With his smirk as edgy as his mood, Tobias replies, “Young enough I shouldn’t need to tell you to stay away, but I will. She doesn’t belong in this life any more than Fien.” Confident I’ll adhere to his warning, he leaves the warehouse cloaked by a moonless sky, sidestepping Maddox Walsh on his way out.
Maddox’s fists are balled tighter than they were when I approached him at an underground college fight months ago, and fiery ambers are blazing through his icy gaze. I want to say the scum who tried to rip him off of five thousand cool ones last week is the reason for his anger, but I doubt that’s the case. Rumors about me moving on aren’t just reaching Rimi’s ears. Justine’s brothers have heard them too.
Although I know the reason for Maddox’s visit, I try and downplay it. I’ve got a third date with his sister to organize. I don’t have time to babysit men big enough to crawl out of their own shit. “The funds from last month’s fights will be deposited into your account by the end of business Friday. I don’t have any intel on the fighters being brought forward for next month.”
“I’m not here about our arrangement.” His voice is gruff like he’s taken one too many jabs to the throat. I guess it’s part and parcel of being an illegal street fighter. His skills are good enough not to get hit, but he knows the more strikes he takes, the bigger his prize will be. Even if it’s rigged, idiots pay top dollar to watch two men come to blows for longer than a couple of minutes.
After planting his ass in the seat Tobias just freed up, Maddox locks his blue eyes with mine. “Is it true you’re using my sister as bait?”
That wasn’t close to what I was anticipating for him to say, but I keep a cool head. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Don’t play the dumb card with me, Dimitri. You might have all the stupid fuckers around here believing you’ve got the hots for my sister, but I know there’s more to it than you’re letting on. You paid the dessert menu more attention last week than you did Justine, yet you’re trying to organize another date. Why?”
I’ll give it to him. It takes gall to call a man out as a liar on his turf. His valor sees me issuing him some leniency—just. I inconspicuously aim my gun at his stomach instead of straight-up pressing it to his temple like I usually do.
“She’s not in any danger—”
“That wasn’t what I asked.” He winks, then leans forward, aware I have my gun on him but uncaring. If I gunned him down now, Tobias would be on my ass in an instant, and Maddox knows it.
Tobias isn’t my friend. Only a fool would believe otherwise. We work together because we must, not because we want to.
“You’re willing to die for your sister?” When confirmation flares through Maddox’s eyes, I switch tactics. “How does Demi feel about that?”
Justine hinted that Demi and Maddox were going casual last week. I know it’s more than that. Maddox isn’t just fascinated with my cousin, he’s wholly fucking taken by her. Enough for me to be confident in saying, “If Demi were taken by your enemies, how far would you go to get her back?”
I see the answer in his eyes—there’s no line he wouldn’t cross—but it doesn’t mean he’ll go easy on me, though.
Fortunately for me, I have another card up my sleeve.
“And what about that kid of yours growing in her stomach? The one you don’t know about because you’re ignoring all the signs. What if he or she were ripped away from you? How far would you go to keep her safe?” He’s taken back by my suggestion his girlfriend is pregnant, but he doesn’t deny my assumption, confirming he has an inkling that everything I’m saying is true. “My daughter was cut out of my wife’s stomach. They butchered her like a piece of worthless meat. I don’t care who I have to trample, I won’t stop until they’re forced to pay for their mistakes.”
Maddox stands from his chair so quickly, he topples it over. “Justine is my sister. I won’t have her used like this.”
“And she’s my daughter!” I thrust Fien’s photograph onto his side of the desk before lining up my pistol with the crinkle between his brows. “She ranks higher than anyone.”
I discover the Walsh’s don’t just fight with their fists when Maddox draws a gun on me. It’s clear it is one he picked up from a gangbanger in a back alley, but the quality of the weapon shouldn’t enter the equation when calculating how much time you have left. The skill of its user is the only sum needed.
Do I think Maddox has the guts to kill me? Probably not. But he won’t hesitate to maim me if it increases the odds of keeping me away from Justine.
If only the heat didn’t get too hot for Tobias, then we would have found out. He interrupts our conversation long before I get the chance to prove nothing will ever come between Fien and me.
Not a woman.
Not the law.
No one.
“Lower your guns.” When we remain standing firm, Tobias’s voice rises as readily as his anger. “Don’t make me repeat myself. I’ll shoot you both before leaving you here to rot. Trust me when I say two less criminals in a sea of many won’t be missed.”
Unsurprisingly, Maddox lowers his gun first. He has the instincts of a killer, he just needs to hone his skills. I’d be happy to teach him if he weren’t glaring at me like he wants my insides hanging out of my belly button.
“Stay away from my sister.”
Stealing my chance to reply that I wouldn’t be the only one licking wounds if I did that, he dumps his gun onto my desk, spins on his heels, then walks away.
You have no idea how satisfying it is when Tobias strays his eyes to mine to seek permission for Maddox to leave. Some would say it’s because Maddox entered my premises with a loaded weapon, so Tobias is simply following the law. I know it’s more than that. Tobias cares for me in his own twisted way. I guess that can be expected since he killed my mother.
Guilt does weird things to people.
As does vengeance.
I know that better than anyone.
Chapter Five
Roxanne
“Come on, Roxie, don’t be like that. You were into it last time.”
While rolling my eyes at Eddie’s highly inaccurate statement, I continue down a dark alleyway. I can’t believe I was so stupid to fall for his sob act. He doesn’t care that my scholarship floated precariously in the wind for three months after the security guard was murdered, or that I sat at a police station for fourteen hours giving testimony about an incident I’m still struggling to comprehend.
Even the officer taking my statement was wary about my recollection of events, and I was as honest as Mother Mary. I even told him about the stranger watching Eddie notch his finger inside of me, aware that it could get me in trouble, but hopeful it would see me skipping a murder conviction.
It worked, however my life hasn’t been the same since. My nanna is still angry at me, the dean at my school won’t stop eyeing me like a freak since our emergency meeting to save my ass, and all my friends bar one up and vanished.
You’d think that would keep me on the straight and narrow, but no, I’m clearly a weirdo who gets off on danger. Why do you think I agreed with Eddie’s suggestion for us to camp out in a dark alleyway on a rainy Friday night? It isn’t the same alleyway as three months ago—Eddie was smart enough to pick one two towns over from the crime scene of our last farce—but I’m still striving to relive an event I should give anything to forget.