Taken by Storm (Give & Take) - By Kelli Maine Page 0,65

the phone and bent over, curling into a ball. “Oh my God. My dad.” MJ grabbed her before she fell, and Merrick scooped up her cell phone.

“Hello?” Merrick said. “I’m a close friend of the family. Mr. Simcoe works for my father. What happened?”

MJ lifted Maddie in his arms and carried her to the bed. “He’ll be okay. I promise, he’ll be okay.” He prayed he was right and the news wasn’t that Mr. Simcoe had already left this earth.

She reared her head and glared at him like a wild tiger, then beat against his chest with her fists. “This is your fault! If you hadn’t stolen my ring, I would’ve been there! Enzo did this!”

MJ captured her wrists and pinned her to the mattress. “What are you talking about? Why would my grandfather hurt your dad? They’re best friends. That doesn’t make sense.”

“Because I’m here with you!” she yelled, her face contorted with rage. “He’s been threatening to fire my father for over a year if I didn’t stay away!”

MJ let her go and backed away. He didn’t understand—must’ve heard her wrong—couldn’t think because of the freight train rushing through his head. “He was the reason you left me?” It was unreal. His head spun and for a second he thought he might pass out. “Why?”

Maddie jolted up, throwing her feet over the side of the bed. “It doesn’t fucking matter now! I didn’t listen. I had to follow you here to get my ring back. This is your fault!”

Merrick staggered over, set a candle on the nightstand and handed Maddie her phone back. “They said he fell down a flight of stairs and hit the back of his head pretty hard. He’s unconscious, but stable. They’ll call with updates.”

Maddie fixed her eyes on Merrick’s, blue granite to steady brown-black like MJ’s own. “Are you saying it was an accident?”

With his hands on his hips, Merrick slowly turned his head from side-to-side like he was trying to hypnotize a snake about to strike. “I heard you say Enzo did this. I wouldn’t put anything past my father. Right now those are the only facts we have. Let’s focus on what we know and worry about the rest when we can get to him. I’m going to call and have another helicopter on standby for when the storm passes.”

Maddie’s head fell into her hands. Merrick tightened his lips and stared at MJ, a thousand questions running through his eyes. MJ didn’t have any answers.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Merrick said. “Let me know if you need anything.”

MJ watched him leave and close the door behind him. Between the crashes of thunder, he listened to the soft sobs from behind Maddie’s hands. Why hadn’t she told him? Why would Enzo want them apart?

A pain stabbed through his chest. Was the woman in the woods right? If the woman was his subconscious telling him not to trust Maddie, had he known all along that she was hiding something from him?

“Mads,” he said, twisting his fingers through her hair. “You have to talk to me. I have to have answers.”

She didn’t budge. He took her hands and pried them away from her face, turning her body to face him. “Now, Maddie. You will tell me now.”

“No!” She tore her hands from his, grabbed his pinkie finger and yanked her engagement ring off of it. “I changed my mind. I want to marry Talan,” she said, her blue eyes hard as steel. “When I get off this island, I never want to see you again.”

The weight of her words slammed into him. His future flashed before his eyes and left a black, gaping hole in its wake as she put the ring on her finger and left him sitting there all alone.

Twenty-Four

God, the absolute anguish in MJ’s eyes as she put the ring on her finger was enough to make her heart stop. She’d never forget that look. It would haunt her until the day she died.

She didn’t want to marry Talan. Her words to MJ were childish sharp jabs of revenge for making her come here to get her ring back.

That’s what MJ did to her. He made her say things she regretted.

If she’d stayed away from him, her father wouldn’t be in the hospital. She wouldn’t be stuck here without a way to get to him. When would she stop making mistake after mistake when it came to MJ?

Maddie swiped at the hot tears of grief and sorrow streaming one after another