26 CHIVALRY?
“No, Mr. Dawson. I’m just a reporter here to take some photos of the hotel. This is all just a misunderstanding,” the man tried to explain himself.
However, he called Ethan by name even before he had introduced himself. This reporter already knew who he was, and he had known he was going to be okay at the hotel that day.
Maya’s assistant arrived at the scene and demanded, “Who are you? Are you paparazzi?”
Maya was an actress, so they were familiar with paparazzi lurking by their door. She snatched the camera from him and turned it on. “Look at this, Mr. Dawson. These are all photos of you and Ms.
Maya.”
She showed Ethan the photos captured on the camera. They were all taken from an angle that made it look like they were kissing.
“If these photos got leaked, this would run Ms. Maya’s reputation and yours. People would think she was having an affair with a married man.”
Ethan’s expression darkened. Suddenly, he gave the reporter a hard kick, making him fall to his knees in agony. “Tell me who sent you here!”
The man groaned, trying to stifle his scream, “It…it was Ms. Brooks. I’m a private investigator, and she sent me to catch you in the act. She gave me over sixty thousand dollars to follow Maya around and take photos of your affair. If I finish the job, she’ll even give me an additional reward.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes. He knew the man was lying. Madison had refused to sign the contract concerning them splitting his assets.
She wouldn’t waste whatever money she had on a private investigator. The noise had alerted the security guards, who arrived just in time.
Ethan turned to them and yelled, “Is this really how the security of a five–star hotel is?! You know celebrities lodge here, so how did a random photographer get in?!”
“Sorry, Sir. We will get to the bottom of this and rectify our mistake.”
Ethan waved his hand dismissively, gesturing for them to leave.
At this moment, Maya exited the room, still in her robe.
Ethan turned to her and said calmly, “You can finally sleep in peace now because we caught the man following you.”
“Did he say who sent him?” She asked
“He claims it’s Ms. Brooks, ma’am.” Her assistant replied.
“Told you your wife wasn’t as innocent as you thought,” Maya said with a grin.
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“Until it is proven Madison is innocent, I’ll get to the bottom of this. Now you can go inside and get some rest.”
“Thank you, Ethan,” Maya said and approached to give him, but he took a step back.
“Let’s refrain from things like this. For all we know, another reporter could be here waiting for a slip- up.”
Maya could feel all the anger swirling again. “Fine then. It was a pleasure working with you, but that would be a lie. Goodbye, Ethan.” She snapped at him and walked away.
As soon as he returned to the car, he dialed a number. “Damon, I need your help investigating
someone.”
Damon had been fast asleep when Stephen called, so he was annoyed at being awoken like this. “Hey, don’t you know it’s rude to call so late at night?”
“I need you to do something for me,” Ethan continued, ignoring his complaints. “I need you to find out what you can about Luke Davis. I’ll need this by tomorrow morning. Goodbye.” Ethan hung up
“How rude can one man be,” Damon said and scoffed. “He even dared to give me an ultimatum.”
He had to give him a piece of his mind someday!
However, after some complaining, he reluctantly got to work.
Ethan returned to the house and took a shower. He walked to the bed and found Madison still fast asleep.
She seemed to be dreaming and talking in her sleep. There was a small smile playing on her lips. Ethan gently pulled her into his arms and drifted off to sleep.
When Madison woke up the following day, Ethan was already gone. There was not even a trace of him being there the night before.
“Ughh,” Madison groaned; she felt like someone was splitting her head apart. This was why she hated drinking. The hangovers were unbearable.
She rubbed her head as she tried to recall the events of the night before. She could not remember how
she had gotten here nor how she had gotten changed out of her clothes.
She reluctantly climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Her old clothes reeked of alcohol and could not be worn anymore, but she had already packed the rest of her clothes and taken them to her new place. The only clothes left in the closet where the sexy lingerie Olivia had bought for her.
Suddenly, someone knocked on her door.
“Come in,” Madison called out.
“Madam, here are the clothes sir told me to prepare for you.‘
“Clothes? You mean Ethan asked you to get them for me?” Madison was surprised to hear this.
26 CHIVALRY?
“Yes, Madam.” Evelyn smiled at her.
“Were you the one who helped me change out of my clothes?”
“No, Madam. Mr. Dawson did that.”
. Madison’s widened her eyes in shock. She could not accept the fact that Ethan had changed her out of
her clothes. Even after Evelyn left, she still sat by the edge of the bed, thinking about it.
The phone rang, jolting her out of the thoughts. It was Isabella.
Isabella sounded exasperated when she picked up. “Someone took photos of Ethan and that little witch at a hotel last night. I’m sending them to you right now.”
Madison unlocked her phone and saw the photo that Isabella had sent her. “This can’t be real; he was with me last night. They’re fake.” she justified.
“How can they be fake?” Isabella said but then paused. “Wait, are you saying that you were with Ethan last night? Why?.”
“I got myself drunk last night, and Ethan brought me back to the house and stayed with me the entire night.” As much as Madison wanted to divorce Ethan, she knew she had to give him credit where
credit was due.
“Is that so? Does that mean this photo is fake? It looks genuine, though. Are you sure he was with you the whole night?” Isabella’s eyes were almost plastered to the screen as she tried to scrutinize the photo.
She was just about to get a closer look when, all of a sudden, the image vanished.
All the news about Ethan and Maya at the hotel the night before had disappeared, too. It must have been Ethan’s doing. He must have contained the news before they could viral.
go
“The pictures are gone!” Isabella said
“Yeah. I guess they took them down.” Madison replied.
“But Mad, are you still going to divorce him?”
“Of course, I am. Nothing has changed just because he stayed with me for one night. It doesn’t change how he treated me.‘ ”
“I’m happy you’re standing your ground. You deserve so much better. Even if things don’t work out as planned, know I’m here for you.”
“Thank you, Isabella. You’re the best.”
Madison was happy that she at least had Isabella on her side.
