Page 51 of Mad Love

Victoria had been the first resident, and she had periods where it seemed like she’d finally started moving on. But then something would trigger her, and she’d regress to the point of suicide. It wasn’t the first time she’d tried to kill herself, and it likely wouldn’t be the last.

The first three times, Ash had gone running to her side, feeling guilty as fuck that he hadn’t seen the abuse she’d endured for so long. Finally, the psychologist told him he needed to stop coming; Victoria had fixated on him as her savior and was hurting herself for his attention.

It killed him to leave her alone, but the therapist made a convincing case that Victoria was becoming attached to him on an unhealthy level, causing her to regress. Unlike Dr. Sharon Browne, the psychologists Phoenix employed were genuinely focused on patient care.

Needless to say, Ash still felt like shit when Victoria had an episode, but he resisted running to her side.

“I know Victoria’s situation isn’t my fault,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I just fucking hate feeling helpless.”

I nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. Every breath I took felt like a betrayal to Maddie. I’d failed her and didn’t deserve the oxygen filling my lungs.

A sharp chirp from one of the computers had Ash turning with a frown. He moved down to another screen and tapped a few things before whispering, “What the fuck?”

“What?” I demanded, coming around the table to see the screen. All I saw was a fuckton of numbers that made zero sense.

“No, no,” he hissed, furiously tapping on the keyboard.

“Ash!” I snapped.

He ignored me and kept typing, his fingers flying across the keys until, finally, the screen turned blue and then the computer went dark.

“Fuck,” he managed, his dark skin going ashy.

I clamped a hand on his shoulder, squeezing hard. “What the fuck just happened?”

He slowly turned to me. “Someone hacked Maddie’s bank accounts.”

My insides clenched.

“They drained every account,” he finished.

I jerked back. “Gary?”

“More likely someone he hired,” Ash answered. “But the money's gone from every account. All the inheritances…”

“How?” I ground out through clenched teeth. “The whole point of moving the money to offshore accounts was so that he couldn’t access it.”

“I know,” Ash returned, sounding as frustrated and pissed off as I was. “But he found someone who could.”

“Can’t you stop it?”

He jabbed a finger at the black screen. “I tried, Ry. They blocked me and then fried my computer when I tried to back-hack them.” His jaw clenched. “He found someone better than me.”

Panic sliced through me like a fileting knife. Blood rushed from my head fast enough to make me grow dizzy and grab the back of Ash’s chair as my knees almost buckled. “The money was the only reason he needed Maddie. Now that he has it…”

My stomach flipped hard enough that I tasted bile on my tongue.

This whole thing had started because Gary wanted that inheritance—an inheritance only Maddie could get him.

If he had the money… then he no longer needed Maddie.

“Oh, fuck,” Ash whispered, his gaze shooting to me with apprehension.

“What now?”

He swallowed audibly. “Look, Ry, don’t lose your shit, okay? But this just popped up in my alerts.”

I waited, bracing myself for the worst, but when he showed me his laptop screen, nothing could’ve prepared me to see Maddie and Charles together, kissing.

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