CHAPTER 36

Maxim

I didn't stay with the others long, all I want to do is check on my sweet Anna. I rush back towards the room, not stopping for anyone or anything.

When I enter, the lights are down, and the curtains are closed making it dark.

I can barely make out the silhouette of Anna over in the bed. She must have finished her shower and then quickly passed out.

I move closer towards her and brush the hair off of her face. She's currently laying on her stomach with her head to the side.

This moment causes her to whimper slightly and her eyes pop open, “Maxim?”

I lay down next to her and start to rub Anna’s back. “Hey baby, it's all right, go back to sleep.”

Anna snuggles in closer to me and closes her eyes again.

We lay this way relaxing. I go over everything that’s happened to us for the next couple hours. I don't want to leave her, but I know I've got Marco downstairs and I'm itching to have a friendly talk with him.

I glance at the alarm clock and realize it's almost seven a.m. I take one more look at Anna and see that she's resting peacefully. I bend down and place a kiss on her forehead.

In the hallway, I can hear a noise coming from the kitchen. I smile, working my way down the stairs. The other guys can't sleep just like I can't. We'll probably have an adrenaline crash later.

As soon as I enter, Jax notices me, “how is she?”

“Perfect actually,” I smile. “She's asleep.”

I look over at Colt and Finn, who are currently sitting at the island stuffing their faces with food that Martha must have made everybody. She's not here, but I'm pretty sure that she put leftovers in the fridge.

I look over at both of them, “I need you guys to keep an eye on Anna for me please.”

They nod in agreement. They know exactly where I'm going and what I'm going to do. I turn my attention over to Jax and Mason sitting on the other side of the island.

Before I can even say anything, Jax holds up his hand, “we're going with you.”

I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. There's really no reason why they can't go. Their family was affected by this piece of shit just as much as mine was.

I nod as I wait for the guys to finish eating.

The three of us make our way downstairs to the dark basement. That's where we're currently holding a very pissed-off Marco.

We haven't been able to locate Cruz. Our spies don’t know where he's at. Since the house blew up, most of them probably think he and Marco are dead.

We make our way down the rickety old steps. The ambiance of the crappy stairs going down into the deep dark basement scares most of my victims, that’s the way I prefer it. For now, all we do is keep maintenance up so that we don't fall through the stairs. I want the creepy space to stay the way it is, creepy.

Entering the code that opens the lock into the room, Jax, Mason and I make our way through. Booker is already in here waiting for us.

A very pissed off and bloody looking Marco tenses as soon as he sees the three of us come in. This makes me smile, makes me feel good.

There's dried blood and swelling on his face. It looks like Booker has worked him over some, just getting him prepared for us.

I haven't even decided what I'm going to do yet, Marco is going to be the most memorable person I’ve had down here.

Jax and Mason flank me on both sides as we stand right in front of Marco.

“Let me fucking go,” he spits out as blood flies everywhere. Luckily for us, we're out of reach.

Marco can't move his legs, they’re roped to the metal chair, and his hands are tied behind his back. He also has rope going around his whole body, keeping him in place.

Marco grunts, trying to lift his chair up and down, I watch him try to break the metal chair. It's not an old crappy wooden chair like the stairs.

I put my hands behind my back and just stand in front of him. Jax and Mason mimic my position. I'm grateful to them. I know they're letting me lead, even though they both want a shot at him themselves.

“Tell me everything, and I might go easier on you.” I speak to Marco in my calmest voice. I would like for us all to have closure, we’ll get that knowing exactly what happened.

“Fuck you,” he snaps.

I know I want to end that fucker now, but I should let the other guys have a little fun. I nod to both Jax and Mason.

Jax and Mason are both deadly. Those two were smiling like they just woke up on Easter or Christmas morning.

I walk over and stand next to Booker. I'm in the back as we listen to the screams of Marco getting punched, hit, kicked over and over.

I cringe when I notice Jax hit him right between the legs.

“Stop,” I yell. Marco is gasping for air and spitting blood off to the side.

“You have a choice,” I say as I move closer to him, in his personal space. “You can either start talking to me and tell me everything or Jax and Mason, your former friends and employers can just hang out with you longer.

I glanced in Jax's direction. Briefly I forgot how close they were with Marco. Jax’s chest is heaving up and down and his face is bright red. He looks like a monster with green eyes.

“What do you want to know,” Marco growls.

“Why Sophia? Why did my sister have to lose her life? Was it just so you could get closer to Anna?”

Marco opens his mouth to respond as the basement door flies open. Jax and Booker quickly reach for their guns. Even Marco is watching as Anna enters.

She comes in the room looking a little unsure. I quickly make my way over to her, “what are you doing here?”

She glances around the room nervously and looks at me, “I should be here, too.”

I know in my head she should be. I glance at Jax, even though I'd still let her stay if his answer was no. He agrees.

We're all standing in front of Marco as I snap at him to speak.

“Anna has always been mine,” he states never taking his eyes off her. “She was a fucking tease in the beginning. I figured I'd just play along because of how much I love her.”

I could feel Anna tense up next to me, so I put my arm around her and bring her to my side.

Marco notices this, his eyes open wide. I can see rage inside of him. Anna realizes that my arm is around her and she sees how pissed off Marco is, and starts to laugh.

It's a crazy laugh. “I wasn't a virgin you idiot,” she looks at Marco. After she realizes what she spit out, she quickly looks over at her brothers who are staring anywhere else except for at her. They’re uncomfortable.

I've never seen a man go crazy at a turn of events. I didn’t realized how deep his obsession ran with her.

Marco starts to thrash, moving himself up and down, slamming the chair back on the ground trying to break it.

One of the ropes snap that was holding his leg. This lets him have more room to bounce and try to get away.

Anna moves herself behind me as the rest of us watch, not moving. I think we're all curious if he's actually going to be able to get out of his binds.

All of the sudden the rope around his body snaps. The rope holding his right hand comes loose. Within just a few seconds, he's able to have the ropes off him.

He ignores the rest of us and charges straight for Anna. I don't wait another second for anything else to happen. I quickly pull out my gun and shoot him right between the eyes.

This makes Anna scream, likely just from the pure violence of it. I know she's seen dead people before, she's even caused them. This one was actually a close call. Marco is well trained, he would’ve been able to snap her neck right away.

I wrap Anna in my arms as I look over to Booker. “Take care of this.”

He gets to work as I turn around and start to walk towards the door. I glanced back at Jax and Mason, “you guys okay?”

They both give me a tight nod, then help Booker.

I take Anna all the way back upstairs to the master suite and pull us both into the shower. I want to wash everything away. I especially want to wash all traces of Marco away from my girl.

No words are said as we just stand there and hold each other in between washing.

When we're done, we climb into bed. It doesn't take long for Anna's steady breathing to let me know she passed out. I do the same as I snuggle tightly against her.

Tags: K.J. Thomas Romance
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