“I’m Chloe,” she said simply. She sat on the armchair opposite Madison, who seemed to have recovered from her stupor and glowered at her. “I’m here with Archer.” Though true, she could tell the words had stung. It was in the quiver of Madison’s lower lip—her very beautiful lip. God, she’s so pretty—even in this state.

“Why?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you mean.”

“Why did he bring you here?” Madison asked, her tone making it clear that she thought Chloe was dim.

“Well, you’ll have to ask him that. But I am here with Archer, and I’m wondering what you’re doing here. How did you even know where he was staying?”

Madison looked down at her hands, then raised her right forefinger to her teeth and nibbled on the cuticle. “I know someone in his publicity team,” she mumbled.

Chloe shuddered, knowing that discretion was paramount in any kind of publicity role and that whoever had leaked to Madison would be looking for another job by the end of the day. “And I’m assuming you also know someone on the front desk too? This is the Four Seasons. They have famous people staying here all the time. Surely, they have stringent security measures in place.”

Madison stopped nibbling her cuticle and shot her a look, and Chloe just knew she was about to be served. “Well, yes, obviously, but you see, they do know me here, because Archer and I have stayed here together many, many times.” Ouch. A point for Madison.

“You weren’t expecting me, though.”

“Of course not. Why would they have given me a key card to his room if they knew someone else would be here?” Oh, game on Ms Strumpet.

“Oh, so now you’re implying that he doesn’t know I’m here, that I’m the interloper. We checked in last night. Together.” Madison’s eyes darted to the unmade bed and she scowled. “I’m assuming there was a change of shift on reception since then,” added Chloe. “But all that’s irrelevant now. The important question isn’t how but why are you here?”

Madison’s chin lifted. “It was a mistake.”

Well, that was completely vague. Thank you very much, Madison. Chloe was starting to tire of this ridiculous verbal match, and she sighed loudly. “What was a mistake?”

“Us breaking up, obviously.” Why does she think everything’s so obvious? Chloe puzzled, fuming.

“It was just a silly fight. We’ve had them before, and we’ve reconciled before. You wouldn’t know this, and there’s no way that you could know, but this dance is quite familiar for me and Archer.”

Chloe vaguely recalled an assortment of tabloid headlines that supported Madison’s assertion, but Cecily’s comment about the breakup a few days before had made it seem final.

Confusion was not a feeling that sat well with Chloe. She was pragmatic and a planner. She was also unfailingly confident. But there was something about Madison’s words, and even her presence—as though she was daring Chloe to challenge her assertion that this was nothing more than a lovers’ tiff—that made Chloe doubt what was happening between her and Archer.