Shattered Hearts

Chapter 4

Madelyn
Present Day
"You're actually going to go through with it? Are you crazy?" Charlotte was looking at me like I'd grown three heads.
I shook my head in defeat, "I couldn't say no Char."
She rolled her eyes, "Yes you can, you just did."
There was a long pause.
I knew why she was mad.
She knew about everything that happened.
She was there through it all, and this probably killed her more than it did me.
It took her a while to forgive me after everything. To fully let it go, and this wasn't going to help.
"I'm sorry Char. But it's just a few months of fake dating. Then I'm done with him for good."
She got up from her seat on the couch and placed her hands on my shoulders, "Don't let this turn out like last time Maddie." She said, her blues eyes piercing mine with fierce intensity.
I shook my head, "He already broke my heart once, I'm not going to let him do it again."
She sighed, "If only it were that easy."
Then she let me go and turned on her heel, "If you're going, I'm coming with you. You're going to need help selling this lie, plus, I'm sorry babe, but I don't trust him around you."
I laughed softly, relief trickling through me, at least she seemed to trust me.
I was always a little skeptical that she'd fully forgiven me, but her trust was enough proof.
I just hope her presence was enough help to get me through this whole scheme of Liam's.
•••
The Van Brattenburg estate still struck me after all these years.
Clara and Thomas Van Brattenburg were English royalty and their estate screamed it.
The giant mansion was beautifully landscaped with large flower bushes adorning there front and ivy crawling up the stone siding. The entrance was an imposing double door painted a deep black, and the lion head knocker has always freaked me out.
As soon as I hit the doorbell, the door swung open. Their butler, Rudolf, appeared on the other side. He was a small man in his mid sixties, and he made a mean chicken soup.
"Rudy!" I exclaimed, crossing the threshold and pulling him into a big hug. He'd been around as long as I could remember, and he used to leave us candy when Clara didn't want her kids to have any. And when we got older, he'd get us alcohol. He also always made me soup when I got sick, and edited every English paper for me in high school. I'd missed his presence in my life a lot.
"Miss King." He said softly, pulling back from the hug and smiling, "You look so old."
"I hope by old you don't mean wrinkly."
He laughed, "Don't even start miss."
He reached down to take my bag from where I'd dropped it and started leading me towards the stairs.
The foyer was large, with two arches to the left and right that lead to a big dining room and a beautiful living room. In the center of the room was a large staircase, with a hallway to the left that lead to the kitchen and the back of the house.
Rudolf was heading towards the stairs, and as we ascended, he spoke.
"Mrs.VB is on business and will be back tomorrow, Mr.VB will be back tonight for dinner and the boys are out for a run. Do you know when Lady Charlotte will be following you?"
I laughed softly, "She's here already, she fell asleep on the drive and I was too scared to wake her up, you know how she is."
He snorted as he lead me down the hall towards the bedrooms, "Probably smart, you wouldn't want a black eye before tonight."
"No no, that would definitely be bad."
Rudolf opened the guest room next to Charlotte's bedroom, and stepped aside so I could enter.
Each of the six guest rooms were decorated the same, but in different color schemes. Pink, Blue, Green, White, Purple, and this one in Yellow.
This room had always been my favorite.
"So." Rudolf said as he placed my bag on the ottoman as the end of the bed, "You and Liam?"
I nodded, "Yep. Me and Liam."
A hint of a smile crossed his lips before he headed for the door, "I am going to go wake up Miss Charlotte."
As he exited I fell back onto the bed.
What the fuck was I getting myself into?
•••
Liam
4 Years Ago
I still remember the first time I saw Madelyn King. It was my earliest memory of life, I was only two when they brought her home from the hospital. All the adults were holding her too high for me to see, so I had climbed up on the kitchen table in my muddy sneakers and demanded to see what everyone was fussing about.
Her dad had let me hold her.
She'd puked all over me.
At least she'd learned to puke in a toilet since then.
And that's where I found her tonight, violently puking in the bathroom of the guest room next door to Charlotte's bedroom.
Everything, including the attached bathroom was decorated in a pastel yellow. I thought it was ugly, but Maddie has always seemed to like it in here.
Her red hair was fanned out across her back, reaching almost to the waistband of her ripped blue jeans.
"Fun night tonight?" I chuckled softly as I leaned against the door and looked down at her. She looked so small curled up on the floor like that, but her small muscular arms were taunt around the edge of the toilet bowl. She could still probably kick my ass if she wanted to.
I only say that because she had before. Granted we were kids, but she was fucking feisty when she wanted to be, and sometimes when she didn't.
Her hand shot up as she leaned over and wretched again, shooting me the middle finger.
After she was done, she leaned back and wiped her mouth, when her eyes met mine I could see the mischief glinting behind her pupils, "Fuck you."
She braced herself on the toilet and attempted to push herself to her feet. She was still dressed for the party my brother had thrown tonight, low cut yellow top, and her grungy black chucks sliding on the old white title as she failed in her attempt to get to standing.
She tried again, not even making it as far as she did last time.
She would keep going until she made it up. She never gave up on anything.
"Where's Charlotte?" I asked, linking my arm in hers and hoisting her to standing before she fell to the bathroom floor again.
"I could've gotten up myself." She muttered as she brushed herself off.
I rolled my eyes at her, "Sure you could've. But it probably would've been tomorrow morning after you fell asleep here so what I think you meant was 'thank you Liam.'"
She shot me her signature glare. When she was six it was often accompanied by sticking her tongue out too, but she hadn't done that in a while.
"Charlotte went back to her room because I puked in there first and she didn't want to listen to me."
I sighed, I hadn't been alone with her for this long in years.
"Are you ok Mads?"
She visibly tensed.
I rarely called her that name anymore. I rarely spoke to her anymore.
"I'm fine." She bit out, "Charlie decided to play bartender tonight and there was pepper juice in some of the cocktails."
She was allergic. But just enough to make her puke, not enough for a hospital visit.
My brother should've known that.
I smiled, trying to relieve some of the tension I'd accidentally invited into the situation. If my brother was here I would've strangled him for making her sick. But he wasn't and she was his girlfriend, not mine, so I had to let it go. "I was worried you'd become a light weight," I teased softly.
She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm offended that that even crossed your mind."
I rolled my eyes and leaned my back against the door frame, "You are a junior in high school, you technically shouldn't know your alcohol tolerance yet."
She snorted, "Says the guy who has gotten drunk every weekend since he was fourteen."
She made for the door and I let her pass. She looked a little wobbly on her feet, but she was determined.
"I only drink because you're always around and you're annoying as fuck." I teased, poking her side as she passed.
She paused and shot me an angry look, but there wasn't much fire behind it.
"Oh shut up asshat."
I laughed softly as she continued to leave. When she got to the bedroom door she paused and turned to look at me again.
"Why weren't you at the party tonight?" She asked, her voice soft.
I hesitated.
Was she looking for me?
Did she want me to be there?
"Wasn't in the mood to party. Why?"
She shrugged, "Charlie almost made me lose at beer pong."
I smiled. "We are kinda an unbeatable force at that game, aren't we?"
She snorted.
"Never lost a game with you."
Then she left, leaving the bedroom door open behind her.