I purse my lips, the scars on my face crinkling, nod my head, and walk toward him slowly, like a cheetah stalking its prey. A trickle of satisfaction drips into my bloodstream when he tenses, solidifying beneath my eyes.
“And you’re telling me that you have no way to contact either of them?”
He swallows and shakes his head. “Rick disconnected his phone after the transfer went through. Probably to hide from you.”
I hum, dragging my eyes up and down his form, noting the awkward stance and the way his feet are angled inward. He’s seconds away from pissing himself.
There’s no self-assurance of being in a public place, knowing the worst of your sins were intimidating a couple of women in a restaurant.
He’s been a very bad boy this time.
“So, why’d you do it, Max?”
“You killed my father, so the deal was off,” he spits, fury flashing in his irises. Stilling, I can only stare at him as I process his words.
After I killed Archie Talaverra, I cut off his hands and set them on Addie’s doorstep as a reminder that she’s mine, and no one else is ever to touch her. Max found out and started placing blame on her for Archie’s death, so I made him a deal. I wouldn’t kill his father, and he wouldn’t touch Addie. It took kidnapping and recording a video to drive home the point, but he kept to his word. Until recently.
Funny thing is, I never killed his father.
“Excuse me?”
He blinks, his face gradually turning red.
“You kill—”
“I heard what you fucking said,” I bark. “What made you think it was me?”
His face contorts. “Because you fucking said it was,” he bellows, taking a threatening step towards me. I do better and lunge in his face, causing him to recoil and lose his footing.
I catch him by the collar of his shirt and jerk him close. “Explain, Max,” I snarl. “Because I didn’t fucking kill your father. If I had, I would've killed both of you. We made a fucking deal, and I kept my word.”
He shakes his head, breathing fire. “You sent me the video of you decapitating my father on Friday. On the video, you said, ‘This is for Adeline Reilly.’”
Fire fills my veins, every single one in my body protruding.
“Was it my voice?”
“Wha—I don’t know, man! I don’t have a goddamn recording of your voice to compare it to. It was deep like yours, that’s all I know.”
I nod my head, letting him see in my eyes just how much he fucked up. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who actually killed his father.
“Did you bother confirming if it was me?”
“Oh, my bad, bro, I’ll call you up next time,” he retorts.
I grin savagely. “Are you telling me you’re not resourceful, Maximilian? Because I am, and I have many resources to make you suffer. If you're going to get revenge for a murder, then you better be sure about who actually fucking did it.”
He flounders, his mouth flopping as he realizes that he acted without thought. He saw his father die a brutal death, decided who it was based on a single sentence, and sent Addie to the slaughterhouse.
Red is seeping into my vision, and it takes all of my control to keep it at bay. To see clearly—because I want to witness every fucking second of Max’s death.
“You want to know who killed your father, jackass? The very people you sold Addie off to. The Society killed him so you would betray me, and then target Addie. You fell right into their fucking trap and did all the dirty work for them.”
He shakes his head. “How would they know about our deal and what you did to my father?”
“I don’t know, Max, did your father open his fat fucking mouth and flap it to anyone who would listen? Did you? Whining about how I kidnapped him and threatened him if you so much as touched Addie and Daya. You tellin’ me neither of you didn’t go around bitching about it to anyone that possesses ears?”
His teeth click, confirming my presumption. “It’s not hard to find out about our rivalry when you don’t shut the fuck up about it,” I hiss.
He grunts as I haul him towards the front door, his feet dragging on the tile and nails clawing at my hand in panic. I plan on taking this very slow with him. Getting as much information as I can before I send him down below.
“Wait, wait, it was a mistake. Let’s work something out,” he sputters as I drag him down the porch stairs and towards my car. “I’ll get her back!”
I flash him a ferocious smile. “Don’t worry, Max, I plan on working out a lot of things with you. Or rather, working them out of you.”