Rapture & Ruin (Rapture & Ruin 1)

“Tell her I’ll see her later.” Max’s grim words seemed to be spoken through gritted teeth.

“But she said she broke her phone and lost your number.” Francesca spoke with the weight of a tragedy. “Isn’t that right, Allie?”

“Yes.” I flung the word at her in a bold challenge, a reflexive response to a bully. Francesca might have a gorgeous smile, but she was clearly a master at cutting a person down to nothing with her sharp, conniving insults.

I raised my voice slightly and addressed Max. “I need to see you, Max.”

A wordless growl. He was pissed.

My stomach did a funny flip, but I kept my shoulders back and allowed my stare to clash with Francesca’s. I’d risked everything to come here and give Max the evidence that would save my father. I wouldn’t back down now, especially not because of this bully.

“Did you hear that?” she practically cooed. “Allie needs you, Max. She’s very sweet, isn’t she? How did you ever convince her to go out with a monster like you?”

I glowered at her, no longer caring that she was the daughter of an infamous criminal or that I was standing outside Paul Ferrara’s house. Based on her taunts, it seemed that she didn’t know who I was; she hadn’t been in on the whole kidnapping-and-interrogation thing.

Indignant anger brought out my reckless streak. “I’m waiting right here.” I said it as a challenge to her and as a demand to Max. “I’ll see you soon, Max.”

“I’m on my way.”

Francesca ended the call with a snide smile. “A little overly eager, aren’t we? Take my advice. Desperation isn’t a good look, Allie. Especially when you’re chasing after roadkill like my brother.”

My rage swelled, and my fingers clenched to fists at my sides. Oh, you bitch. I knew her kind, but the fact that she could be so cruel to her own family was beyond disgusting.

“It’s not Max’s fault if he was in an accident,” I asserted. “Why should I hold that against him?”

She cocked her head at me, her pillowy lips taking on a nasty twist, as though she relished the flavor of her next taunt. “How do you know it wasn’t his fault? Didn’t he tell you what happened?”

I stiffened. Of course, Max hadn’t told me how he’d been scarred. He hadn’t told me anything about himself at all except for the fact that he hated my father. And that he protected innocent women.

He might be insane, but he’d saved my life. And it seemed I’d been right to think that he’d suffered ridicule and rejection because of his disfigurement. He’d been bullied, too. And by his own family, no less. That was enough to earn my defensiveness on his behalf.

I lifted my chin and stared Francesca down. “He didn’t have to tell me what happened for me to know that he didn’t deserve to be hurt like that. No one does.”

Her smile sharpened, a baring of those shark’s teeth. “Are you sure? You seem very naïve, hon. Do yourself a favor and get the hell away from my brother. It won’t end well for you.”

A threat? From this bitch?

Nope.

I’d dealt with a monster holding me captive in a dark basement. I could handle a vindictive woman in broad daylight. She thought she could scare off her brother’s first supposed girlfriend since his accident had left him permanently scarred?

No way. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t really his girlfriend. It didn’t matter that Max’s twisted snarl still haunted my dreams. All that mattered was that this bitch was tormenting her brother, a man who’d already suffered through so much pain that it’d driven him to madness.

The same man who’d pulled me out of the deadly path of an oncoming car and then insisted on seeing me safely to my door. Yes, Max had terrorized me, but he’d also saved me. He was mercurial and deeply conflicted, but he wasn’t pure evil. When I’d been tied up in that basement, I’d recognized his pain. It was what had driven him to kidnap and question me. Even on that awful night, he hadn’t laid a hand on me.

Max wasn’t violent or innately cruel, but his sister clearly relished engaging in psychological warfare.

I returned her imperious stare and icy demeanor. “You don’t have to wait out here with me. I’m sure Max will be here soon.”

Her nasty little smile stayed in place. “Yes, I’m sure he’ll rush home. He won’t want me to scare you off.”

“I’m not scared.”

Another tinkling laugh. “I knew you were too good for my brother.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and pressed my lips together, not deigning to reply. If she wanted to stand out here and needle me with insults about Max, that was her prerogative. I didn’t have to continue to engage.

She leaned a shoulder against the front door, making an ostentatious show of settling in to wait.