Page 55 of They Will Fall

I gasp for air, feeling as though it’s all been sucked from my lungs. “Maddox!” I yell, but my voice seems to break. When he rushes into the room, placing a hand on my hip, I realize that in about ten seconds, I’m going to change his whole life. His family may never be the same.

“What is it, babe? What happened?”

My eyes lift to his worried ones as I struggle to get the words out. I point to the picture with a shaking finger and I manage to say, “It was him.”

“Him, what? That’s my dad. What do you mean, it was him?”

“That’s the man who kidnapped me from Temper’s room.” My body begins to shake involuntarily and I feel like an idiot because the second I laid eyes on that man, I should have known exactly who he was. How could I be so clueless?

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Ridge blurts out angrily. “Who the hell is Temper? And, what's this kidnapping shit you’re talking about? Are you guys keeping something from me?”

“Shut up!” Maddox snaps at Ridge before returning his attention to me. “You’ve gotta be mistaken. My dad isn’t capable… He isn’t… He…” His words trail off as if he had an epiphany and I don’t say anything. Instead, I allow him time to process his thoughts while I process mine.

“Someone fucking answer me!” Ridge growls at my side, nearly making me jump. “Did someone hurt you, Angel?” He grabs my face in his hands and turns me to look at him. “Tell me the truth.”

I swallow hard, unsure of what to say.

Maddox snatches the picture off the mantle aggressively and puts it right in my face. "Look at it again. Please. I need you to be sure. We need to be perfectly fucking sure before we move forward with this." I can't tell if he's begging for me to tell him it was his father, or if he's hoping it isn't as I watch the tremble in his hand right where he's squeezing the frame with all his might.

I stare at the picture, wishing it wasn’t true. Hoping like hell I was mistaken the first time, but the longer I look at those eyes, I’m even more certain. “It was him.” My tone is low and my words are strained. “I’m sure of it.”

Maddox slams the frame to the floor beside us and I watch as the glass shatters into hundreds of pieces. Tears pool in my eyes, but they’re not for me or what I went through, they’re for him. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper.

Ridge steps closer, crunching the glass and the gold frame, having no regard for the photo. It’s as if the family Maddox once thought he had is now as broken and as shattered as the shards on the ground. “If someone doesn’t tell me what the hell is going on right now, I’m gonna start breaking shit, too.”

Maddox growls and runs his fingers along his chin. He turns away with his head hung low as he paces back and forth, his rage apparent, but his pain hidden deep inside him.

"Angel,” Ridge says hastily as he grabs both of my arms. My body shakes along with his as his hard gaze sets on mine. “What. The. Fuck. Happened?”

I’m almost afraid to tell him. Scared that he’ll go mad and storm out of this house to find Maddox’s dad. And once he does, he’ll kill him. There isn’t a single doubt in my mind after everything I learned tonight.

“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” Maddox pipes up, taking on the role himself. Or at least, threatening to. “He’s a dead man.”

“Who?!” Ridge screams, the sound so loud that it jolts me. “Who the fuck arewekilling?”

Maddox stops pacing, his face red hot and his fists clenched at his sides. “My dad.”

“All right then,” Ridge retorts with a shrug, far less surprised than I thought he’d be. There’s not a bit of sympathy for Maddox in his tone and it has me wondering why he isn’t questioning this more. Unless, the loyalty these three guys have far exceeds what I ever could have imagined.

“Stop it, you guys,” I tell them. “We need to think this through. No one is killing anyone. I think we’ve all done enough of that for a while.”

Maddox’s shoulders relax a tad, but it’s apparent the anger he’s feeling hasn’t dissipated at all. “I knew he was hiding something.” He looks at me, shaking his head in disappointment. “That’s why he kidnapped you. Tell me what he said again about needing a confession.”

Ridge grows concerned but holds his composure as I speak.

“He said, um…something about needing a confession within the next couple days, or the governor's sealed records would be handed over to someone.” I clear my throat as I try to remember everything, knowing I’m not getting my words exact. “He also said something about a lot of secrets being exposed.”

Maddox snaps his fingers. “The governor had something on him. Something fucking huge.”

“Fuck the governor,” Ridge snaps. “Why didn’t you guys tell me about this? How the fuck could you keep something so damn important from me?”

I run a comforting hand down Ridge’s arm. “I was going to tell you. Things have just been so hectic.”

“Does Lev know?” he asks, as if in some way it would be a betrayal if I told Lev and not him.

“No,” I say as anger rises inside me. “But it’s not like I was purposely keeping this from you. Not in the way you and Maddox kept secrets from me.”

I know it’s not the right time to have this discussion, but if we’re laying all our secrets out there, then the feelings that come along with the truth should be revealed too. “I’m hurt that neither of you trusted me enough to tell me what you’d done. And that you let me believe it was all Lev.”

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