Page 82 of Mad Love

“Meaning,” Maddie clarified as she walked into the room in a loose shirt and sleepy expression, “Madelaine also convinced him that Phoenix was another company run by entitled pricks who exploited the innocent.” She paused beside my chair, an accusing look in her eyes. “Knight said we both needed to rest.”

“Not tired,” I countered.

“Funny,” she chirped with false enthusiasm, “neither am I.” She pulled out the chair on my other side and looked across the table. “Hey. You must be Tyler.”

“Which would make you Maddie.” Tyler smiled at her. “How are you feeling?”

“Alive,” Maddie replied with an easy smile that tightened as she attempted to get comfortable on the chair. “And sore.”

“You could be in bed resting,” I told her with a sharp smile.

She returned it. “So could you.”

“I’m sorry I left you there,” Chase told her. “I’d give anything to go back and—”

“And what? Fight through a bunch of armed guys? You’d have died, and they wouldn’t have found me as quickly.” Maddie shook her head, her long blonde hair falling in soft waves around her face. “You did the right thing. I thought you were dead when he told me he’d been recording us.”

Chase grimaced. “I failed you.”

“You really did,” I agreed.

Maddie slapped my arm. “Behave.”

“Can I get you anything?” Ash offered.

Maddie started to shake her head, and then paused. “Actually, yeah. Maybe it’s time we all had a meeting to talk about what happens next. Specifically how we get what we need to take Gary down once and for all.”

“You want to go to Pandora,” Chase murmured, smiling. “It’s brilliant.”

“It’s risky,” I shot back.

“And it’s my choice,” Maddie concluded, turning to me and arching a brow. “Madelaine hid an arsenal of shit against Gary. Against your dad, too. Don’t you want to finally end this?”

“Baby, we’ve discussed the risks, and it’s too much. Especially right now. You can barely walk without being in pain.”

She sighed and took my hand. “Then we wait a few days for me to heal and do it then.”

“Pandora is in Las Vegas,” Tyler said softly. “Gary is in Henderson. It’s pretty close.”

“Good thing I’m not going alone then, isn’t it?” Maddie smiled, looking at me to validate and approve her plan.

This girl was going to drive me crazy.

I exhaled hard and looked at Ash. “Get the others.”

CHAPTER 30

MADDIE

The shower cut off as I closed the door to our bedroom. With a sigh, I leaned against it and considered my next move. We’d been in Wyoming over a week, and my back was almost completely healed.

Not that Ryan had noticed.

Well, not in the way that I wanted Ryan to notice.

Sure, we slept in the same bed every night, and we were together all the time. I’d broken down about Gary killing Marge and my mother’s new role in his life. Ryan had told me about his stint in prison. Ash and Tyler had been doing their hacker thing, when they weren’t fighting, and Ash had finally gotten us a tentative time frame for when I could access Madelaine’s security box at Pandora. The plan was to leave Wyoming tomorrow night.

Ryan, Linc, Court, and I would travel to Las Vegas while the others stayed behind. We figured keeping the party small would help us fly under the radar, and I was anxious to see what my sister had been hiding.

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