Page 150 of House of Lilith

As usual, this gets results. “Fine,” he snaps and he makes me stop just as the crowd reaches the spot where the Elevator is hiding. Then his eyes soften again and he throws me a warm smile. “I didn’t want to do this before it became official, but…”

I hold my breath.

“Once you get the sale papers,” he asks with one eyebrow quirked at me, “whose name will you see on them?”

It makes me clench my jaw, knowing what he’ll say even before he says it.

He doesn’t wait for me to ask. “Maximillian Aalders the Second,” he leans to whisper.

And by the time he pulls away, I’ve at least regained my power of speech. But I’m balling my hands into fists as I say through gritted teeth, “They’re selling it toyou?”

He just looks at me for a second and then nods.

“But you don’t have that kind of money,” I protest, barely registering the Elevator rising from the ground and the people bumping into us, forcing us inside.

“I donow,” he replies matter-of-factly.

Oh, so that’s what the audience with the King was probably about.

The interaction makes me so angry, I find myself surprised when the Elevator door opens and we walk out into the Entrance Hall.

For a second, it distracts me, making me look around, wondering if the Fourth Game will be heldinthe castle itself. And that’s when I spot him.

Dahrian, in the crowd to my left, slowing down to throw me this weird look.

It makes my heart start pounding. I don’t keep walking. Ican’tkeep walking, my head threatening to burst with everything that’s going on.

“Hey,” I hear Max say and I snap out of it, turning my eyes back onto him. He’s frowning at me. “Didn’t you say you care what happens with the land?” He lets out an incredulous little laugh. “And here I am, serving you the ideal solution on a silver platter, no strings attached.”

For a second, I just look at him, my mind still buzzing and my anger only growing less controlled. “I want you to back down, Max, got it?” I say in a warning voice.

“Come on, cupcake,” he says as he takes a step closer. “It’s a good thing I’m doing, for all of us.”

The nickname and the way he says it all make blood boil in my veins. And I fail to stop myself. I get in his face, fangs flashing, and I drawl, “If you don’t back down, Max, I swear to fucking Lilith herself, I’m going tohuntyou down and I’m going todrainyou, and then…” I grit my teeth.“ThenI’m going to leave your pitiful, rotting corpse somewhere no one willeverfind.” I pause to look deeper into his eyes. “Understood?”

And I can tell he’s taken aback, but then my phone pings and I automatically whip it out.

“F12, now,” the text reads. The text from Howe.

For a second, I just blink at it, trying to stop myself from reacting to it in any way. But the next thing I know, I’m walking straight to F12.

“Hey, where’re you going?” I hear Max demand.

“Bathroom.”

There’s a second of silence before he yells out, “The bloody Game’s about to begin.”

I don’t even reply. I’m barely controlling my anger, and I’m actually looking forward to seeing what this other asshole wants from me.

*

When I close the door to F12 behind me and turn to face him, I’m seething, opening my mouth to ask him how the fuck he thinks it’s okay to text meat this time.

But he’s already coming at me, this primal anger twisting his face as he slams me against the door and pins me in place with one muscled forearm across my chest, my eyebrows pulling down and my hands flying to his shoulders to push him away.

The grip only tightens, while the other hand moves to roughly work its way between my legs. “Hey,” I shout at him, using all four limbs to try to fight him off, feeling at the same time confused, thrilled to be able to blow off steam and turned on by him winning the fight. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Fucking you in that uniform,” he says through gritted teeth as he manages to get his hand where he wants it, aggressively unzipping my pants as he stares into my eyes with that weirdly intense, angry look in his.

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