Memories flooded Max’s mind the moment he saw the face looking back at him from the open car window. As the vehicle slowed to a crawl alongside him, his instincts screamed that this was bad news, he just didn’t know exactly how bad yet. A part of him considered stepping away and putting distance between himself and the car in case they were planning a quick abduction, but he checked the impulse. With the position he now held as a syndicate leader, showing fear or retreat wasn’t an image he could afford to project.
Instead, he stepped closer to the door, his eyes narrowing as he confirmed the identity of the driver.
The man behind the wheel was Dud. He had been a prominent member of the Rejected Corps , serving essentially as the second-in-command alongside Na. Back during their initial conflict, Max had managed to best him in a physical confrontation, but he hadn’t been able to finish the job; Dud had been slippery enough to escape the fallout. Since then, Max had done extensive digging into the man’s history, questioning Na about his former partner’s activities.
The truth that emerged was sickening. Dud was the primary architect of the infighting that had rotted the Rejected Corps from the inside. Even worse, Max’s investigation into the gang’s past revealed that Dud was almost certainly the person who had rented the vehicle used in the hit-and-run that killed Jay. He had been a ghost, playing both the Chalkline Boys and the Rejected Corps against each other, serving as the hidden link in a chain of betrayals.
Just standing there, looking at the man’s smug face, made Max’s blood boil with a visceral anger. He was tempted to lean through the window, grab Dud by the throat, and drag him out onto the pavement, but he knew the tactical situation was unfavorable. Dud was in a running vehicle; he could accelerate in a heartbeat, either to escape or to use the heavy machinery as a weapon against him.
"What are you here for?" Max asked, his voice low and dangerous. "Are you here for revenge? Because it’s incredibly dangerous for you to show your face right in front of me like this. You must be feeling particularly brave today."
"Oh, will you look at that," Dud sneered, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. "Someone seems to have gotten a bit too big for his boots. I’ve been following your little journey, Max. Your group has become rather large lately, hasn’t it?"
Dud leaned closer to the window, his eyes cold. "Do you think you’ve become untouchable just because of your new title? No, that’s not reality. In the end, you’re still just a kid. What the heck is a person like you even doing at a university in the first place? Playing house?"
Max shook his head slightly. If only Dud knew the full truth, though it wouldn’t change anything. If there was one person in this world Max would be happy to kill with his own hands, it was the man sitting in this car.
"What, nothing to say? Do you have a girlfriend coming here or something?" Dud asked, his grin widening into something predatory. "I would be careful if I were you. We all know what happened to the last one... what was her name? Abby?"
The mention of her name sent a jolt through Max’s body. His heart thundered against his ribs, and his muscles coiled, ready to launch a punch even if he only got one shot at it.
"I’m telling you, Max, you need to be more careful than ever," Dud continued, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "I’m not just going to kill you. I’m going to make sure everyone around you, everyone you actually care about, ends up dead. Think about it. If I wasn’t confident I could pull it off, I wouldn’t have come here to tell you directly to your face."
Just as Max shifted his weight to lung forward, Dud slammed his foot on the accelerator. The car surged away into the distance, leaving Max standing in a cloud of exhaust. He stood there for a moment, memorizing the license plate digits. He would give them to Aron later to see if they could track the vehicle’s registration or current owner.
’I didn’t think I would run into someone from my past life so soon,’ Max thought, his mind racing. ’I have more problems to worry about than I realized. I need to figure out how to deal with him permanently... but why was he so incredibly confident?’
"Max!" a voice called out from the sidewalk. "I’m surprised to run into you again so soon."
When Max turned his head, he saw Aki. She must have finished up with the university event and decided to head back out toward the city.
"Hey, since you’re free, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some dinner or a drink together?" Aki asked, her tone hopeful. "I think it would be a lot nicer than hanging out with a bunch of strangers I don’t really know."
Max looked Aki up and down, his mind still clouded by Dud’s threats. In that moment, looking at her expectant expression, he knew exactly what her intentions were.
"You like me, don’t you?" Max asked bluntly. The question was so direct it left Aki completely flustered, her face flushing crimson.
"I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t," Max said, his voice cold and final. "From now on, you should pretend you don’t know me. Stay away from me if you see me on campus. Don’t even acknowledge my presence."
Max turned around and began to walk away in the opposite direction.
"I mean it," he added over his shoulder. "That’s an order."
***
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