/Zane's POV/
"So, you knew?" Madison finally found her voice after several minutes of just staring at me in vivid shock. She set her plate down and reached for the cutlery that had fallen in her moment of surprise. "Well, that explains it," she mumbled as she rose back to her feet, but all I could do was stare at her with mixed reactions.
Honestly, I don't exactly know how to feel about what happened. I didn't hate it, so I wouldn't say I regret it, even though I should have. Allison would probably hate me for this, but I kept wondering—did I enjoy our intimacy because she looked so much like her sister, or was it just Maddy? It was a question I intended to find answers to.
"I can't believe you were going to pretend it didn't happen," I said, shooting her an accusatory look.
Annoyed, she snickered. "Well, I can't believe you were awake the entire time."
"Not the entire time, just for the most part. I woke up in the middle of it, or maybe a bit earlier… but that's not the point. The point is this has been going on the entire time, and you didn't think to mention it?" My frown deepened as her face morphed into disbelief.
"Um… right, I should have just said, 'Hey Zane, you were in my room last night, and we kissed and hugged,' and that would have made it better?" she replied in a tone dripping with sarcasm.
"So, you were just gonna what exactly?" I demanded in a cool, calm voice as I watched her express a wide range of emotions in just one sitting. It was unfamiliar seeing her look nervous when she's always so collected most of the time. Even when she returned after being kidnapped, Madison remained unfazed—but now she was evading my gaze like a criminal avoiding the police.
"I was doing exactly what I planned to do—pretending it never happened. It would be better for everyone. I—"
"You mean it would have made it better for you. Maddy, maybe we don't talk much, but I do remember complaining about headaches and fatigue… you knew the cause the entire time, but you kept it to yourself."
"I suggested you visit the hospital on many occasions, but you didn't listen, so don't spin this on me." She said it with a straight, hardened face that almost felt like she was warning me, not telling me. "Honestly, do you have a knack for blaming other people for your own problems?" Her question made me pause.
While she was right in this instance, I don't think I've ever done that before. So what gave her that idea? Honestly, what the fuck am I doing? This is so unlike me. I wanted to get a rise out of her, but definitely not like this.
"You act like you're the only one affected by this. Do you have any idea how I felt every time you slipped into my bed? You act like you're disgusted by what happened, like I made you commit a crime. Well, I'm sorry for tainting your noble body." She rolled her eyes in irritation, and my eyes widened.
I shot to my feet. "Wait, that's not—"
"What happened was a mistake. It won't happen again." She cut in sharply, her voice strengthened by resolve. "I'll be in my room."
"Maddy, wait…" She turned back and glared at me in a way that caught me totally off guard.
"And you were awake—for most of it. You had your chance to stop. You went at it like you couldn't get enough, and for two days you didn't say anything. And now you're pointing fingers? Unbelievable." She scoffed, then walked out and headed straight for the stairs, grumbling as she went. I flinched when I heard the door slam shut.
Did Maddy just throw a tantrum right now? I laughed. Her whole reaction caught me by surprise, even if she did misunderstand me. Although I have no idea how to convince her otherwise, I can't exactly tell her I got pissed by how unaffected she was about the whole thing when it was all I could think about.
"Shit," I groaned, staring at Maddy's unfinished breakfast, realising I'd just lost the opportunity to clear that up—but I probably shouldn't clear it up. I don't want to end up giving her false hope by telling her how much I enjoyed the sex.
She's Allison's sister. All that shouldn't have happened between us in the first place. I was still distracted by my conflicting thoughts, bouncing between what I wanted and what was right, when the door opened to reveal Noah, hugging his leather briefcase while being accompanied by one of Harry's boys.
Noah's eyes seemed nervous around the guy, though.
"Thanks, you can leave," I instructed the guy, whom I assumed had escorted Noah in because he didn't trust him enough to be alone with me—but Noah was too much of a wimp to try anything stupid. Also… I trust him.
"You should have called before coming over," I said before reaching for my fork to continue breakfast. Although hungry, I'd lost my appetite.
"I'm sorry about that. I wanted to deliver this myself." Noah shifted a sealed envelope onto my table while his eyes stalked the remains of Maddy's plate, a hungry appetite visible in his gaze. My eyes travelled between him and the food before I shook my head.
"You can have it if you want," I said absentmindedly as I focused on getting the envelope open. I paused as the contents came into view.
"They found it," I muttered, and Noah nodded with a sausage hanging out of his mouth.
"It wasn't in her apartment but Elias's." I scoffed. Why am I not surprised? Although Elias claimed he was in a relationship with Allison, he tried to steal her phone, which didn't make any sense. If anything, her phone would have proven their relationship—after all, he so badly wanted everyone to believe it, even going as far as hiring a reporter to write about their love story.
Although it might be hard to believe, Elias wasn't like that. In fact, the way he acts these days contradicts everything I knew about him, making me wonder if I ever truly knew the guy. Which is why I want to understand what the fuck is pushing him to act so out of character.
"I knew he wasn't the smartest pea in the pod, but seriously, he could have just destroyed it after he stole it," I mumbled as I slowly retrieved Allison's second phone—the only reason I handed Elias over to the police. I needed him to be out of the way so I could search his place. I needed to know why he wanted Allie's phone so badly.
The moment I discovered Allison had a second phone, I tried returning to her apartment to get it, but I couldn't find it, so I met with the building manager—more like called him to my office. Though he could hardly refuse since he was worried I might sue the damn apartment over what happened.
Apart from Vikram and his entourage of detectives constantly checking the place for clues, Vikram and someone else I couldn't make out from the CCTV footage had dropped by. He wasn't holding anything when he left, but I still felt like I needed to check him out. After all, he was wearing a coat—even if he'd taken anything, he could have easily slipped it into one of his pockets.
"I think it's dead, though," Noah said as I tried turning the phone on, but it remained unresponsive. I raised my eyes at him, and he turned away.
"You think?" He wasn't thinking shit. He probably tried to turn it on himself and figured it was dead.
"But shouldn't you submit that to the police?" Noah asked, as if trying to change the subject since he knew I'd blame him for looking at what was supposed to be directly delivered to me. I might have asked him to find men to do the searching, but I didn't ask him to go peeping at the results. I only pray his curiosity wouldn't be the end of him.
"I'll hand it over, but only when I know what's in it. Anything else I should know—like that thing I asked you to look into?" I asked just as I returned the phone to the paper bag.
"Actually, before I start talking about that… we might have a problem. Actress Katherine Snow has been dropping by your office these few days, and no matter how many times I tried sending her away, she just kept coming back," Noah briefed, and I groaned in discomfort.
"She also dropped by your place yesterday. I told her you moved because of renovations—which was also what we told the reporters—but they're having a hard time believing us since news of Elias's arrest due to your fiancée's abduction is now trending." Noah went on, and my head throbbed even harder.
"But that's not all. Your aunt dropped by the office yesterday—"
"She probably came to find me to drop my charges against Elias. Anything else?" I asked, unbothered by the news.
"Well, the managing department would like to know the next steps to take since other directors are threatening to pull actress Allison out of their projects due to the delay. Especially after Director Jones successfully did," Noah concluded.
I was still thinking of how to handle the slowly spiralling mess when a call came in from Harry. I picked up and listened for a second before turning my gaze back to Noah, who had now successfully finished Maddy's leftover meal.
"You were being followed!?" I frowned at Noah, who blinked cluelessly at my accusation.
"Sorry, what?" I turned away from him with an exasperated sigh.
"Just let her in, Harry." I concluded my call with Harry, who informed me someone claiming to work for me had come to find me.
"Miss Snow," Noah guessed, and I glared at him. I'd clearly told him to make sure he wasn't followed whenever he was dropping by this place. I'd be heading back home soon, but I at least wanted to be free of the reporters when I was here. If Katherine could follow him, how can I be sure he didn't have any reporters on his trail?
"I'm so sorry, sir. I didn't think she would."
"Forget it," I said dismissively while Katherine's shadow darkened my entrance.
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