Page 154 of Mad Love

“And Gary was going to shoot you,” Court replied gently. “It’s justifiable homicide. We have plenty of witnesses who can back that up. He kidnapped Bex, manipulated you to come to him, shot Chase and that other guard he was with.” He shook his head. “It’s pretty clear cut, Maddie.”

“Okay,” I said, my voice tiny as I forced myself to trust what he was saying as truth.

Court grabbed another folder and held it out to me. I took it with caution, then flipped it open and saw a bunch of documents that made me frown. “What’s this?”

“Deeds to the properties Gary owned around the globe,” he replied.

Shit. There were several pages, and I realized there were also estimates on the property values. With each page I turned, my eyes got bigger.

“I own all of this?” My voice trembled, and I felt Ryan shift beside me so his thigh was pressed to mine, silently offering comfort and support.

Court nodded. “Well, not officially. The morgue will release the death certificate in the next few days, then we can start the claims procedures, but for all intents and purposes, yes. You own these properties outright, Maddie.”

“Damn,” I whispered, stunned. I could sell them and live off that money for the next hundred years without lifting a finger.

“You don’t have to decide anything right now,” Ryan reminded me, his tone gentle and firm.

I met his eyes and felt relief trickle down my veins. I wasn’t alone; I didn’t have to sort this out by myself. “Right. What else?”

Court hesitated, his fingers brushing another file. “These are Gary’s business assets. Partnerships and shares he holds. We figured out a few weeks ago, when he took you, that he was hiding some things, and I think I found most of it. He filed a lot of the paperwork in Madelaine’s name.”

I frowned, confused. “Why?”

“Probably to keep his connections buried a little more, but we’ll never really know. The thing is, you’re legally Madelaine, and you’re eighteen. So, almost everything is yours, and that might not be a good thing,” he admitted, his dark eyes flashing to Ryan for a beat.

Ryan sighed heavily. “How bad?”

I watched them with anxiety niggling in my gut. Clearly they both knew something I didn’t.

Court grimaced. “Enough to cause problems.”

“Fuck,” Ryan grunted, his jaw tight.

I raised a tentative hand. “One of you want to clue me in?”

“Gary invested in some shady shit under your sister’s name. That way, if things went wrong, his name wouldn’t be on the line. He couldn’t be arrested.” Court gave me a hard look.

“Illegal stuff?”

He nodded. “There’s two ways to handle it. The first is the easiest—we dump all your shares and get the name Madelaine Cabot removed from any and everything involved in the barely legal and outright illegal venues.”

“How illegal are we talking?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

“A few massage parlors across Europe and Asia with less than willing workers,” Court replied. “Some factories that are violating child labor laws set up by the foreign trade commissions.”

I felt sick. “But can’t we just… shut them down?”

Ryan covered my hand with his. “It’s not that easy, baby.”

My head swung to him. “Make it that easy. Can’t Phoenix do something?”

He squeezed my icy fingers. “We can and we will, but it’ll take time.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but Court cut me off.

“He’s right, Maddie. We’ll add it to the list of things Phoenix will handle, but we can’t just go in guns blazing. That’s how people die. Dismantling organizations like these take time, or else they pop right back up.” He gave me a steady look. “But in the meantime, we don’t want you being pulled into a legal nightmare if things go public.”

“You said there were two options. What’s the other?” I pressed.

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