Page 165 of Mad As Hell

His chest heaved as he backed me against the rough stone side of the building with his presence alone. “This is exactly why I don’t want you near him!”

I lifted my hands to his chest, trying to calm him down, but his anger was a palpable thing radiating between us. “Ryan, I’m fine. We both know I don’t break easily.”

His forehead dropped to mine. “Do you know how scared I was when Bex called?” His hands found my hips, and he pulled me to his chest. “Christ, Madison.”

I wound my arms around his neck. “I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me.”

He pulled back enough to glare at me.

“Much,” I amended with a small smile. “But we need to talk about what happened.”

He nodded and lowered his mouth to kiss me softly, like he needed to reassure himself I was standing in front of him, safe and all right. He laced our fingers together and pulled me back to the front of the building.

“I need to check on Bex,” I started as we stepped into the elevator and he hit my floor.

He wrapped an arm around my waist, anchoring me to his side. “She’s with the others in your room.”

“Everyone’s there?”

“Yeah. Ash thinks he might actually have a lead on that damn key.”

I perked up. “Really?”

He kissed the side of my head. “Yeah.”

“So it was a good thing I went looking, huh?” I couldn’t help needling him, but the look he threw my way made my smile wane.

His jaw clenched as he reminded me, “It was reckless, Maddie. Gary isn’t someone to mess with. We’ve spent years quietly creating a way to stop him—to stop all of them. You got lucky. If he caught you…” He shook his head grimly. “We have to play this perfectly, or someone could die.”

I swallowed audibly.

His expression gentled and he reached for my face, framing it in his hands. “I won’t let them hurt you, Maddie. But I’d rather not spend the rest of my life in prison for killing them if they come after you.” His gaze swept down my body. “I can think of so many other things I’d rather be doing.”

I rolled my eyes, trying to downplay the wave of heat that rippled through my body, as the elevator doors opened.

Flashing me a grin that made my toes curl, Ryan grabbed my hand again and led me to my room. He opened the door with his own key. I hadn’t given it to him, and I’d decided weeks ago I wasn’t even going to ask where he’d gotten it.

Typical Ryan.

Bex jumped off the couch where she sat between Linc and Court—huh, looked like things had thawed between them—and threw her arms around me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I assured her, but met everyone else’s gaze, too. When she let me go, I kept my focus on Ash. “Ryan said you figured out the key?”

He nodded. “Yeah, but don’t get too excited. It’s to a safety deposit box for a facility in Las Vegas called Pandora.”

I tilted my head. “Like a bank?”

He snorted. “I fucking wish. More like a fucking black hole for the worst people in the world to hide all their dirty laundry. It’s not public knowledge—you need to know someone to even get an interview to have a box there. Who the hell knows how your sister swung that.”

Yeah, I was quickly learning not to underestimate anything my sister was involved in.

“Can we access it?”

Ash shot Ryan a look, bypassing me. I turned to my fiancé with an expectant look.

“Maybe,” Ryan hedged.

“Maybe?” I repeated letting the annoyance in my tone filter through.

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