“How do you know my account?”I asked, a sense of dread filling me.
Max’s smile was what I would’ve envisioned on the devil.“I know everything about you, Mr.Jackson.”
Glancing down at the phone again, I watched as he hit more buttons and then the screen showed “Transfer Successful.”
“So you’ll let me go, now?”I asked, hating how hopeful I sounded.
“No.”
I jerked, trying to break my arms free, but nothing happened.
“You finished yet?”Max asked, his patience seemingly never-ending.“While you’re still considering your first option,” Max continued, “maybe you should hear your second.”
I narrowed my eyes.“I fucking paid you.”
“You did.And I thank you for that.Amy Manning will thank you for that.”Max crossed his arms over his chest and regarded me once more.“If your first option’s not to your liking, then I’ll invite my friend Ace in, and he can take care of things the easy way.”
“The easy way?”
“Yes,” Max stated firmly.“It’s damn sure easier on me because I have shit to do and”—I motioned my hand toward the paper—“waitin’ for you to write all that shit down is gonna take time.I’d much prefer to be on my way.”
“Easy onyou?”I asked.“Notme?”
Max shook his head and a sardonic smile turned up the corners of his mouth.The man leaned over and stared me directly in the eye.
“Nothin’severgonna be easy for you again, Mr.Jackson.The nightmare you put those women through… Let’s just say hell’s a good resting place for you.”
Max stood to his full height again.I jumped when he shifted the table to the side, revealing…
My eyes went wide when I saw the drain in the floor.
My gaze slid up to the ceiling, noticing for the first time the chains that hung there.My heart pounded in my chest as the fear sliced through me.
“I’ll take the first option,” I blurted.Eating a bullet was a hell of a lot easier than … whatever this man had in store for me.
Max rubbed his chin and I could feel him assessing me.
“You know what?”he said thoughtfully.“I think I’ll have to rescind my first option.”
When Max turned toward the door, I shouted his name, but he didn’t turn back around.
And when the door opened and a tall, bald man stepped inside, his eyes as cold as the steel blades in his hands, I swallowed hard.
“Thanks for comin’ down, Ace.”
“Max!”I yelled.
“My pleasure, boss.”
“Max!”
“I’ll leave you to it, then.”
“Son of a bitch,” I screamed.
Ace nodded and Max stepped out of the room.Before it closed, his head appeared once more.“Sucks, don’t it?”
“What?”I asked, my voice trembling.
