Of Loss & Betrayal (Madison & Logan Book 2) (13 page)

Chapter Eleven

I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. I heard ringing but was trying to shut out the noise. I was warm and cozy in bed and the last thing I wanted to do was answer the door.

Despite trying to ignore the doorbell, it was relentless. I rolled to my other side, feeling the warmth of a body next to mine. I opened my eyes, realizing that I was in Logan’s bed, not mine. He was asleep next to me, oblivious to the doorbell.

“Logan,” I said, my voice raspy with sleep. I shook his arm. “Logan, wake up. Someone’s at the door.”

He finally opened his eyes, squinting against the sunlight streaming in through the windows. “What? Who’s at my door?” he asked grumpily. “I’m tired.”

I rolled my eyes. Logan could be a bear sometimes in the morning. “How am I supposed to know? I don’t have x-ray vision.”

Instead of getting up, he took my arm and pulled me on top of him. He wrapped his arms around me and settled himself to go back to sleep, his eyes closing. I propped myself up on his chest with my arms.

“They’ve been ringing the doorbell for a while. I don’t think they’re going to stop until you answer the door.”

Logan groaned but he finally opened his eyes again and begrudgingly rolled out of bed. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table.

“It’s eight o’clock on a Sunday morning,” he muttered, sounding disgruntled as he pulled on his clothes. “Who drops by unannounced at eight o’clock on a Sunday morning?”

I had a sinking feeling that it was Kristina. Who else would be so persistent in ringing the doorbell? I knew she wouldn’t leave until Logan answered the door. Maybe seeing that Logan and I were together would drive home the fact that she had no chance.

I pulled on a t-shirt and leaned down to pick up my jeans but hesitated. I wanted it to be crystal clear that I had stayed the night. What better way than to look like I had just gotten out of bed? The t-shirt I had put on was Logan’s and it hit mid-thigh so it was plenty modest. I straightened and followed Logan out of the bedroom. It might be cruel to give Kristina such an obvious display of us having slept together, but there was no room for mercy. I wanted there to be no question in her mind that Logan had chosen me.

I was a few feet behind Logan when he opened the door. As expected, Kristina was standing there, looking perfectly composed with a smile, as if she hadn’t just been ringing the doorbell like a madwoman.

I couldn’t see Logan’s expression but he didn’t sound too happy. “Kristina. What are you doing here?”

To her credit, her smile didn’t falter at his dismayed tone. “I’m sorry to come over so early. I just really needed to talk to you.” She glanced behind him and while her smile didn’t budge, I saw the anger in her eyes when she caught sight of me. She turned her gaze back to Logan.

“Can I come in?”

Logan turned his head to look at me and I just shrugged. It was better that Kristina spoke to Logan while I was present, so she might as well come in.

Logan stepped aside so Kristina could come in. He closed the door behind her and walked over to stand next to me. The intention of his action was clear and Kristina wasn’t able to keep the smile on her face. She stopped a few feet in front of us and I could feel the tension radiating from her body.

“It seems that I’ve interrupted your cozy morning.” Her façade had melted away and she glared at us accusingly.

“You said you needed to talk to me,” Logan said, ignoring her comment. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I’m not talking in front of
her,
” she said snidely. Her tone turned pleading. “Can we talk alone? Please. I don’t feel comfortable saying everything that I need to say to you in front of her.”

Logan hesitated, and his hesitation killed me. The fact that he was actually considering obliging Kristina’s request to talk alone meant that he wasn’t fully committed to me and our relationship.

I was relieved when he refused. “I’m sorry, Kristina, but anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of Maddie.” His voice turned gentle. “I know that we used to be together, and I’m sorry to hurt you. You don’t deserve that. But it would hurt you even more to make you believe that there’s a chance for something between us. Even without my memory, I know that Maddie and I belong together.”

Kristina’s face twisted with anguish and for a second I felt sorry for her. There was a small voice in my head that reminded me we had wronged her in the first place, by cheating while she and Logan were together. But feeling bad about that wasn’t nearly enough motivation to give her any room to get close to Logan.

My sympathy for her vanished when she spoke.

“That’s the irony of all of this. We were getting back together! When I came to visit you in the hospital after your accident in L.A., you said that realizing how close you had been to being seriously hurt, or even dying, made you reevaluate everything in your life. And you realized that you and I belonged together. You told me that you were only with Madison out of guilt because you knew how hard it was for her to get past Cassie’s death, even after all these years. But you loved
me.
You were going to break up with her when you got back to Chicago. You just wanted to find the right time to do it.” She made a sound of frustration. “But then you got into another accident and lost your memory.” She looked at me with a sneer. “And now she’s filling your head with all these lies of how you two belong together. About how devoted you are to each other. The truth is you’re sick of her and her constant need for attention.”

I was shaking with rage at her attempt to mislead Logan. “If anyone’s a liar, you are,” I spat out. “You’ll do anything, say anything, to try to get Logan back. I’m not going to let you waltz in here and fabricate some story about how Logan was going to go back to you. You and I both know that he would never consider that.”

“Oh, yeah?” Kristina said with a smirk. She pulled out a small black box from her purse. A box that would fit a ring. I felt sick to my stomach when she opened it. “Here’s proof that Logan wanted to get back together with me.”

A dazzling diamond ring mocked me and I watched in stunned silence as Kristina took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger. I looked at Logan and he looked as bewildered as I felt.

“Are you saying that I proposed to you?” Logan asked skeptically. “When would I have done that?”

Kristina walked closer to him, her face imploring him to believe her. “We talked for hours while you were at the hospital. You admitted your feelings for me. You told me that you had been planning on proposing to me before Madison got in the way, but you felt responsible for her happiness because you had played a major part in her destructive behavior since you had cheated on Cassie with her. But now that you had gotten a reminder of your mortality and how short life was, you wanted to be with me. The next day when you were discharged, we went to the jewelers together and picked out this ring. You told me you loved me and wanted to spend the rest of your life with me.” Her voice broke. “Please, Logan. You have to remember. You can’t leave me again. I can’t bear it.”

I must be in a nightmare. This couldn’t possibly be true. Before Logan could say anything, I stepped in between them.

“So you have a diamond ring,” I scoffed in disdain. “What does that prove? Nothing. You could have just as easily bought that yourself.”

Kristina shot me a hateful look and pulled out her phone. “Pictures don’t lie.” She flipped through her phone and then held it up for us to see. I almost threw up when I saw the evidence in front of me as clear as day. But I still couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be true. Logan loved
me.
This had to be some sort of setup. It had to be fake. But I couldn’t look away from the picture.

Logan and Kristina were in some sort of café and they were sitting next to each other, both smiling. Kristina had her hand on the table and the same diamond ring was winking in the sun on her finger.

“I had the waiter take this picture so I would have a memory of when Logan and I officially got engaged. Thank God for it because now I have proof.”

“You’re lying.” My voice was low but the simmering rage was clear in my tone. “You’ve somehow managed to fake a picture of you and Logan together. This can’t be true.”

Kristina wasn’t looking at me anymore. She was looking at Logan, who hadn’t said a word since Kristina had started weaving her lies. His expression was hard to read and I felt myself start to get angry with him. He couldn’t actually believe this drivel. Yet he hadn’t told her she was being ridiculous.

“Logan, please,” Kristina begged. “Tell me you believe me.”

“I don’t know what to believe,” he finally said. “I…this is just a lot to take in right now.”

“You can’t believe this.” My voice was shaking with both anger and fear. “She’s lying, Logan! How can you stand there and say you don’t know what to believe?”

He put his hands up in supplication. “I’m not saying that I believe it. I’m just confused by the picture.” He rubbed his forehead, looking perplexed. “I just don’t understand how she has a picture of us together with the engagement ring if it isn’t true.”

It felt like my heart was physically being ripped apart. I wanted to shake him and scream at him to wake up. To remember me. Us. What we meant to each other. I knew the picture was damning evidence, but I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t. It had to be fake.

I blocked Kristina out, focusing on Logan. “You told me you knew we belonged together, even if you didn’t remember me and our past. How can you even entertain her lies? Maybe she had someone photoshop the two of you together.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kristina snarled, pushing herself back into my world. She shoved her phone in my face. “Look at it! There’s no way this was photoshopped. You’re just in denial. There’s even a timestamp on the picture to show when it was taken.”

I slapped the phone and her hand out of my face, but not before I saw she was telling the truth. The time stamp was indeed the day after his accident in L.A.

Kristina hissed in anger at my action but I ignored her. My focus was on Logan.

“Say something!” I was almost screaming. “Stop just standing there looking confused, and say something that actually means something!”

“Maddie, please.” Logan grabbed my arm, his expression despairing. “I’m not saying I don’t want to be with you. I’m just trying to figure out what the hell is going on.”

I ripped my arm from his grasp. I felt utterly betrayed. I had given myself to Logan, body and soul, and yet, he was still doubting our relationship. A part of me knew that this must be confusing for him, because he only knew what was being told, and shown, to him. But he couldn’t believe Kristina after the night we had just shared.

“I can’t believe you actually believe her,” I said with a pained laugh. I was on the edge of hysteria. “What are you going to do one day when you wake up and realize that you fucked up? You’ll be married to her, living a perfect life with a white picket fence only to realize that you love
me.
What will you do when you get your memory back and realize your life was based on a lie.”

Logan grabbed me by my shoulders, shaking me none too gently. “Maddie, stop! I’m not saying I believe her. Just give me a goddamned minute to process this. You can’t understand what it’s like to have gaping holes in your memory and people telling you about your own life that you can’t fucking remember!”

I pulled away from him and collapsed onto the couch, burying my face in my hands. I wanted to sob but I couldn’t even get that release of emotion. The pain was so overwhelming, it was as if my body went into shock.

“Kristina, I think you should leave.” Logan’s voice was tense.

“She’s just trying to get your sympathy again!” Kristina cried. “This is how she manipulates you. I won’t let you fall for it again.”

“Please.” Logan’s voice was firm. “You need to leave. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to talk.”

“
I’m
your fucking fiancée. She’s your soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. Don’t I take precedence?” Kristina was shrieking at this point.

“I’m only going to say this one more time.” Logan’s voice had turned to steel. “You need to leave. I’ll contact you when I’m ready to talk.”

There was silence, and the tension was palpable. I could hear how angry Kristina was by her rapid breathing.

“Fine,” she finally said, sounding hurt. “But I expect to hear from you by the end of the day.”

Logan didn’t answer. My head was still in my hands but I heard him ushering her to the door, and then the door opening and closing. I didn’t look up when I heard Logan’s footsteps return and stop in front of me.

“Maddie.” His voice was gentle and I felt the cushion next to me bear the weight of his body. “Please don’t be so upset.”

I raised my head to look at him. His face was etched with concern, but it was cold comfort after hearing him say he didn’t know what to believe. What he really meant was, he didn’t know
whom
to believe. Which meant he thought I could be a liar.

“How can you tell me not to be upset?” I tried not to sound pathetic, but my voice was thick with unshed tears. “You basically just said you think there’s a chance I’m lying to you.”