28. Maddox

Almost like a bad case of deja vu, Connor and his team, me, Quinny, and Ryan all crowded around the sectional in my living room. The last forty-eight hours had gone by both fast and slow at the same time, and my head felt like it was starting to spin Exorcist-style.

If it weren’t for Ryan’s calming hand stroking my arm up and down in a steady rhythm, I’d be completely on edge. Shit didn’t get to me. I was always in control, always planned ahead and knew what was coming. But Yates was an unknown. He was purposefully trying to fuck with Ryan, and now he’d set his sights on me.

I didn’t want to drag shit out. I wanted to take him down before he could do any more damage. And right now, we were about to find out what tools we’d have at our disposal to do it. What kind of ammunition was he hiding from the world?

And how could I exploit that shit for maximum pain and entertainment?

Connor leaned forward, grabbing the iPad off of the ottoman in front of him. “It’s been an interesting forty-eight hours,” he started, flipping the cover open. “Buckle up for the circus because shit’s about to get wild.”

I exhaled, sinking back into the cushions and draping my arm across Ryan’s shoulders, pulling her into my side. Bit by bit, I started to relax. I hadn’t even admitted it to myself, but there was a part of me that’d been afraid despite all the digging, Yates was as clean as he appeared to be. It looked like my gut feeling about him had been right.

Julian and Indy glanced at each other, and it looked like they were having a silent conversation between themselves. Finally, Julian spoke up. “We watched him in rotating shifts for the past two days. There was really only one thing of interest, and that was that he likes hookers.”

“A lot, ” Indy added. “Like a disgusting amount. I’m surprised his dick hasn’t fallen off yet.” He turned to me. “And I’m billing you for a gallon of fucking brain bleach to wash out some of the shit I’ve seen.”

“Worth it if we get to take him down,” I chuckled.

“Oh, he’s fucking done. There’s no doubt about that anymore,” Connor confirmed, swiping across the screen of the tablet he held. “Thank fuck you didn’t marry this pervert, Ryan.”

Her eyebrows shot up, and she paled. “Oh, Jesus. What kind of sick shit is he into?”

“Prostitutes aren’t bad enough for you?” Quinn joked from her other side, and I bit back a smile.

Sebastian pulled a file out of the messenger bag that sat on the floor next to his feet, setting it down on the ottoman and flipping it open. “Where do you want to start? The women suing him for paternity tests and back child support for his alleged kids? The sex tape one of his many prostitutes is blackmailing him over? The transsexual fetish porn he watches every day? Or how about the fact he’s stealing from his family’s bank?” He finished pulling out page after page, setting each one down as he explained what they were.

And my smile got a little wider with every item Sebastian tossed out like a fucked up checklist of depravity. I was ecstatic that Ryan chose me and not walked down the aisle to that prick, but hearing how fucked up he really was deep down? Now I was beside myself happy that I convinced her I deserved a shot.

I glanced over at my girl, her freckled nose wrinkled like she’d smelled something bad. She looked horrified, disgusted, but, most of all, really fucking pissed off. My heart fucking sang, watching her strength shine through, like a goddamn avenging angel as fury took over her beautiful features.

She smoothed down her hair, taking a deep breath as she reined in her anger. Her shoulders relaxed a fraction, and her flushed skin started to fade back to its normal tan-with-freckles that I loved so much. “I don’t even know where to start,” she finally admitted.

“How about we start with the easiest thing first?” I suggested, taking the opportunity to rub soothing circles across her back.

She laughed, but I wasn’t sure if she actually found any of this funny or not. My guess was not. “Easiest? What on that disgusting list would you refer to as easy ?”

Shrugging, I answered, “The porn, probably.”

Sebastian nodded along with me. “Mad’s right. What you see is mostly what you get with that one. He looks at porn a lot . Enough that I started to wonder how the hell he has time to do anything else with his day. But when he looks, it’s always the same kind. The kind where the woman has both boobs and a cock.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing, and Ryan must have heard the really fucking unsexy snort that popped out of my mouth before I could stop it. I tried to cover it up with a cough, but judging by the glare she shot me, I’d say it hadn’t worked. “Sorry, baby. It sounds like you weren’t exactly his type.” I leaned close enough that I whispered the next part into her ear. “But you’re definitely mine, and when we’re done here, I’ll take my time showing you exactly what you do to me.” It was a dirty promise I intended to keep.

But first, we had plans to make.

“Next up is the sex tape,” Connor decided, turning his tablet so it faced Ryan, Quinn, and me. I assumed the rest of them had already seen it, so he was showing it for our benefit. Turning to Ryan, I waited for her to meet my eyes. “I don’t think you have to watch this, Freckles.”

Her gaze hardened as she turned back to the screen, her spine straightening. “I need to know everything we’re up against. That asshole is messing with everyone I love, and I don’t want to miss anything that we can use against him.” Her tone left no room for argument, so I moved my body closer until our legs were molded together and tucked her into my side. She melted into me, and I breathed another sigh of relief. I hated it when she was mad at me.

“Anyone care if I take a quick break to make some popcorn first?” Quinn asked, jumping up without waiting for an answer and striding into the kitchen. Cabinet doors opened and closed before the telltale sounds of the microwave starting carried across the room. Connor looked at me with a shake of his head and a twitch of his lips.

The scent of butter wafted through the house as Quinn came out of the kitchen with a giant bowl filled to almost overflowing with popcorn. He settled in next to Ryan, grabbing a huge handful and shoving it straight in his mouth, crunching loudly. Ryan giggled softly beside me and reached her hand into the bowl, taking some for herself.

“Fuck it,” I gave in, grabbing a handful, too. We all settled back into the couch, making ourselves as comfortable as possible for the horror we were about to endure.

“Anyone need a drink? Any other refreshments?” Connor mocked before glaring at each of us individually.

“Nope,” I snarked, popping the P just because I knew it’d piss him off.

He held the iPad balanced on his lap, pointed in our direction, and pushed play. All of us stilled and watched in silent disgust and revulsion as frame after frame flew by, a variety of positions, more of Yates than I ever cared to see, and enough offensive dialogue to make even me uncomfortable painted a disturbing as fuck picture of the guy Ryan almost tied herself to.

I held her a lot tighter as the video finally came to an end, and she shuddered against me. It wasn’t the same way she usually did, either. Instead of her shuddering in reaction to my touch, this was distaste and nausea.

“Well, that was informative,” Quinn piped up, continuing to munch away on popcorn as if we hadn’t all just watched Yates going to town on some prostitute he picked up and did unspeakable shit to. How the fuck he could still eat after that was beyond me.

I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to eat again.

“I think the damage that could do is pretty self-explanatory,” Connor said, flipping the cover shut on the tablet and setting it down. “Now’s where we get into the really juicy stuff.”

Sliding a couple of the papers out of the folder Sebastian laid out, he handed them over to Ryan. I read over her shoulder, and I noticed Quinn doing the same thing. “How many women are suing him?” I finally asked.

“Three, from what I can tell,” Sebastian answered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “If I had more than two days to dig into it, I could tell you if there’d been others he’s settled with in the past. Apparently, your boy doesn’t know how to use a goddamn condom.”

“Don’t call him my boy,” Ryan snapped with a look of pure disgust on her face. I pressed a kiss to her temple, and she leaned into me, closing her eyes for a second. I breathed her in, closing my own eyes and pretending that it was just her and me in this room, and we weren’t dealing with any of this bullshit.

Forcing my eyes open, I sighed. “So, he’s got three women who claim he fathered their kids?” I asked Sebastian.

He nodded. “He’s been trying to fight them, but they’re asking for DNA tests. He can only put that off so long unless he comes to a settlement.”

“This is good, Freckles. We can use all of this against him,” I reminded her, and I saw Quinn nodding in agreement on her other side. He held her hand in his and shot me a concerned look. We both knew Ryan was strong. I wasn’t worried about her breaking down or not being able to handle this. But she carried a fuck ton of guilt when it came to not being able to protect the people she loved just like I did. She’d be worried this wouldn’t be enough or it wouldn’t work. But I’d make absolutely sure that motherfucker went down.

There wasn’t another option.

“Yeah, and we will. I’m not going to let him get away with coming after my family, coming after you,” she said vehemently, cupping my rough cheek with her warm palm. “I’ll kill him before I let him get away with the shit he’s pulled.”

“I don’t think you’re going to have to kill anybody, Lancelot,” Quinn chimed in. “What was the last thing?”

Connor straightened up, digging through the papers in the file and swapping them out for the ones about the paternity suits. “Embezzlement. From what Bash was able to dig up, Yates has been stealing from his family for over a year.” He pointed to a couple of highlighted transactions on the bank statement Ryan was staring intently at.

“When I first started digging into Yates’s finances, his main bank account was nearly empty. I figured it was just a cover or something, and he was hiding his wealth somewhere else, maybe somewhere offshore. Instead, we found that this is his main account, but he shuffles money from Rutherford Financial into an offshore account and then transfers it here,” Connor explained.

“His accountant probably told him it wouldn’t be traceable. It took me two hours,” Sebastian announced, a hint of pride in his voice.

“Where’d all his money go?” I asked. Reputation was everything to his family, and I doubted his parents would’ve sent him off to college empty-handed. Especially after I’d gotten a look at the Ivy League douche squad he called friends.

Sebastian shrugged. “I can only trace parts of it since he took cash out for a lot of his spending. If I had more time, I might know more. But legal fees, failed business ventures, and insane spending habits mostly. Prostitutes, leasing cars, houses, boats. You name it, he’s bought it at some point.”

“What kind of failed business ventures?” Ryan wondered, still scanning the pages of transactions lying across her lap.

A smile stretched across Sebastian’s face. “He tried to start his own cologne company. Oh, and then there was the pocket square business. And then the porn production company. Too bad everyone watches that shit on the internet for free.”

Ryan stacked all the papers together and set them back in the folder, closing the blue file and pushing it back toward Sebastian. “Okay, we have all of this information, but what are we going to do with it?”

“We’re going to sit on it for a couple of days while we decide on the best course of action,” I decided. “We have something more important to deal with first.”

“What?” she asked.

“The fact that Sebastian dug in and that fucker really does own the ranch. But I’m going to get it back, Freckles,” I promised. “He’s stealing because he needs money, right?”

She nodded.

“He’s going to wait until he gets the satisfaction of kicking your family out, and then he’s going to try to offload it as fast as he can for as much as he can. But I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“How the fuck do you plan to do that? He knows who you are,” Connor pointed out.

“No, shit. I’m going to need Sebastian’s help.”

At the mention of his name, he perked up, lifting his eyes off the tablet he’d snatched from Connor and buried his face in it. “What’s up?”

“I need you to create some sort of mask or shell company or something to make the offer through. And then I need you to contact Yates’s lawyer and make an offer above market. Well above. I don’t want him to counter or get suspicious. Make it seem like I’m a big-time ag company wanting to buy up farms in the area or something. I don’t give a fuck as long as it works.”

Ryan had pulled my hand into her lap, threading our fingers together and squeezing. I knew she hated letting me do this, but she was out of options. So, she stayed silent with a look of appreciation sparking in her eyes.

“You got it. When do you want it done?” He was already tapping aggressively on the tablet’s screen.

“As soon as possible. Today if you can.”

“Done,” he assured, lost in whatever he was doing.

“Anything else?” I questioned.

“Now we talk about the best way to decimate one perverted asshole,” Connor announced with a menacing grin that stretched almost unnaturally across his face making him look goddamn terrifying.

“I’m listening.”

An uneasy feeling crept through me as the rest of the day was quiet. After everything Yates pulled, I didn’t think for one goddamn second he would quit after I threatened him at the bank. At best, I thought I might buy myself a day or two while he figured out a new strategy. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to let shit go.

When my phone buzzed on the nightstand, I jolted out of bed still fully naked. Ryan shifted, sitting up as the sheet fell away from her enticing body, blinking the post-orgasm haze from her eyes as she watched me.

“Fuck,” I cursed as I answered the call. “Please tell me you’ve got good news.”

“”Fraid not, mate,” Harrison’s soft voice confirmed. “Have you had the TV on at all tonight?”

“No, I was busy doing something more fun,” I answered, eyeing Ryan as she laughed softly and winked at me. She was so goddamn sexy, even though I knew I was about to get a gut punch in the form of some retaliation by Yates, my cock hadn’t gotten the memo. It sprung to life and, like a goddamn divining rod, pointed right at Ryan.

She crawled across the bed, letting the sheet completely drop away. I groaned as she wrapped her fingers around me, pressing light kisses to the head of my dick before running her tongue along my entire shaft. Harrison’s voice slammed me back to reality, though. “Turn it on CNT.”

Ryan made a protesting sound as I pulled away from her. I sure as fuck didn’t like it any more than she did. Stalking out to the living room completely fucking naked, hard on bobbing between my legs, I gripped the remote and turned the TV on, flipping through the channels until I found the right one.

And when I did? It was like dipping my cock in ice water, it went down so fast. Sinking down into the soft cushion, I clenched my jaw. “What the fuck is this?”

On the screen in front of me was Russell, my dad , talking about shit he had no goddamn business discussing with anyone, let alone publicly. All I could see was fucking vengeance because I knew, I fucking knew , Yates was behind this. I’d been a public figure for years, and Russell had never once tried to profit from it. It was the only decent thing he’d ever done.

And now here he was, laying all of my personal shit out for the public to judge. I didn’t want to listen to any more of his bullshit. As Ryan slid down next to me, her eyes narrowed at the TV, I turned it off. “How bad is it?” I asked Harrison.

“Not bad per se. He was clearly not sober, so there’s the embarrassment factor. And he ranted a lot about what a horrible son you are and how you kicked him out of his own house and threw him out on the street,” he finished.

I scoffed. “Right, the street. I guess that’s what you call it when you give someone fair market value for a ranch worth half.”

“The way I see it, you have two options. You can make a statement or do an interview telling your side of the story. Or you can ignore his ranting and let it blow over. I don’t think you can lose either way.”

I looked over at Ryan, the worry in her eyes softening my anger momentarily. I rubbed my hand along her bare thigh, and her involuntary shiver at my touch made my lips twitch in an almost-smile. “How long do I have to decide?”

“Not long. Maybe a couple of hours. Let me know,” he finished, ending the call.

“What was that?” Ryan leaned closer to me, running her fingers through my hair, and I closed my eyes as she scraped her nails along my scalp. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore by anything Russell did to me, but I was. I hadn’t expected him to do something like this. He’d never been a father, leaving scars that went far deeper than skin-level, and I was stupid to think buying him out would rid my life of him permanently.

“I think Yates somehow got Russell to do an interview about me on TV,” I explained, the anger and hurt reigniting as I told her about what happened and what my options were. “What do you think I should do?”

“I think you should ignore it. Don’t fuel the fire. That’s what Yates wants. He wants to see that he got under your skin. Don’t give him the satisfaction. Soon enough, he’ll pay for what he’s done to us, to our families.”

She was right. As much as I wanted to explain my side and lash out at Yates, I had to be smart about it. I had to play to win, and I wouldn’t be derailed by cheap shots. That motherfucker knew my family was a weak spot for me, and he exploited it. The gloves were fucking off. I had the ammunition, and it was time to load the goddamn gun, point it at his fucking head, and pull the trigger.