“That’s his excuse; what is yours?”Maverick asks, and I glance in his direction to find him talking to Liam.
“That man has gotten away with too fucking much.I’m sick of always being one step behind him.I’m sick of him giving us the slip each and every time we do get close.Drew had been in that house as he was leaving.Drew.Someone who has training.Black vanished before Drew even reached the front door.You guys aren’t the only ones here who want him gone.You’ve only got a taste of what he’s capable of.I’ve seen fucking tapes of him brutalising women and girls for his sick and twisted needs.I’ve seen him kill.I’ve been hung from a fucking hook whilst he ordered men to beat me.Whilst they...I couldn’t sit behind a computer anymore.”
I grip Reid’s hand, feeling bile rise in my throat.Hearing it be hinted at is one thing but someone describing exactly what Andrew Black is capable of turns my stomach.I had no idea, when I worked for Katherine’s company, who I was actually working for.I feel sick to my stomach.
“Don’t fucking explain yourself to them.They aren’t your parents,” Max barks, but I hear the shake in his voice, the concern for his friend.“He could have stolen a burger and your anger would be justified.”
“Not fucking helping,” Myles growls at his twin.
“I came to see my fucking son, not get a lecture.If I had known he would snitch on me, I would have seen Hayden first.”
“You did see Hayden first,” Landon points out dryly.“Who do you think warned me?”
“My fucking kids.This is why Liam is my favourite,” he remarks.
“Really?Because according to him, you went to his after Hayden.He has a ring doorbell, dickhead.”
Myles grunts then turns to Liam next.“We would have helped you.You know we’ve got your back.We’ve always had it.You’re family.”
“I named my kid after him,” Max adds, giving Myles the stink eye.
Liam jerks his chin up at Myles.“I know you do.”His gaze runs over the rest of the brothers.“This is just something I needed to do.”
Maverick lets out a weary breath, sitting on the ottoman.“What have you been doing?Are we to expect the police at our doors?Will we see your picture in the paper tomorrow?”
“I was seventeen, and you couldn’t even see my face,” Max argues.
Scrubbing a hand down his face, Maverick sits forward.“I’m really not in the mood, Max.I want to get home to my family.”
Max cricks his neck then lets out a breath.“I’ve been burning down his places of business.”
“You did fucking what?”Jaxon growls, tensing beside us.
“Well, not all of them.I bulldozed two of them.Demolished one with plastic explosives, which by the way, belonged to them.It wasn’t stored properly either so I’m surprised nothing had happened before we got there.”
“And?”Maverick demands, sounding even more annoyed than he did when we first walked in.“Because there’s always more when it comes to you.What else did you do?”
Max rolls his eyes.“We also found more of his ‘labs’.I got the idea when I remembered what Colton, Theo, Jacob and Trent did after the house fire.That couldn’t have been his only location where he made drugs, and I was right.It didn’t take Liam long to locate them.We called a few in anonymously to the police but the rest are up in flames.”
“Are you fucking stupid?”Eli rasps, glaring at Max in a way he’s imagining wrapping his hands around his neck.“You’ve just made someone on the run very fucking rich.”
Max looks affronted for a moment.“No, I have not.”
“What the fuck do you think his family is going to do?They’ll claim on the insurance,” Wyatt bites out.
“No, they won’t.They are all in Andrew’s name.I made sure of it.Any attempts they make to forge copies of any businesses being signed over, I will make sure their insurance company knows it’s just that.Forgery.The only building not in his name is Kratos Properties and Investments, so we’ve left that alone,” Liam explains.“But I am going to make sure they are so deep in debt that they need to sell the building to cover Katherine’s legal bills.”
“Someone needs to explain to me how this is a good thing because it could be the lack of sleep talking, but none of this makes sense,” Jaxon growls.
Max finishes chewing his food before answering since Liam has looked to him to take the floor.“Andrew is the only one who can claim on the insurance.It wasn’t really much of a guess considering what we know about him, but he hasn’t listed any relatives as power of attorney.So it has to be him.Unless he wants to risk getting arrested by coming out of the woodwork to sign the papers, he’s going to have to take the loss.He now has no regular income since all his businesses are out of commission.Even his illegal ones,” Max announces.
“What about his wife?”Wyatt questions.“Couldn’t she?”
“He’s not dead,” Liam explains, and a shared look passes between them.Whatever they silently share, everyone in the room but me understands because no one else says a word.Reid’s hand on my back tenses, which is also another sign that I don’t need to know what that comment meant.
“Now would be the time to tell you that this isn’t one hundred percent good news though,” Max adds.
“Yes, because bad news is such a rarity around here,” Reid grumbles.“Can we not just have one fucking win?”
