Page 138 of Mad Love

Approaching footsteps made us both freeze. I looked around, desperate for a place to hide. I was about to pull Bex back into the ballroom when a light flashed across the opening of the house and landed squarely on us.

“Maddie?” Chase called, stepping inside with two more people.

I sagged in relief at the sight of our friend and his guards. “Here,” I called.

Chase and the guards quickly made their way to us, and one of the guards took Bex. Chase’s arms wrapped around me in a crushing hug. “You’re all right,” he breathed into my hair.

I awkwardly patted his back. “What about the other guards?”

Chase grinned. “Seamus and Brennan took them out when the earthquake started. It was the perfect diversion.”

“Oh, good,” I deadpanned. “Thank God for natural disasters.”

“We should get out of here, sir,” the man not helping Bex said in a clipped tone.

“Where are your father and his men?” Chase asked.

I swallowed. “One of them is dead. I don’t know where Gary or the other guy are.”

Chase’s eyes narrowed and he looked at the man with Bex. “Right. Brennan, you get the ladies out of here.” He nodded to the other guy. “Seamus and I will see if we can locate the others.”

My eyes went wide. “What? No. We all need to get out of here.”

Seamus looked more than a little unhappy at the suggestion. “Sir—”

“You take your orders from me,” Chase snapped, sounding every inch a lord in that moment.

“Yes, sir,” Seamus ground out, his jaw taut.

Chase’s hand cupped my face in a familiar way that almost made me pull back. “Madison, I need to find Gary and see if he’s dead.”

“And if he isn’t?” I pointed out.

His green eyes heated. “Then I’ll handle him myself. For my mother and sister.”

I looked at Bex and Brennan. “You two go.” I turned to Chase. “I’m coming with you. I need to know if I’m spending the next decade looking over my shoulder for Gary or not.”

Chase nodded. “If that’s what you want, then of course.”

“Maddie, you should come with us,” Bex insisted. “We need to get out of here.”

“No, you should,” I countered. “This isn’t your fight, Bex. I’m sorry he dragged you into it.”

Bex looked ready to strangle me. “Maddie, no. Let’s get out and regroup with the others.”

She was probably right, but something in me needed to see this finished. I didn’t want to wake up wondering if today was the day Gary Cabot stormed back into my life and ruined it. If he got away now, who knew when he would resurface?

Best-case scenario, he was crushed under a pile of something.

Worst case, he’d escaped like the cockroach he was.

“This is a bad idea,” Bex warned, shaking her head.

“I’ll be fine,” I promised, not sure if I was lying or not. I flashed her a tight smile. “Ryan and the guys should be here soon. They were on their way.”

Bex looked like she had more to say, but a tremor rippled through the room as an aftershock hit.

“If we’re doing this, we need to do it now,” Seamus advised Chase. He looked around the room. “This structure is unstable.”

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