Max's Faith & Fury [COMPLETE]

Chapter 24

Installing a silent alarm system on the old house had worked. As soon as the back door opened, a break in notified Gwen's phone. When she first mentioned to Jordan that she thought someone had gone to the house a few days ago, he suspected it was Max. He recognized her intense blue eyes that day at the grave site. The same glaring eyes that once burned through his skull when they were younger, and she didn't like the idea of being obedient to him. At the time, it seemed like it didn't matter what he did to her. He should've strangled her to death that night she got him thrown in jail for the first time.

He was sixteen and could remember his rage when she first tried standing up to him, promising justice. She was barely a ten-year-old brat. He was kicked out of the house soon after that. It was a time their whole family was scrambling to stay together anyway.

He thought many times he should have gone with their mother when she left. Except that she didn't love him, or any of them for that matter. His father was a self-righteous prick of a cop. Gwen was a hopeless, airheaded flirt that had no idea their world was falling apart. Darla acted as Max's mentor, and a shield between him and Max. That was probably why Max thought she could defy him.

He regretted not killing Max more than killing Darla. If he'd gotten rid of her early on, Darla would have been more cooperative over the years. She'd still be here doing his bidding. Anything to stay alive. That's what his sisters did, and Max was no exception. His biggest mistake now threatened to get in his way again.

Gwen telling him that Max was at the house with some guy didn't sit well with Jordan. He let Gwen fume about how unfair everything was with Max's new boyfriend being way out of their sisters' league. Jordan doubted that guy was Max's boyfriend and bet they were likely not lovers at all.

She had protection, and manpower behind her. Manpower that wasn't the police. His contacts down at the station knew nothing about what she was doing. Everyone thought she was dead somewhere. Jordan thought that too, until he saw her at the grave site.

She confronted him just yesterday, stubborn but still scared of him. He thought for sure she wouldn't fire that gun. With his assistant Matt distracting her with flying bullets, Jordan was able to sneak out of there. He thought about maybe he should have stayed to make sure she was killed, but when he saw her pull that trigger and kill Matt, he knew something had changed in her.

She would kill him too if she had to. That's not what she wanted though. She wanted to catch him. The thought made him shudder.

She plagued his mind, adding more stress to an already delicate situation. They should have left the state with the batch of girls that were taken back. They were only a few miles away from the border, all they had to do was keep going.

Erik wanted them to stay though. Jordan would do just about anything for money, and when Erik claimed to have found a target promising a big reward, he let himself be convinced and stayed. With the damage of yesterday's raid, they were short on cash, supplies, safe houses and men they could trust.

If he'd killed Max a long time ago, he wouldn't be under so much pressure now.

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