Page 59 of Kade

“Sorry. I got distracted. This is—I can’t really believe this, but I think it’s happening for real this time.”

“What is happening?”

“Mark and Cass are breaking up.”

Who the fuck are… It took me a second.Mark. Sam’s stepbrother. Malinda’s biological son. And Cass. I wished I could forget about her again. “They’re still together?”

Sam snorted, lowering her voice, “Well, you know things have been rocky for the last few years. Cass was really trying to win over Mama Malinda, and we thought Mark would pull out a ring. I mean, he’s like bachelor age at this point—”

“Sam.” I had whiplash from all this—andwhat happened to Maddy?“Is Maddy home?”

“Maddy?”

“Yeah. She left the office a little while ago. Is she okay?”

Sam quieted for a beat. “Why are you asking if our daughter is okay?” Her voice rose. “Did she do something again? Wejustgrounded her a day ago.”

I huffed out a laugh. “She’s home?”

“Yeah. She got here about twenty minutes ago, said you had to stay back to talk to some KB person. She said he was a shareholder, and that’s when Mark showed up with his bags. He announced he was moving in for a while—”

I groaned. “No. No more people.”

“—like this house isn’t built as a hotel. It’ll be fine.”

“He’ll bring his shit to our house. Like what’s her name.”

“Cass.”

“What?”

“You asked what her name was.”

“No,” I bit out. She was distracted, and I was trying to come down from having a goddamn threatening heart-to-heart with a fucking crime lord. Not a good combo. “It was a phrase—never mind. Maddy is okay? That’s my whole point.”

“She’s fine. Mark came in, dropped his hockey bag, which reeks, and went straight to the liquor cabinet. Your daughter immediately began popping popcorn. No joke. Mark was here for five minutes before Cass showed up. They’ve been going back and forth, and they do not care that we’re here. Apparently Cass is done with waiting for a ring and wants to get pregnant. I’ll be honest. Cass is our age. I’m shocked she’s waited this long. I’m kinda Team Cass right now, but also, what the fuck? Why didn’t she leave him if she wanted a ring and kids? Has she met my stepbrother?”

I…had no idea what to say to that or if I fucking cared.

“Okay. I’m going to break this down for you. Mark apparently has commitment issues. Although, there could be an argument that maybe it’s Cass. She’s never been a nice person, but moving on from that, they had a pregnancy scare last summer. I did not know that.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Mark panicked. Cass wanted to keep it, and she seems destroyed about it.”

I heard from the background, “Not helping, Sam!”

She moved away from the phone. “Sorry, Mark. Mason’s on the phone. He wanted to know what was going on.”

I shook my head. “I might argue with that statement.”

She snorted and returned to whispering again. “Okay, and now they’re—oh! They broke up last summer. Cass dated someone else. Wait. Did Mark?”

“Really not helping, Sam!” That was Mark again.

I heard shuffling movements. A slight squeak. The yelling quieted a little.

I frowned. “You’re hiding in the pantry?”

“Shh. I want them to forget I’m here.”

“Where is Maddy?”

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