Page 143 of Mad As Hell

He silenced me with a fast kiss, and it was freaking unfair how good he was at that.

“I won’t come with you,” he explained, “but I’ll follow and be nearby in case you need me. Call me as soon as you leave, and I’ll follow you back to PC. That’s the best I can do.”

“What if he sees you?” But I really liked the idea of having him close.

“He won’t,” Ryan assured me. “I’ll have Court drive. Trust me, no one will notice.”

“You mean the way no one noticed you guys planning a secret company to take down your dads?” I snapped my fingers. “Oh, but wait.”

His eyes narrowed. “I still want to know how she knew about Phoenix.”

“We don’t actually know what she knew,” Ash pointed out as he came into the room. Court and Bex followed.

I glanced past them. “Where’s Linc?”

Court grimaced as he sat down again, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. “Outside. He needs space right now. And where am I driving?”

“Maddie has to go see her dad,” Ryan replied, clearly still hating the idea. “We’re going to follow her to make sure she’s safe.”

Ash unhooked the phone from the television. “Do you mind if I hang on to this? I might be able to open more files, and I need to see if mine or Linc’s initiations are on here. There are definitely more videos—”

I held up a hand. “I’ve had enough of Lainey’s version of Candid Camera. Take it. Do whatever you want.”

“You’re sure?” Ash pressed.

I nodded. “Tell me if there’s anything on there I need to know. One day I might want to go through all of it, but it sounds like whatever’s on there now affects you guys more than me.”

“Thanks,” he murmured, tucking the phone into his jeans.

Bex sighed before stepping over Court’s legs and dropping onto the couch beside him. “It’s a shame we can’t get to her diaries. Madelaine was neurotic about writing in one every single day.”

“Seriously?” I frowned. I hadn’t taken my twin for the introspective type.

Bex smirked and nodded. “Oh, yeah. She always said one day she’d be infamous and people would want to know all her secrets. She had freaking volumes of them. One for each year. But we were kids. I doubt she kept doing that.”

“Where would her diaries be?” I asked carefully.

She gave me a strange look. “Probably in her bedroom.”

“The one in Gary’s house?” An idea started to form in my brain.

Ryan hissed out a breath, clearly picking up where I was going. “Are you determined to give me a heart attack before I’m twenty-two? No, Maddie. You aren’t going on some random scavenger hunt in Gary’s house to find something that probably doesn’t even exist.”

I cocked my head. “I’m sorry, are you telling me what to do again?”

He threw up his hands and stalked away from me. “It’s like you’re trying to find an excuse to get yourself hurt.”

“I’m trying to find us some leverage,” I shot back.

“We have leverage,” he snapped. “That’s what Phoenix is. We’re bankrupting them into a corner, and when we have them, we’ll strike.”

“And when will that be, Ry?” I challenged. “Next week? Next year? After we get married? Or should we wait longer and hope Beckett doesn’t decide to do something to Cori?”

He sucked in a sharp breath, looking like I’d slapped him. “Don’t do that. Don’t you fucking dare use my sister as a weapon.”

I forced myself to take a steadying breath and held up my hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean it like that. I know you’re doing everything you can to protect Corinne. I want that, too. But maybe I can find something that will help.”

Ash clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Maddie, even if you do, the diary of a ten-year-old isn’t something that will hold up in court. Their attorneys will have it dismissed as the fantastical musings of a child’s imagination, and that’s if it’s not just dismissed outright as a fabrication. Even the videos that were on the phone are mostly circumstantial at best.”

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