Crowned by Fate (Crowned 2)

Max nods. “And the drugs in essence stopped her brain from using the prefrontal cortex, which is the front part of the brain that helps us think logically to categorize our thoughts. It was as though all of her irrationality was tipped into insanity. On top of that, she began to compartmentalize all the good of her personality and keep her Isa, but sometimes she would wake up feeling evil, and call herself Brooke. Just to be clear,” Max’s face falls serious. The lines around his eyes crinkling. “Brooke was real?”

My jaw tightens. My fingers squeeze my cigar as I nod. “Yes. She killed my daughter on accident on our wedding day. The bullet was for Isa, or me, but she hit Harper.”

“I’m sorry,” Max whispers, and I want to feel the sincerity of his words, but there’s something. I don’t fucking know what, because he’s telling me all the right things. I get the feeling that he really does care for Isa, but there’s something else. “I didn’t know he was feeding her drugs and using her as a test dummy until the night before I broke her out.”

“But you didn’t break her out. He allowed you out,” I add, my jaw clenched. “I’m not a man you can lie to, Max. I’m very resourceful and know exactly how to utilize those resources to also make you disappear without so much as a whisper of a fucking trace. Don’t fuck with me when it comes to Isa, because bodies drop when her safety is at risk. That, son, is something I can fucking promise you.”

“Jesus Christ,” Devon adds behind a chuckle. “Daddy’s home.”

Max nods his head without a second thought. “I wasn’t finished, but yes. I knew that there was no way I could make my way past his guards, and if I did, there’s no way he would never find me. He is literally the most powerful man in the world.”

“—was,” I correct, but don’t want to dabble into why I chose the past tense. He’s a fucking dead man walking. I’ve already made my mind up.

Max narrows his eyes at me, licking his lips. I can already see the hunger in his eyes for revenge. Revenge for what I don’t fucking know, he doesn’t know Isa well enough to be slapping on armor for her.

“Or was. So, I propositioned him with an idea. I convinced him that she wasn’t responding to the drugs correctly, which wasn’t exactly a lie. He wanted to kill her right then when I told him, but I countered that by telling him I could break her out, reconcile her with her family at his famous yearly ball where there’re media outlets and paps, and he could earn the sympathy of America all while lining up a new subject.”

I chuckle, my top lip curling as he continues.

“He bought it, and we had the plan. My ex going after you? I don’t know what that’s about. Maybe she thought that I had feelings toward Isa because I would talk about her when I’d come home from work. Mainly fascination from before finding out she was drugged on trials. When I left her, she decided to go after you. Your and Isa’s marriage is all over the magazines and televisions. It didn’t take her long to add it all up, probably.”

“I knew who she was all along,” I murmur, only telling half of the truth while running my finger over the top of my lip. Oh sweet fucking secrets and stupid fucking fools. “What and why was her father suddenly interested in turning people crazy with the drop of a pill?”

Max clears his throat, shuffling on his feet. The question made him uncomfortable. Fucking good. It’s what I want. “Well, he wasn’t creating it to turn people clinically insane.” He pauses, and I see the flash of honesty rear its ugly head over his eyes. “It was to cure it. For what or who, I couldn’t tell you. I never asked.”

I ignore that for now and put the information into the little box of secrets inside my head. “You love Isa.”

He loosens his tie. “I do.”

I stand to my feet, making my way to the bar and taking down a bottle of whiskey. “Good, because she’s going to need you tomorrow.”

Devon shakes his head. “We are all so. So. Dead.”

Not everyone dies with the taste of love on their lips.

-Isa

I can feel submission leak its weakness into my brain. I’ve felt battered, trampled on and played with so many times now that it’s basically a new emotion.

I blink, keeping my eyes trained on the roof above me. I hate this room.

I hate this house.

I yank the covers off my body and make my way downstairs. I woke last night and found myself looking for Bryant, only when I found him, I caught all three of them in the middle of a conversation about me. Shocking. They don’t know that I heard what Max said about his involvement, but I did, and right now, I don’t know left from right. Any direction I choose is ultimately going to be the wrong one.