Alpha Billionaire Series
The Right Choice Chapter 1

MADII

I stood with my feet in two realities, the dividing boundary tearing my heart in two. Draped across my fiancé's chest, I was so in shock I couldn't cry, or laugh. All I could do was shake-and it wasn't a comfortable feeling. Drew's arm draped across me weakly, his hoarse voice whispering things into the mass of hair I knew had smothered him. His parents, Alice and Henry, hovered around the end of the bed with Doctor Gavin carpenter-my fiancé. Drew's voice broke through the haze of emotion and panic, filtering through the black strands of hair to meet my ears. "Shhh, it's okay, Madii. I'm here."

I clung to him, wishing tears would come, or a smile, or anything other than the gut churning sensation that threatened dry heaves. I heard Alice asking the doctor questions and trembled. When I had woken up in his arms to a dose of smelling salts, my heart rate had been so high the nurses wanted to take me down to the ER to be checked out, but Gavin had assured them I needed to see Drew. So here I was, stuck between the man I love and the man I loved.

It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, and agonizingly enough, it was. But the bittersweet moment was more bitter than sweet.

"How... but I ..." My words came out jumbled as I sat up, peering down at the frail form in front of me. Drew's crooked smile greeted me, my hands clinging to his wrist. The nurses worked around us, monitoring vitals, taking blood, listening to his heart rate. It was a flurry of activity in the hospital room, the likes of which had not been seen in more than a year.

"It's okay," he reassured me, though his grip on my hand was nothing like it used to be. Skin hung from his spindly arms, signs that his body had lain in that bed for months on end. His sunken eyes had a vigor that I hadn't seen in so long. In fact, I hadn't seen his eyes open for anything other than a doctor's flashlight check since that moment beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico when we were scuba diving. That moment still haunted my dreams to this day, but thankfully no longer in the form of nightmares. "But they told me you wouldn't wake up." A stab of adrenaline pinched my chest. I looked down at my bare finger; Gavin's ring was gone. Someone had taken it; Gavin maybe?

Drew's finger swept over my finger where his ring had been the day of our combined bachelor/ bachelorette party. Three days before our wedding and tragedy had struck. Now almost two years later, he was back, by some miracle. My brows furrowed in shock or confusion; I wasn't sure which. I felt so many things at once I wasn't sure what to feel. My eyes wandered back to his face, his thumb still brushing my ring finger.

I stared down at the finger where a ring should be-my ring, but not the one Drew gave me. It was gone. I had no recollection of how it went missing, where it was, or if I would get it back. My heart sank when I thought of Gavin. What if he had taken it back because Drew woke up and he didn't want me anymore?

"It's okay. Mom has the ring, okay?"

My mind spun. How long had I been passed out and what had they told Drew?

"They told you?" I stammered. Did he know I'd moved on while he was out? Did he know about Gavin? Had someone told him I'd fallen in love with another man, and I was supposed to marry him today? I glanced at the clock on the wall. I'd be walking down the aisle in a few hours if only I weren't sitting next to a hospital bed.

"Yes, I've been in a coma for almost two years." He cleared his throat weakly, and a nurse offered a cup with a straw. He took the small plastic straw between his lips and sipped, swallowing before continuing as the nurse took the cup away. "Mom said you were heartbroken. She said she had the ring, but I needed to talk to you about everything."

So, she hadn't told him yet. I didn't know if that was a good thing or not, but for the moment I was a bit less tense. I took a breath and tried to keep my thoughts focused on the present, not on what my heart was panicking about.

"So, he will need a lot of tests. If he agrees to them, I'd like to do brain scans, MRIS, EEGs, the works. I want to know what happened in his brain and how we can make this happen for other patients." Gavin Carpenter, neurosurgeon and third leg of this strange love triangle I've found myself in, talked softly to Drew's parents.

I couldn't look at him. I knew if I did, Drew would see it. Or Gavin would see how torn my heart was at that very minute. So, I stared at my hand, the way Drew held it gently, the startling lack of engagement ring on my finger.

"It was the new therapy!" Alice beamed, clapping her hands. I'd seen the tears of happiness in her eyes. Why wouldn't she be? Her son was back from the dead. So why was my stomach about to empty itself?

"Are you okay? You seem rattled." Drew squeezed my hand, as weak as his grip was. I forced a smile, though he knew me too well. I could see by the look in his eye that he knew I was not okay.

"I'm alright. Don't worry about me right now." I tried to listen in to what Dr. Carpenter was telling Drew's parents, but the bustle of nurses around us made it difficult to focus on anything. That and my swirling thoughts. I was supposed to be getting married. Today was the day.

"You don't seem okay." Drew's brow furrowed, but I shook my head.

"This is all so much. You were gone, but now you're back." Before I got the sentence out, Alice swept in. She sat on the edge of the bed opposite me, shooing a nurse away, and grabbed Drew's spindly arm.

"Baby, you have no idea how Dad and I prayed for this moment. I knew. He was doubtful, and he hurt so bad because he believed we lost you. But I knew you were still here." She swiped at a few tears and continued. "Madii and I just never gave up hope." "Don't feed the boy lies, Alice. I never gave up hope. Just had a hard time with how I felt about it all." Henry clamped his hand down on my shoulder, gripping me so hard it hurt. I winced and stood, giving them space to move in. Drew turned his attention to his parents, who needed time with him. And I backed away.

It wasn't that I didn't want to be by his side. It was what I had wanted from the moment I got to the hospital on the day of the accident. All those days sitting alone by his side, pining for him. But the weight in my chest wouldn't allow me to enjoy it at all. "Hey," Gavin whispered. I smelled the musky cologne he wore. Instead of causing me to melt into him like I had for months, it made my heart feel panicked. I kept my eyes glued to Drew's; afraid he'd see my racing heart. "Madii, we need to talk."

I swallowed hard and planted myself at the foot of Drew's bed. Henry and Alice doted over him, despite the fact that he was a grown man. A box of tissues sat on his stomach, and from time to time he handed one to his mother. I couldn't hear what they were saying, they kept their voices hushed. And the nurses were still busy with their equipment, but I was frozen.

"Madison, please."

Drew's gaze focused on me when Gavin said my name. My shoulders tensed at the confused expression on his face. He had no clue what was happening, and all I could think was how it would destroy him.

"I'll be right back, okay? I need to speak to the doctor." Another fake smile emerged on my face, and I turned to leave with Gavin. He kept his distance, thankfully so. He must have sensed that I was really overwhelmed. What I wouldn't have done to be lying in his arms right then, our connection strong and my heart full.

The minute we left the room, Gavin took me by the elbow and pulled me aside, where the wall kept us out of view from Drew's eyes. Gavin's eyes pleaded with me to end his suffering. He held more than just a chart in his hand. As he opened his palm and held it out to me, I saw the ring-the one that was supposed to be on my finger.

"I took it. I knew you would want to break it to him slowly. I didn't think you wearing another man's ring on the day he woke up would be a good thing for him." He waited with his hand outstretched, but I felt like picking up that ring would be like picking up Thor's hammer. I stared at it with guilt and shame. I didn't deserve that ring. I didn't deserve Gavin, and I didn't deserve Drew. "Madii?"

The pain in his voice sliced through my chest. "Gavin... I..."

"You don't have to wear it right now. I understand what it would do to him. I'm not heartless, okay?"

"I just..." My gaze fell to the floor.

"No, Madison. You're not doing this. We are in love. We have a life planned. Our wedding is in 3 hours." The way his tone suddenly changed from pained, to authoritative, shocked me. I lifted my chin to meet his gaze. He pushed the ring toward me, pinching it between his thumb and forefinger.

"He is alive, Gavin."

"Yes, you knew there was this chance, but you and I have moved on. Remember?" His eyes bored into me, disarming my resilience. Tears pricked my eyes, and I shook my head, taking a step backward. But he pursued, reminding me of things I couldn't process at that moment. "Our wedding? Three hours?"

"We have to move it. I can't.... We have to see if it will even work now." I bit my lip as his hand fell, taking the ring with it. A flurry of nurses exited the room, passing by us in a blast of loud chatter. One of them seemed to notice the tension between us and gave me a sympathetic look. How confused all of them must be by all of this too. Or maybe they would sit and gossip over lunch, placing bets about what would happen to the good doctor now.

I knew all of them liked Gavin. He was exceptionally good looking. The way his chiseled features and flowing brown locks made him look like a model-who wouldn't like him?

"What do you mean, see if it will work? We're in love, Madison. Or did you forget that you promised to be my wife?" The hurt returned to his voice and to my heart.

"Gavin, it's not that easy. You knew how I felt about Drew. You knew how hard it was for me to let go."

"But you did move on. You love me."

"I do love you." The tears rolled. There was no point in stopping them. I was so in love with this man standing in front of me. He was everything I ever needed. But Drew had been that for me at one point too. "I just..."

"Postpone. That's it. We will postpone it. I can imagine all of this has taken you by surprise, and I know you'll need space. I'll make sure everyone knows. Hopefully it's early enough to let the caterer know." Gavin took my hand, turning it up, and placed the ring squarely in my palm. "We are getting married, Madii. You are mine now. And I'm not letting you forget that."

As Gavin moved closer, I felt a stab of adrenaline in my chest. Frantic, my eyes shot to the door where the large window would allow anyone inside Drew's room to see what Gavin was about to do. I stiffened as his arm slid around my waist. My hand shook, but I clamped it around the ring as he pulled me against his body. Instinctively, my face rose to meet him, our lips brushing across one another.

"I love you, Madison Springer. And I'm going to stand by your side, no matter what, because I don't give up." His hot whispers against my mouth felt wrong, like I was betraying Drew. But Drew had been all but gone, dead to the world.

Trying to let myself relax in his arms, I kissed him back, but it was tainted. Soiled. He backed away and frowned, likely sensing my hesitation "Only postponed."

I looked away just as Alice opened the door to the room. Her expression said everything. Worry, fear, pain, hope, love. "He wants you."

Gavin wiped the tears from my face, and I nodded at Alice. "Coming."

She sighed and backed into the room, and I pulled away from Gavin. "I love you."

I didn't know it then, but it was the last time I'd talk to him for weeks. If only I'd had that luxury with Drew. I needed time to sort out my thoughts because loving two men was not something I'd ever planned on in my life.