Page 25 of Mad Love

I cocked a brow. “Where’s what? Your sanity? I’m starting to think it never existed.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he hissed.

I snapped my finger. “Oh, you mean your real daughter? Pretty sure you had her killed.”

Gary didn’t even blink. Zero reaction at my accusation. “The money, Maddie. Where the fuck is my money?”

“My money is currently safe and only accessible by myself or my husband,” I replied, unable to keep the smirk off my lips.

With a snarl, he reached down and unclipped something. A second later, he shoved a stack of papers at me across the table along with a fountain pen.

I barely glanced down. “What’s this?”

“A statement I’ve had my attorneys draw up for you,” he replied with a smug look. “Sign it.”

“No,” I replied, leaning back in my seat and glaring at him. “I’m not signing something when I don’t even know what it’s for.”

“It’s a statement saying that you agree Ryan Cain manipulated you into signing over your trust funds,” he ground out. “I’ve already filed the paperwork to have your marriage annulled, and since I now have complete guardianship of you, this will help divert the funds you two stole back to the family where the money belongs without having to go through other, more costly channels.”

“You mean back to you,” I snapped. “No way am I saying Ryan manipulated me when the person who really did is you.” I waved a hand around the room. “You want to lock me up here? Fine. Want to pump me full of drugs until I’m as strung out as my mom? Go for it. I’m done pretending to give a shit about you, your money, or your family.”

He slammed a fist onto the table. “You will obey me, Madelaine.”

I laughed. “Hard for a dead girl to obey anyone, Dad.” I braced my hands on the table and leaned forward. “You’re a monster and a murderer. I’d rather die than help you get a single cent of that money.”

“Oh, but what good would killing you be?” The cruel look in his eyes, the blue color of them identical to my own, sent a shudder rippling down my spine. “There are so many other people I can hurt to prove my point.” His gaze moved to my mom, who had pulled her knees up to her chest, clearly not caring that we were in an office and she was wearing a skirt.

I faced the ugly truth Ryan had been saying for weeks, even though it hurt.

That wasn’t my mom.

She was a husk of a woman now, a shell of who she used to be. Or could have been. Nothing more than a phantom. And while I didn’t want her to hurt, I had to stop prioritizing her life over my own survival. Especially when she was proving by the freaking second that she would always choose a needle over me.

The only other person he could threaten was Bex, and I knew that, because I’d been taken, the guys would have her locked down tight. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Court had handcuffed her to his side or put a tracking device under her skin.

“You know, I am a little curious,” I said, going on the offensive for a change as I stared at Gary with as much hatred as I could. “How’d you do it?”

“Do what?”

“I’m assuming the people around here don’t work on credit,” I replied. “How are you paying them off?”

“The same way I paid off the district attorney to have your husband charged with Adam Kindell’s murder.” He grinned at me.

My world stopped. Totally freaking stopped.

“You did what?” Icy slush filled my veins, freezing me from the inside out.

Gary tilted his head, still smiling as he watched me start to crack. “Oh, honey. Didn’t you wonder why your dear husband hasn’t been around to save you?”

Fear prickled under my skin like thousands of ants crawling across my nerves.

“I suppose you were too out of it in the courtroom to notice him being hauled away in cuffs.” Gary reached down and pulled out a newspaper. He tossed it at me, and my heart quit beating when I saw the headline.

CAIN INDUSTRIES CEO ARRESTED FOR MURDER

The picture of Ryan being led out of the courthouse in cuffs, a stony expression on his perfect face, rocked me to the core.

No.

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