Shattered Hearts

Chapter 10

Madelyn
4 Years Ago
The next few months were nice. Charlie and I started up a romantic relationship, at the behest of our parents. It ended up being not as bad as I originally thought.
He took me out on nice dates, he texted me every day, and he started driving me to school every morning.
It wasn't a passionate romance, but it was comfortable and we were happy.
I barely saw Liam at all during this time thought. Since Charlie started driving me, we no longer rode with him to school. He avoided me in the halls, and never showed up to eat lunch with us. He stopped showing up at parties, and he came back to the house after midnight almost every day. I had no idea where he was going, but one night I heard his dad talking to him about his slipping grades.
I tried to ask him about it at the Thanksgiving dinner his parents hosted, but he straight up ignored me.
I was worried about him, but he was obviously pissed at me about something. I know something happened the night we went to the lake, but I had so much wine, the details were really fuzzy.
I outlined some of it in my journal, but a lot of it didn't make sense.
I'd tried to ask him about it back in September, before he'd really started actively avoiding me, but he just looked at me like I'd murdered his dog then got up and walked away.
Fat lot of good that did me.
He hadn't spoken a word to me since then. Literally not one word. He didn't even answer my texts anymore.
Oh well I guess. If he couldn't tell me what his problem was, then there was nothing I could do.
Plus, he'd probably have to talk to me at the Christmas Gala anyway.
Every year the Van Brattenburgs host a Christmas Gala at their estate in England for other nobility and their friends. I'd gone every year, my dad being Thomas Van Brattenburg's personal assistant. I still wasn't quite sure what my dad's job description entailed, but Thomas found him indispensable, so we went to a lot of their events.
This one though was probably the biggest of the year, their whole estate decked out in Christmas decorations.
And Liam couldn't avoid me in front of hundreds of people without looking like a complete dick.
Charlie sat on Charlotte's bed, they each had their own room at the English estate as well. These rooms were a lot less personal than the ones back in our Connecticut suburb, but they were just as fancy. Big beds, lush rugs, giant closets.
Which was were I was now. Changing into my dress for the event in Charlotte's giant closet.
The dress I'd chosen was better than I expected from the picture on the website. It was tight green satin, and landed just an inch above the floor. The cowl neck made my boobs look great, and my long hair was straight and fell almost to my hips.
I got the reaction I'd hoped for from a Charlie when I stepped out of the closet.
I smiled at him and struck a pose, "What do you think?"
His mouth hung open and he looked kind of like he wanted to jump me.
Perfect reaction.
"You look fucking hot." Charlotte answered for Charlie as she exited the closet behind me. She had on a strapless, floor length silver number and her hair was pulled back into a low bun.
"And you look like a disco ball."
Charlie teased.
She threw her clutch purse at him and he dodged it, standing up from the bed.
"Lets get down stairs. The party is waiting."
Charlotte rolled her eyes, "More like the 7th circle of hell."
I chuckled and let Charlie put his arm around my shoulders as we headed down the hall and towards the stairs.
I almost tripped during my descent down the stairs.
My eyes immediately found Liam in the crowd, I mean how could they not. He was watching me. He stood in the middle of a group of men about his fathers age, they were all talking, but his eyes were on me.
He wore a tux that was perfectly fitted to his body, and a red bow tie. His hair was styled perfectly.
His blue eyes pierced the crowd, and they made my skin heat. I thought I'd gotten the perfect reaction to my dress from Charlie.
I'm starting to think I was wrong.
As soon as we made it downstairs, Charlie got pulled away into important conversations. He wasn't inheriting the title, but he was still important. So off he went.
I stuck by Charlotte for a while. We ate the Swedish meatballs being carried around on trays and drank Champagne.
I talked to a bunch of stuck up, trust fund babies and nobility adjacents. Charlotte introduced me to all the people with the funniest names to see if she could get me to laugh.
I was doing fine until she introduced me to Benjamin Dover the third, and when he told me to call him Ben, all I said was, "Ben Dover?" And I lost it.
I was a little tipsy on champagne.
After a while, I ended up heading out to the patio. It was cold out, but I needed a minute to breathe. I didn't love being in huge crowds for too long, even if it was a fairly chill party.
I walked out onto the patio, my heels clicking on the stone.
I could see my breathe, and I had to rub my arms to keep myself warm.
"Cold?"
Liam appeared from the shadows to my right. A cigarette hung from his fingers, and he smiled at me.
I nodded and he went to take off his jacket.
As he handed it to me he eyed my dress, "Shame to cover up such a pretty dress though."
I narrowed my eyes at him and put the jacket on, "I saw you staring earlier."
He took a drag of his cigarette, and stared at me like so what?
"If you're not careful, you going to make someone think you actually like me."
He laughed softly. He looked like a prince, standing there with his sleeves rolled up and his tie undone. His hair had even been tousled out of its perfect styling.
He looked really good.
Then I realized he was smoking.
"Uhh.." I started, pointing at the cigarette, "When did that start?"
He looked at the cigarette, then to me question in his eyes, "What? This?" He asked, raising his cigarette a bit.
I nodded.
"You don't know everything I do, King."
I raised an eyebrow at him.
"You didn't smoke, or fail classes three months ago, Van Brattenburg."
He shrugged, "Things change."
Something dark appeared in his eyes though. I could see him adding more bricks to the wall he'd been building between us for months.
"What things?" I asked, taking a few steps towards him.
I reach for the cigarette he's holding and he pulls it away from me.
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at me.
I reached for the cigarette again, "You're doing it, so it can't be that bad."
His body tenses, and he holding the cigarette too high for me to reach. He looks angry.
"If this is your way of trying to get me to stop..."
I shook my head. "I just wanna try it."
His eyes filled with flames, "No fucking way."
"Why not?"
He shook his head, "It's bad for you."
"Then why are you doing it?"
He narrowed his eyes at me, "Because I'm self destructing and I'm allowed to be reckless before I inherit my dad's title and have to be a proper marquess for the rest of my boring life."
I raised my eyebrows at him, "And you just assume that I don't need to rebel a little? That my life doesn't suck? Huh?"
He snorts, "That's not really what I want to hear from the girl who's fucking my brother."
I stutter.
When I don't respond, he drops his arms and cocks his head in question.
"You and Charlie aren't..."
I shake my head, my cheeks heating.
I have no idea why I'm embarrassed. So what I'm not having sex. It doesn't matter. But Liam asking me if I am fucking his brother... uncomfortable.
I start to back away, stripping his coat off and handing it back to him.
"Madelyn." He says as he takes the jacket from me.
He grabs my wrist before I can get away.
"Liam just let me leave."
He pulled me closer to him.
When I met his eyes, they were full of concern.
We stand there like that for a bit. He just stares at me, and I feel too frozen by his icy gaze to try and break free of his grasp.
"Are you happy, Madelyn?" He asked softly.
I couldn't look at him. I couldn't even bring myself to answer his question.
"Liam, just let me go please."
He waited a few seconds before letting go of my arm.
Just as I reached the door, he called out, "Madelyn."
I turned to look at him. The cigarette was gone. He was standing tall and he looked regal.
He looked beautiful.
"You look amazing."