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“Who the fuck do you think you are to tell us we can’t go in?” he snarls.
“Who the fuck am I?” A caustic laugh bursts from my lips. “I’m the asshole you all threw under the bus, remember?”
“Madden, please,” my mom blurts out.
“Please, what?” I swing my gaze to her. “What could you possibly have to say to me now? You want me to keep the peace? Fuck that. You aren’t going in there. The last thing Bianca needs is to see or hear from any of you.”
“I’m her mother,” Maria argues. “You can’t tell me—”
“Mother?” I scoff. “You may have birthed her, but what kind of mother sells out her daughter for a goddamn contract? I know that was the reason she was with Adam. Your husband tried to convince me Bianca was crazy. That she was a liar. And you allowed people to believe that because all you cared about was the money.”
“Madden.” My mom tries again, reaching out as if she’s going to touch me, and I shake my head.
“Do you think I don’t know what you did?” I pierce her with my gaze. “You and Stefan wiped Adam’s phone and cleaned up his mess before you even called the police. You told me Bianca was abusing him. You let them lock her up like she was insane. Every one of you made her life a living hell, and you knew. You had to have known. And instead of saving her, you decided to medicate her.”
My mom looks down in shame, and I know I’m right. She was aware that Bianca was being abused by her precious son and she looked the other way. Just like she did the entire time I was growing up. And in the end, she let me take the fall for Adam’s death without a word in my defense.
The vein in Stefan’s forehead throbs as he takes a step closer, squaring off with me. “I don’t know where you think you’re going with this, but if you say one more ill word about Adam, I’ll—”
“I don’t have to say anything.” I stare down at his ugly, sneering face. “The police have all the proof they need, and guess what? It’s going public, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do to stop it.”
His eyes flash with dread, but he still tries to call my bluff. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No?” I reach into my pocket and grab my phone, accessing the folder of files Lucian compiled.
All three of their faces pale as I play the video of Adam beating and torturing one of his victims.
“Turn it off,” Stefan snaps.
I ignore him, keeping my gaze on Maria. “This is what he did to your daughter. Do you want to see that one too? Because I fucking have it. I have all of it. And soon, the whole world will know what a piece of shit Adam was. They’re going to know what greedy, selfish motherfuckers all of you are.”
“That’s enough!” Stefan slaps the phone out of my hand and lunges at me. I let him take the first hit, and then I clock him so hard it knocks him the fuck out.
My mom screams, and Detective Oliver intervenes. The hallway is in chaos, but it’s Bianca standing in the doorway of her room that grabs my attention.
“Enough!” she sobs. “That’s enough! I don’t know any of you people, and I don’t want this. I just want you all to leave.”
Chapter 70
Madden
—PAST—
“I’m fucking knackered,” Kieran grumbles. “I need a break.”
“You need a Snickers.” Ryan sets his guitar aside and flops down onto the sofa. “You’re a cranky son of a bitch.”
“Says you.” Kieran snorts. “You haven’t been a real peach to work with all week either.”
“I think we can all agree that Ranger is the only one who hasn’t been an asshole this week,” Ryan’s brother Colt chimes in, giving the dog a scratch on the head.
Colt came into the fold pretty quickly after my arrival in California. He’s our pianist and probably the most levelheaded in the group. He’s helped to keep tempers from flaring over the past few months as we worked on songs, then took them to the studio to record an album. A fact that feels pretty fucking surreal to me.
I still don’t know who Ryan’s cousin is because he hasn’t outright told us, but we’ve been crashing in his pool house on an expensive chunk of property in Malibu. It feels a little weird because the guy hasn’t been home the entire time we’ve been here, but Ryan keeps telling us we’ll meet him eventually. If it wasn’t for his hospitality, I’d probably be holed up in some shitty motel. But instead, we’re here with access to the beach, the mountains, and an in-house studio.
“Ranger is sick of listening to all of us squawk, aren’t you, boy?” Kieran kneels to give him a pat on the head.
