“Evidence? You make it sound like I’m being investigated.
Bryce rubbed the back of his neck.
“AmI being investigated?” Yes, the company was ours, but we had stockholders and a board of directors. We couldn’t run things illegally in any way.
“Not yet.” He blew out a puff of air, and I could tell he was on the verge of freaking out.
“Bryce.” His eyes shot up to mine. “Calm down and show me. As far as I know, I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“It’s about Madison.”
My mouth dropped open a little. “What about her?” I swallowed hard. Was there some ethics violation I’d broken? That couldn’t be it, though, or my dad would have been ousted from the company day one.
“All the things you bought her on the company card. Tons of expensive jewelry, clothes, bags, shoes, makeup, chocolates, flowers, even her fucking rent.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe you’d do this to Carrie.”
I’d done a lot worse to Carrie, but he didn’t need to know that. “I didn’t do any of that,” I protested. “The only thing I’ve done is buy her a few… maybe a lot… of meals out at nice restaurants. And I used my personal card for that. That’s it.”
He slid a folder across the desk to me. I opened it and my eyes widened at the insane number of purchases I was looking at from a company card statement. It was a card issued to me, but I’d never even been in most of the stores listed on the statement.
It was his turn to look confused. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” I stated, getting upset and wondering what the hell had happened. And then it hit me. “Oh my God. I know what happened.” I looked up at Bryce, my face turning red with embarrassment and anger. “I gave a card to Madison because she said the director wanted her to wear nicer jewelry in one of the commercials. But this?” I waved the statement around. “I never approved any of this.”
Bryce had a strange look on his face. “She said the director requested that?”
I nodded.
“That’s complete bullshit. Anything like that comes to me as a direct request and their wardrobe department makes the purchase after going over things with the director to get a feel for what’s needed. And Madison doesn’t automatically get to keep jewelry from the shoot. That’s negotiated in her contract.”
I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples. The slight headache I’d had most of the day was quickly becoming much worse. “This is fucking ridiculous. I gave her the card without checking her story. And I trusted her to only make purchases she needed for any of the shoots. I was an idiot, and that’s on me. But these charges? Chocolates, flowers, designer clothes, tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry? Her goddamn rent? There is absolutely no way she could claim to have misunderstood me to that extent.”
Bryce looked relieved. “Thank God. I know Madison makes you lose your mind, but I couldn’t believe you’d go stark raving mad. It’s stupid anyway. Why would a billionaire fleece his own company for a few hundred thousand dollars?”
“People have been known to do stupider things than that,” I murmured. I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Like trust their ex-fiancée with a limitless corporate credit card.”
Bryce smirked. “Thatwasstupid.” He leaned forward. “You know, it’s interesting that when I came in here you got scared,but you didn’t ask about Madison. You were worried about Carrie.”
I met his eyes. “You’re right. Madison didn’t cross my mind at all, actually. I just worried that something might have happened to Carrie.”
Bryce was quiet a moment. “You haven’t done anything you can’t come back from yet, right? I know you’ve got a lot of explaining to do to repair things with Carrie, but you haven’t done anything physical with Madison. Right?”
Fuck. I felt shame wash over me knowing I’d almost messed around. Just like our father. “I wish that were true,” I said softly.
Bryce looked shocked. Then pissed. “What the fuck, Thatcher? You slept with her?”
I shook my head. “No, but I almost did. I messed around with her. We kissed several times, and right as I was about to go through with it, I stopped it. I realized the condoms available to me were from Dad’s stash in his bedroom suite.” A shiver of revulsion ran through me at the thought. I ran both hands through my hair, not caring if I messed it up. “But I’ve screwed up so badly. For months I’ve taken Madison out to lunches and dinners, I’ve missed important things with Carrie, I texted, called, and emailed Madison from home all the time. It’s bad.” I met his eyes. “And I blew off helping her decorate for the Orchid Ball. Worse? I got the date wrong and didn’t even show up for it. That’s when I was in bed with Madison, about one step away from fucking her.”
“You had a full-blown affair.” He looked disgusted.
“Yeah. I did.” I swallowed hard. “And I know I screwed up.”
“Because of this?” he indicated the credit card statement.
“No. It’s other things. Over the past few days, I’ve thought about some red flags I’ve been ignoring.”
“And?”
“And I find myself wondering if I even know the real Madison anymore. Or if I ever did.”
