Maddox doesn’t react to coming face to face with his mother after almost twelve years.  He just tilts his head to the side and gives her a little half smile.

Her eyes go from my fierce scowl to the man standing tall and proud next to me, and I watch with satisfaction as her eyes flash.

Fear.

Or maybe it’s indigestion, but it looks a hell of a lot like fear.

“If it isn’t my unruly little shit,” she sneers.

“Invite us in, Diana.”  His voice holds no room for argument.  Just looking at him, if I didn’t know the kindness that lives within him, I would piss myself.

Of course, this bitch wouldn’t notice a predator after its prey.

“I think you can just say whatever the hell you need to right here, Maddox.  There is no need for you to dirty up my home with your filth.”

“Bitch,” I mumble under my breath.

She turns her head and looks over me from head to toe.  I picked my outfit with care.  I wanted to give her something to focus on if things went south.  I can handle anything she throws at me, and if Maddox looks like he can’t handle this at any second, then I’m prepared to work everything I have to gain her attention.

“Did you pick this one off the street?”  Her eyes zero in on my short—very short—black shorts.  They move to my tight—very tight—blood-red V-neck shirt.  I lose points with the shoes though.  I didn’t want to risk anything going wrong by wearing the heels Dee had packed for me.

“You focus on me and not her.  You hear me?”  For the first time, his calm demeanor slips and his rage comes through.

“Mother?”

I feel Maddox jolt when the masculine voice comes from down the hall.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake.  I really don’t have time for this.”  She turns and walks away from the door, leaving it wide open behind her.

I look over at Maddox and wait for him to make the next move.  He takes a few deep breaths before walking over the threshold.

Right into hell.

“What the fuck is he doing here?”

I move from where I was trailing behind him and lock eyes with who I assume is his brother, Mason.  Crap, he really got unlucky in the looks department.  I think that, if I squint and maybe tilt my head to the side, I can see how he might have been attractive one day.

Now though?  Now he looks like a middle-aged, fat-ass pervert I would have seen regularly at Syn.  His thinning, light-brown hair is combed over, doing a terrible job at hiding the fact that he only has a few strands left until his shining scalp is naked.  His beady eyes are bloodshot and his protruding gut is seriously testing the buttons on his pink dress shirt.

“Apparently, he has something to say, Mason.  This should be interesting.  To the study, Maddox.  I trust you can find the way.  I need a drink.” She walks away and leaves the two brothers standing in the entryway.

If things come to blows, there is no question that Maddox will win.  He towers over his brother.  His thickly muscled body is a machine of power and his brother looks like he wouldn’t even be able to open a pickle jar.

“Never thought I would see the day that the rat came crawling home.”  He laughs when Maddox snarls, shakes his head, and turns to walk away.

This time, Maddox doesn’t need a second to consider if he will take the next steps.  He stomps through the house, his boots sounding off the walls with thumping echoes.  I double my stride to keep up with him, never once letting go of his hand.

After we have been standing in the study by ourselves for ten minutes, they enter.  Only this time, there is a third person with them.  Her blond hair hangs down her back in soft waves.  Her blue eyes are hard and calculating.  And much like his mom, Maddox’s ex-fiancée is perfectly put together.  My palms itch to tear her apart.

“Oh, this is fresh.  I thought he was a cripple now?” she asks his brother while looking down at his legs.

I instantly notice the size of her wedding band—hell, it’s hard to miss.  How can she even keep her arm from dragging on the ground with that gaudy thing?  And how could she have ever left Maddox for the weasel next to her?

“It’s called an amputee, Mercedes.”

Her eyes snap to his. “That’s the same thing, bastard.”

Maddox laughs and I look over at him with a smile, my heart light when I realize that I worried for nothing.  He’s too strong to let them hurt him.

“Sit the fuck down,” he thunders.