From Bullets To Billions

Chad was still in disbelief over what had just happened. His wide eyes stayed locked on Max, as if trying to make sense of it all.

He squinted, searching for signs that maybe he had mistaken the person. The mask still covered Max’s face, but the frame, the posture, the red hair, it was unmistakably him. It was the same Max he had always known.

This makes no sense... Chad thought, a pit growing in his stomach. He was the weak boy. The weak boy of the Stern family. The one whose parents died and left him alone.

He never once stood up for himself, no matter what anyone did. He’s just a damned high school student!

There had been so many reasons why Chad had targeted Max. It felt natural. It wasn’t just that Max appeared weak, he was weak. That’s what everyone thought. It was how Chad had been able to use Dipter to keep him under control while he figured out how to use his own wealth freely.

But the Max standing in front of him now, the one who had just taken down two trained guards, he wasn’t weak. Not at all.

If he had this strength inside him all along, Chad wondered, why didn’t he ever fight back? Why didn’t he stand up to me? Or to the other Stern family members who treated him like garbage?

But as quickly as the questions came, a cold sense of dread settled over Chad’s thoughts.

"Does it even matter now?" he whispered, scanning the surroundings. "Even if he can fight... there are too many of them. He can’t take all of them out."

The VIP guests who had been sitting in the same row were now starting to move. They rushed down the steps toward the ring, trying to stay out of whatever this was turning into. That left only Max and Chad standing on the upper platform, with all the guards slowly advancing toward them.

"Max..." Chad said shakily. "We... we have to fix this. There has to be a way we can fix it!"

"I think we’re beyond that now. Don’t you?" Max replied, calm but firm.