Page 200 of Mad As Hell

“When Court turned twelve, he was expected to do the same survival week. Even though Court was going to be a lawyer, Jasper expected his son to be strong and to prove it. But King had died a few years earlier, and Court hated his dad, so he refused.” Ryan looked away and shook his head slowly. “Jasper couldn’t force Court, or just drop him off in the woods like his brothers since he couldn’t directly endanger Court.”

“Why not?” Not that I was complaining, but it seemed like a weird line in the sand since Jasper didn’t give a shit about the others.

“Because he needed Court to access his wife’s family money. If Court died like King had, the money reverted to a charity. Every single cent of it. So, instead, he incentivized Court to participate.”

Unable to help myself, I reached for Ryan’s hand and laced our fingers together. I wasn’t sure if I was trying to comfort myself or him.

“Malcolm Whittier was looking for financial backing for his next project. The thing that would become CryptDuo. Jasper agreed to give him all the capital he needed, provided he could… borrow Bex for a week.”

“I’m sorry. He wanted to borrow her?” Anger flared in my chest. It was sick the way these men traded children as currency to get ahead.

Ryan nodded. “To be fair, he made it sound like he wanted to take Bex away for a week for Court’s birthday. But in reality, he hid Bex in the middle of the woods and made Court go find her.”

I threw my hands up in the air before covering my face, a sick feeling twisting up my insides. “I can’t. I can’t even fucking deal with this world. What the hell?”

He refused to meet my gaze as his head lowered. “There’s more. You know Bex was really sick back then. She had been diagnosed with leukemia when she was a toddler and beaten it, but it had recently come back. She was in the middle of chemo treatments when it happened. Court’s mission was to find Bex so she could get the meds she needed.”

All the air left my lungs in a rush. “Why the fuck would her father or mother agree to letting her go anywhere with Jasper?”

“Court and Bex’s moms were best friends, and Jasper made it sound like he’d hired a personal nurse to administer Bex’s treatments while they were away. He just left out the part that the nurse wouldn’t be able to treat Bex until Court found her.”

“He found her, obviously.” The bitterness in Ryan’s tone seeped into my bloodstream. “But it took days, and Bex was unconscious when he found her… She almost died. She was in the hospital for weeks.”

“Bex never told me any of this,” I whispered.

“She doesn’t remember. She was nine, and was so sick… They put her in a medically induced coma to lighten the strain on her heart because she got this horrible infection. When she came out of the hospital, she didn’t remember what Jasper had done, or being in the woods.” He hunched forward. “Court made us promise to never talk to her, to cut off all contact. He wouldn’t let her be used by his father again. He blames himself that she almost died.”

“Jesus,” I murmured.

He turned and looked at me, the pain in his eyes palpable. “The Whittiers and the Woods stopped being friends. Bex’s mom almost divorced her dad, and her dad was so fucked up over being part of her almost dying that he started drinking.”

“Bex needs to know this,” I insisted.

“Would it change anything?” Ryan’s brows lifted. “Would her knowing that her dad almost got her killed help her? She’s already reeling about him being involved in all this shit, Mads. Is adding more pain on top of what she’s already dealing with going to lessen the burden?”

I shook my head, numb. “I don’t know, Ry. Bex deserves to know all of this. She’s my best friend.”

He covered my hands with his. “I know this is a lot, baby. And I know your first instinct is to protect your friend, but telling her isn’t protecting her.”

“She still needs to know. She thinks you guys just decided you were too cool for her one day and abandoned her.” I knew he was right; telling Bex wouldn’t change the way their lives had turned out, but it still wasn’t fair to keep her in the dark.

“You’re right, but Court needs to be the one to tell her. What happened, happened to them, Maddie,” he told me firmly.

I sighed, my shoulders drooping. “I hate when you’re right. Court seriously needs to tell her. And if he doesn’t, I will.”

He gave me an unreadable look.

“Uh uh,” I said, wagging a finger. “I’m not violating girl code to protect Court. We both know how damaging keeping secrets can be, even if you’re trying to protect the other person. Like Dean.”

His brows slammed down. “What does that asswipe have to do with this?”

“If I had told you that he’d given me a hard time outside your room that day, or about the sweater, we might’ve been able to avoid the clusterfuck at the engagement party.”

“Baby, that’s not on you. I should’ve trusted you,” he shot back with a sharp shake of his head.

“Oh, I’m not letting you off the hook,” I agreed, “but we’ve all been hurt by secrets. Bex finding out her dad’s involved in this was bad enough. You guys can’t keep the womenfolk in the dark because you’re trying to protect us. This isn’t the Dark Ages, Ry. Bex and I aren’t just some little flowers that will wilt and fall apart when bad news hits. But it does shake our faith in the people we trust when they don’t trust us enough to be honest.”

He set his bottle aside and picked me up, blanket and all, and settled me on his lap. Burying his face against the side of my neck, he inhaled deeply. “I love you.”

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