Page 179 of Mad Love

“You can show me how grateful you are when I see you in person,” I teased.

He groaned. “Hell yes, baby. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay. Bye, babe.” I hung up the phone and tucked it into my back pocket before looking on the shelves for a bucket.

Of course there wasn’t one.

“If I were a bucket, where would I be?” I muttered, looking around like a bucket would pop out like a damn Disney character and start mopping for me.

I opened the garage door and flicked on the lights. There was a small fleet of vehicles still in their bays, like they were waiting for someone to jump in and drive them. But along the wall, I spotted several buckets.

I hooked a pail around my elbow and went back into the mudroom to load it with supplies. In the kitchen, I turned on the hot water and started mixing up what I’d needed to clean the space.

A loud thump from above made me jump, and I hissed as my arm touched the stream of hot water. “Shit.” I turned off the water and abandoned my current mission to make sure Corrine wasn’t upstairs destroying something priceless.

Then again, maybe I’d help her trash the entire house. It might be a therapeutic fuck you to Beckett Cain.

I paused at the bottom of the steps and yelled up. “Cori! Everything okay?”

It took a few minutes, but Cori’s head appeared at the top landing with an impish grin. “Yes!”

“Did you drop something?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Wasn’t me.”

I shot her a suspicious look but didn’t want to push the issue since she was doing so well. “Okay. Just… shout if you need me.”

Shaking my head, I turned and walked back to the kitchen, prepared to tackle the month’s worth of dust and dirt. Then again, if every room was this filthy, I might take Ryan up on the cleaning service offer so I wouldn’t still be polishing floors at Christmas.

Which reminded me, I needed to pick Cori’s brain at dinner for gift ideas. Ryan had given me a black credit card and told me to buy whatever I wanted for her and for myself.

I already had a few ideas for things I could buy that Ryan and I would both enjoy.

A grin pulled at my mouth as I stepped into the kitchen. I made it two steps before something grabbed the back of my hair and yanked me off my feet.

Fuck, not something.

Someone.

My back hit the floor and the air whooshed out of my lungs as I blinked up, trying to focus on the person looming over me. Spots dotted my vision as I tried to inhale and couldn’t. Finally, just when I was about to pass out, I managed to suck in a deep breath.

Coughing, I blinked and my eyes focused. My stomach dropped as my world tilted.

Beckett Cain smirked above me, his eyes practically glowing. “Well, well. Isn’t this a nice surprise?”

CHAPTER 63

MADDIE

As far as any of us had known, Beckett had tucked tail and run when Ryan and I toppled his empire. Ash had tracked him to somewhere in the Caribbean, but we’d all kind of back-burnered finding him because we were busy dealing with other shit. Somehow we’d designated him as the lesser threat.

Mistake.

Such a motherfucking mistake.

“Get up,” Beckett growled, grabbing me by my hair and wrist to yank me up. My socked feet slid against the floor. I cried out as pain lanced across my scalp and tears pricked my eyes as he squeezed hard enough to grind the delicate bones of my wrist together.

“Up, bitch,” he hissed, his hot breath fanning across my face as he got me on my feet only to throw me against the wall. My teeth clicked together as he crowded against me, an arm pressed across my chest to hold me in place.

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