Page 73 of Surrender: XXX Maxim
“And what is that?” I ask tiredly.
“Does he truly love you, Maxim? You love him, or will you deny it?” He smirks as if he’d like nothing more than for me to challenge him.
So I don’t.
And the man practically bounces in his seat. “It’s a good question, you agree? Not only that, but you want to know if he is even capable of love. If the day will ever come when he loses control again. When he kills you finally, or takes a knife to little Ainsley and hacks her to pieces on a sheet of plastic tarp—”
“S-Stop!” I brace my hands on the table, and it takes everything I have not to lurch to my feet. The memories of that night still haunt me, threatening to descend. Gritting my teeth and closing my eyes is the only way to keep them at bay. “How did you—”
“Milton doesn’t spill Maxi’s little secrets,” Dima says. “But I have ways of learning what he knows. The messes he helps his friend clean up. The women he examines for him. The blood he has to wipe off his hands when Maxim makes yet another mistake…”
When I open my eyes again, he isn’t smiling. “How can you even help me prove that?”
“Oh, I can. And I always pay my debts, pretty girl. But in this case, I will want something from you in exchange for such a favor.”
“I don’t want anything from you—”
“But you do,” he insists. “You truly do. I know my brother far better than you. I have years of research to draw from, and I will tell you now that he is stubbornly resistant to change. Some might say incapable of it.”
“Research,” I echo, picking up on that particular word. “Like you wereresearchingwhen you let Maxim’s driver be killed in front of me?”
“Oh, Jacob?” He raises an eyebrow as if he’d completely forgotten about the incident already. “Jacob Marsten had a wife named Ilia, and a daughter named Mariah. And he had spent the better part of ten years, terrorizing the hell out of them. It was fun to him, you see. And with his skill set, he was incredibly good at finding their new home or apartment, no matter where they went. He liked to send Ilia love notes, detailing the many ways he would eventually reunite with her. Chilling stuff.” He makes a show of shuddering. “So pardon me if I don’t shed too many tears for the man.”
I watch him warily. Is he telling the truth? I can’t tell.
“Maxim didn’t know any of this, of course,” he adds, before the suspicion could even sneak into my thoughts. “He is very thorough in his hiring process, but my methods are a tad more unorthodox. So believe me when I say that I can get you the answer you want—and relatively soon. But as in Jacob’s case, it may not lead to a pretty ending. Nonetheless, I will still insist upon my favor by the end, no matter the outcome.”
“What favor?”
He stands abruptly and bows at his waist. “This was a marvelous,marvelousconversation. Better than I could have ever hoped. So much, so much better!” He claps gleefully. “But I must bid youadieu. Oh, and before I go, remember! You cannot repeat a word of what we discussed to dear Maxim, remember? That’s the rule.”
He scampers away, passing Tomas and another guard on his way out.
“Goodbye, Francesca!” he calls back from the end of the hall. “For now…”
