Page 418 of Dark Love

“My daughter, Hope, figured it out first. Prue was shaken when she got home after days missing.” Max raises an eyebrow at me.

“She was never lost.”

“I figured that. Prue was afraid that Hope hadn’t been prepared to protect herself from date rape drugs, so she gave Hope this big long lecture—likeHope will ever be alone—Prue’s hands shook the entire time and Hope figured it out. Who drugged Prue?”

A dead man. “It doesn’t matter. The problem was taken care of. She wasn’t alone for a single minute.”

“Taken care of…” Max raises an eyebrow at me.

“Like I said, there is no video from that day. There was a computer malfunction.”

“This malfunction caused a permanent loss.”

I nod.

Max’s shoulders relax a bit. “Excellent. So, I’m going to assume your last visit was simply to check on Prue.”

“Why would you assume that?” It takes everything in me to remain calm on the outside. Dahlia isn’t any of his business.

“Because Prue is a nice woman. She’s not your type.”

Don’t deck him. His family might object, and Emilia is still a scary woman. “She’s everyone’s type.”

“Does that mean you’re interested in her?”

Maybe I can get away with giving him a black eye or two. “How is she any of your business?”

“My daughter is very attached to Prue, therefore her wellbeing is my concern.”

Is Max the one Payne was talking about as competition? “And that concern is driving this line of questioning?”

“Mostly. Curiosity has me questioning why her boss was visiting in the middle of the day.”

“You know her boss?” I really should have looked at the file Payne has on Dahlia.

“I know everything about Prue.”

Do you know why she’s so shy? The question almost slips out of my mouth, but I control myself. “Then why did you let him come to her door?”

“To torment you. When my cousin said you’d been there for hours, I was curious as to how you’d react.”

Don’t kill him. Don’t tear him limb from limb. Payne needs his mother’s help. And he has a kid. “Dahlia isn’t your concern anymore.”

“Are you staking your claim on her?”

“Yes. She’s mine and neither you nor Soup Boy are going to touch her.” Ever.

Max leans back. “Hope is going to be very disappointed. And I’m sure you can imagine how much I hate for her to be disappointed. She has been working so hard to get Prue and me together.”

Even a child is working against me. “Your daughter is going to need to learn how to deal with disappointment.”

“She can, if you’re serious about Prue. I’m not stepping back if this is just a game.” Max places his elbow on the arm of the couch.

“Have you ever known me to play games?” You can’t kill him.

“I’ve never known you to have a meaningful relationship with anyone. Prue isn’t that type of woman.”

“Like I didn’t already know that.” You can’t kill him.

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