Page 213 of No Headlines Please

Judging from Tessa's face, she was too flabbergasted to blame anyone. She looked back to Ryder. "What kind of info?"

With a humorless laugh, Ryder said, "They weren't even married, and she was already selling him down the river."

Franny edged closer to Ryder and asked in an eager voice, "Really? How?" When he balked, she said, "Oh, come on! Don't tease us now."

With his eyes on Maddox, Ryder lifted his eyebrows as if to say, Should I tell them?

I already knew what Maddox would say. No. Absolutely not. After all, he'd kept quiet for nearly a year regardless of whatever had happened.

Turns out, I was wrong.

Maddox only shrugged as if he didn't care either way.

Ryder turned back to Franny. "Alright. Long story short? She'd already sold the whole damn wedding."

"But wait…" Tessa said. "How can you sell a wedding?"

"Easy," Ryder said. "You chop it up and sell off the pieces – the guest list, the schedule, hell, even the seating chart. And she got kickbacks on the catering, too." He snorted. "After Maddox paid."

Tessa stared. "You're joking."

Ryder replied, "Nope."

Franny's eyes narrowed. "What a sneak! To think, I actually bought her book."

Tessa turned to Maddox. "But why didn't you say something?"

"Because I didn't have a reason to."

"But what does that mean?"

He took a second before answering. "When it was just me taking the heat, it wasn't a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Tessa repeated. "You can't be serious. She was all over the news. Everyone hated you."

Maddox grinned. "I know."

"So why are you smiling?"

His grin didn't waver. "Because I'm done."

Tessa looked more confused than ever. "With what?"

He flicked a glance at the TV. "That." His expression sobered. "But you know what?"

Tessa asked, "What?"

"It wasn't all bad."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Maddox shrugged again. "It told me everything I needed to know."

"About what?"

"Not what. Who." His gaze slid to Ryder. "For starters, which friends and family were the real deal."

Tessa looked surprised. "So that's why you didn't say anything? Because it was some sort of test?"