Rage shook me to the very core.

Oh, perfect timing. Matthew was just the person I wanted to see as well.

It didn’t take long before a luxury sedan pulled up outside the school.

“Wow!

“The car must cost tens of millions of dollars!”

“I didn’t know Maddie’s dad was loaded.”

Gasps burst within the crowd.

Matthew, my husband, stepped out of the car, looking every bit a successful businessman.

“Babe!”

Cassandra jumped into Matthew’s arms, all teary-eyed. “There you are! I’m so scared. The crazy woman attacked me and tried to steal Maddie away. Sob, sob…”

The girl with my daughter’s name scampered over. “Daddy! The strange lady burst into the room and gave me a mean look! She screamed at me! I’m terrified! Keep me safe, Daddy!”

Pulling Cassandra close, Matthew ran his fingers along the young girl’s hair with his free hand. “There, there. I’m here now. Everything’s okay. I’m sorry my girls have to go through that.”

He patted Cassandra’s back while leaning in to speak to the girl tenderly, “It’s alright, Mads. I’m here. No one can lay a finger on you or your mother on my watch.”

Matthew scanned the room, his eyes icy. “I want to know who has the audacity to come here and terrorize my family.”

His antics sent the crowd into a frenzy, and their gaze shifted between him and me.

Everyone was watching, eager to see how the great Matthew would put me, a supposed brazen kidnapper, in my place.

After offering his wife and kid assurances, Matthew looked up, his gaze falling on me, who was pinned down by security.

The moment our eyes locked, Matthew’s eyes widened, and his facial muscles went stiff.

I stared straight into his eyes.

‘Go on, Matt. Carry on with your act and show me how you plan on putting on your legal wife.’

Before long, Matthew nudged Cassandra away. Standing in defense of Cassandra and their daughter, he confronted me from a few steps away. “What do you want?”

The crowd fell silent, their eyes fixating on us.

“What do I want? Matthew, what on earth is going on? Where is my daughter? Where’s Maddie?”

Stunned, the crowd shifted their eyes between Matthew and me.

Matthew grimaced. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What do you mean by your daughter? Maddie is here. I think you’re delusional.”

I snapped at his blatant lie.

Smack!

I struck Matthew right in his hypocritical face.

A wave of shock spread across the room. Cassandra, pausing from her fake whimpers, stared at me in disbelief.

“Matthew!”

I yelled, my finger right up his face, “Drop the act. Where is my daughter?”

Matthew’s face turned red.

Before anyone could catch on to the situation, he lunged forward and grabbed me by the throat.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If this is about money, I can pay you, but leave my family alone!”

Putting on a hushed tone, Matthew whispered in my ear, “Andrea Cummingham, you’d better play along, or say goodbye to Maddie forever.”

I looked at him in shock.

To think my husband would threaten me with my daughter’s life.