Page 59 of Mad Love

“Okay.” I dragged out the word as I tried to follow along.

“Gary and my father grew up in the same world. They’d made some business deals that helped them both.” He hesitated for a beat. “My father, too, is part of the Collective, but he stays on the fringes. Enough to keep our family and assets protected, but he does his best to keep all his dealings, personal and business, above reproach.”

“Sounds like a great guy.” Sarcasm dripped from my words.

Charles’s gaze hardened. “People in our world aren’t given much of a choice, Maddie. I would’ve thought you understood that.”

“There’s always a choice,” I argued. “And if you hadn’t told me you were on my side, you can be damn sure I’d be fighting Gary every step of the way down our fake aisle.”

“That wouldn’t be advisable,” he said. “Gary Cabot isn’t a man you cross. Do you think it was an accident that my mother got pregnant? Three years ago, Gary convinced her that they could have a child and a life together. He needed a new heir because Madelaine was proving too difficult to control.”

“But he had me, so that makes no sense.”

He grimaced. “Maddie, it would have been a lot easier for him to have Madelaine die in a car accident and raise a new baby to inherit. Switching you and your sister was infinitely more difficult, but necessary when my mother died with their unborn child,” Charles informed me. “You were, and are, his last resort.”

A chill trickled down my spine, its icy fingers wrapping around my bones. “Why did you really agree to marry me?”

“To get close enough to kill Gary Cabot,” he admitted.

I snorted. “Get in line.” I ran a hand through my hair. “But now that Gary has my money again, we’re back to square one. Well, square one-point-five, I guess, since Beckett is out of the picture.”

“Cabot was always smarter with his money than Cain,” Charles agreed. “Cain was new money and married into wealth, but he never had the assets or connections Cabot does. Your family—”

“The Cabots aren’t my family,” I snapped, irritation spiking in my blood. “Family isn’t supposed to hurt and use you. They’re supposed to support and give a damn about your life. Ryan, Bex, Court, Linc, Ash, Cori… They’re my family.”

“And me?” He cocked a brow.

“What about you?”

“I care about you. I’ll support you.”

I paused, not entirely sure what he was asking for.

“My father and Tyler are all I have,” he whispered.

“Tyler?”

The corner of his mouth hooked up in a fond smile. “Yeah. Tyler’s my cousin. Her dad was kinda the black sheep of the family, and she grew up in the US until her parents were killed in a car accident a few years ago. She lives with my dad and I now.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” I murmured.

“She’s also the reason I have a shot in hell at getting you out of here. She’s the brains that was able to find and transfer your money to Gary.” He winced a bit at the admission.

I glowered at him, still pissed about that.

“Look, Maddie, I’ve kept my circle small because… Well, because it’s easier to not get hurt if you minimize the people around you who can obliterate your world.” His look of resolute sorrow was one of the saddest things I’d ever seen.

“But that’s not living. That’s hiding, Charlie.”

His brow quirked. “Charlie?”

I shrugged. “Charles sounds so stuffy and formal. If we’re going to be married, I need something normal to call you.”

A soft smile ghosted across his lips. “Charles was my grandfather’s name. My mum always called me Chase.” He dipped his head, his cheeks turning a cute shade of pink. “She always complained she was forever chasing me around the house. Tyler, my dad, and my mates back home all call me that, too. You can as well. If you like.”

“Chase.” I tested the name out on my lips, eyeing his windblown chestnut hair and kind eyes. “I like it.”

“I like hearing it,” he replied.

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