Page 137 of Chaos at Westbrook High

The guard closest to us shakes his head.

The veins in Mavericks forehead look like they’re about to burst as he looks between his brother and the men he thought were his men.

“They do not answer to you, Maverick,” my dad tells him.

As he fumes, I see the wheels turning in his head. He knows what’s about to happen now, and he’s desperately searching for a way out. The only way is by using the guy standing next to him, the guy my dad loves like a son despite his flaws.

As soon as I realize it, Hailey does too, her eyes widening as she panics. Before she can take a step toward her brother, I wrap my arms around her from behind, holding her captive against my chest.

In the same second, Maverick leaps off the couch, pulls Derek in front of him, and holds a gun to his own son’s hip. Hailey shouts, struggling in my grip, but I refuse to let her go.

In the next second, Callie and Levi’s guns are up, and James is in front of Maverick with the barrel of his own gun pressed to Maverick’s forehead.

Nobody moves for a few beats. Maverick’s eyes are crazed as he scans the room, once again searching for a way out. There isn’t one.

“Let him go, Maverick,” my dad says calmly, though I can tell from the way he’s clenching his fists at his sides that he’s far from calm. “Slowly.”

“I do not answer to you.” Maverick sneers, echoing his brother’s words from a minute ago.

Thinking for a moment, my dad curses under his breath before he says, “Callie.”

Knowing what that means, James moves just in time for Callie to shoot Maverick in the kneecap. The sound of the shot splitting through the silence makes Hailey jolt against me. I hold her tight as James gets between Maverick and Derek, pushing Derek away as Maverick drops to the rug. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he tries to grab the gun he dropped. James kicks it away, standing over him with his gun aimed at Maverick’s face.

“Nice shot, little Kingston.” Levi grins proudly.

She grins back, her chest heaving with adrenaline.

“It was a little close to my kneecap,” Derek grumbles, his fucked up version of thank you.

Callie’s grin widens. “Lucky for you, I don’t miss,” she says, her version of you’re welcome.

Derek smiles a secret smile to himself as he falls in line beside Hailey and my dad. I let Hailey go, and she launches herself at him, hitting him in the chest. He grunts, and she hits him again before wrapping her arms around him. He hugs her back, resting his chin on the top of her head.

“Derek,” Maverick growls, held up by two guards in front of us. “You’re choosing them over me? After everything they’ve done to you?”

Derek doesn’t bother mentioning all the things he’s done to him. He stands beside his uncle and looks his father in the eye. “I’ll never choose you again. Not after what you did to Valerie.”

“You know why I did it!” he shouts. “She was keeping Hailey from us. You were in on it, you little cunt! You’ve been playing them for weeks!”

Knowing he’s lying, none of us bat an eye.

“They’re not gonna believe you, Dad. It’s over.”

Maverick growls, his arms pinned behind his back, all his weight on his good leg as he sneers at my dad. “I’ll find a way. If you don’t kill me, I’ll find a way, Elijah. I will take everything from you.”

“No, you won’t.” My dad shakes his head. “You’re never getting your hands on my empire, Maverick.”

“What?”

“You’re not in the will. You haven’t been for a long time. If all of us die, it’ll go to Derek. And if you sink so low as to kill your own son, it’ll go to his wife.”

Hailey startles next to me as we all stare at him and Derek in shock.

His wife?

Just then, Freya fucking Thorne strolls into the room, looking smug as fuck as she cozies up into Derek’s side. Hailey takes a step away from them, her back hitting my chest again as she gawks at the huge diamond on Freya’s finger.

Maverick blinks at his brother. “You’re lying.”

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