20. Maddox

Chapter 20

Maddox

His Ellie

M addox leaned against a concrete wall in what was most decidedly a dungeon. He didn’t particularly enjoy this part of Emilio, but he could acknowledge the necessity.

Yara was missing, and they needed to follow any leads they could. So far there had only been one they could track down and she was ten feet from Maddox, hanging from a hook.

ELLIE: I’M MEETING MY MOTHER, SHE SAYS SHE HAS INFORMATION ON MY DAD. I’M TELLING ONLY YOU, I DON’T TRUST THE OTHERS TO NOT HUNT ME DOWN.

The text pinged through and Maddox did his best to keep his emotions off of his face as he pushed off the wall and directed to Emilio. He tried to call her but it went straight to voicemail.

Fuck!

Maddox was too far from her, he shouldn’t have joined Emilio down here under the church. He should have stayed behind with his Ellie.

“I’ll be back,” he grumbled out.

Emilio stepped back from the woman that was dangling upside down from the ceiling, the one he had been interrogating for the last hour. The knife he held dripped blood slowly onto the floor as he turned to Maddox. “Where are you going?”

Maddox weighed his options. He didn’t want to break Ellie’s trust, but she didn’t know the circumstances of what was going on. He hesitated for a moment too long.

Emilio moved swiftly, deftly maneuvering the knife to Maddox’s throat. “If it has to do with our Isa, I suggest you speak. Or would you prefer I take the information from you?”

In this moment, Maddox could clearly see how Emilio had become the leader at such a young age. Emilio was naturally intimidating, his harsh voice eerie and off-putting.

Maddox’s phone remained in his hand as he put it in the air in a mock of surrender.

Emilio’s eyes landed on it. “Ah, I see.” He didn’t turn or loosen his grip on the knife.

Maddox could feel the blade dig into his neck, but he didn’t flinch. He held Emilio’s eyes, willing him to read his mind.

“Logan, get his phone!” Emilio barked the orders.

One of his men lurched out of the shadows to take it from Maddox before handing it to Emilio.

It took less than a minute for Emilio to find the message; it was clearly written across his face when he did.

“Her fucking mother?” Emilio snarled out at the captive. “Did you know about this? Know what he had planned?”

“You can fucking die! All of you!” The woman’s screeching voice was only a bit wobbly.

Maddox stepped back from the knife before Emilio hurt him in a psychotic rage. He trusted Emilio… mostly .

“I know. I didn’t expect her either,” Maddox muttered, lifting a hand to rub his temple.

He was beginning to suspect their lead was just a means to get him away from his Ellie.

It had worked.

“I’ll call Oliver so you can keep her trust. Who knows when she’ll do something like this again.” Emilio flung Maddox’s phone back at him.

“She’s going to be dead before you get there! I told him to use her mother. I hope she dies, she’s a fat cow. It’s not like you can kill me! My father wouldn’t allow it, now let me go!” Those were the last words Hallie spoke before Emilio whipped around and threw the knife at her.

It landed in her throat, and with her hands tied together, she didn’t have much she could do as she began to bleed around it.

“You weren’t going to tell us where Yara was, were you? And now you have sent for my Isa? You want her dead? I knew you were evil, I knew you helped your adoptive father lure women into his clutches, but I thought you were a victim. It doesn’t seem that you were, does it?”

Hallie spluttered, but Maddox couldn’t make out what she was saying. He would have almost felt bad for the girl if he didn’t know the lengths she had gone to for her adoptive father .

Emilio had explained the girl’s role in her father’s industry. How she had made “friends” in New York to bring them back home to Florida, only for them to go missing.

Maddox watched in silence as Emilio stepped to Hallie, retrieving his knife before plunging it into her heart.

Maddox hoped Ellie wouldn’t be hurt by Hallie’s death, that she would understand .

And it was in this moment that Maddox realized exactly how grateful he was that Emilio was on their side. Because when said man turned around? His eyes were lit up in amusement.

Maddox shuddered, he might have killed more than his share of men, but not once had he ever enjoyed it.

“Let’s go, I can’t believe they’re using her fucking mother, or that it worked. They’re going to take her, just like they did Yara,” Emilio raged as he retrieved his phone from his pocket, calling Oliver as he climbed up the dungeon’s solid steps.

A few days prior, Emilio had heard of Yara’s disappearance through his men. Emilio had apprised Maddox and Oliver but they all knew better than to tell Ellie.

At least not until they could find Yara.

Maddox felt guilty in hiding it from Ellie, but he also knew she would just panic.

Except maybe they should have. Maybe then she would have been more careful. More diligent.

Regret pierced his heart.

Maddox spared the dead woman one last look, her corpse swaying in the air before following Emilio.

Surely his Ellie would be safe. She was technically Landon’s family after all.

They wouldn’t hurt her.

Would they?

But then again Hallie had been a more integral part of his family, and she had been left a sitting duck for them to take. In fact, it really seemed like she was used as bait…