The elevator dings, and Maddie unlocks the door for me. I’m limping a little, probably from the way Chase and I tumbled to the ground during our fight, but I haven’t complained. Nor will I, because no good comes from whining. Once inside, she helps me take off my tuxedo jacket before hanging it up. I slump to the couch, suddenly exhausted. Looking down, I see the blood spotting my shirt. I hear Maddie’s disapproving tsk before she turns to leave.

“Where are you going?” I ask, and Madison stops, turning back to me.

“To get something to help you clean up. Just give me a moment.”

Thank God. I had a quick flash that she might be ditching me at home and bailing after that fiasco. But apparently not. She disappears, and I lean my head back, a headache threatening to pound apart my skull. Part of it, I’m sure, are the punches Chase landed. He got a good one in to my temple that will likely leave an ugly bruise. Just as much of it, though, is from being pissed at myself.

How’d I let that happen? His catching me with my cock out and the two of us about to go at it shouldn’t have led to all that. Hell, his words were damning, but normally, I’d have been able to brush them off with returned barbs of my own. But that was the first time his arrogant snark had been directed at her . . . my Madison. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The object of my obsession walks back into the living room, having changed out of her fancy gown and into one of my undershirts. My necklace still hangs around her neck, though, the perfect mix of casual and fancy, both in us and in her wardrobe. A tiny smirk hints at the corner of my mouth, but I school my face as the movement cracks open my lip a bit more. “Ouch,” I grumble, snapping back to the present as Madison presses a rubbing alcohol-soaked cotton ball to my lip. “I don’t need that.”

“Shut up and let me take care of those. You two were rolling on the carpet,” Maddie says, scolding me like a school child but straddling my lap. “I’d use peroxide but you don’t have any.”

I grit my teeth as she dabs at the cuts. “You sure you’re not trying to just get some pain in?”

“If I wanted to hurt you, I’d have let you go to bed with the carpet fuzz still embedded in these,” she replies.

I do my best to hold still until she gets done, hissing when she’s finally finished with a cut on my cheek. “Fuck. Think you got it all?”

She sighs, looking a little worried. “Are you angry with me?” she asks.

I let out a sigh. I made her doubt her place here, with me. And I know that’s a shitty thing to do when her heart is so damn fragile and just starting to trust me. “No, Maddie. I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at Chase for saying those awful things. But mostly, I’m mad at myself for letting him get to me. He fucking deserved it, but he’s probably going to use that against me. Against us.”

“I’m so sorry,” she says softly as she looks down at her hands.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I say, putting my hands on her thighs. “I’m the one who lost control. I swear it won’t happen again. I’m not . . .” I can’t say her ex’s name, but it lingers in the air like an evil spirit.

Madison grabs my hands. “I know, Scott. God, I know you’re nothing like Rich. You were defending me, and there’s this whole weird mix of sibling rivalry. But your fighting your brother didn’t remind me of . . . that, not at all.” I feel a whoosh of air leave my lungs in relief.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have gone? Then he wouldn’t have that ammunition against you. Things could’ve just been the same as always, even though that’s still pretty fucked up with you two.” Madison shakes her head.

“Listen to me. I wanted you there, by my side. And I’m damn glad you were. I’m sorry it turned ugly and you got stuck in the middle of it. But it’s not about you, I swear. Chase and I have always fought, sometimes with words and sometimes with fists. The presentation setup was just too much pressure and we both boiled over. I hate that you were collateral damage. I’m sorry for losing it and not protecting you.” I wince, expecting her to give me a tongue lashing about not needing me to protect her, but she’s distracted and it slips past her.

“You two . . . it seems like everything you do is just another way to throw punches—literal or figurative.”

Her words make me think. Has there ever been any genuine love between us? Chase or Liv? It’s always been competition. It hasn’t been violent between me and Liv . . . but Chase and I have fought for two decades.

“Dad has put us against each other since we were old enough to walk. We couldn’t even share a swing set. Dad intentionally had it installed with one seat. I couldn’t even share that with him.”

Madison shakes her head. “Your father sounds like a monster. What sort of man could do that to his children?”

I nod and tell Madison about the things I haven’t told her, the parts I haven’t told anyone before. “Dad just always felt superior to others, usually people with less money, but sometimes people he just deemed weaker for some reason or another. I think he’s got this constant need to see which of us is the ‘better son’ and at the same time, ensure that neither of us surpasses him. If he’s not winning, if people aren’t looking up to him with respect and fear and admiration, then what’s the point?”

“It’s sad. He could do so much good,” Madison murmurs. “He’s so arrogant, though. It twists him, makes him just . . . destructive. But you can change it.”

I arch an eyebrow. “You think so?”

Madison nods. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Don’t you see? It’s his chess board, his rules. And while he’s busy competing with the whole world for dominance, he’s shrunk your focus to only competing with Chase, keeping you small. Or smaller than him, at least. Stop competing with Chase, with your dad, and just be you. Make your own board, your own rules, and play your own damn game.”

Her words make me think, but I admit, “It might be too late for that. Even if Chase hadn’t said what he said about you, this proposal setup is do-or-die for us all.”

Madison strokes my hair, almost petting me, and it calms me, clears my head to hear her words in my heart, not just my head. “He may have meant what he said. But I think it’s more likely that he was poking around to find a weak spot to exploit, just like y’all have always done. I was just a new pawn on the board.”

She sits back, her whiskey eyes sparking with fire as they meet mine. “You’re a smart man, Scott. Even if you win this proposal, if you take over the company, you still lose. Your father is the real winner. In my eyes, the only way this works is to come together with your siblings. Something your father obviously never wanted. Beat him at his own game. The three of you. Together. You told me you felt like everything is a competition. A winner and a loser.” She pauses, and I nod, knowing I still think that’s largely true. “Well, why in the fuck do you three let him win and y’all lose every time? If it’s a competition, use what you have, each other, and be winners together and make him the loser for once in his monstrous life.”

Her words start to hit home. Can I do that? Just completely change the power structure and dynamics of this game we’ve played our entire lives? I don’t know if I can or how to go about it, but I know if I have a snowball’s chance in hell, it’ll be because of Madison. “You know what? I’m glad to have you in my life,” I say, wrapping my hands around her waist and pulling her close, pressing my forehead to hers intimately. “I’m realizing more every day that you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Those are strong words, Scott.” It’s a statement, but the question is in her tone, and I nod, tracing her up and down her back with my fingertips.

“I mean them.” I pull Madison closer, kissing over the curve of her chin and down her throat, marveling at the feeling of her soft skin. I can feel the pull of the small abrasions on my face, especially my lip as I move against her, but I don’t care, needing her skin against mine too much.

“Mr. Danger . . . are you trying to seduce me?” Madison murmurs teasingly. “Because it’s working.”

“Good. Because I need you tonight,” I reply, pushing her shirt up and exposing her breasts. I push both of her nipples together and nibble on them, loving the way they pearl up under my attentions. Madison moans and grinds down on my lap as she arches her back for more. My cock bulges in my trousers, pressing against her panty-covered pussy and sending heat rising in my groin.

“Mmm . . . you have me . . . you have me!” Madison gasps, looking down at my hungry mouth. I suck hard, and her eyes widen before she shudders, pushing herself down on my bulge and groaning in frustration, wanting more. “Goddammit.”

“Shh, that’ll be round two,” I promise her. “For now, just ride me like you did the first time. Let yourself feel good.”

Madison nods, abandoning herself to rolling her hips on my rock-hard bulge, rubbing back and forth until I can feel myself rubbing between her lips and over her clit. I reach down, smacking her ass and squeezing her cheeks, easing them apart and sliding a finger deeper until I feel the silk of her thong and the puckered tightness of her asshole. “Mmm . . . is this mine too?”

Madison’s eyes are wide, nerves and need warring in their depths, but she rolls her hips faster, trembling on the edge. “Yes. Anything . . . all yours.”

I smile, biting on her nipples as I slip into her panties, coating my fingers in her honey. I press against her tight ass, whispering soothing words to help her relax as I slide one finger slowly into her ass. I hold still, letting her adjust as she rides me through my slacks. As she begins to buck, I press in and out, adding a second finger, and she’s pushed over, moaning my name as she comes, pulling my head tighter and smothering me with her soft tits. I moan, drawing it out for her as she freezes, then sags against me as her body dissolves. “Mmm, so fucking beautiful,” I murmur, kissing up to nuzzle her ear. “Are you ready for more?”

Madison, still panting, nods. “Anything. Everything.”

I smile in victory, easing her off my lap. “Bend over the couch.” My voice is hard, gravelly with need, but she does as I say.

Madison grabs the back of the couch, looking behind and easing her thong to the side to expose herself to me. She’s so damn perfect . . . dripping with her arousal and her tight little ass right there for me to claim for the first time. I’m tempted, so fucking tempted . . . but she’s got me so wound up I’m not in control. I’d hurt her, and I can’t allow that. Instead, I open my pants and push them down, taking my cock in hand and slapping her ass cheeks with it before tracing it over her wet pussy. “Mmm . . . I need you hard, rough, so I’m gonna fuck your sweet pussy this time. But this ass is mine.” I emphasize the promise by grabbing a handful of her ass in each of my hands and squeezing hard, loving the way my fingers create little divots in her lush curves.

“Oh, my G—” Madison says, but her words turn into a long gasp as I drive my cock all the way in, grabbing the T-shirt like a handle before thrusting hard over and over, knowing that she can take it.

Her perfect body takes it all as only Madison can, pushing back into me and challenging me, moving with me and turning my frustration and anger into something better. She makes it pure, sweet bliss as her pussy clenches around my cock and her moans fill my ears with her primal music. I pull on her shirt harder, and she squeezes around my cock, taking all of me in and sending tremors through my body.

“That’s it. Give it to me,” she moans, somehow knowing exactly what I need. “Oh, fuck, Scott. You’re gonna make me come again. Fill me up . . . just like that.”

Her dirty words add to the pleasure, and I smack Madison’s ass. She yelps, squeezing my cock and fucking me back just as hard.

I can’t last long, but I don’t need to. Madison’s wild underneath me, the two of us bucking and twisting, my cock grinding deep inside her. With a roar, I come, filling her body deep and hard. My balls ache, but the last of my pain and anger is pouring out of me, transformed into hope as Madison clenches her pussy around me and cries out my name, her body convulsing as she shatters too. I wonder if she feels as reborn as I do, like my whole world-view just fragmented and reformed into a new picture. One where it’s us as a couple, and my siblings and me are no longer competitors, but dare I say, friends. And my dad no longer has any control over any of it. But I don’t ask her, letting the possibility take seed in my mind.