Chapter 3 She Needs Your Blood

For years, Madelyn's world had been split between her house and the office, pouring herself into the relentless effort of merging the Owen family's shares into the Mitchell name by sheer determination.

The business circle mocked her as naive, and even Noah dismissed it as nothing more than her chasing a fantasy.

Still, she would gladly put everything on the line for him.

Lately, relentless migraines kept her chained to home, leaving office work to pile up. When she did sit down to clear the backlog, the hours slipped away unnoticed. It was only when she glanced at the window and found night outside that she realized how late it had gotten.

Only the faint light filled the office. After signing off the last file, she stacked the papers neatly, shut down the computer, and prepared to leave.

Her house greeted her with silence, heavy as a tomb. Drained, Madelyn dropped onto the couch.

In her mind, Noah must have been spending the evening in comfort with Sadie.

She let a handful of pills tumble into her palm. Lacking the strength to even warm some water, she washed them down with a mouthful of cold. Her fingers pressed hard against her aching head as she curled up tight on the couch.

Sometimes, she wished Noah had never been the one to rescue her.

Closing her eyes, she let the sadness settle like a stone inside her chest.

...

Past midnight, pain forced Madelyn awake again. Sweat clung to her brow.

She stumbled up, fumbling for the medicine. Just then, the rumble of a car drifted in from the yard.

Madelyn paid it no mind and dry-swallowed another dose.

Suddenly, the sharp beat of hurried steps thundered in the hallway, and the door flew open with a violent kick.

Noah barged in, every line on his face set in stone. His eyes burned cold. He crossed the room in a flash, grabbed Madelyn's wrist, and hauled her toward the exit.

Pulled off balance, her voice cracked as she shouted, "What are you trying to do?"

No answer came from Noah. His hand clamped around her wrist with such force she thought the bones might snap.

Her sight swam, her skull throbbed like it was splitting apart. She fought to wrench his hand away, clawing and twisting, yet the effort left her trapped. Driven by panic, she leaned down and sank her teeth into his skin.

Her first instinct was to bite as hard as she could. But the second her mouth met his skin, she pulled back on the pressure.

Hurting him was something she could never truly do.

Watching her try to bite him only made Noah's scowl deepen. He gave a quiet grunt, jerked his hand away from hers, and flung her off as if contact left a stain.

Thrown off balance, Madelyn caught herself just as the bottle slipped from her grasp. The sound of glass breaking echoed, and a flurry of pills scattered over the floor.

One hand pressed to the wall, she finally managed to steady herself. When she forced her gaze up, her vision was nothing but shapes and shadows.

Fingers massaging her wrist, she fought past the pain throbbing behind her eyes and managed to say, "Tell me what you want."

"I need you at the hospital. Sadie's been hurt and she needs your blood," said Noah, his words sharp and cold.

Madelyn retorted, "Give me one good reason."

She owed Sadie nothing but a shared blood type. Why should she become the one called in to donate when Sadie needed blood?

"You ordered her abduction. She got hurt because of you. The least you can do is make this right," Noah responded, his tone full of self-righteous anger.

Abduction? The word left a bitter sting in her chest. At her feet lay the very pills she had swallowed in desperation, yet he hadn't even noticed them.