Page 107 of Blood in the Water

Rage filled me. “You’re framing him, aren’t you?”

He sighed. “You know what? I honestly wish I was.”

“I don’t believe you. You’ve done this. I know you have.” I pointed my gun at his chest, ready to take my revenge. Ready to kill the man who had ruined my entire life. And for what? Because my father caught him in his dirty deeds?

He watched me with those careful eyes. I used to dream of those eyes locked on me, roving over my body. Max’s full attention used to be a gift—something I’d wish for whenever he walked into the room.

Now I knew those eyes were sizing up his enemies. Always plotting, always scheming.

“You know that’s not true, Leona.” He even had theaudacityto sound sad.

“The alternative is impossible.”

“If you believe that I framed your father for everything you found in those boxes, then just shoot me.” He spread his arms wide, giving me the perfect target. God, I could never get over how broad his shoulders were. How I wanted those arms wrapped around me, holding me, loving me.

I wanted to shoot him. I fuckingwantedto. My finger twitched on the trigger.

But it was Max.

Max.

The boy who cried with me when our mothers died. The boy who held my hand so I could fall asleep. The man who made me feel like the most important woman in the world.

He was supposed to be my future. He was supposed to be my safety, my strength, my rock, and my king.

“You can’t, can you?” he whispered. The pity in his voice sliced through me like a hot poker.

I swallowed.Just do it, Leona! He was just a fantasy.

Wetness trickled down my cheeks as a sob escaped my throat.

I had loved him forsolong. How could I murder the dream standing in front of me?

My arm shook as I dropped the gun, and my heart shattered into a million pieces all over again.

My father would be so damn disappointed.

“I knew you didn’t have it in you,” he breathed as he ran his hand through his hair. Nothing about his voice sounded triumphant, but I couldn’t decide if that made it better or worse.

Was it true? Was everything he said true?

It couldn’t be.

Max pushed off the wall as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “What’s in those boxes only scratches the surface.”

“I don’t believe it,” I choked through the tears, but even I knew my words sounded hollow. “I just don’t understand why, Max. Why’d you have to kill him?”

“Your father was a traitor to this Family for over fifteen years.” His voice went hard and distant, the same empty voice he used the night of my birthday. “A disease, infecting us to the very core. He ran us into the ground. I had no choice but to cut off the diseased arm so the rest of us could survive.”

I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes, trying to stem the flow of tears. I had to pull myself together. Everything I ever wanted—on both sides of the scale—stood before me. Revenge or fantasy. The fantasy would never come true. I had to choose revenge.

“You killed him because you’re selfish,” I countered. “Because you wanted to take over the Family. Don’t act like you were so noble to try to save it.”

“You’re naive.” He slowly circled me, a poor excuse for the dance I longed for that night. “You were never meant to handle the realities of our world.”

“Because you never taught me. Nobody ever cared enough to teach me. I could have helped!”

“Listen to yourself. You still haven’t realized thatyou’repart of the corruption, too.”