Page 103 of Powerful Deception

“Not if my ma is dead by then.”

Jesus. “She’s sick?”

He nods. “Brain cancer. Found out last year.”

That explains the spiral.

“How bad is it?”

“Stage three. When they found it was at stage two.”

“Is that why you're killing yourself? And destroying your career?”

“I’m going to lose her, man. She’s all that I got. I might as well go with her.”

Fucking hell. The kid is worse than I thought.

“A solid you got here then. Overdose and have her plan your funeral before hers. Can’t see that backfiring.” I scuff. I’m being an asshole, but if it get Maddox to see straight, I’ll put a gun to his head if I have to.

“What would you do if you were me, huh? You don’t know how hard it is to see your parents die before your eyes.” He finally looks up, anger in his eyes.

I ignore the parent comment and try to set him straight. “I would get fucking clean and down every single moment I can with her. I wouldn’t let myself get suspended and I would put in the work to support her. You want her to plan your funeral instead of you planning hers? Fucking go for it, but know one thing you’re breaking her heart.”

The anger from the kid’s eyes disappears and it’s replaced with sadness. His body slouches over and it looks like he’s going to cry.

Good job Dante. You made a grown man that didn’t have a gun pointed to his or being threatened with death, cry.

Maddox looks at me for a solid minute, before he bows his head once again, this time letting out a sob. A sob that I’m sure that he’s been holding onto since his mother’s diagnosis.

“What do I do now? How do I get myself out of this whole? God, what the fuck am I doing?”

Letting out a sigh, I finally concede and walk over to the couch and sit next to him. A hand landing on his back for reassurance.

“You were mourning a person that is still here. You get out of this hole by getting clean. Get clean for your mom, for your sport and for you.”

Maddox wipes his nose on the sleeve of his suit jacket. “I don’t even know how to get clean.”

“It’s a good thing I do. Go get some sleep, but come back tomorrow and we will talk about starting the process.” I offer.

There are people in this world that see me as a could hearted, murderous monster, and at times that title is true, but its times like this where its nowhere near close.

I feel for the kid, I really do, so if I could help him, why not do it?

“What about my mom?” He sobs once more.

I give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll take care of her until you can take over.”

Maddox turns to look at me and stares and me with admiration before giving me a nod.

“Thank you, Dante.” He gives me a hand to shake and within a few seconds we are both making our way out of the room.

Maddox promises me that he will be here tomorrow and hope that he keeps that promise. If not for him, then for his mother.

Once he’s out of sight, I make my way to my suite. Hopefully Arianna was able to find something to entertain herself with while I was gone.

I nod at the guard standing in front of the door and knock against the door before opening.

When the door opens up and I walk in, I find Arianna standing at the wall to ceiling glass, looking out into the club and the guest for tonight.

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