Page 41 of Scarred Redemption

“You’re not judge, jury, and executioner.”

He dared laugh and another shiver thrummed through every muscle and every organ. “Yes, I am. I stood in a cold morgue peering at what was left of two bodies, Isabel.”

“I don’t want to hear it.” I was horrified at the odd glimmer in his eyes. Was he fucking enjoying the thought of slaughtering people?

“You need to understand what’s at stake. A woman and a child were placed in that building to make it appear as if both you and my daughter had perished in the horrific blast. There was almost nothing left of their bodies but charred remains. Do you understand me?”

“Stop.”

“I don’t know if they were killed first or what happened but seeing them just about ripped me apart.”

“Stop!”

Now he switched the hold, squeezing my hand with enough pressure I felt pain. The fury in his eyes was at a level I’d never seen before. I was shocked and horrified, even feeling the wave of heat that was all about his rage. “I sat night after night unable to sleep, going over every detail of what I’d done wrong. Of what I could have done differently. I mourned you in ways I didn’t think possible.”

“Please… Stop.”

“I was spared because Mina’s teacher called to warn me, but it was too late. I was outside while everything was going down. She was paid to make that call, Isabel. She had no way of knowing her single phone call would change my world so significantly. That explosion leveled the building and damaged several others. Ten people died that day. Four of my men. Innocent people. All for a fucking game that I don’t know who is behind. Do you understand what I’m telling you? Do you?”

“Just stop!” I raised my voice, hissing at him while a half dozen emotions rolled through me. Rage. Hatred. Fear. Anxiety. And yes, love. I loved the man with all my heart, but I couldn’t stand to see him this way.

I couldn’t stand being with him when he was like this. I didn’t have it in me.

He took deep, labored breaths, his jaw tightly clenched. “Someone must pay for what they’ve done.”

“Yes. Yes! I get it, but I can’t, Maxsim. I just can’t.” Now I hated myself for losing control and crying. I had no more. Not again, but here I was ready to bawl like a baby.

His fingers slipped away and he sat back in his chair as if nothing had happened.

The tension and awkwardness were horrible.

“Why did Mina’s teacher call you? Why a warning?”

“Because two men came to warn her that she should change her mind about going to the birthday party. They threatened to harm her aging mother if she didn’t do as they told her.” Where he’d just been so full of fury, his voice enveloped in deep emotion, he was ice cold once again, almost no inflection in his deep baritone.

“Does she know by whom?”

He laughed and now every sound he made sent shivers through me. “A bald man.”

The man he thought he’d killed at Christmas.

“Is she okay?”

“No, Isabel. Sara Brighten is dead.”

The news hit me as brutally hard as everything else.

“Oh, God.”

“Now you see why I need to be in full control and will handle things the only way that works.”

“It terrifies me that you’d stop at nothing to get revenge, Maxsim. You have a thriving business and a little girl who loves you, yet you’d give it all, risking everything to win this savage game. That scares me to death.”

“I will do whatever is necessary to keep you both safe. In my world, that includes ignoring the laws that you seem to believe matter when necessary.” His vehemence was as terrifying as the thought of the lengths he’d go.

I couldn’t respond because I heard little feet behind me. “Izzy. I’m hungry.” I knew the second she realized her father was sitting in the room, her gasp of disbelief forcing me to fist my mouth to keep from making a sound. “Papa!”

I’d been through so much in the last few weeks and so had Mina. So had the man sitting in front of me. Seeing his immediate change, the man who adored his daughter more than anything in life appearing with his features softening, I was in awe of him.