The morning after Cole, Maddie didn’t wake up in his bed.
She didn’t need to.
She let herself out while he slept, warm and tangled in the sheets, his breath still heavy from what they’d done. His scent clung to her. The bruises on her hips ached, delicious reminders of how rough and real it had all been.
But Maddie wasn’t interested in lingering.
Not now.
Something inside her had shifted.
A gear had clicked into place.
She wasn’t just a guest anymore. Not just the live-in babysitter being toyed with by the glittering, seductive power couple.
She had tasted them all now—Vanessa’s intrigue, Lucien’s elegance, Cole’s brute hunger—and emerged stronger.
More dangerous.
More herself.
By the time she descended into the breakfast room, freshly showered, skin glowing, silk button-up knotted above her waist and white shorts hugging her hips, she didn’t walk.
She glided.
Vanessa was there already.
Hair pinned up. Skirt slit high. She looked like she belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine and the boardroom agenda in equal measure.
Her smile was feline.
“Well. Good morning, darling.”
Maddie poured herself coffee, not breaking eye contact.
“Is it?”
Vanessa took a long sip, lashes low.
“You’re wearing him.”
Maddie didn’t deny it.
“Was bound to happen.”
“Oh, I knew it would.” Vanessa tilted her head, watching. “I just didn’t expect you to stay the night.”
Maddie smirked.
“He didn’t give me much of a choice.”
“No, dear. I don’t think you gave him one.”
The tension danced, playful, electric. But beneath the banter, there was a shift.
Vanessa saw it too.
Maddie wasn’t just being chased anymore.
She was setting the pace.
Lucien arrived minutes later.
Late. Polished. Smug in that signature silk-shirt-and-bedhead way that made hearts melt.
“There she is,” he drawled, strolling in like he owned the morning. “Didn’t see you after the greenhouse…”
Maddie didn’t rise to it.
She leaned against the table, long legs crossed, sipping coffee.
“No. You didn’t.”
Lucien chuckled, clearly thinking the game was still in his hands.
“I thought about coming back.”
“But you didn’t.”
He faltered, just a breath.
“I figured you needed time.”
She set her mug down slowly.
“What I needed,” Maddie said, stepping toward him, hips deliberate, voice low, “was something you weren’t offering.”
Lucien blinked.
“And Cole was?”
Maddie stopped just short of him. Her hand trailed up the placket of his shirt—not to seduce, but to remind.
“Cole didn’t ask permission.”
Lucien’s mouth parted.
“Is that what you wanted?”
She leaned in.
“No,” she whispered, brushing her lips near his cheek, “it’s what you wanted. To be the one calling the shots. But you hesitated.”
Her hand dropped. She turned away, striding back to the table like she owned it.
“That’s the last time anyone waits for me to decide what I’m worth.”
Vanessa was silent, watching.
Lucien stood rooted in place.
And Maddie—Maddie picked a strawberry from the bowl and bit it in half, licking the juice from her lips without shame.
“So… what’s for lunch?”
The rest of the day moved strangely.
Lucien avoided her, pacing the gardens, clearly off his game.
Vanessa hovered like a cat with a secret, her eyes glittering with something between admiration and strategy.
And Cole?
Cole didn’t say much.
But when Maddie passed him in the hall, he pressed a hand to the small of her back.
Possessive.
Proud.
Hungry.
She didn’t stop.
Didn’t need to.
She knew he’d follow when she called.
That night, she found herself alone by the pool again.
This time by choice.
Moonlight shimmered on the water, the same water where she’d once thought she was alone—before the watcher in the bushes. Before everything changed.
Now she welcomed the attention.
She let her robe fall.
Nude beneath the stars, she walked into the water, unhurried.
The chill of it was nothing compared to the fire inside her.
She swam to the center, let herself float, bare and open, every inch of her slick and lit by moonlight.
From the trees… she heard it.
A crack of a twig.
A footstep.
She didn’t even flinch.
She turned her head, grinned to the shadows.
“You can come out now.”
And slowly… from the dark… they emerged.
Not just one figure.
Two.
Lucien.
And Vanessa.
Both dressed in black. Silent. Watching.
Maddie didn’t speak.
She only smiled.
Because this time—
She was the one being watched.
She was the one with the power.
And they knew it.
XOXO
Maddie’s Page