Corps Security: The Series (153 page)

My eyes roam the home in front of us. Each brick, I hate. The large floor-to-ceiling windows that line the first floor of the home make my fingers twitch for a rock—or maybe a flaming bag of horseshit tied to a rock followed by a grenade. The wraparound drive is lined with flowers and bushes and shit that makes me want to jump back in our rental and start doing donuts in the grass. I had to talk myself out of grabbing the keys from Maddox when we got out of the car and I saw the shining, red sports car sitting in the drive. It would look wonderful with deeply gouged key slashes.

Jesus, what is wrong with me?

I look over at Maddox, expecting to see some dark essence in him over being back, but I just see a thoughtful expression. His jaw is relaxed, his eyes are searching, and not a single pained wrinkle is visible. I squeeze his hand and his eyes meet mine.

“You doing okay, big boy?”

“Yeah, angel. Shockingly, I’m okay. Ready to get this over with and get you back to the hotel.”

“You would be thinking about
that
right now,” I laugh, my mood feeling slightly less violent.

“That’s keeping me from going off the hinges right now, so I’m going to go with what works.”

I can give him that. If that’s what he needs, then so be it.

“I think, maybe, we should knock or something. Unless they’re evil little witches that somehow can sense our arrival.”

“I wouldn’t put it past them, Em. I really wouldn’t.”

Right, then. I reach out when it becomes clear he isn’t going to knock and bang my fist against the enormous wooden door, using it to take some of my madness out. I pound until my fist tingles, not even stopping when I hear Maddox’s deep chuckles.

“Pretty sure there isn’t a question that we have arrived, baby.”

“I could start kicking too. Don’t you test me, Maddox.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He smiles and my heart skips a beat. Then he leans in until his lips hover next to my ear. “Watch that sass. You’re turning me on.”

My fist stops its banging and my jaw drops at his words. I’m seconds from turning towards him when the lock disengages and the door swings open.

“What the hell do you want?” The voice matches what I anticipated. Snarky.

Maddox doesn’t react to coming face to face with his mother after almost twelve years. He just tilts his head to the side and gives her a little half smile.

Her eyes go from my fierce scowl to the man standing tall and proud next to me, and I watch with satisfaction as her eyes flash.

Fear.

Or maybe it’s indigestion, but it looks a hell of a lot like fear.

“If it isn’t my unruly little shit,” she sneers.

“Invite us in, Diana.” His voice holds no room for argument. Just looking at him, if I didn’t know the kindness that lives within him, I would piss myself.

Of course, this bitch wouldn’t notice a predator after its prey.

“I think you can just say whatever the hell you need to right here, Maddox. There is no need for you to dirty up my home with your filth.”

“Bitch,” I mumble under my breath.

She turns her head and looks over me from head to toe. I picked my outfit with care. I wanted to give her something to focus on if things went south. I can handle anything she throws at me, and if Maddox looks like he can’t handle this at any second, then I’m prepared to work everything I have to gain her attention.

“Did you pick this one off the street?” Her eyes zero in on my short—very short—black shorts. They move to my tight—very tight—blood-red V-neck shirt. I lose points with the shoes though. I didn’t want to risk anything going wrong by wearing the heels Dee had packed for me.

“You focus on me and not her. You hear me?” For the first time, his calm demeanor slips and his rage comes through.

“Mother?”

I feel Maddox jolt when the masculine voice comes from down the hall.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake. I really don’t have time for this.” She turns and walks away from the door, leaving it wide open behind her.

I look over at Maddox and wait for him to make the next move. He takes a few deep breaths before walking over the threshold.

Right into hell.

“What the fuck is he doing here?”

I move from where I was trailing behind him and lock eyes with who I assume is his brother, Mason. Crap, he really got unlucky in the looks department. I think that, if I squint and maybe tilt my head to the side, I can see how he might have been attractive one day.

Now though? Now he looks like a middle-aged, fat-ass pervert I would have seen regularly at Syn. His thinning, light-brown hair is combed over, doing a terrible job at hiding the fact that he only has a few strands left until his shining scalp is naked. His beady eyes are bloodshot and his protruding gut is seriously testing the buttons on his
pink
dress shirt.

“Apparently, he has something to say, Mason. This should be interesting. To the study, Maddox. I trust you can find the way. I need a drink.” She walks away and leaves the two brothers standing in the entryway.

If things come to blows, there is no question that Maddox will win. He towers over his brother. His thickly muscled body is a machine of power and his brother looks like he wouldn’t even be able to open a pickle jar.

“Never thought I would see the day that the rat came crawling home.” He laughs when Maddox snarls, shakes his head, and turns to walk away.

This time, Maddox doesn’t need a second to consider if he will take the next steps. He stomps through the house, his boots sounding off the walls with thumping echoes. I double my stride to keep up with him, never once letting go of his hand.

After we have been standing in the study by ourselves for ten minutes, they enter. Only this time, there is a third person with them. Her blond hair hangs down her back in soft waves. Her blue eyes are hard and calculating. And much like his mom, Maddox’s ex-fiancée is perfectly put together. My palms itch to tear her apart.

“Oh, this is fresh. I thought he was a cripple now?” she asks his brother while looking down at his legs.

I instantly notice the size of her wedding band—hell, it’s hard to miss. How can she even keep her arm from dragging on the ground with that gaudy thing? And how could she have ever left Maddox for the weasel next to her?

“It’s called an amputee, Mercedes.”

Her eyes snap to his. “That’s the same thing, bastard.”

Maddox laughs and I look over at him with a smile, my heart light when I realize that I worried for nothing. He’s too strong to let them hurt him.

“Sit the fuck down,” he thunders.

Their eyes widen slightly, but they don’t recognize the threat in front of them.

“Get it over with,” Mason grumbles.

“Don’t worry,
big brother,
” he sneers. “I won’t take up too much of your precious fucking time. I just have a few things to say and then we will leave.”

I’m guessing that the arrival of her long-lost lover was too shocking for her to notice the other woman in the room. I recognize a threatened woman when I see one. After all, I’ve been watching her husband rake his eyes over me with lust-filled want for the last ten minutes. This is one crazy madwoman.

“Who the fuck is she?” Her question isn’t directed at me, but I answer anyway.

“Emersyn. It’s a pleasure. And, sweet cheeks, I’m his future wife.”

I don’t know what made me say it. Maybe I just wanted to slap it in her face that I won the priced Locke. Or maybe it was just wishful yapping. Either way, the words taste delicious.

The hand Maddox has wrapped around mine flexes, but he doesn’t outwardly react—nor does he dispute my words.

“HA! You mean you actually found someone who you think loves you? That’s hilarious.”

I take a page from Maddox’s book and growl deep in my throat.

“Shut the fuck up, Mercedes.” Maddox scolds.

She huffs at his reprimand, but she does shut her mouth.

“I was thinking one night that I never knew why you hated me so much. It just didn’t make sense to me that you could give birth to someone and hate them instantly with everything you had. I really don’t give a fuck what your reasons are now, but let me tell
you
a little fucking bedtime story this time. There once was a man who thought he was broken and unworthy. A demon that walked the Earth, causing nothing but pain to others with only a touch. Then he met an angel that was just as lost as he was, and he realized, with her help, that it was never
him
that was broken. It was never
him
that spread his villainous evil. You see, that evil that he was told he had been born with . . . It came from only one person—
you.
And once that man was free from the webs of her darkness, he realized he wasn’t some giant fuck-up. He had just been born from evil and it took a little longer to clean that bullshit from his skin.”

“Now you little—”

“You don’t fucking get to speak!” he bellows. “Let me ask you, Diana. How many years have you been afraid that I would show back up? That I would question everything you told me when I was at my worst? I should have thought about it sooner, but I’ve been a little busy since. It didn’t take long for me to sit at my computer and tap into your lives with just a few keystrokes. You made a mistake though. When you went to sell the company, I’m assuming because you were either drunk or had spent all of your worth, you couldn’t do anything without the one person who still holds twenty-five percent of Locke Oil, could you?”

I want to snap my eyes to his. The shock of what he’s saying is making my head spin. I didn’t even know about this.

“Ah, I can tell by your shocked and wonderfully terrified faces that you really did think I would never find out. Isn’t it just fucking good fortune that I showed up when I did? I don’t fucking want your company. I didn’t when you assumed I did and I didn’t when I was fighting to rebuild my life twelve years ago. But you can be sure of one fucking thing—I don’t care if it sinks you in the ground. You want my shares—take them. I know you need my signature to sell and you need to sell just to keep afloat.”

I can see the wheels turning in their heads. They think they’ve won.

“Just like that?” Mason asks.

“Just fucking like that. Oh . . . I forgot. I won’t accept a check since I’m pretty sure it would bounce to the fucking moon. You want them, then be prepared to bleed that money you don’t fucking have.”

“We don’t have that kind of money,” his brother fumes.

“Well, then, I guess I’m not fucking going anywhere.” He laughs.

“Is this what you think will intimidate us? Coming into
my
home with your slut and acting like we give a shit?”

My eyes narrow at Mercedes.

“That’s the thing, Mercedes. I don’t really give a shit what you think.”

“You loved me once.” It sounds like she is trying to talk herself into that one.

“I didn’t fucking love you. I’ll admit I thought I did, but that’s what happens when you have a bitch willing to spread her legs. You were easy, Mercedes. Let’s not get that thought crossed with any affection you might think I have left for you.”

“You were going to marry me.”

“Jesus fuck, Mercy! I’m right fucking here,” his brother yelps.

“Diana,” Maddox speaks, ignoring the domestic argument happening between his brother and sister-in-law. “Find your precious lawyer, Jefferson, and get this shit rolling. I don’t really give a damn if you have to sell this very house to be able to afford to buy me out. You want it that much, make it happen.”

She doesn’t look happy about it, but she stomps out of the room.

Before she can get too far, Maddox calls out for her. I watch has she walks back in with a little less supremacy than she had earlier.

“And you, Mason. You might think you’ve won. You have the girl you think I want. You have this shithole in Texas and a company six months from bankruptcy. But,
brother,
you will never have the world because I already fucking found it. I’m worth more than you will ever see in your lifetime and I’m not only talking about the money piling up in my bank. I have everything you wish you had. And the best thing? I have a woman who loves me for everything I am and ever will be. One who isn’t just with me because of some purse or shoe she wants at the moment. So . . . Check. Mate. Motherfucker.”

“I’ll fucking kill you,” he spits.

“You could fucking try, but even with my hands tied behind my back, I would snap you in two.”

Mason’s face goes pale before he storms out of the room, slamming the door in his wake. His mother hasn’t moved from her spot. She looks at Maddox with shock and maybe a little respect.

“Maybe I underestimated you, stupid boy. I’ll have Jefferson send you the paperwork.” She shakes her head and follows his brother out of the room.

“Looks like it’s just us, Mercedes. I do have a question for you. Why?”

She crosses her bone-thin arms over her chest and huffs. “That, Maddox, is easy. Mason promised me the fucking world. The best clothes, houses, cars. Ultimate power right at my fingertips. All I had to do was get you out of the picture somehow. It seemed so simple at first. You had given me the perfect plan when you put that speck of glass on my hand. I just had to play my cards right and fake a few orgasms. That meeting before you shipped out was all my idea. We just had to throw a few lines of bullshit out there and wait for your temper to get the best of you. I knew you wouldn’t question what they were saying. Not only are you just too fucking stupid, but when I dropped the baby bomb on you, all of your focus went into worrying about that.” She laughs and my rage grows. “You didn’t even question the baby. You just believed me because you
loved
me. God, you were so fucking stupid.”

“What do you fucking mean, I believed you? I saw the picture of you, Mason, and the baby.”

Her laughter takes on an insane crackle. Just the volume of it screams psycho. “Ah, yes. Perfect timing struck again when we decided to go visit a friend of your brother’s who had had their first little baby. Some careful editing and you couldn’t tell a difference. I knew you would buy it at face value. There never was a baby.” She laughs again, and that rage that was building hits a boiling point.