Page 71 of Deserving Maddie

Ray called the precinct Anthony worked for before his death. He knew he wasn't on the right track when the person at the front desk confirmed Captain Matthews was on shift today and transferred him.

Two minutes on the line was all it took for Ray to want to fly to North Carolina and teach the man a lesson. Wes had to end the call when the captain called Maddie a cunt and a liar for even insinuating Anthony's death was anything but on the up-and-up. He would show the fucker who the real liar was.

"That asshole deserves to lose his job at a minimum, but really, I would love nothing more than to go there and punch him in the throat."

"Save it for after we find Maddie," Falcon told him.

His team leader was right. He needed to find out who took Maddie. He would start with the email. Just because the captain was still in North Carolina, didn't mean he wasn't behind it. He could back trace to figure out who actually sent the email that set Maddie up.

Hold on, baby. I'm going to find you.

Chapter 32

Maddietriedtoswallow,but her throat felt tight. She was panicking, the very last thing she should be doing, considering some strange man just told her he was using her to ruin Ray's life.

"How … how did he ruin your life?"

She needed to keep him talking. Maybe if she could keep him busy, it would give Ray time to find her. That's what he did for a living and his teammates bragged that he was the best at it. She really hoped that was true.

"He couldn't keep his damn nose out of my business. For years, I waited to secure that fucking alliance they were holding over my head. Groomed my daughter to be the perfect, obedient wife. All for Ray to screw it up."

Maddie had no idea what alliance the stranger was talking about, or how Ray messed anything up. Her only guess was it had something to do with his work. But the fact that this guy thought he could groom his daughter made her sick. No daughter deserved to be a pawn in someone else's game.

The mother bear inside her felt obligated to defend his daughter.

"Served you right. Your daughter deserved better than to be treated like that. Marriages are for love. Not alliances."

She heard the angry stomping, but it didn't occur to her that she should brace for the blow she was about to receive. It happened so quickly that she barely registered it until the pain shot through her cheek.

The asshole had backhanded her.

"Watch your mouth," he spat.

Maddie knew this didn't bode well for her. Her kidnapper was showing his face, and for some reason, it looked familiar.

Then it clicked. Senator Adams. Well, former senator. Maddie lived under a rock, but even she knew he lost his seat when it was discovered that he bought his votes. Her social media had been flooded with headlines about it. So this was the man whose life Ray ruined.

Good for Ray. She was happy to know he did such a good thing if this was the kind of man the former senator was.

"I saw the headlines. You were the one who used shady methods to secure a Senate seat. Don't blame Ray because he exposed the truth to the world. Your constituents had a right to know."

There was a point where she should stop antagonizing the man who currently had her tied to a chair, but she was feeling more confident. The man standing in front of her was nothing but a bully who used people to climb the social ladder. She was going to handle him the same way she taught her children to deal with bullies—by standing up to them.

"He helped Shantae marry that commoner. She was promised to someone else."

Shantae was the name of Panther's wife. Maddie met her when she met the rest of the wives. She liked Shantae. She was sweet and funny. Was it the same woman? Shantae never mentioned anything about her father, but that was to be expected if he was this much of an asshole to her.

Something in the back of her mind was bothering her. Maddie thought back to everything she read about Senator Adams and what happened to him. Normally she didn't pay attention to tabloids, or the shit they spewed, but she was new to the area and had nothing to do so late at night when she couldn't turn her mind off, she found reading about other people's troubles made her feel a smidge better about her own life.

"Wait, wasn't there some big scandal all the society pages couldn't stop talking about? You announced her engagement, but then neither the bride nor groom showed." The more she spoke about it, the more she remembered. "And they were talking about the guy she was supposed to marry and how there were all these allegations of rape and abuse."

"There was no proof," he snapped.

Uh, from what she remembered, there was lots of proof. It was just buried by the local police, but it came out after the senator lost his seat. She wondered if Ray had something to do with that truth coming out as well. She assumed so; why else would she have been kidnapped?

Her cheek still stung from the last time he hit her, so she thought it was best not to challenge his way of thinking again. She wanted to keep him talking, but not at the cost of her face. Ray was already going to want to murder the man for kidnapping her. Adding multiple injuries on top of it wouldn't bode well for Shantae's father.

"You mentioned wanting to ruin Ray's life since he ruined yours. Care to share your plans on that?"

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