The Reckless Secret, Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire In Love BBW Romance) (16 page)

S
he wasn’t
sure why she was doing this, couldn’t help thinking she was making a massive mistake. There was something about walking down this corridor towards her meeting with Declan that inspired a sensation akin to foreboding in her gut. Every part of her was screaming she would regret this.

Still, her curiosity had won out. She wanted to know what Declan had to say.

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t freaking out. Halfway towards the meeting room, attempting a strong-and-sassy kind of demeanor, she promptly stopped and turned back, heading towards the staff room instead. She needed a minute,
God
, just a minute, to get control of herself.

She was about to see him. Look in his face and see his guilt. Or, worse—see no guilt at all. He’d already proven that he didn’t care.

Cami was in the staff room, sitting at the table, idly sipping from a cup of coffee and flipping through a stack of photographs. She looked up at Maggie and said, “What’re you doing here?” and there was an oddness to her tone, something awkward.

“Meeting,” said Maggie. She took a seat. “What do you have there?”

“Someone at my wedding had a Polaroid camera and she’s just found the pictures still in the purse she wore that day.” Cami shuffled closer to share the photos with Maggie, the scent of her sweet floral perfume floating pleasantly in the air. “Can you believe that? Who takes a ton of pictures and then
forgets
them. Anyway, she thought I might like to see them, so she sent them over this morning.”

She flipped through a few of the photos, each one a snapshot of perfection and glowing happiness. Maggie couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh, Cami. You look beautiful in these.”

Cami wore a soft smile of her own. “The whole day was beautiful.”

“It really was.”

“When’re we gonna get you up the aisle, hmm?” Cami asked, nudging Maggie playfully.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” said Maggie, snorting. “If I ever did, it wouldn’t be like this. Look at all those people staring at you. I’d be terrified.” She was terrified just
thinking
about it, a shudder running up at her spine at the image of her entire extended family, plus everyone from the club and random society leeches, all watching her awkwardly mumble her vows. She’d be so aware of everyone’s attention on her that she wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy the experience of marrying the man she loved.

Not that it was ever likely to happen anyway, she thought forlornly, shoulders slumping.

“So you’d do the whole small, intimate thing?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Maggie said, allowing, just for a moment, the fantasy to pass through her mind, like a fluttering sheet of silk in the wind. “In the evening, I think. Candlelight. Rose petals down the aisle.”

Cami gave her a considering look. “I can see you in a Vera Wang.”

“You think?” Maggie asked, perking up a little, but she didn’t have time to picture it herself, as Cami spoke again, all in a rush, and with the air of someone confessing to something heinous.

“I gave Declan Ashley’s number. I’m sorry,” she said, scrunching up her adorable face. “I just…I feel like you two are so
right
for each other.” She made fists as she said it, clearly impassioned, and Maggie wondered about it—what it was about her and Declan that made Cami believe in them so completely. She hadn’t even seen them together. “I shouldn’t interfere, though. I’ve felt awful since yesterday.”

Maggie smiled wanly. “He’s been cheating on me.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Cami said at once, voice full of conviction. Maggie blinked at her. “Trust me.”

“Why?” Maggie responded on a mirthless laugh. “Because he told you he didn’t?” She assumed that was the case, that Declan had filled Cami in on what had happened, told his side of the story—or whatever lies he could rustle up, anyway. She couldn’t help the sarcasm. “Oh, then obviously we have to believe him.”

The look on Cami’s face spoke of sadness, and out of nowhere, it hitched a lump into Maggie’s throat.
God, this hurts,
she thought. She’d spent her whole life avoiding a broken heart, and here she sat, the shattered remains of it piercing through her chest.

“I heard it in his voice,” Cami said. And then she said the one thing Maggie couldn’t hear, the one lie she couldn’t brush away and pretend didn’t affect her: “He loves you.”

Maggie almost choked on her response. “The only person he loves is himself.”

“He told me,” Cami said, with a compassionate nod, and Maggie’s world lurched around her.

“What?” Her voice was very faint, her whole body going hot all over with something like panic. He
couldn’t
love her. There was no way. She swallowed and tried to adopt a nonchalant expression, then mumbled, “Well, whatever. It doesn’t change anything. I’ve seen the proof of it.”

“Have you?” said Cami. “Or are you letting your past rule your heart now?”

Maggie stood up abruptly, chair scraping loud enough to rival the deafening pounding of her heart. Her stomach lurched with nausea, and she couldn’t even run away from this.

“I’ve got to go. Declan’s here, and I need to get it over with.”

“Listen to him, okay?” Cami implored, grabbing Maggie’s wrist before she could hurry off. Her eyes were deep wells of sadness, echoing the feelings churning in Maggie’s gut. “You don’t have to make any decisions, but…listen to him.”

She listened to him before. She listened when he made her feel as if he would change for her. She listened when he made her think he
cared
. She listened, and it cost her a heart she’d kept guarded for so long. After allowing him the privilege of being the first man to push past her barriers, she listened, and he wrecked her.

She would listen today, to what he had to say. And then she would make him listen as she said goodbye for the final time.

M
aggie took a deep breath
, hand on the door, and then pushed. She expected emotion to bombard her at the sight of Declan sat at the head of the conference table, to fight her instinct to crumble and run away. What she didn’t expect to feel was surprise.

Declan was there, of course. But so was Dr. Stevens. And they were both looking at her with twin expressions of what she could only describe as guilt.

Declan’s guilt, she could understand, even if she was pretty sure it was fake. But Dr. Stevens…?

“What’s going on?”

Dr. Stevens cleared his throat. “Ms. Emerson, please have a seat.”

Gingerly, she did as she was told. “Is this about my suspension?”

“Your lawyer here has informed me of a number of troubling things,” he said after a beat, gesturing to Declan. Maggie refused to look at him. Not yet. “One of which, I’m sorry to say, is Dr. Ronald Mitchell’s behavior towards you.”

The floor jolted beneath her seat. “Okay.”

“Now I’ve called him here—ah.” There was a knock on the door, and a new helping of panic welled in Maggie’s chest. “Come in,” Dr. Stevens called, and in walked Ronald, looking just as confused as Maggie no doubt did when she’d entered. Out the corner of her eye, she saw Declan lean forward onto his elbows, his body set in stiff lines. All of a sudden, the air in the room filled with a different kind of tension, and Maggie’s skin buzzed with it.

“Dr. Mitchell, please take a seat.”

“I’m in the middle of my rounds, sir.”

“This won’t take long.”

Maggie, trying to swallow down her thumping heartbeat, addressed Dr. Stevens as she said, “What’s he doing here?”

Dr. Stevens paused. “He’s here about you.” His voice was delicately careful.

“Maggie, are you all right?” Ronald asked, frowning, looking for all the world like a man concerned for a friend’s welfare. “You were so distressed yesterday.”

He couldn’t be serious. Was he actually going to pretend he hadn’t attempted to attack her? She snorted bitterly. “Oh, I wonder why?” she said, and his frown deepened.

Beside her, Declan shifted his weight. She could almost feel hot waves radiating from him, and she had to make a fist beneath the table to help contain her emotions.

“Ms. Emerson,” Dr. Stevens said, opening a notepad, his tone changing to something more businesslike, “can you please tell me, in your own words, about Dr. Mitchell’s behavior towards you these past few days?”

Maggie blinked. The lump in her throat had swelled, blocking her voice, and she couldn’t look away from the three sets of eyes pinned on her. Dr. Stevens, always so hateful, now watching her with compassion. Ronald, his scowl full of malicious challenge, daring her to speak, and Declan—she hadn’t looked at him, but she could feel his gaze on her like a brand.

Then, gathering her courage, she met his eye. And the look on his face hit her like a truck to the heart. He nodded gently. “It’s all right,” he said, and somehow, those three little words gave her enough strength to face Ronald and Dr. Stevens head on and tell her side of things.

“He, uh…” she said, then cleared her throat, strengthened her voice. “Just aggressive, really.”

“Physically?”

“Yes,” she said, while Ronald released a harsh noise of disbelief. “Mostly verbal, but yes, some physical aggressiveness too.”

Ronald slammed a hand down on the table, making both Maggie and Dr. Stevens jump and look at him with alarm. “What happens between me and Maggie has nothing to do with anyone here.”

Declan didn’t move a single inch, not even at the sudden slam of Ronald’s hand.

Like a tiger in the brush, biding his time, watching…

“It happened on hospital grounds,” Dr. Stevens said steadily, “and to one of my employees.”

Ronald huffed out a sigh of immense exasperation, and then looked at Maggie with appeal in his eyes. “Maggie—”

“Ms. Emerson, do you wish to make a formal complaint?”

“I…” Her hesitation hung in the air. This wasn’t what she wanted to string up Ronald for—her case against him was much bigger than a couple of aggressive confrontations. She couldn’t help but think that making a formal complaint now would distract everyone from what the real problem was—that Ronald had been setting her up for the stealing. Yet she couldn’t bring that up yet, not without some solid proof. She had to speak to Sanders before she started flinging the accusation around a boardroom.

Suddenly, making all three of them startle to attention, Declan stood up. “Can I have a moment alone with my client, please?” He bit the words out, and looked at only Dr. Stevens.

“Of course.”

Declan nodded, then pushed his chair away and walked around to Maggie. “Come with me,” he said quietly, and didn’t wait for her response before striding over to the door.

Maggie spent three seconds contemplating her options before deciding to do as he asked. It was either that, or sit alone in a room with Dr. Stevens and Ronald, and that was something she wasn’t willing to do without Declan present.

She guessed that made him some kind of safety blanket for her. Sadly.

Outside the room, in the harshly lit corridor, she found Declan pacing.

“What the hell is this?” she hissed at him.

Declan stopped in front of her, lifted a hand to touch her, and then aborted the movement. There was absolute fire in his eyes. “He has to pay for the way he’s treated you.”

“He will pay. He’s the thief—I’m gonna string him up for way more than feeling me up in a staff room.”

Instantly, she realized her mistake, and she winced.

Declan’s face went very dangerously sharp.

“Feeling—feeling you up?”

“I mean…pushing me around,” she attempted, but it was too late. His teeth were bared, and he was ready for the kill.

“Maggie.”

She sighed deeply and with great irritation. “All right. Yes. He tried to…force himself on me, okay? Didn’t get very far, though.”

His fiery eyes flashed, and he made a noise that sounded something like a growl from deep in his chest as he looked at the door, like he was looking
through
the door and at the man he was going to tear apart.

And just like that, Maggie was
done
.

“Oh, you can cut that out,” she snapped. “We both know you don’t really give a damn about me.”

The look he shot her was downright
incendiary
.

“Maggie, what you think you saw—”

“I know what I saw.”

“I can explain it,” he said at once, stepping towards her. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look unconcerned, but the intensity radiating from him was intoxicating. “I would never want to put my hands on any other woman,” he added fiercely. “Ever.” Then he stepped closer still, close enough for her to see every line of sincerity on his face. “You’re
everything
.”

She couldn’t do anything but stare back at him, her mind free-falling, her heart thudding a bruising rhythm against her ribs.

“If we’re ready to proceed?” Dr. Stevens asked, poking his head through the door and wearing an expression of impatience.

Maggie cleared her throat and said in a weak voice, “Yes, sir.”

Declan was still staring intently at her, deeply, as if trying to see through to the very bones of her. “Make the formal complaint,” he said. “Get him punished for it. He’s not the thief.”

She was shaking, she realized. Her hands trembled as she pushed locks of hair off her face. “How do you know?”

“Trust me.”

Biting her lip, she said, “I already tried that once.”

He took her by the shoulders, a firm grip, making her startle; then he dragged those hands across the slope of her shoulders and to her neck, cradling her jaw in his palms and stroking thumbs beneath her cheekbones. His eyes were glittering at her, captivating every ounce of her attention, and his touch on her skin was like sitting an inch too close to a roaring fireplace. “
Trust
me,” he said, and by God, she did. On this, she did.

She swallowed and nodded, and he kissed her forehead before letting her go, making her flutter her eyelids and almost cling on to him in the moments before she headed back towards the door, towards reality.

Dr. Stevens and Ronald watched her with precise focus as she took a seat again, no doubt trying to read her face, get an idea of what she would say. She waited for Declan to sit beside her and then opened her mouth, speaking in strong tones.

“I want to make an official complaint against Dr. Mitchell regarding the physical and verbal assault—”

“This is ridiculous!” Ronald exploded, launching himself to his feet, arms waving wildly. He looked desperately at all three of them before settling on Dr. Stevens, and implored, “Maggie and I used to be in a relationship, sir, and what happened between us this week was little more than a spat between lovers—” Maggie raised her hand and opened her mouth to interrupt, and Ronald said, “Former lovers! It’s a personal matter, sir.”

“Not while it happens in my hospital, to my employee, and after a formal complaint has been made. And this isn’t the first, Ronald.”

The whole room fell silent at that, abruptly and sharp, and for half a moment Maggie and Ronald shared a look of mutual disbelief.

“What?” Ronald mumbled finally.

Dr. Stevens nodded. “Two other complaints have been made about you in the last month. We’ve been investigating, but we can no longer sit on this.” He paused, while Ronald sputtered with extreme indignation and Maggie blinked in confusion, and Declan, saying nothing, remained a tight line of tension to her right. Then Dr. Stevens added, “You are suspended effective immediately, pending full dismissal,” and Ronald erupted into animated fury once again.

“You can’t be serious!”

“I’m afraid I am.”

“Suspend
her
,” he yelled manically, stabbing a finger in Maggie’s direction. “She’s the one stealing from you! You can’t fire me! I’m the best resident in this hospital!”

“That, I’m sure, is debatable,” Dr. Stevens said idly, straightening his cuffs. “Please collect your belongings and leave the premises. Unless you’d like me to ask security to escort you?”

What happened next occurred so quickly that Maggie barely had time to blink, let alone prepare for it. Ronald launched himself at her, spitting, “This is all your fault—” and his fingers closed around the air centimeters from her face in the instant before there was a crash somewhere in the room, and Ronald was propelled back from her, and then all of a sudden, he was flat against the wall beside the door, pinned there by a seething Declan.

“What did I say to you about touching her again?”

“See this?” Ronald wailed, trying to indicate to Dr. Stevens behind Declan’s shoulder while simultaneously—and futilely—attempting to push Declan away. “
This
is physical assault!”

“Yes, but he is not my employee…”

Maggie, gathering herself after the initial shock, got to her feet. She approached Declan and put her hand on his heaving back. The man was staring into Ronald’s face like a murderer in waiting. “Let him go, Declan.” And then, to Ronald, “Just leave, before this gets any worse.”

He made a face that quite clearly said “
How?
” and she gently pulled Declan away from him. Slowly, and with much obvious reluctance, Declan let him go, sucking in air through his teeth and still clenching his fists, and Ronald, knowing a lifeline when he saw one, scurried out of the room with his cheeks flushing almost purple.

Maggie heaved a deep breath and turned to Dr. Stevens.

“Can I go?” she asked. “Are we done here?” She’d reached her fill of drama today, and Declan’s proximity was muddying her mind. She needed to go home and decompress, figure out how she felt about the day’s events. Get control of herself before choosing how to deal with the Declan situation—which was more unclear now than it had ever been. He’d sounded so sincere out in the hallway,
looked
sincere, and now with him stood so near to her, that sensation of anger she’d been carrying for two days was strangely absent.

“Not quite,” Dr. Stevens said. His tone had changed—while with the Ronald incident he’d been calm, businesslike, he now sounded…almost apologetic. Uneasiness settled in Maggie’s gut as she waited for him to elaborate.

“As I said, your lawyer has informed me of some troubling facts. Now
that
one has been taken care of…” At this, he looked at Declan, who—having gained control of himself—sighed and nodded. The atmosphere in the room seemed to have been plunged in ice.

“I’ll go collect him,” Declan said, and then abruptly pulled Maggie to him, cupped her face, while her mind swam in total confusion. “Look at me,” he said, and she did, caught in a moment of apprehension. “I want you to remember how sorry I am. I tried to make him tell you a long time ago.”

“Who?” she said. “Tell me what?” But he merely shook his head sadly and let her go, giving her one last heavy look before leaving the room, leaving her completely in the dark.

It was like the world was spiraling around her, and the one thing she could hold onto had just walked out the room.

She whirled on Dr. Stevens. “What’s this about?”

He, too, projected something like sadness, and Maggie was starting to feel like she’d been dropped into some kind of surreal, tense dream. “It seems I may have been wrong about you,” he admitted, and with such ease that she had to sit down before her knees gave way with shock. “It doesn’t happen often, but…there we are.”

She swallowed dryly. “Wrong about what?”

It took him a moment to speak, and when he did, he looked her right in the eye as he said the words she’d longed to hear from him since this all began. “You were not the one stealing the drugs.”

“I know that,” she choked out. “I tried to tell
you
that.”

“You can see how I would think it was you, though, can’t you? Your DNA, your keypad code… I was left with very little choice.” He sighed, rubbing a hand over his forehead and throwing his hair like a man in distress. Like a man with
feelings.
Feelings like guilt. “I’m not fond of you, Ms. Emerson. It’s no secret. But it’s personal, and I shouldn’t allow it to be. Your father is the reason why I’ve been stuck in this role for the past decade,” he revealed with a heavy tone. “I should’ve been Chief of Medicine many years ago, and no one would argue that I’m more than qualified for it… But your father likes to put his friends in high places, you know? Even the ones who haven’t earned it. I’ve earned it a dozen times over, but I’m not his friend, and therefore I’m stuck here.”