“Where?” I blurted out, the question ripping from my throat. My mind conjured horrifying images. Were they going to dump his body in a ditch somewhere? That felt so disrespectful.
Max gave me a harder look. A horrible suspicion filled my stomach, churning like a vat of acid as I looked down at his shoes, which were covered in mud.
Hedidn’t. . .
“Oh god,” I said aloud, the realization dawning on me. They didn’t have to tell me anything for me to realize.
These men, they never thought about their actions before they caused problems. My frustration took over from the fear. It was raw and burning over. My mouth hung open in a silent scream.
Max had dug up my grave—the one my father had created in case anyone started to ask questions.
No one had figured there’d be a man crazy enough to dig up a grave for proof.
Clearly, we didn’t know Max Romano well enough.
“Rose, let’s go,” Sean demanded, turning on his heel and not wasting a second.
I didn’t follow him. I was still stuck in a state of shock. The world spun around me. The absurdity of it all should have been laughable, but terror choked any humor. My eyes darted to Max, a frantic search for answers written on my face. The man I once knew, the one with the gentle smile and eyes that held warmth, was gone.
A strangled sound escaped my dry throat. “You dug up my grave?” I finally choked out, the question escaping as a rasp. Was I even shocked anymore?
“You’ve made a madman out of me.”
“You were a madman well before you ever touched a shovel, Max.”
With Duke’s leash wrapped tightly around my hand, I slid out of the booth, ready to catch up with Sean—but before I could rush off, Max stopped me by wrapping his hand around my wrist.
“Think carefully,” he started. “You have a choice to make. Make the right one, and this transition will be smoother. Resist, and things will become considerably less pleasant.”
And with that, I left.
CHAPTER 24
MAX
The world was full of sick, selfish, irritable people.
I promised I’d never be like them, but my promises, it turned out, were just as empty as theirs.
I was sick, I was selfish, and I wasveryirritable. I’d spent the past year becoming a prisoner to my mind and its capabilities, only to find out she’d been alive this entire time. The woman I craved with a desperation that bordered on obsession was the same woman who could single-handedly shred my composure like a sheet of paper.
She tested every nerve I had. She lied to me, she deceived me, and she did it well. She’d almost gotten away with it too. Her efforts had been believable. She was the only woman to ever break my heart, and unfortunately, she could be the only woman to fix it.
The irony was a bitter pill to swallow, yet anger wouldn’t rise. Instead I was proud of her for running. I was proud of her for doing what she had to do to stay safe. It was exactly what I would’ve wanted her to do.
But I wasn’t someone she needed to be scared of.
Her fear had put a wedge between us, a misunderstanding that needed clearing. I wasn’t the monster she’d painted me as. Iwas supposed to be her safe place. But trust, once broken, was a fragile thing. It wouldn’t return with a single apology or a grand gesture.
Trust had to be earned, and make no mistake, I was determined to earn it—to earnher.
It wouldn’t be easy. It wouldn’t be quick. There would be nights spent rebuilding the foundation we’d once had. But the reward—a chance to hold her heart again, to see the trust bloom back in her eyes—was worth any fight.
I was going to be on myverybest behavior for her. A paragon of manners, you could say.
Then the memory of what I’d done to Liam’s guard flickered briefly in my mind. I could still see the mess. His nose was caked in blood, bent at a ninety-degree angle, bloodied and battered, with a dent that seemed to have been carved by someone who wasreallygood at using elbows.
Right. Best behavior. Starting ... now.
