Truth After Lies

Heartbeak romance novel

The next morning Maddy woke up feeling blessed and cheerful. She felt like a real life Cinderella. She brushed her hair and wore this deep red dress, it had slits at the front that covered just enough of her chest and the hem went down till her lower thigh. She lightly touched her face with colour and splashed on some of her favourite lip balm. As she walked into the dining room with her dark red heels she made sure to walk past Leo who resist the urge to look at her. She sat down beside Jaylen and pretended to indulge in a conversation while sneaking glances at Leo every once in a while.

"A toast," the king raised his glass as everyone else followed.
"At the end of the next few days there will be immense celebrations and enjoyment because of our families, and new ones. I'd like to toast our guests Madeline and her family, Veronica and her family. I'd also like to congratulate our two favourite boys, Jaylen and Leo," everyone toasted to that as Maddy felt uneasy. The thought didn't hit her until now and she felt sick but she couldn't move.

The crowd moved into the ballroom after drowning their drinks where a simple buffet was set for them and some light classical music was added. Jaylen asked her for a dance and for once she felt safe, in his arms, staring into his eyes and just swaying to the music like nothing else mattered.

"What's on your mind?" He looked uneasy but worried at the same time.
"Nothing," she looked away quickly and mentally slapped herself for acting so suspicious.
"Oh come on, talk me, please," he added in quickly with a cute little smile.
"Well . . .," Maddy wanted to throw her arms around him and beg for his forgiveness but they were interrupted.

"Hey Jaylen," Leo gave Jaylen a big hug, magic sparkling in his hazel eyes.
"Congrats Leo," Jaylen punched him lightly in the arm and a dark wave clouded his face.
"I'm sorry, what for?" Maddy couldn't stop smirking at him.
"Oh I'm sorry Madeline, I didn't even think about it. My apologies, well Leo here is. . .," Jaylen tried to explain but was interrupted by a very energetic Leo who hauled him away for a man to man dance.

"Well, since they're gone care for a dance?" The beautiful blonde that sat next to Leo asked her as Maddy simply nodded.
"You know him? I mean them?" Maddy quickly corrected as they swayed perfectly with the tune.
"Yeah, Veronica by the way. You must be Maddy, right?" Maddy couldn't help but admire the lady, she was, well, perfect.

Her brown eyes shined through as her shiny platinum blonde hair swayed below her shoulders. Just from those few sentences she spoke to her, Maddy could tell that she was an incredibly confident women, someone Maddy aspired to be. Her tan skin made her plump lips stand out even more. She was an angel in human form . . . Or was she even human?

"Dude, your staring," she said after a while and Maddy's face went as red as a tomato.
"Sorry, you're just really pretty," Maddy admitted out loud which caused herself to blush even more.
"Nah, it's all cool. I get that a lot. So what brings you here?" She asked calmly whilst eying the guys.
"I'm here because of Jaylen," his name itself caught her attention.
"What about him?" Veronica pushed on.
"Well, I'm supposed to be marrying him," she looked away, she didn't like to publicise.

Suddenly, Veronica halted but then started again. Maddy noticed her face went all bad then she settled.
"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" Maddy scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.
"No, no, I'm just a little confused. I'm here with Leo," Veronica looked like she was acting and sighed. Maddy's eyes grew wider and she thought back to all the breakfast sessions.
"What about him?" She re-enacted Verioncas line as Veronica smiled with glee.
"I'm meant to be marrying him, the prince of the kingdom. Don't you keep up with anything? That's why the king congratulated them, especially his own son," she said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world as Maddy's heart went pang.

She slowly stopped dancing and glanced across to meet Leo's confused eyes. Her eyes grew wide with horror and shock and she stepped back, away from Veronica, away from Leo. Leo's eyes widened and an emotion of sorry went through his face. Maddy jolted as Leo ran after her, it was quite dramatic and turned lots of heads. Leo caught her by the wrist as they reached the gardens and he caught her tight.

"No Maddy just listen to me," he started as Maddy ripped her hand out of his grip in fury. With fire burning through her eyes she controlled her hysterically uncontrollable sobs.
"I thought, I thought . . .," she began but she just couldn't. Her heart was already broken but now it was shattered.
"Maddy, stop, it's not what you think, I had a plan," he started, his eyes welled with tears that didn't dare drop.
"Do not tell me to stop, Leo. I was broken before and I was healing and now I'm shattered and it's all because of you," she clutched her chest as tears dripped in one motion. She wasn't done yet.

"You know what, think back to when I shot myself just so you could get away and be safe. Well, I regret that whole thing, the cops should've got you and your almighty highness status should be in royal jail right now," she was screaming at this point.
"Maddy, please just give me one more chance," his eyes were begging, his hands were begging, his face, even his lips were begging. She knew if she stood there any longer then she would've just collapsed onto him and forgiven everything he's ever done to her.
"You know what Leo, I've have a crappy childhood, an ugly life with heartless people in it but I've never hated someone as much as I hate you right now," he staggered back like it physically hurt him and before she knew it her knees gave out.

Alex and Mat carried her back to her room, supporting both sides with caution as Leo was no where to be seen. She collapsed onto the bed and cried to herself until evening. Mat patted her back and Alex brushed her hair.
"I'm really sorry Maddy, for everything we put you through," Mat whispered.
"I know you won't forgive us, you shouldn't cause we don't deserve it but I just wanted you to know that I'm genuinely and sincerely sorry," Alex wasn't laughing with his twin for once and sounded extremely genuine.
"We should've told you everything from the start, from his marriage to his identity to Veronica to everything," Mat went on.
"I know this is the wrong time and I don't want to ruin the mood but even though Leo seems really difficult to trust at times, he's the most trustworthy in this whole palace, except for his mother. He loves you with everything he's got. He may not be good at it but he's trying," Alex looked into her red, swollen eyes.

"What should I do? I'm so shattered I can't function properly," she said through a blocked nose.
Mat quickly jumped up on the bed and walked around like a model.
"Dress your best, strut the palace and give him a piece of your attitude girl," he put on an accent as Alex started to chuckle and eventually Maddy joined in.