Page 65 of Break My Rules

After all this time searching, questioning, driving myself half-crazy hunting for him, he’s finally in my grasp. The rage is dizzying, knowing what he did to her.

The price she paid for his crimes.

Max struggles harder. “You’re a fucking pyscho,” he mutters, looking wildly around. “You need help.”

“No. I need answers. And you’re going to give them to me.”

I check my phone. Ten minutes, that’s how long Phillip said it would take for the truth serum to kick in. Surely it should be working by now?

“Seriously, you’ve had your fun,” Max says, his voice quavering a little. “Ha-ha, good one. Let’s give Max a proper scare. You’re filming this, aren’t you?” he adds, looking around again. “Well, you got what you wanted. Now let me go.”

I don’t reply.

“Let me go, you fucking bitch!” he roars, furious.

There it is, a glimpse of the real Max.

The monster.

“You’re not going anywhere,” I tell him, fighting to keep control. “I want to hear it all. Everything you planned, everything you did to her. This is it, Max: Your reckoning.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he insists, red-faced and straining. “I didn’t do anything to Wren! Did I want to? Sure. She was hot, in that sexy librarian way. But I never got the chance, it didn’t happen.”

“You’re lying!” I yell.

“I’m not, I swear!” Max gulps.

“You lured her to the Blackthorn party,” I stab a finger towards him. “You spiked her drink.”

“What? No! I invited her, I thought maybe, you know, we could slip away and have some fun, but that’s not a crime.” Max blurts. “Anyway, it never happened. She blew me off, just disappeared.”

“No!” I yell, shaking my head. The drugs are supposed to be working by now. He’s supposed to be confessing. This is all wrong. “You’re still lying,” I scream at him, furious. “You did this, you hurt her, and now you’re going to pay!”

“Tessa?”

A shocked voice makes me turn. It’s Saint, standing on the cellar stairs, looking at me in total horror.

Chapter16

Tessa

Oh God.

Time seems to freeze as I watch Saint process the scene, looking from me, to Max, and back again.

“Saint! Thank fuck,” Max sags in relief. “Get her away from me, she’s lost it. I don’t know what the fuck she’s doing.”

A look of stony realization settles on Saint’s face. “Upstairs,” he tells me grimly, before turning on his heel and marching up to the kitchen.

“Saint?” Max calls after him. “No, come back. Let me go!”

I take a deep breath, and follow Saint upstairs, emerging into the bright daylight of the kitchen. He’s pacing there, dragging a hand through his hair, and the moment I shut the cellar door behind me, he whirls around.

“What thefuck, Tessa?!” he explodes.

“He did it, Saint. I know he did!” I blurt.

“But he was in the hospital—”