Chapter 12: Blood and Business

Madison was reviewing gallery contracts in her office when she heard raised voices from the direction of Daniel’s corner suite. At first, she assumed it was just another heated business call—Daniel’s negotiations were legendary for their intensity. But as the voices grew louder, she recognized the second speaker.

Ethan.

Madison’s blood ran cold. She hadn’t seen Ethan since that disastrous first day when he’d walked into Daniel’s office and found her there. The gossip around the office suggested he’d been avoiding the executive floor entirely, conducting his business from the company’s secondary offices downtown.

The shouting match was loud enough that other employees were starting to notice. Patricia, Daniel’s assistant, looked distressed as she tried to pretend nothing was happening while fielding concerned glances from passing executives.

Madison made a decision she knew she’d regret. She slipped out of her office and moved closer to Daniel’s suite, staying just out of sight but within earshot.

“—completely lost your mind!” Ethan’s voice carried through the supposedly soundproof glass walls. “She’s my ex-girlfriend, Dad! My ex-girlfriend!”

“Lower your voice,” Daniel’s response was controlled but tight with anger. “We’re in an office building, not a sports bar.”

“Don’t tell me to lower my voice! Do you have any idea what this is doing to me? To our family? The entire board is questioning your judgment!”

Madison pressed closer to the wall, her heart hammering. This was exactly what she’d feared—her relationship with Daniel tearing apart his family.

“The board answers to me,” Daniel replied coldly. “As do you, I might remind you.”

“Not when you’re thinking with your dick instead of your brain!”

The silence that followed was deafening. When Daniel spoke again, his voice was deadly quiet.

“Watch yourself, Ethan. You’re still my son, but you’re also my employee.”

“Employee?” Ethan’s laugh was bitter. “Is that what I am to you now? Just another employee you can manipulate and control?”

“You want to talk about manipulation? Let’s discuss your little photography tip to Page Six.”

Madison’s breath caught. Daniel knew about the photos? About who was behind them?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ethan said, but there was something defensive in his tone.

“Marcus Chen. Freelance photographer. Paid very well for those pictures of Madison and me leaving the office. The same photographer who just happened to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.”

“You can’t prove anything.”

“I don’t need to prove it. I know my son.”

The hurt in Daniel’s voice was palpable, and Madison felt a stab of sympathy for both men. This wasn’t just about her—this was years of family dysfunction finally exploding.

“She’s using you,” Ethan said desperately. “Can’t you see that? She came to that gala specifically to hurt me, and now she’s using you to do it. She doesn’t care about you—she cares about revenge.”

“And what do you care about, Ethan? Because it’s not my happiness.”

“I care about our company! Our reputation! Our family name! Do you know what people are saying? They’re calling you a fool, a dirty old man who can’t tell the difference between love and manipulation!”

“And what are they calling Madison?”

The question hung in the air. Madison closed her eyes, knowing exactly what they were calling her. Gold digger. Homewrecker. Opportunist. Whore.

“That’s not the point,” Ethan said weakly.

“That’s exactly the point. You set those photographers on us, Ethan. You turned Madison into tabloid fodder to get back at me for what? For being successful? For building something you’ll inherit anyway?”

“For taking everything!” Ethan’s voice cracked with emotion. “You take everything, Dad! Every woman I’ve ever cared about, every business opportunity, every chance I have to prove myself—you take it all!”

“I never took anything from you.”

“Bullshit! What about Caroline Morrison? What about the Henderson account? And now Madison? You couldn’t stand that I had something you didn’t, so you had to take her too!”

Madison frowned. Who was Caroline Morrison? And what was Ethan talking about with other women?

“Caroline Morrison was twenty-two years old and married to a client,” Daniel said quietly. “I saved you from a sexual harassment lawsuit and a very messy divorce scandal. You should be thanking me.”

“I should be thanking you? For destroying my relationship?”

“For preventing you from destroying your life!”

“Like you’re destroying yours now?”

The silence stretched between them. Madison could hear her own heartbeat in her ears.

When Daniel spoke again, his voice was tired. “Madison is not Caroline Morrison. She’s intelligent, accomplished, and perfectly capable of making her own decisions. If you can’t see that, then you don’t deserve her.”

“She doesn’t want me anymore, thanks to you.”

“She didn’t want you before I ever met her. That’s why she was at the gala alone, remember? Because you ghosted her like a coward instead of having an adult conversation about your relationship.”

“I was protecting her—”

“You were protecting yourself. Just like you’re doing now.”

Madison heard footsteps approaching the office door and quickly retreated to the ladies’ room, her mind spinning. The conversation had revealed so much—Ethan’s involvement in the paparazzi photos, Daniel’s history of interfering in his son’s relationships, the deeper family dysfunction that went far beyond her.

When she emerged ten minutes later, Ethan was stalking toward the elevators, his face thunderous. He spotted her immediately, and Madison braced herself for another confrontation.

But instead of anger, Ethan’s expression shifted to something almost vulnerable.

“Madison,” he said quietly. “Can we talk?”

Madison glanced toward Daniel’s office, where she could see him standing at his windows, his shoulders tense with residual anger.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said.

“Please. Just five minutes.”

Against her better judgment, Madison nodded. They stepped into an empty conference room, and Ethan closed the door behind them.

“I need you to know something,” he said without preamble. “My father… he has a pattern. With women. With taking things that matter to me.”

“Ethan—”

“Just listen. Please.” His blue eyes were intense, desperate. “He did this before. With Caroline, with others. He finds ways to insert himself into my relationships, to prove he can have anyone he wants.”

Madison studied his face, looking for signs of manipulation or lies. But Ethan looked genuinely distressed.

“Are you saying he’s not really interested in me?” she asked.

“I’m saying he’s interested in winning. And right now, winning means having something that was mine.”

“I was never yours, Ethan. Not really.”

“Wasn’t I?” His voice was soft. “Madison, what we had… it wasn’t nothing.”

Madison felt a familiar tug of the emotions Ethan had once inspired in her. But they felt distant now, like echoes of someone else’s feelings.

“No,” she said finally. “It wasn’t nothing. But it wasn’t enough either.”

Ethan’s face crumpled slightly. “And he is? Enough?”

Madison looked through the glass wall toward Daniel’s office, where he was now on the phone, probably doing damage control from their argument.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I’m going to find out.”

Ethan nodded slowly, resignation replacing desperation. “Just… be careful, Madison. My father gets what he wants. The question is what happens when he stops wanting it.”

As Ethan left, Madison remained in the conference room, staring out at the city skyline. Two men were fighting over her, but she was beginning to suspect neither of them was fighting for the right reasons.

The question was whether she cared enough about Daniel to find out the truth—or whether she was just another prize in a game she didn’t understand.