Page 241 of Mad As Hell

This whole shitshow was a fucking disaster.

One week. Gary had kept Maddie from me for an entire fucking week, for most of which I hadn’t known where she was.

Bex and Imani had been practically hysterical, crying and frantic, when Maddie had gone missing at the game that they’d had my coach pull me from it. I’d run off the field to find her without hesitating. Court, Linc, and Ash were right behind me.

The Knights lost.

But the bigger issue was we had lost.

By the time Ash managed to get into the Knights’ security camera feeds, they’d been erased. There was no sign of Maddie anywhere except for her phone. Court found that in the parking lot, the screen cracked into a million pieces.

I’d turned the world upside down trying to find her.

Thank God for fucking Ash who had set up some kind of program that alerted us to anything pertaining to Madelaine’s name. When it popped up this morning as a hearing in family court at the last minute, we’d barely had time to get to downtown L.A. before it began.

Gary had managed to not only kidnap my wife but also had her placed on a psychiatric hold while petitioning the court to have her rights transferred to him.

“Everyone sit down,” Judge Norris finally ordered.

Ash tugged me into a seat beside him, and I finally let my legs fold enough for my ass to hit the wood. But I had eyes only for my girl.

“I let her down,” I whispered, gutted at how fragile she looked.

Linc sucked in a sharp breath on my other side. “Maddie’s strong, Ryan. She’s going to be okay.”

“Look at her,” I rasped as her father’s lawyers called a shrink to the stand. “She’s not even there.”

Court leaned around Linc’s side. “She needs you to be strong, so man the fuck up, Cain.”

I nodded stiffly and drew in a steadying breath. He was right; Maddie needed me to be in control right now for both of us.

The doctor was sworn in, and I could only listen in horror as she recounted Madelaine’s fractured psyche.

She was delusional because she claimed to be her dead twin sister.

She was suffering from PTSD, likely at the hands of an abusive partner who had been controlling her.

Photos were introduced that showed bruises not only on Maddie but also on Gary—the ones I’d given him that day in the boardroom when I’d thought we were invincible.

I scoffed and shook my head in disgust as the doctor concluded that Madelaine needed intense care and was unfit to make her own choices. She beseeched the court to let Maddie’s father assume control of her care and finances.

“He’s going to use this to get her inheritance,” I muttered. “Motherfucker found a loophole.”

“Bullshit,” Ash replied quietly. “He’ll never touch it. Other than Maddie, only you have direct access. Even if he gets guardianship of her, I can keep him out of the accounts.”

I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Ash, he knows I’ll give him every fucking cent if it means I get her back.”

My best friend was quiet, because he knew I was right.

I’d give up anything to protect Maddie.

Gary had me by the fucking balls.

I turned to Court. “Is there anything we can do?”

His lips smashed together. “Not today. Technically you’re her husband, but Gary’s arguing you’re the problem and that your marriage is invalid because you coerced her. And I have a feeling the reason he managed to keep things so quiet is because he knows Norris. We’ll file an appeal, but odds are? She won’t be going home with you today.”

It hit me like a kick to the nuts. All the air rushed out of my lungs, and I couldn’t get it back.

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