The Devil's Storm Read online

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Intolerable dirtball? Arrogant twat?”

  Madeleine’s sides were beginning to hurt from laughter. “Adrian, you suck at this.”

  “Hey! I’m giving you some great, quality insults here,” he protested with a laugh as he continued tinkering around on his laptop. They were lounging around the living room, both working on their laptops as some anonymous reality show droned on in the background. It was a miserable, rainy day. The windows were fogging, caught between the chilly air conditioning and a heavy mugginess that was no doubt burdening the air.

  “Did Victorians even say stuff like twat?”

  Adrian shrugged. “You're the one who knows the history of every word ever invented. And who cares? Fix it when you edit. You've been worried about this one line of dialogue for thirty minutes.”

  Madeleine typed up one of the ridiculous phrases Adrian had suggested, then highlighted it and moved on. It was silent again, both working harmoniously.

  “I was thinking we should invite Freya over,” she announced. “You know, maybe as a way of apologizing for being awkward weirdos in her store. Maybe for dinner. Or a swim. Her girls might enjoy that.”

  “Like we won’t be even more awkward and weird in our own house, but hey if you want to invite her over, by all means.”

  “This is true. Either way, it’d be nice to have her and her girls over.”

  “Baby girl, whatever you want.”

  “Baby girl?” Madeleine laughed.

  “Baby, baby girl, baby mama, whatevs you wanna be called,” Adrian answered as he clicked away at the design he was working on.

  “You’ve got to quit listening to so much rap,” she sighed in response.

  “Not a chance.”

  Madeleine peeked over at his screen. “You’ve been working on the same design for a week now. You're not even technically employed yet. What on earth are you working on?”

  Adrian narrowed his eyes at her. “You do understand that a lack of employment does not stop my brain from designing, right? I mean, you'd write with or without a publishing contract, correct?”

  Madeleine shrugged with a smile. “That’s true.” She inched closer towards him. “So what is it?”

  Adrian quickly turned from her. “You can’t see.”

  “Why can’t I see? It’s just a design—”

  “I don’t get to see your rough drafts, you don’t get to see mine,” he said, shutting his laptop as she climbed over him to see.

  “That’s petty!”

  “Said the pot to the kettle!”

  Then suddenly, Adrian’s phone blared some ridiculously loud rock tune that scared Madeleine half to death. “Speaking of employers,” Adrian started, looking at the screen. “Hello?”

  Madeleine felt a small tug of joy in her heart. Adrian’s face had brightened as soon as he’d picked up the phone. He was truly excited about this new job, and she loved how he wasn’t some spoiled rich kid too good to work, that his passion for engineering drove him just like writing drove her. She knew the past year without working had driven him crazy. Plus it sounded really cool when she’d attend the hypothetical meet and greets and publishing parties in her head when she’d get to introduce her tall, dark and handsome husband as a brilliant engineer.

  Husband, Madeleine repeated in her mind, giddy at the thought. She couldn’t wait to get to call him her husband. But she felt her smile faded as Adrian’s face grew more serious. The second he looked over and made eye contact with her, his face fell even more and he pushed his laptop to the side, stood and left the room.

  He never left the room for a phone call.

  “It started that way with Lee, too, remember?” Evelyn asked from across the room. She was draped across an armchair neither of them ever used. They always preferred to sit together.

  “That’s not what’s going on,” Madeleine denied in a flat tone.

  “He’s never offered to hide anything from you before. You two

  have been through rough storms. Whatever he’s trying to cover up, must be pretty big.”

  “Well, he’s not cheating on me,” Madeleine huffed.

  “Give it time,” Evelyn sighed. “You don’t deserve all this, and karma always comes back around.”

  Mere seconds passed before Adrian was walking back into the room, looking much more solemn than he had before his phone had rung. “Everything okay?” Madeleine began. “You look—”

  “Oh, no. It’s fine. Just a paperwork issue. Hopefully, I can start in a couple of weeks.”

  “A couple of weeks? What’s the holdup?”

  “Well, you know they’ve gotta work around that NCA, so there’s some back and forth between legal departments, but it’s fine. Really.”

  Madeleine gave him a peculiar stare. “Right…”

  “I feel like going for a run. Wanna come?”

  Madeleine looked outside. The rain had mostly let up, but she could see steam rising from the streets. The weather forecast had predicted intermittent showers all day. Who knew when the next one was due? "In this weather?" she questioned.

  "I love a good run after a rainstorm. The smell gets me every time."

  Madeleine eyed him suspiciously. "Why don’t you go? You seem like you could use the time to…I don’t know, de-stress or something.”

  Adrian laughed. “De-stress? I’ve not worked or had to put up with my family in over a year, I have a girlfriend I’m actually in love with; I’ve never been less stressed. You sure you don’t mind if I go alone?”

  Madeleine felt her jaw fall slightly but found herself insisting he go, despite the fact she knew there was so much Adrian wasn’t saying. He pressed a quick peck to her cheek before slipping on his running shoes and heading off in a dash.

  “He’s lying,” Evelyn chimed from the corner. “He's a terrible liar.”

  “Yeah, I know he is. What I can’t figure out is why he thinks he'd have to lie in the first place.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lying to Madeleine was the last thing Adrian wanted to do, but he couldn’t tell her the truth.

  He hadn't completely lied. There was an issue with the non-compete agreement that prevented him from starting work at Harrison Aerospace. The issue was named Lee Atwood and he wouldn’t be working at Harrison Aerospace for at least another nine months, a far cry from the “couple of weeks” he’d told Madeleine.

  The Harrisons had tried their best to work with Atwood Technologies on the non-compete agreement, but the threat of further legal ramifications prevented them from hiring him. Adrian was honored they’d even tried to fight it.

  But for God’s sake…what if Madeleine had been pregnant? He wouldn’t have been able to work until his child was born.

  Adrian was fully aware they didn’t need the money. Between his trust fund, investments and Madeleine’s money, they could give their children their every want and need, even if he never worked another day in his life. But his grandfather had quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson his entire life—“Without ambition, a man starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing.” He, Lee and his father must have heard it a thousand times. The man even had it painted above the door in his office. They had drilled the precept into his head for so long, it just became gospel. He didn’t deserve everything his family had been given if he wasn’t working to maintain it. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to be allowing his child to see him not living out that example, or to ask Madeleine to marry him when he wasn’t doing anything to support her.

  Worry started to mount inside him. Going for a good run would help relieve that stress — Madeleine certainly had him pegged. He needed to de-stress, to strategize, and to figure out what he was going to do.

  Tell her the damned truth before you turn out like Lee.

  Adrian shook his head. He knew he should, but for once the

  honorable course of action didn’t feel right. Madeleine deserved better. She deserved a husband who wasn’t a complete loser.

 
There was one option. It wasn’t an option he liked, but it was looking like his only choice. He slowed his pace entering Pulaski Square and found an empty park bench beneath the cool shade of a towering oak.

  He sighed as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his contacts for a number he hadn’t called in fifteen months. As the phone rang, he felt like some spoiled child tattling on his older brother.

  “Thank you for calling the office of Mr. Richard Atwood. This is Jonathan speaking,” his father’s long-time assistant muttered dully as he picked up the phone. “How can I help you?”

  “Johnathan, hey—”

  “Adrian?”

  “Um, yeah. It’s me."

  Adrian remembered that his name was probably mud to every single one of these people now, that they probably thought he was nothing more than some worthless—

  “It’s so good to hear from you. How have you been?”

  Adrian was surprised. Jonathan had always been ridiculously nice—Adrian didn’t know how the man worked for Richard Atwood—but he sounded happy to hear from him. “Well, pretty damn good. Mostly. How about you?”

  “Oh, I’m good. You know, same old, same old around here. We all hated it when you left.”

  “I know. I hated to leave, too. It wasn’t exactly the most ideal situation, but, here we are. Listen, I know Dad’s probably in a meeting or something—”

  “He’s in his office now, and he’s got the rest of the afternoon free if you’d like to speak to him,” Jonathan reported.

  Adrian hadn’t expected that. “Okay,” he murmured.

  “Great. I’ll transfer the call.”

  He muttered a hasty thanks, but the call transferred before he could finish. His father knew it was him from the second he picked up the phone. “Adrian?”

  Was he imagining it, or did his father actually manage to sound concerned? Or maybe he was just surprised that Adrian was calling.

  “Hi, Dad,” he eked out in response.

  “Is everything alright?”

  Why did something have to be wrong? But Adrian supposed when you didn’t call your father of your own volition for well over a year, a father’s first thought might be that something was wrong.

  “Um, yeah, yeah. Everything’s fine. For the most part."

  "…and?”

  “Well, there’s no pressing emergencies or anything, I just wanted to call and ask about something…kind of business-related,” Adrian stumbled in admission.

  “Business-related.”

  Why the one-sentence responses? Adrian figured he’d better buck up and say his piece. “Here’s the deal. I know my contract contained a two-year NCA.”

  “Which you signed.”

  “Which I signed. And have honored, up to this point.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Right. But an engineering job opened up at a local aerospace company.”

  “Harrison Aerospace. And you interviewed for it and got the position. Well done. We talked about this last week, remember?” his father said drily.

  “Oh. We did,” Adrian remembered. It had been during the entire Madeleine-possibly-being-pregnant debacle.

  “And let me guess, you can’t work for them because Lee’s going to push that NCA,” Richard continued.

  “So you knew about this?”

  “Nope, I just know Lee. And I know that as much as he pretends not to care, he’s still…upset, about you and Madeleine. Can’t say that I blame him.”

  Adrian went silent, trying to think of something to say. “I know. I understand.”

  “I also know that you were aware of the NCA in your contract when you signed it, correct?”

  “Correct, but—”

  “No buts, Adrian. You knew you were pushing the rules."

  Adrian felt any slight hope he had of this phone call going well seep right out of his body. Not only was the call useless, but now he was certain his father was just going to berate him for his “poor decisions”.

  But then, Richard cleared his throat. “However…since it’s just an engineering position, and Harrison Aerospace is hardly a competitor, I don’t think the NCA should apply. And if you want, I’ll be happy to pass it on to Lee.”

  Adrian breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes, that would be great.”

  “Adrian, you know the chances are still slim, right? I can advise all day, but that doesn’t mean he has to follow it. Hell, it could make it worse.”

  “I know. That’s all I needed though. Just a chance. After all, Grandad wouldn’t exactly be alright with me just sitting around for over a year. I keep thinking about him saying ‘without ambition a man starts nothing—”

  “And ‘without work, a man finishes nothing,’” Richard continued. His father was silent for a moment. There were so many things Adrian wanted to tell him, to convince him that he never wanted to hurt his family, but he couldn’t help who he was in love with.

  “I’ll talk to Lee tonight. His schedule is packed for the rest of the day, and this one may need a more personal touch.”

  His smile flowed from the inside out. “I really can’t thank you enough, Dad.”

  “It’s nothing. Really. A man should be able to work for a living. Especially given the circumstances.”

  They said terse, awkward goodbyes, and as much as Adrian wanted them to talk more, to start understanding one another again, he knew it was asking too much of his father to search his heart twice in one day. If he was willing to intervene for him, maybe one day, they’d be able to pick up the pieces once again. At least that’s what Adrian hoped.

  Chapter Fifteen

  It had taken Lee nine long months to leave McCollum Manor. Leaving the house meant finality, even though he’d hated the damn thing from the start. They never should have moved to that house. Why Madeleine thought she needed to get back to her roots in the first place was beyond him, but he had just wanted to make his wife happy. Now that Madeleine’s presence was no longer a factor, getting out was just a matter of letting go of the last remnant of their lives together.

  An apartment in Midtown would have been the most practical answer, but Lee thought it was just as impractical to pay several grand a month for a lackluster apartment with no character. When the realtor had shown him the house in Ansley Park, Lee had balked at a four-bedroom house. He was a single man now, and only home every other week. Why would he need four bedrooms? For the wife who cheated on him with his brother and the three children they loved but never saw the light of day? Jesus, it still hurt. Madeleine, their babies, all of it. Moving on with life was the last thing on his mind.

  It didn’t take Lee long to fall in love with the house, though. The second he pulled into the driveway, he knew it was a house that Madeleine would have chosen. Its dove-gray, stone exterior and slate roof set back in a green, tree-covered yard looked like a welcoming respite from the sleek, modern lines and lights of Atlanta. Inside, it was clean and classic. It all looked posh enough for a CEO to entertain, but it also looked like a real home. Madeleine would have appreciated all the built-in bookshelves in the master bedroom, and she would have adored the rooftop terrace with perfect views of the Atlanta skyline.

  It was just enough to spark the idea that maybe, one day, she’d decide she didn’t love Adrian after all. That she’d come back to him. It could happen, right? This whole thing with his brother was some temporary insanity. Adrian couldn’t possibly love Madeleine like he did. He had just been engaged to another woman when they had first started their affair for crying out loud. But as much as Lee had loved the house, there were still boxes of things left unpacked, sitting expectantly. It looked as if he were planning on moving right back out.

  His mother, of course, had been the first one to say something about it when she and his father had made a surprise visit on one of the rare nights he was home.

  “We decided that since you’ve not invited us to your new house yet, we’d have to barge on in,” his mother declared when he opened the door.<
br />
  “I’m never here,” he explained, knowing full well that his mother would not appreciate the state of his new abode as soon as she walked through the door. “Well, you might as well come on in.”

  “It’s a beautiful place,” Maggie Beth had complimented. “We almost bought a house in Ansley Park when you boys were—Lee, what the devil? What’s with all the boxes?”

  His face fell and he gave an anxious shrug. “I’ve been busy. I’ve not really had time to get settled. All I do is sleep and shower here.”

  His father had raised a skeptical brow as he gave a dry laugh. “I see watching the Braves on a brand-new big screen was a priority,” he noted with a nod towards Lee’s living room.

  “You can see every blade of grass on the field with that picture though,” Lee laughed as he led his parents into the living room.

  Maggie Beth rolled her eyes. “Lee, for landsake. You paid God only knows to have Madeleine’s house move-in ready, and you’ve not even moved into your own. It’s been six months!”

  “Damn…you wasn’t exaggerating,” Richard murmured as he sat down in front of the television just as the Braves relief pitcher struck out the opposing batter. “You can see every blade of grass.”

  “Richard, not now. Lee, we’ve got to get you unpacked. What about this weekend?”

  “Busy,” Lee said dismissively as the Braves went up to bat. Maggie Beth rolled her eyes as Lee and Richard focused on the baseball game. It didn’t take her long to find the remote and turn off the television just as Acuna came up to bat.

  Lee and Richard groaned in protest. “Maggie Beth!” Richard complained.

  “We’ve got business to discuss, Richard. Remember?”

  His father grunted. “Yes. Of course. Not that I think we’ll get anywhere with it.”

  Lee narrowed his eyes towards his parents. “What’s going on now?”

  Maggie Beth sighed. “Lee, why are you pushing this non-compete agreement with Adrian?”

  “Um, why would I not?”

  “Um, because he’s your brother?” his mother answered in a mocking tone. “He’s done you the courtesy of waiting for over a year, and he’s no threat to your company.”