Take a Chance on Me

Chapter Twenty-Five



Maddie tried the best she could to straighten her clothes, clumsily buttoning her top as Mitch zipped his pants. His face was unreadable as he smoothed out his hair and pulled at the T-shirt he wore.

She felt naked. Exposed. Shaken. With her heart skipping a beat, she sent up a silent prayer that all hell wouldn’t break loose.

Why was Shane here? When she’d called him over a week ago, she’d asked him to stay away, and she’d truly believed he’d follow her wishes. Tears threatened, but she squeezed her lids tightly to push them away.

Mitch walked to the door and flipped the lock.

“I’m sorry,” she said. It was woefully inadequate preparation for what was to come.

A second later, the door crashed open.

Shane stormed into the room, eyes narrowed on Mitch. She’d seen that look before: he was out for blood. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Shane! Stop!” she yelled.

He ignored her, his green eyes filled with ice. He breathed in deeply. “What were you doing to my sister?”

Mitch crossed his arms, looking like an immovable object as they faced off. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

The scent of sex seemed to infuse the room. Maddie flushed, her thighs rubbing together, reminding her that she wore no underwear. “Shane, that’s none of your business.”

“You said he was a friend.” With his expression fierce, Shane braced his legs as though preparing for a fight.

She might have skirted the truth. Guilty, she shifted her attention to peer over her shoulder. Behind Shane and Sam stood her middle brother, James.

“James.” She smiled at her quietly handsome, six-foot-two-inch professor brother. With his expression a study in wry amusement, his cool, rational aura enveloped her like a comfortable blanket in the face of Shane’s aggression.

Behind his wire-rimmed frames, green eyes that matched her own settled on her. “Maddie.”

She ran over to him, throwing her arms around him and giving him a hug, whispering in his ear, “Help me.”

He squeezed her tightly. “You got yourself into this mess, baby sister. You’ll have to get yourself out.” He kissed her on the top of her head. “But it’s good to see you.”

It wasn’t much, but it was enough to give her a sense of calm as she turned to face her oldest brother’s wrath. With as much dignity as she could muster while wearing no panties, she straightened. “Shane, I asked you to stay away.”

Mitch turned cool eyes on her. “You didn’t tell me you’d talked to your family.”

Guilt knifed through her. “Um . . .”

“And you didn’t tell me you were screwing a perfect stranger,” Shane said flatly.

“Um . . .” She gulped.

“Shit, all your talk about independence.” Shane’s expression turned thunderous. “F*cking the first random guy you happen across so he’ll give you a place to stay doesn’t count, Maddie.”

Even as anger flared bright inside her, she winced at the words. She opened her mouth to give him hell, but before she could, Mitch turned on her brother, moving faster than she’d ever seen him. Before she could blink, Shane was up against the wall with Mitch’s hand around his throat.

“Don’t. Ever. Talk to her like that.” His tone shook with rage and barely contained violence.

“Mitch, please.” Maddie ran over to him, gripping his arm to pull him off. It was like trying to move granite. He didn’t even budge.

James walked up behind her, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her back as Sam grabbed Mitch’s shoulder.

“Let him go, Mitch.” Sam’s voice was calm and controlled. “This isn’t the way to handle the situation.”

“F*ck. Off.” Mitch’s tone was like ice.


Sam’s fingers tightened. “Trust me on this.”

Shane’s face reddened, and Mitch’s hand tightened. Shane gripped the wrist that had him pinned to the wall, but he didn’t attempt to free himself. This struck Maddie as strange. Her oldest brother was a known ass-kicker. Half of Chicago was scared of him.

“If you ever talk to her like that again,” Mitch said, in a deadly tone, “I will rip your f*cking throat out.”

The air shifted, swirling with tension and far too much male testosterone. Maddie’s heart thumped hard against her chest.

Shane sputtered.

“Mitch, this isn’t going to solve anything,” Sam said. Mitch increased the pressure around Shane’s throat, turning his complexion another shade darker. “Do you understand me?”

Shane tugged at Mitch’s wrist, his gaze flashing with what Maddie could only suspect was fury. There was going to be bloodshed soon.

James ran his hand up her arm, giving her a squeeze. She pulled away and touched Mitch’s forearm. The muscles were taut under her touch. Inflexible. She said softly, “Mitch, please let him go.”

Mitch turned his head to her, unnamed emotion flickering in his eyes. She pleaded silently, and finally, he gave a slight nod. A second later, he released her brother.

Shane coughed, bringing his hand up to rub at his neck.

Cool as ever, James shook his head as though dealing with a bunch of unruly toddlers. “Maybe we should start again.”

Mitch’s attention fell on Maddie. “Maybe you should start explaining yourself.”

The coldness in his voice shook Maddie to the core. She bit her lip. “Can we have a moment alone?”

“No,” Shane said.

James sighed. “Let’s go outside.”

Sam cocked his head toward the door. “She’s been alone with him for weeks. Five more minutes isn’t going to matter.”

The office fell quiet, tension thickening the air as Shane and Mitch watched each other with the narrowed eyes of jungle cats waiting for the first flinch to attack.

“Shane,” she said sharply. “I’m not asking. I’m telling. Leave.”

Without taking his eyes off of Mitch, he nodded. “Fine, you’ve got five minutes.”

How dare he? She flew at her oldest brother, jabbing her finger into his big chest as his expression widened with surprise. “Listen, I’m twenty-eight years old. Your job of taking care of me is done. Got it? Finished. I’ll take as long as I damn well please.” She pointed to the door. “And you’ll sit outside patiently and wait for me.”

Shane’s lips quirked and he raised one brow. “Geez, no need to throw a fit.”

She let out a shriek and stomped her foot, pointing once again to the door. “Out!”

His expression softened, and a slow smile spread over his mouth. He gave a little tug to her hair. “I haven’t seen that temper in quite a while.” He looked up past her to Mitch standing behind him. “I suppose you have something to do with that?”

There was no answer from behind her, and Shane sighed. “All right, we’ll be outside.”

Maddie let out the breath she hadn’t realized had been lodged in her chest.

The three men moved to the door, filing out. Shane turned back and gave her the hard-eyed stare she remembered from her days of being a teenager. “I’d better not hear any more screaming. Shit, I’m going to have nightmares for months.”

Her whole body flushed. Why couldn’t the floor open and swallow her up? She jabbed a finger at the door and yelled, “Get. Out.”

He chuckled and shut the door behind him.

With a heavy heart, she turned to face Mitch. His expression was a blank mask. “Your brother seems prone to mood swings.”

She waved a hand in the air. “That’s just the way he is. I stopped trying to figure him out ages ago.”

Mitch’s mouth flattened into a hard line. He walked to the couch and sat down. “To what do we owe the pleasure of his visit? And why didn’t you tell me you’d talked to them?”

She shifted on the balls of her feet, looking down at the floor. If only that were her worst transgression.

She couldn’t evade the truth any longer. She understood her brother’s MO. He had information, and it had been the perfect excuse to come and check things out.

“I’m waiting.” Mitch’s tone held the hard edge of impatience.

With her throat constricting, she blinked back sudden tears. Please God, help me make him understand. “I called Shane over a week ago.”

“Let me guess: on the day you made your rounds around town?”

She couldn’t look at him. She fixed her gaze on the coffee table, which was filled with newspapers, a couple of biographies, and stacks of magazines. She swallowed hard. “Yes.”

“So what aren’t you telling me? Because you’re sure as hell hiding something.”

She twisted her hands.

“Look at me,” he said, his voice sharp and commanding, although this time it didn’t send tendrils of desire snaking through her.

Reluctantly, she raised her eyes.

His face was unreadable and remote. “Answer me.” She bit her lip. “My brother has a friend.”

“And?” The word was delivered like a single bullet.

“His name is Logan Buchannan. He’s some ex-military, black-ops type of guy who owns a security and investigation firm.”

Mitch’s face transformed to stone, growing more distant by the second. She didn’t have to go on: he knew. When she’d dared to think about this moment, she’d pictured anger, not coldness.

Her own blood chilled. Dread twisted in her stomach, making it hard for her to breathe. But she’d made her bed and now she had to lie in it and hope he’d understand.

When he didn’t speak, she went on. “I asked Shane to call in a favor. We asked Logan to look into your situation and the current situation with your father’s blackmailer.”

Those golden eyes, always so warm on her, turned to flat, dull amber. “You told your brother and some guy I don’t even know the things I told you in confidence.”

“Yes.” She dropped her gaze to the floor. “I’m not sure this helps, but Charlie knows Logan.”

“You talked to Charlie?”

“Yes, he helped us with the details I didn’t know.”

“So you went behind my back, talked to my friends, and told your brothers and some guy everything.”

She pressed her lips together. “Yes.”

“And you told them things about the blackmail that’s not public knowledge.”

Maddie swallowed hard as her throat constricted. “I did.”

“I trusted you with information about my family that nobody knows.”

“Mitch, I’d never jeopardize you or your family. I’d never tell them if I didn’t trust them implicitly. You know that.” She had to make him understand.

He leaned forward, putting elbows on his knees. “I want you to leave.”

“What? No. Let me explain.” The blood rushed in her ears as a wave of hot dizziness engulfed her. Fear and desperation warred inside her. “I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“You didn’t ask.” Flat.

She wrung her hands. “You would have said no.”

“I see,” he said, so coldly that it was like being doused with a bucket of ice water. “So that makes it right? You didn’t think I’d agree, so you went behind my back, talked to my friends, your family, and some black-ops guy, revealing the things I’ve told you in private, because you know best?”


She bit the inside of her cheek. “Yes, the same way you went behind my back and stalled the repairs on my car so I wouldn’t leave.”

His head snapped back. “That’s not the same thing, Maddie.”

“You lied, just like me. You went behind my back. Just like me.” She hoped he could see reason, but his expression said otherwise.

“I told you those things,” he said through gritted teeth, “because I thought I could trust you.”

“You can.” Her stomach clenched.

“The evidence says otherwise, now doesn’t it?” Cold, cold words.

Tears sprang to her eyes. “Please understand, I did it for you.”

“No, you didn’t. You did it for you,” he scoffed, shaking his head. “Tell me something. Why are you so interested in meddling in my life when you have your own to worry about?”

She reared back, stepping toward the door, unable to figure out how to handle this dead, cold Mitch who treated her like a stranger. “I wanted to help you.”

“You know how you could have helped me?” There was a cruel twist to his lips. “By being the one f*cking person who didn’t betray me.”

“I didn’t. That’s not what . . .” She trailed off, feeling helpless. She hung her head and said softly, “I’d never betray you.”

“Bullshit. If you thought what you were doing was right, you would have talked to me. ”

This ice. She’d prepared for fire, for burning anger, not this. She had no defense. No plan. She walked over to him and fell to her knees, taking his hands in hers. He didn’t even flinch. It was like he was made of stone, and she met his eyes. Hard chips of gold. “Mitch, I’m sorry, I wanted to help.”

He studied her as though she was a stranger. “You need to leave now.”

The words were a crushing blow, threatening to break her. She did the only thing she could think of and confessed the truth. “I love you.”

His mouth firmed. Eyes flashing, he pulled away and stood, moving around her and going over to the window that overlooked the nearly deserted parking lot. “I need you to leave.”

Her heart shattered into a million pieces and desolation swept over her. She hadn’t felt anything like this since her father had died and she’d woken in a hospital bed. That same heavy weight crushed her chest, numbing her limbs. Tears spilled onto her cheeks and she wiped them away. Her voice trembled as she spoke, already knowing the answer but unable to keep from asking the question. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes.” His tone was distant and unreachable. “Leave.”

There wasn’t any other choice left to be made. She got up and left. She walked like a zombie out of the office and down the hall. Out in the bar, Shane called after her, but she ignored him, breaking out into a run until she reached her car. With frozen fingers, she managed to insert the key into the ignition and start the engine.

Sobs shook her frame as the gravity of her mistake washed over her.

Her brothers and Sam rushed into the parking lot. She gunned the engine and spun out of the spot.

Everyone in Mitch’s life had lied to him. Betrayed him. Nobody, not even his mother, had stood by him. He’d risked his own career by destroying evidence, and his family had deserted him. When his life had fallen apart, he’d had no one.

Mitch didn’t trust anyone.

But he’d trusted her.

She threw the car in drive, tires squealing as she floored it out of the lot.

And what had she done? She’d gone behind his back and shared his deepest pain with strangers. It didn’t matter if her intentions were good. It didn’t matter she’d only wanted to help. All that mattered was that she’d done the one thing he could never forgive.

She could beg and explain until she was blue in the face, but it wouldn’t change anything. She’d violated his trust. Confided things that she’d had no right to reveal.

It was over.

The only thing left to do was go home.