Page 24 of The Fixer

“Are you okay?” Max asks, his brows furrowing in concern. “You barely ate your dinner tonight, and the fettuccine alfredo from Squisito is your favorite. You’ve been really closed off the past few days and I know something is off. I can feel it. You can talk to me, Mads. We tell each other everything.”

I do tell my brother everything—he’s my best friend. He’s the only person who supports me one hundred percent, no questions asked. We have each other’s backs, no matter what. But I hesitate over whether or not to tell him the truth about Garrix and my investigation.

Max is only going to want what’s best for me, and I don’t want him telling Papà in some misguided effort to keep me safe. I saw how furious he was over the note and pictures. He’s taking it personally that this happened right under his nose—I think all my brothers are.

“I have a lot on my mind with the stalker, and I’ve been doing some of my own investigating,” I start. “Vinny thinks that Dmitri has something to do with this, and I had a meeting with him yesterday to suss him out.”

“Was Gabriele with you?” he asks. “It’s dangerous for you to be around that creep, especially if he is your stalker.”

“Yes, and Gabe wasn’t the only one with me.”

Max’s face is a mix of disappointment and concern. There’s no way he already knows…right? Gabriele wouldn’t be stupid enough to cross me.

“Okay… don’t leave me hanging. Did you bring Luca?” he asks.

“No. So remember Garrix from the gun drop?”

His face twists, as if he’s putting the pieces together. “Yeah. He stared at you a bit too long for my liking.”

“Well, we’ve been talking, and somehow he knew where I was. He invited himself and made it very clear to Dmitri that I’m off limits.” Abundantly clear.

“You’re not a bimbo, Mads. I know you know he either has a tracker on your phone or a member of The Brigade tracking you. There’s no other way he knew where you were,” Max reasons.

“Probably,” I agree, crossing my legs and rubbing the back of my neck.

“And that doesn’t bother you? He’s a menace. He’s the second in command of the most powerful mercenary society in the country, arguably the world. If he’s into you, you may be trading one monster’s attention in for an even bigger one. How do we know he isn’t your stalker?”

He makes complete sense. Garrix is technically stalking me. He’s a dangerous man who’s already staked a claim on me, despite the fact that we can never actually be together. If any other guy tried that shit, I’d break their kneecaps. But something is different with Garrix.

“I know he isn’t the stalker because my gut has never steered me wrong, Max. And maybe he is a monster, but there’s something about him…I can’t explain it.”

“I’ll always support you and trust your judgment, but please be careful.”

My phone chimes, and my nosy brother looks over my shoulder to see who it is.

G: Are you alone?

“Does anyone else know you’re texting a big, scary mercenary?” my brother teases me.

“You and Gabriele.” I roll my eyes, thinking of how ridiculous he acted yesterday.

“I can only imagine how dramatic he acted,” Max scoffs. “I told you not to date him…”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. You were right. Que up that game and I’ll be right back.”

I hop off the couch and dart into my room to use my en-suite bathroom. When I’m done washing and drying my hands, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I see a shadow move underneath the door out of the corner of my eye.

If living this life has taught me one thing, it’s to be prepared. Max and I have weapons stashed all over the apartment in case an uninvited guest comes knocking. Grabbing a loaded gun from the vanity drawer, I edge toward the door. No obvious sounds come from the other side, but that doesn’t mean anything. Keeping the gun pointed firmly in front of me, I slowly crack it to see Garrix casually sitting on the edge of my bed as he flips through a book from my bedside table.

“Pointing another gun at me? You’re really coming into your nickname, little killer,” he says with an unbothered tone, like I'm not pointing a loaded weapon at him.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Do you actually try any of the things from your dirty little books? Because I’m down to try something like this with you,” he muses, pointing to a page he dog-eared.

“You are a monster,” I huff as I undo the damage, even though it’s useless now—the page will forever have a crease. “I asked you a question, asshole. What are you doing here?! My brother is in the living room.”

“I have a lead about your stalker and needed to see you. If you hadn’t left me on read, I’d have come by another time. Since I’m here, though, let’s talk.”

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