Page 34

Max

A scream tore from my throat, raw and laced with excruciating pain.

It echoed off the walls of the basement as Joe’s gun fired.

I watched in horror, my entire body going ice-cold as the bullet ripped through Connors shoulder, blood spraying across the concrete floor.

My vision blurred from tears, a violent sob tearing through me.

This couldn’t be happening.

“No!”

I screamed, struggling futilely against the restrains holding me down.

Connor stumbled back, clutching his shoulder, blood seeping rapidly through his fingers, staining his shirt dark red.

I watched, helpless and frozen, as he staggered for only a brief moment before something changed in his eyes.

White-hot fury ignited behind them, burning brighter than I’d ever seen before.

With a wild, feral shout, Connor lunged at Joe, barreling him into the floor.

The gun flew from Joe’s hand, skittering across the concrete out of reach.

I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, as Connor pinned him beneath him, rage radiating from every fibre of his being.

“I won’t let you take her from me!”

Connor growled, fists raining down on Joe’s face.

“You can’t have her.

You can’t fucking have her!”

He repeated, over and over.

My stomach twisted, nausea swirling violently within me at the sickening sounds of Connors fists pounding against Joe’s flesh.

Each punch echoed off the walls, punctuated by Joe’s weakening struggles, the harsh crack of breaking bones filling my ears.

But Connor didn’t stop.

He couldn’t.

The darkness within him had finally been unleashed, savage and unstoppable.

“Connor! Connor, stop!”

I begged, tears streaming down my face.

“You’re going to kill him, STOP!”

I screamed.

He didnt hear me, or didn’t want to.

Blood sprayed around him, pooling onto the concrete beneath them, Joe’s face a gruesome mask of crimson.

Panic filled my veins as I watched the man I loved, destroy his apparent best friend.

“Connor, please!”

I sobbed, desperation breaking my voice.

“You’re not a murderer! Don’t become one for me—”

Nothing.

He was lost to it, consumed by the fury burning through him.

His face was a mask of cold fury as he continued, his teeth bared, his blood soaked hair falling into his eyes.

“Please.”

I whispered, barely audible, my voice trembling, exhausted, broken.

My words seemed to finally reach him as he stilled, breathing raggedly as his hands trembled looking down at the mess he’d made.

Joe’s body lay limp, blood pooling beneath his head, his chest unmoving.

“Fuck.

No! No, no, no...”

Connor choked, repeating the words over and over like it would change the last several minutes.

His eyes widened with disbelief as the horror of the scene washed over him.

He stood, staggering back, shaking violently, hands coated in blood as he stared wide-eyed at his best friend’s lifeless body.

He looked at me helplessly, “What have I done?”

I couldn’t process any of this.

My stalker, the man who’d been watching me, the man I’d trusted and given myself to completely, had just killed his best friend to protect me.

Where was the feeling of terror? Disgust? Fear? Nothing but a sickening thrill rang through my body.

Connor had risked everything for me, destroyed his best friend without a second thought, all for me.

It was twisted, fucked up in a way that made my pulse quicken even as my heart ached.

Connor’s eyes finally met mine, filled with unshed tears, his expression breaking my heart in a thousand different ways.

“Max, I’m sorry.

I’m so fucking sorry—”

He crossed the room quickly, dropping to his knees in front of me, fingers fumbling with the restrains as he freed my wrists.

The moment I was released, I collapsed into him, sobbing uncontrollably, my fists clenching into his blood-stained shirt.

“You lied to me,”

I cried, pounding my fists into his chest over and over.

“You broke into my apartment.

You stole from me! Connor, you took my fucking panties, my lipstick—what the fuck is wrong with you?”

I tried to push away from him, to create some distance.

But he only pulled me in closer, his grip on me firm and unforgiving.

I could feel the tremble racking through his body as he pulled my face to meet his, the blood splattered across it not taking anything away from his perfection.

His face crumpled, eyes filled with raw pain and regret.

“Max, I’m sorry.

God, I’m so fucking sorry.

I was obsessed—I still am.

I can’t explain it.

I needed pieces of you to keep close.

I watched you long before you knew my name.

I would have watched you forever, even if you hated me for it.

It was wrong, fucked up—but I couldn’t stop.”

I pulled back, my breath shaky.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me the full truth when I asked you?”

“I was afraid,”

he whispered, raw emotion filling his eyes.

“Afraid of losing you.

Afraid you’d realised how fucking twisted and broken I was, and you’d leave.”

I exhaled, gripping his hands, feeling his blood-slicked fingers trembling beneath mine.

“But that’s exactly who I am, Connor—twisted.

That’s exactly why I kept you around, even after you admitted to stalking me.

Because I never needed a hero, I needed someone willing to walk through hell beside me, and you’re the only one I’d trust”

His breathing hitched, his eyes burning into mine.

“Even after that time when I came back from my trip with Lara, when you caged me in, told me you wanted to punish me, you—”

I took a shaky breath.

“ It was like my ex all over again.

He used to hurt me, punish me for things that weren’t my fault.

He even broke my wrist once.

I almost panicked that night, when you were so angry.

But then I remembered that you weren’t him, nothing like him.

There was something about you.

You didnt scare me, Connor.

Not truly.”

His jaw tightened, self-hatred etched deeply onto his face.

“Max, if I’d known...

God, I’m so fucking sorry.

I’d never have touched you like that if I’d known.

I’d never have—”

“No, stop,”

I interrupted, cupping his blood splattered face in my hands.

“You didnt know.

And despite everything, I trusted you, even then.

I don’t know why, but I did.

I felt safe with you, even when I shouldn’t have.

Even now, when I should be fucking terrified of you, I’m not.”

Connor pulled me tighter into his embrace, his body trembling.

“Joe saved me from my father, Max.

He was the only family I had.

He was my brother, and I killed him—I fucking killed him.

That should terrify you, I’m a monster.”

“You’re not a monster, Connor”

I whispered, holding him tightly, my heart breaking at his pain.

“Connor, I need you to listen to me.

Joe was going hand me over, fuck, I think he might’ve even killed me.

He was going to take me away from you, forever.

You did what you had to.”

His body shuddered, holding me as though I was the only thing keeping him grounded to reality.

“Max, I’d do it again,”

he whispered, voice thick with pain.

“I would kill anyone who tried to take you from me.

You’re mine—nothing else matters anymore.”

My breath caught, and I lifted his chin to look directly into his eyes, tears blurring my vision.

“Connor, I need you to understand why.

Why I became who I am, why I do what I do.

I’m not a monster.

I promise you, I’m not”

He held my face as he looked into my eyes, “I know you’re not Max, I know.”

I told him everything.

My father’s legacy, my obsessive need for control, the abusive ex I’d hidden, even from Lara.

How my father had died protecting me.

The darkness that continuously consumed my life before he showed up, and how badly I’ve wanted to leave it all behind, but couldn’t due to the guilt consuming me.

My desperation to make my father proud.

With every secret I confessed, the weight lifted a little more.

Connor didn’t recoil.

He didn’t flinch.

He just listened, holding me tighter with each revelation, his face etched with understanding and pain.

He understood my darkness, because he matched it with his own.

“I’m sorry, Max,”

he whispered softly, fingers brushing the tears from my cheek.

“You never deserved any of that pain.

And you certainly didn’t deserve me barging into your life like this.”

“No,”

I murmured, voice steadying with newfound strength.

“You’re exactly what I needed.

You saved me.

Maybe not in the conventional way—but you did.”

He pulled me close again, his lips brushing tenderly against mine, both of us trembling from the intensity of everything we’d shared.

Somewhere across the basement, my phone buzzed, breaking the spell.

I got up, hissing through my teeth at the pain radiating from my leg where Joe had hit me, and limped over to my phone, trying my best to ignore the lifeless body on the floor.

A message from Lara flashed on my phone’s screen sending fresh panic clawing through me.

‘Please come home.

I need you.’

My blood ran cold.

Something was very, very wrong.

I showed my phone to Connor, his eyes meeting mine, understanding instantly. “Go,”

he whispered.

“I’ll handle this.

Can you get yourself up the stairs with your leg?”

I stared back at Joe’s lifeless body, nausea threatening again, and nodded.

Whatever waited at home was urgent.

Lara never, ever told me she needed me.

With one last look, I pulled myself up the stairs, leaving behind the blood, pain, and destruction—praying to a god I didn’t even think existed, that Connor could truly handle what we’d done.

Because Joe was a cop.

Which meant the search for me, was going to go fucking crazy once they realised that he was missing.

And because there was no going back now.

Not for either of us.