Page 32

Max

My head throbbed violently, the pain radiating like shards of glass through my skull.

Groaning, I tried to move, shifting slightly.

Panic began surging through me, my heartbeat picking up rapidly when I realised, I couldn’t move.

My wrists were bound painfully tight to the arms of a chair, the leather of the cuffs chafing against my skin.

The smell that assaulted my nose was familiar—damp, a faint smell of disinfectant.

Nausea rolled through me, my chest heaving as I blinked, desperately trying to clear my blurry vision.

The dim glow above me illuminated the basement, the shadows playing hauntingly across the familiar bare walls.

My father’s basement.

My basement.

Confusion wracked my brain, how did I get here? One minute I was leaving the club, trying to call a cab...

The hand over my mouth, being dragged backwards, the alleyway.

Then... nothing.

My heart sank, terror clawing at me from the inside as reality crashed over me.

Someone had kidnapped me and brought me here.

How? Who the fuck even knew this place existed other than me and Tony.

“Hello, Maxine.”

A cold, almost sinister sounding voice sounded from behind me.

I twisted my head, the movement sending blinding pain through my skull, stars instantly flashing into my vision.

I inhaled sharply, regretting the movement as I furiously tried to blink away the spots in my vision.

My entire blood froze as he circled around me, crouching down in front of me, lifting my chin with one of the knives from my work bench.

The broad, brown-haired cop that came to my office, the one that had been watching me just a little too closely these last few weeks.

Fuck.

“How—”

He cut me off, angling the blade slightly more toward my throat.

“Ah ah, your time to talk will come Maxine, but not yet.

Right now, you’re going to listen, understood?”

I nodded slightly, wincing at the feel of the blade stinging my skin with the movement.

“Good.

I know exactly who and what you are Maxine, what you’ve been doing, right here in this very room, this very fucking chair.”

He sneered, “The men you’ve tortured, killed.

You think you’re some fucking vigilante, taking away these men’s lives.”

“No, I—”

He slapped me across the face with his other hand, pressing the blade hard enough to my throat I could feel the warmth of my blood beginning to drip down my neck.

“I fucking told you, you’re going to listen Maxine, not talk.

You see, you have no idea how close you came to ruining everything in my life,”

he let out a low chuckle that skated its way down my spine, leaving a feeling of dread in its wake.

“I have spent months trying to figure it out, who the sick, depraved cunt was that was taking away so many lives.

It took me longer than I’m prouder to admit, to shift my gaze to you.

I’ll hold my hands up and say maybe it was my shallow mind that wouldn’t even let me consider that a fucking woman could be doing something like this,”

He gestured around the basement with a look of pure disgust.

“How silly of me for thinking a pretty little whore like yourself couldn’t be capable of such depraved acts.”

He leaned closer into my face, his breath reeking like whiskey and cigarettes.

Oh shit, not only was he a fucking cop, but he was an angry, drunk one too.

Had I murdered one of his friends? Good.

I hope he watched the fucking tape of it too, watched and learned that pieces of shit have no place in this world, and that there’s always someone waiting to take them out.

“I finally figured it out though,”

he continued.

“Each missing persons file always passed through one person’s office.

At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, hell, even my best friend partially convinced me I was being an idiot.”

He chuckled again, but when his eyes returned to mine, they had turned cold.

His face straightened, a sneer to his lips as he whispered,

“My fucking best friend, convincing me that you were innocent.

I should have connected the dots really, shouldn’t I? It should have been an instant red flag, how he said I was reaching.”

He? Who the fuck was he talking about.

He wasn’t making any sense, but I could feel his anger building in him, the way he was almost vibrating with sheer rage.

I tugged on the restraints again, despite knowing it was useless.

I had tied down enough men with these cuffs to know they weren’t going to budge.

“Anyway, we can talk about that later Maxine.

How about we have some fun? Let’s see how you like being treat the same way you treat your victims.

Don’t worry though, I won’t kill you.

After I’ve had my fun, I’ll finish my job, hand you over to the chief, and finally get my fucking promotion.”

I started shaking, a ringing in my ears sounding as the blood pounded through my veins watching him stand and walk over to my work bench.

He picked up the hammer, swinging it slightly in his hands as he prowled his way back towards where I was bound.

“You don’t have to do this, did I hurt one of your friends?”

I panted, desperation laced in my voice, “I’m sorry if I did, I was just trying to play the hero, you know?”

Lie, beg, make myself seem like a helpless dumb bitch.

Anything to get myself out of this situation.

I could convince him to let me go somehow, I had to convince him.

What about Lara? What about Connor? I couldn’t leave them, I couldn’t go to jail.

They’d dig, they’d discover that my father did this before me.

That wasn’t an option.

He didn’t even respond before he swung the hammer at my shin.

The pain was like nothing I had ever felt before, it felt like my entire leg had shattered.

A scream tore through my throat, tears instantly filling my eyes as he swung again, this time at my knee.

My vision blinked in and out as my body struggled to handle the pain from his blows.

“Please,”

I begged, “I’m sorry—”

“You didn’t kill any of my friends Maxine, you just made him fucking betray me.”

He slurred, dropping the hammer to the floor with a loud clang.

I slouched forward in the chair, my breathing ragged as I tried to take in what he was saying.

Betrayal? There was that mention of someone else again? Was this about Tony? Maybe Tony was his father, although I could of sworn he only ever mentioned having a daughter.

Maybe that’s why he was angry, because Tony had nothing to do with him.

“See the thing is, I don’t take kindly to things that get in my fucking way.

You, him, you’re both going to pay.”

He picked up the small scalpel, playing with it between his fingers, holding it up to the light so it glinted slightly.

He tilted his head slightly, assessing me with a predator’s gaze.

“I can see why he betrayed me, you are a pretty little thing aren’t you, Maxine.

Let’s change that.”

He gripped my face within his hand, using the other to slowly, painfully, drag the scalpel down my right cheek, the sting dragging a hiss from my clenched teeth as my tears began to escape my eyes.

“I don’t understand who betrayed you, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,”

I spat with a little too much anger.

I was already tiring of his fucking incoherent ramblings about betrayal, the alcohol that lingered in my system making me a ticking time bomb ready to explode.

I wasn’t a victim, not anymore.

I swore I would never again let myself be at the mercy of a man’s hands.

Yet here I was, tied down and defenceless.

How did this happen, how did he find this place, how did he find me? I was so fucking careful, especially when it came to this house.

I knew he had been poking around, looking for things at the office.

I should’ve taken that as my cue to run, to hide, but I didn’t.

I should have listened to Tony in the first place, I should have never tried to do this by myself.

I was a fool to think I could.

Even my father, the strongest, smartest man I knew, needed other peoples help, their connections.

I was dumb to think I could truly do this and never get caught.

The disappointment and guilt settled over me.

I had let him down, I had let Connor down.

The two men who deserved the world, and I was now disappointing them both in such very different ways.

I was about to ruin my fathers image, all because I wanted so desperately to carry on his work and make him proud.

I was about to break Connors heart, when he found out who I truly was, how much I hid from him.

I couldn’t bare the thought of him finding out about this, about me.

Would he visit me in prison? Would he still care about me? Connor had a dark side, I knew that.

But was It dark enough to love a woman who went around torturing and murdering men? My mind jolted to Lara.

Lara, my bestest fucking friend, who was out right now, probably having the best birthday sex of her life.

Would she still love me, or would she be doing interviews for the local press, stating how shocked and disgusted she was that she ever considered me a friend, a sister.

This time when the tears fell, they weren’t from my pain.