized, and the huge love from an ocean of hundreds of faces.The difference was not a math problem he had to think about; it was a gut punch, a body blow that took the wind out of him. A hot, bitter shame crawled up his throat, choking him. This was not happening. It was not right. It was not possible."NO!" he gasped, his voice breaking. "NO WAY."A new thought, a frantic, rescue thought, began to form llqqqthrough the chaos of his self-pity. A trick. A media stunt. Or something even worse. Harrison…Grant Harrison…he was a hunter. He must have spotted her, so shining and sparkling and so innocent, and then decided he wanted her. He had to have known how helpless she was after Tyler had… after she broke up with him. He'd scared her. Impressed her with his power and money.The simple, sweet Maddy he knew, the woman who had imagined bridges, the woman happy with a picnic along the lake

TYLER'S POVHe laughed in a bitter-harsh tone. And just like so many weeks ago, she wouldn't give him any hope, she'd hang up on him before he even got a word out. He was the bad guy. The liar. The cheater. His name was poison on her tongue, and for Tyler, he couldn't be the hero if he was still the bad guy, so the book had to be rewritten."I have to be a victim as well," he snarled, his gaze shifting around the room as if the solution would suddenly manifest in the middle of the chaos. "We must be on the same team. It has to be us against them."He paused, staring at the torn ad poster taped to the wall. His own smug face was a joke but something in it flared; BROOKE. She was the best one to blame. She was already evil in his book. He could work with that. He could play on it.He began building the story, speaking the words aloud to make it happen, to hear the sound of it."It was Brooke," he started, his voice, practicing. "She was…she was jealous. Of you. Of us. She was always ma

MADDISON'S POVShe did not think she had a choice. She could hardly even gather a nod, a stiff little jerk of the head. That was enough consent. Grant’s mouth took hers again, this time without holding back. He got to his feet, holding her in his arms like a child, and walked away from the sofa. She was wrapped around his waist with her legs as he moved through the darkness, his feet steady and sure.He laid her out on the soft, super-thick carpet in front of the black fireplace, on to which he leaned himself, his body heavy upon hers. His hands that were silky and soft moments before, were hard now, moving under her loose shirt, his palms burning her flesh across the back. She gasped against his lips, a sound of surprise and want. He ripped her shirt up over her head and threw it into the darkness.His lips and his hands were now everywhere on hers, tracing the shape of her body with a hungrier desire. She had fought at first, her own body resisting, but his raw need was catching. It