Rule 7 : Rage

CHAPTER 45: BLOOD AND BONE.

I began to fidget, my voice coming out in incoherent bursts. "My Lord... You, you sent him to DNA's..." My breath hitched in my chest, and a sob threatened to escape. The words felt like molten lead, burning my tongue as they escaped.

"I can't kill Zayn. We haven't told him about the baby—the one he tried to save that day, the one in his arms." My forehead pulsed with each rapid heartbeat, and a cold sweat broke out on my temples.

Lord Maximus averted his gaze, his jaw clenched so tightly that the muscles in his face rippled. His eyes darted nervously between me and the floor. For a brief moment, his eyes widened and his nostrils flared, before he regained his composure.

"My Lord, I can't kill him," I pleaded, my voice trembling. My knees buckled, and I collapsed to the floor, the cold stone seeping into my skin. My hands fisted together as terror consumed me.

"You have a point there," he replied, a cold glint in his eyes. "If he pulls this off, I see him as the new Butcher's Worm. A title he'll earn with blood and bone."

I couldn't meet his gaze, my mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Spanish operations are a graveyard for the unprepared." I managed to choke out."

"That's why I want him in Spain," He said, his eyes narrowing. Let him face the Spanish wolves. It might just scare him straight."  eyes narrowed. "Or better yet, he'll become the prey. Either way, the painting is untouched. It's worth two hundred billion euros, remember?"

He lifted his glass, his fingers tightening around the stem until his knuckles turned pale. He took a long, deliberate sip. A moment passed before he spoke. "He'd be a liability too," he muttered, his voice strained. "There are others after the same target."

My brow furrowed in confusion. "He's putting everything on Zayn?" Ithought, my gaze flitting between his eyes as they never left mine. "What's going on here? Why the sudden urge to get rid of him?"

His palms raked his face, fingers digging into his scalp. A low growl escaped his lips. "Get up. Leave," he commanded. I scrambled to my feet, heart pounding in my ears.

My gaze darted to the goblet on the table, a lifeline in this chaotic moment. Grasping it tightly, I drained the wine in one desperate gulp. As I straightened my dress, ready to flee, his voice stopped me cold.

"Martini," he began, his tone laced with something I couldn't quite decipher, "after this, he needs to know about the baby. She's an outcast, but he should know she's alive."

A slow, predatory grin spread across his face. His eyes, icy and calculating, seemed to bore into me. "Perhaps after the induction into the Butcher's Worm position," he drawled, his voice low and menacing. "By then, he'll be a different man entirely. A Shaque through and through. And who knows what kind of monster he'll become? Maybe he'll even be eager to train the child in our ways."

A curt nod replaced my words as my gaze remained fixed on the floor. A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "The child will be nothing more than a pawn in this twisted game," I spat, my voice dripping with contempt. With a mocking bow, I turned to leave.

His jaw clenched, his eyes narrowing to slits. A sharp intake of breath escaped him as his face contorted. "We leave soon," he growled, his voice low and seething.

My heart pounded as my gaze scanned the area. "Where are we headed?" I breathed, a cold dread creeping into my gut. Lord Maximus' brow furrowed in confusion, his eyes glaring. "What's going on?" I whispered to myself.