Chapter Thirty-Five
Mauro
“Just get as many people there as possible. I don’t care who they are. Did you leave the outfit on her bed?” I ask Lauren, who thankfully has moved over to Team Mauro.
Our agendas match—make Madison see she’s deserving of love. I have no doubt that if I pull this off, she’ll be back to giving me hell tomorrow.
“It’s all set, but she hasn’t returned home yet,” she says.
“I drove by after my interview and her car wasn’t there.”
I pace around the grass, wondering where the hell she could be.
“What’s up, man?” One of my buddies arrives to help me set this entire thing up.
“Hey.” I nod toward the area where the other guys are lingering.
“Did you call her?” she asks.
“I texted her. I’ll call her now.” Lauren hangs up and I see that there’s a text message from Cristian waiting for me.
Cris: She’s outside the apartment waiting for you. I just woke up from my double shift.
Fuck. She’s come to talk to me and I can’t even make it to her.
Me: Tell her to go home. That I’m not there.
Cris: Pretty sure she’s going to stick around and wait.
Me: Do whatever you have to do, just get her home so Lauren can do what she needs to do.
Cris: I’ll try.
I pull up Lauren’s contact and send her a message so she’ll know what’s going on.
Me: She’s at my apartment. Cristian is going to try to get her to go home. Did you get a hold of her?
I pace a path from one side to the other. I need to pull this off.
Lauren: She said she’s an idiot and she’s going to wait for you until you come home. I don’t think she’s budging on this.
Damn it. I thread my fingers through my hair.
Me: Okay. She had texted me so I’m going to tell her to meet me at your house.
Lauren: Then I’ll kidnap her. Perfect.
Starting a new thread, I pull up her earlier text that I was going to ignore until she got here.
The three dots appear immediately.
Madison: I’m at your apartment. Just come here. Your brother just left. I don’t want to talk in front of Vanessa or Lauren.
I stare up at the sky silently asking why this woman is determined to be so stubborn.
That’s the best I have before begging her to go home.
Madison: Okay, I’ll head over there now.
Finally. I pull my thread with Lauren back up on my phone.
Me: She’s heading home now. Make sure you get her in that dress before you bring her.
Lauren: On it.
I spend the next hour preparing a scene going off someone else’s memory. It’s time to redo history.