Page 80 of Surrender: XXX Maxim
Chapter Twenty-Two
Somehow Maxim gets me inside without the other kids noticing me. I’m vaguely aware of Lucius ushering them to another part of the house as Maxim calls in his guards, questioning them one by one.
Though he shouts, his voice eventually fades to an unintelligible murmur that serves as background noise to my own panicked psyche.
How could I be so stupid, stupid, stupid?
So reckless?
Of all the coherent thoughts to cross my mind again, the first is that I was right—this house was designed to amplify Maxim’s voice until the rafters shake with it.
“How the hell did he get past the security?” he bellows at Lucius. He stands in the center of the living room now, bathed in the glow of a hanging lamp. It’s already dark out, revealing the passage of hours. Hours while Ainsley suffers God only knows what…
“How?” Maxim snarls. “I demand answers—”
“As do I, sir,” Lucius insists. “Heads will roll, I can assure you. As for his current location, we are tracking a vehicle most likely to be—”
“What if he hurts her?” I barely recognize the sound of my own voice. I can’t stop rocking back and forth as a million twisted images run through my brain, each new one more horrible than the last.
I will show her every courtesy my brother ever showed me.
I should be out there, hunting for her. Kicking down whatever door I can to find her. But the fact that Maximisn’tbetrays a truth even he has enough tact not to say out loud—we would never find her.
“God, what if he hurts her?”
“I’ve never known Dima to act this way,” someone says from the back of the room. I look up, finding Milton standing apart from the other two. I didn’t even notice him come in. He isn’t wearing a suit, but a black shirt and a pair of slacks, his gaze distant. He stands near the window overlooking the bay, blending into the darkness of the sky behind him. “But I do know he wouldneverbe capable of harming a child.”
“Then you don’t know him as well as you thought,” Maxim growls. He crosses to me, brushing my cheek with the flat of his palm. I’m too numb to react to the touch. I can barely look at him at all. “Leave. I should have never asked you to come—”
“Possibly,” Milton says, fingering his collar. For the first time, doubt clouds his features. Then they harden with resolve. “I’m here. Whatever you need, I’ll get it done.”
“Start with where he might be,” Maxim demands. “You know his haunts. His hiding places.”
“I have my men on it already,” Milton admits. “But Dima isn’t stupid. He knows that you’d come to me, and he knows where I’d look for him.”
“So your insight is worthless, then,” Maxim snaps, starting to pace. “You can’t think ofanything—”
“It’s my fault,” I croak. “I talked to him. I fell into his trap.”
And he was right. I put an innocent girl in danger. For what?
A sick game, a part of me wails.One you knew you could never win.
“Enough,” Maxim commands, cutting through the hopeless thoughts. “You pitied him, but that does not make you weak. Whatever he’s done…we can face it. Don’t give him what he wants by doubting yourself now.”
“He’s been…different, lately,” Milton admits, frowning. “You don’t speak to him regularly, Maxim, so you wouldn’t have noticed, but he’s been gone for a while. Over a year, I believe. It’s not unusual for him to go off on his own for long periods, as I do, but…” His brows furrow. “It isn’t like him to stay away that long. He kept his usual accounts though, always supplying regular contributions to the club. He only resurfaced in person a month ago, but we haven’t discussed where he was.”
“Contributions?” Maxim inquires. His eyes widen and narrow in quick succession as if a sudden realization came to him. “No. You don’t mean—”
“That’s something we can discuss another time,” Milton says gently. Dima’s secret as the third member of their partnership is apparently out in the open now. “When he returned, he seemed more interested than usual in your relationships. Mainly with Francesca.”
Even in my daze, I marvel at the fact that he says my name for the first time. Notwoman. Orher.
“And my relationship with Heidi—” the name of the “blond woman,” Maxim mentioned, I assume. “Although my personal life has no relevance to this situation, Dima seemed more disturbed than I’m used to. He’s not erratic. But, whatever is behind this, I suspect it’s to prove an elaborate point.”
“So, you still defend him?” Maxim demands. “Even now?”
“Defend him?” Milton says softly. “Iknowhim. Just as I know you, and who did I come to first when I learned of this? I’m not in my office waiting for a call from Dima, I can tell you that.”
