His Revenge

Chapter 29 - Maddox

Maddox P.O.V

"What was that?" Francesca demands, struggling not to raise her voice and draw even more attention to our position. The tiny alcove off the hallway offered little to no privacy and seclusion from the curious gazes of the passerbyers returning to the hotel from a night out. Something neither of us had considered upon leaving the reception hall in a rush. And even now, I could still hear the faint thump of the bass. "We're you seriously about to kiss another woman?!"

I look down, unable to withstand the disappointment and hurt reflected in her eyes.

What could I say?

Denying it would only prolong our already long-overdue breakup. But I couldn't exactly be too forthright either and come across as more of a tool than she probably already considered me.

Shit, this is complicated.

And I only have myself to blame.

I'd fucked up.

Sure, it takes two to tango, but this was my doing.

My fault. I'd gotten swept up in the moment and let my emotions carry me away instead of dealing with my relationship issues. That should've been my priority, but all I'd done was compound the situation further.

"Hello?! Maddox!" Francesca waves a hand in front of my face, breaking my thoughts. "Are you just not going to speak to me?"

"I'm sorry." I finally say.

"You're sorry. That's it. That's all you're going to say when you almost cheated on me in front of your entire fucking family."

"I never meant for this to happen."

"I don't believe you. You invited me here, Maddox. You! No one else. You shouldn't have done that if you were having doubts about us."

"What do you think I planned this?"

"I don't know. Did you? Cause I honestly don't know what to think right now, Maddox."

"Look, I get I betrayed your trust. But you should know me well enough to know I wouldn't intentionally set out to hurt you or anyone. I invited you months ago when we were still..." I lower my voice as someone walks by. "Just fooling around. And I couldn't just suddenly ask you not to come without a reason."

"Maybe you should have."

A beat of silence passes between us.

"Francesca, I know you don't want to hear this right now. But I truly am sorry."

With a roll of her eyes, she scoffs and turns to the side with her arms folded tightly across her chest. "Are you?"

"Yes! It shouldn't have gone down like this. You and I are in a relationship. I should have had the decency to speak with you about how I was feeling. You deserved that much."

"Damn right, I do." She mutters before dropping her hands down by her sides and turning to face me fully. "Then why didn't you?"

"I didn't know how without hurting you. But now...I realize I did that anyway by dragging things out. We only decided to give this relationship a try... what? A few weeks ago?"

Her eyes fall to my chest as she softly says, "Yeah."

"Damn. It felt longer. So much has happened."

"I know." Slowly, she looks back up at me. "Maddox, there's something I need to tell you."

"What?"

"I uh... should've done this a while ago, and maybe because I didn't, I'm partially responsible for things ending up this way."