"What did you just say?" Joe shouted, his voice cracking with disbelief. "Stop bullshitting! Why would you even say sothing like that? What kind of sick, cruel prank is this, how the hell can he be dead?!"
Joe practically lunged forward, nearly throwing himself at the doctor, but Aron stepped between them and slapped his arm away with a firm hand.
"Aron, what the hell are you doing?!" Joe yelled. "You can’t seriously believe this guy! We were just talking to him a few hours ago! We literally had lunch together today, he was breathing fine! What does he an, dead? Dead?! Max, say sothing! Tell him he’s lying, tell him he’s making this crap up!"
But Max didn’t say a word.
He just stood there, frozen, his eyes locked forward in a hollow stare. Not even a flicker of emotion crossed his face.
It wasn’t the first ti Max had heard those words.
He had heard them too many tis before. And while people often said that hearing it got easier the more it happened... that wasn’t true. Not even close.
The thing Max had learned about death was, it was never the sa. Each ti hurt differently. It wasn’t about the act of soone being gone. It was about the mories you shared, the ti you’d spent together, and what that person had co to an to you. All those pieces decided just how deep the pain would cut.
And this ti, for Max, the pain cut deeper than he’d expected.
’Damn it... I haven’t even spent that long in this body... so why does it hurt this much? Is it because... in such a short ti, that idiot did so much for ? Crap... that damn idiot... that damn idiot...’
Max dragged his sleeve across his face, wiping the tears that slipped down without warning.
"You didn’t even give a chance... to say thank you."
Eventually, Max and Joe were told to sit down while Aron spoke quietly with the doctors, handling whatever ca next.
Neither of them really heard what was being said. The words floated in one ear and slipped right out the other like aningless noise.
Joe sat staring at the ceiling, his fists clenched and eyes bloodshot, as if he hadn’t blinked since the news hit.
"What... happened, Max?" Joe finally muttered. "What are we even supposed to tell everyone? How could this happen... to Pinky?"
Leaning forward, Max clasped his hands together tightly. He sat that way for a mont, before lifting one to run through his hair, brushing it back and sweeping it away from his damp face.
"This is the life we live in," Max said quietly, his voice heavy and low. "Following ans accepting that this kind of thing... it can happen at any ti, around any corner."
He exhaled sharply through his nose.
"As the leader of this group, I should’ve done better. I should’ve been more prepared. I should’ve made it clear to you all what the risks were."
Then, without looking at Joe, Max asked the question that had been forming in his gut ever since they got the call.
"After what just happened... are you still sure you want to be in the Bloodline group?"
He didn’t want to pressure him, but he had to ask. Joe had already been through so much in such a short amount of ti, there were more than a few monts where Max was sure Joe had co close to losing his life.
And now... soone had lost theirs. Soone they knew. Soone in their group. It made everything real.
Joe lowered his head, quiet for a long mont.
"Max..." he finally said, voice trembling, "I don’t know if I’ve ever felt like this before. Not like this."
His hands tightened in his lap.
"But I liked hanging out with everyone. I liked the Bloodline group. Being with you guys... it felt like I finally had sothing that mattered."
No one in my family ever really cared about what I did or what I was trying to do," Joe said, voice quieter now. "They gave up on pretty quick."
He looked up, red-eyed, but steadier than before.
"But hanging out with all of you... it started to feel like I actually had a family. Not just people I fought alongside, but people who chose to be there."
His hands trembled slightly as he continued.
"I don’t want to walk away from the family we made, with Jay. And honestly... I don’t think Jay would want to be the reason I left."
That answer, it hit Max harder than he’d expected. He had never imagined hearing sothing like that from Joe. Joe, who always laughed everything off, who joked even in the darkest tis.
What surprised Max even more... was how real everything had beco. This ti around, the group he’d ford wasn’t just about power or usefulness, it was made of genuine people. People like Joe... and Jay.
’I wonder... back when I ran the White Tiger gang, would any of them have said the sa thing? I wonder if even one of them would’ve risked their life to save mine, like Jay did.’
The thought made Max’s stomach twist again, that sa sickening feeling bubbling up.
"Can I tell you what I do want to do?" Joe asked suddenly, his fists shaking at his sides. "Who the f*ck did this to him? I want to find out who’s behind it, and I want to pay them back. Ten tis worse. For what they did to Jay."
Max finally stood, turning to face Joe fully. There was fire behind his eyes now, shared pain, shared anger.
"You’re starting to sound like a true mber of the Billion Bloodline group," Max said with a bitter grin. "Because you’re right."
His voice dropped low, filled with resolve.
"We need to pay them back. Ten tis worse than what they did to us. And not just for revenge, for a warning. So no one ever thinks about trying sothing like this again."
Max clenched his jaw.
"And honestly, I don’t think even that will be enough to calm my anger."
Just then, Aron returned. He’d finished speaking with the doctor and was now checking sothing on his phone as he approached.
"The car," Max said firmly. "I gave you all the details over the phone. Did you find anything? Who the hell did this?"
Max’s mind was racing. There were too many suspects. Maybe soone from his real family, those who still wanted Maximus Darn dead. Maybe the Rejected Corps, who had eyes on him. Or maybe soone from his new life, soone he’d unknowingly crossed.
"I gathered everything I could," Aron said. "We tracked the car through a chain of security caras and confird, it was definitely the one that hit Jay."
He paused, his voice steady.
"The vehicle was later found abandoned. No prints. No personal belongings. So we looked into the registration."
Max tensed.
"It was a rental," Aron continued. "And apparently, the person who rented it left no paper trail."
Max’s eyes narrowed. That confird what he already suspected.
Whoever did this hadn’t just hit Jay and run, they’d planned this. It was no accident. They were trying to cover their tracks from the very beginning.
"So you hit a dead end," Max muttered, his tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth in frustration.
Aron raised an eyebrow. "When have I ever said that?"
Max looked up, intrigued despite himself.
"No paper trail just ans a different trail," Aron explained. "Either the rental place was bribed, or they knew the person. Turns out, this isn’t the first ti that company’s done shady business like this."
He scrolled through his phone and continued.
"They regularly rent out cars to specific individuals. People who don’t want to be found."
"And?" Max pressed.
"I had my team dig deeper. We pushed harder than usual, and we finally got sothing," Aron said, locking eyes with him.
"The group that rented the vehicle... they’re known as the Chalkline Boys."
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