MAXIM
In his corner, Levi shook his head despairingly as he watched Maxim's antics.
Across the room, Genevieve merely smiled as she placed the gag back over Albert's mouth. The man was still crying, his shoulders shaking as muffled sobs escaped him.
Genevieve didn't want him causing any more disturbances during Maxim's phone call.
Maxim walked several steps away from the others before speaking again.
He had to take this precaution since he was talking to Ava despite his better judgement.
"So," he said casually, "how's your day going so far?"
There was a brief, charged silence on Ava's end.
Then—
"Cut the crap, Maxim," she said angrily. "And don't you dare call me sweetheart."
Maxim's mouth twitched.
Of course.
Ava was furious, just as he'd predicted she would be when she called him.
"You sound upset, Ava. Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"
The last thing Maxim wanted was to worsen her already terrible mood with such an obvious question, but he was enjoying hearing her voice far too much not to ask.
And Ava, completely unaware of that, gave him exactly what he wanted.
"You know exactly what this is about, Maxim. Explain to me why you sent three men to my home to install a freaking security system. And also why you did it without saying so much as a word to me."
Maxim leaned against the wall, releasing a fake, rueful sigh.
"I would have told you earlier this morning, sweetheart, but you hung up on me. Remember?"
He paused.
"That was very rude, by the way."
"You deserved it," Ava snapped. "But back to my question, why would you initiate something like this?"
"Well, obviously, I want you safe, Ava. It means a lot to me, especially seeing as how we're soon going to be together."
"I want to be safe too," Ava said, completely ignoring the last part of Maxim's statement. "But installing a security system in my home isn't your decision to make. You can't just do that."
Maxim quietly rolled his eyes.
He wondered when Ava was going to understand that, technically, he could do whatever he wanted.
Still, he forced himself to remain patient.
"I realize you don't like the way I went about it," he said. "But you need a security system. Surely that should be obvious after last night."
Ava was silent for a moment.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
Maxim explained.
"I mean that you should be grateful it was just me who broke into your apartment and not some actual psychopath."
There was a beat of silence from the other end.
"Maxim."
Something about the way she said his name made him immediately regret what he'd just said.
"Yeah?"
"You are an actual psychopath," she told him plainly.
Maxim's eyes narrowed slightly, offended.
"And if a security system can't keep you out, I'm not particularly interested in having one."
Maxim closed his eyes.
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
This woman was so difficult. And mean.
"Ava, come on. Be reasonable."
A low, furious sound came through the phone.
Maxim immediately pulled it slightly away from his ear, looking mildly alarmed.
"And he says that I'm the unreasonable one," Ava muttered under her breath.
Maxim cleared his throat.
"Ava—"
"No. Seriously, Maxim, listen to yourself. You broke into my apartment, terrified me, and now you're sending a security company to my home without my permission. And somehow, I'm the unreasonable one?"
"Okay, maybe we're both unreasonable," Maxim conceded.
The truth was, he said this more to appease Ava than because he actually believed it.
Not that his efforts to mollify her worked.
She made another sound of outrage and irritation.
Maxim cursed himself internally for upsetting her this much.
He was definitely overdoing this, he thought.
For several seconds, neither of them said anything.
Both were simply speechless, though for entirely different reasons.
For a moment, Maxim wondered whether the cantankerous Ava had actually hung up on him.
He pulled the phone away from his ear and glanced at the screen to verify.
Thankfully, the call was still connected.
"Ava?"
Nothing.
His expression tightened slightly.
"Ava, are you there?"
"Is this some kind of ploy, Maxim?" Ava eventually asked.
Maxim blinked.
"What?"
"Is this a ploy to talk to me while technically keeping your promise to leave me alone? Is that what this is?"
Maxim raked a hand through his blond hair and fell awkwardly silent for a moment.
"You know," he said finally, trying to distract her, "you used to call me Max."
Silence.
"I really liked it when you called me that."
He heard Ava inhale softly.
For a brief moment, Maxim thought she might actually respond to him.
But when she finally spoke, her voice was firm.
"Just answer my question, Maxim."
He closed his eyes.
Disappointment flickered through him.
Of course Ava wasn't going there.
He should have known better.
Pushing down the small sting of heartache, Maxim let out a quiet breath.
"My answer is no, Ava," he said finally. "This isn't some elaborate scheme to get around my promise."
"Really?"
"Really."
His gaze drifted toward the stainless-steel table where Genevieve's bloodstained tools were neatly arranged.
"I sent the security company because I was genuinely worried about you..."
His voice softened.
"Although I'll admit talking to you before the two days are over is definitely a bonus."
Ava sighed after he said this, the sound carrying through the phone.
To Maxim's ears, she sounded exhausted.
Poor sweetheart, he thought.
If only he could eradicate all her problems.
"Maxim, call your people off, okay?" she said. "Tell them their services are not needed here."
Even though she couldn't see him, Maxim still shook his head.
"I won't do that, Ava. I told you, this security system is important for you."
"That's not your decision."
"And yet I made it," Maxim said simply. "Maybe just try to go along with it. Make things easier for yourself."
"Well, you can definitely forget about me doing that," Ava replied, her voice firm.
Maxim could imagine her crossing her arms as she said it.
"And you know what? If you don't want to get rid of these security guys, then I'll just tell them to leave myself."
"Yeah, right," Maxim said doubtfully, not bothering to hide his skepticism.
"And what do you mean by that?" Ava demanded, clearly perplexed by his response. "You don't actually believe I'll tell them to leave?"
"I actually don't, Ava," Maxim said, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. "I mean, I know you. You're far too sensitive to fire a sweet old man in a wheelchair and his similarly sweet employees."
"I am not," Ava immediately protested.
"Oh, really? Then why haven't you already told them to leave? Why are you calling me to do it?"
"Well..." Ava faltered. "I—I—um..."
Maxim grinned.
"Yeah. That's what I thought, sweetheart."
An angry silence followed.
"You bastard," Ava finally said. "You orchestrated all of this on purpose, didn't you?"
"Of course I did, Ava," Maxim said, sounding almost proud of himself. "I'm a very thorough person, if you haven't noticed."
A sharp inhale came through the phone.
"Well, joke's on you, Maxim, because I am firing these guys. I don't particularly care what their situation is."
"Really?" Maxim asked. "You don't care that if I don't pay them their massive fee, their business could go under? That Bob might not be able to afford to keep sending his children to good schools? Or that Mr. Lovat might struggle to pay his medical expenses?"
There was a brief hesitation.
Maxim's grin widened.
He knew he had her.
Ava just didn't realize it yet.
"Nope," she tried to insist. "I don't care. They're not my problem."
But even as she spoke, her voice lacked some of its earlier certainty.
Maxim opened his mouth, fully intending to call her out on it.
But before he could—
A deafening crash suddenly came from across the warehouse.
Maxim's head snapped toward the sound, wanting to see what had caused the commotion.
The answer made his forehead crease.
Albert was on the floor.
Apparently, the man's desperate movements had managed to loosen one side of the chair from the concrete. The entire thing had tipped sideways, sending Albert crashing painfully to the ground.
A muffled cry escaped through his gag.
Maxim's eyes widened.
"Shit," he muttered.
He glared at Genevieve and Levi, his expression livid.
He blamed them for this.
After all, neither of them had been paying enough attention to notice what Albert was doing. They'd been too busy listening in on his conversation with Ava.
Levi, spurred into action by Maxim's frightening expression, immediately moved toward Albert, while Genevieve reluctantly helped lift both the man and the chair back into position.
"What was that?" Ava asked Maxim over the phone.
Maxim's stomach dropped when she said this.
"What do you mean?" he asked tentatively.
Of course he knew exactly what she meant.
There was no way she hadn't heard that ruckus.
He was simply buying himself time to come up with an explanation that wouldn't alarm her while simultaneously not being a lie.
He knew how crucial honesty was at this initial stage of rebuilding their relationship.
"I'm talking about that loud crashing sound," Ava replied. "And what sounded like someone crying out in pain."
Maxim resisted the urge to curse.
He should never have answered the phone in this warehouse, he realized.
"Oh, that?"
He forced his voice into a casual tone.
"I'm at work. One of my workers just... had a small accident."
"Is that so?"
The suspicion in Ava's voice was unmistakable.
Maxim rubbed his fingers together.
"Yeah."
There was another brief pause.
"Is the guy okay?" Ava asked after a moment.
Maxim glanced toward Albert.
Genevieve and Levi were now securing him back into the chair.
"He's being taken care of," Maxim answered.
It technically wasn't a lie, he thought.
Maxim continued speaking before Ava could interrogate him further.
"Listen, sweetheart, I really have to go now. I'll see you the day after tomorrow. We can catch up then."
He paused.
"And as for the security guys, please just let them do their job."
"Maxim—"
"I miss you. Take care. Bye."
Maxim ended the call the next moment, letting out a relieved breath.
For several seconds afterward, he simply stood there staring at his phone.
He hadn't realized how tense he'd become until that moment.
How panicked.
It was the first time in a long time that Maxim had felt like this over anything.
Maxim pondered this strange phenomenon.
It seemed to him that Ava had somehow acquired the ability to make him nervous, defensive, and completely incapable of thinking straight.
He pursed his lips, disliking the realization.
He hated the thought of someone—even Ava—having that much power over him.
Not only did it make him feel vulnerable, but it was also troublesome for a man in his position.
He needed to get it together, he promptly decided.
Or else he was in deep shit.
"Well, that was interesting."
Genevieve's dry voice cut through Maxim's thoughts.
"Real smooth, by the way, boss."
Maxim slowly turned toward her.
She stood beside Albert, one hand resting casually on the back of his chair.
Her expression was far too amused.
Maxim gave her a cold look.
She wisely said nothing else.
He slipped his phone into his pocket, this time remembering to turn it off first.
"Let's get back to the traitor, shall we?" Maxim said as a cold mask settled back over his face.
Getting back in his corner, Levi pursed his lips. The changes in Maxim's demeanor was definitely starting to give him whiplash.
Genevieve just sighed at Maxim's words.
If Maxim didn't know any better, he would have thought she was disappointed that the phone call was over.
"Of course," she said.
She turned toward Albert and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Now, where were we, Albert?"
Albert stared at the three of them with wide, terrified eyes.
Genevieve merely smiled at the sight.