Chapter 304: The King’s Dagger

Maximilian slowly approached Charlotte.

There had been a time when she had stood before him in a crown.

Charlotte had once been a queen—his queen in the life they had shared. He had seen her proud, sharp-tongued, and fiercely protective of the people she loved. He had watched her walk through royal halls as though the entire kingdom belonged beneath her feet.

He had never seen her like this.

Curled on a filthy floor. Her body reduced to little more than bones beneath loose clothing. Her eyes were vacant, her lips moving soundlessly as she whispered to someone who wasn’t there.

Maximilian stopped a few feet away.

Perhaps this was what hatred did when it was allowed to consume someone completely. Jealousy. Obsession. The desire to destroy another person until there was nothing left of them.

Eventually, it destroyed the person carrying it.

He lowered himself into a crouch until they were at eye level. Charlotte’s muttering stopped. Her eyes slowly lifted. For several seconds, she simply stared at him.

Maximilian said nothing. He let her look.

Recognition came slowly, buried beneath months of darkness and trauma.

Her brows drew together. “You…”

Her voice was barely audible.

Maximilian’s expression remained calm. “Do you remember me?”

Charlotte’s breathing changed. Her eyes widened. “You.”

She suddenly lunged at him. Bobby moved instinctively, but Maximilian raised one hand, stopping him.

Charlotte’s hands clawed toward Maximilian’s throat. “You killed him!”

Maximilian caught her wrists before she could reach him. “Who?” 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

“Crawley!” The name came out as a scream. “You and Catherine killed him!”

Bobby’s expression tightened. He had expected Charlotte to be unstable, but the hatred in her eyes was startling.

Maximilian didn’t release her. “Look at me, Charlotte.”

She thrashed against his grip. “You took everything from me!”

“No.” His voice remained unnervingly steady. “Dorian did.”

Charlotte froze. Maximilian watched the confusion enter her eyes.

“You trusted him,” he continued. “You believed him when he told you that he’d bring Catherine down.”

“No…”

“He used your jealousy against you.”

Charlotte shook her head violently. “No!”

“He told you what you wanted to believe.”

“No!”

“And while you were blaming us, he killed Crawley.”

Charlotte’s lips parted. For a moment, the warehouse was silent.

Then something flickered behind her eyes.

A memory… A scream… Crawley’s scream.

Charlotte’s breathing became ragged. “No…”

She saw it again. It was this same warehouse. The men holding Crawley down. She remembered the barrel under him, and the sharp, terrible smell as they lowered him down inside the barrel.

Crawley struggled… Begged… And Dorian was simply standing there, watching.

Charlotte’s face drained of what little color remained. “No…” Her fingers began to tremble. “Dorian…”

Maximilian released her wrists. “You remember now.”

Charlotte stared into the distance. “He said…”

“I know.”

“He said…”

She pressed both hands against her temples. “He said he would help me get back at Catherine.”

Maximilian’s eyes hardened. “And you believed him.”

Charlotte’s breathing became faster.

Bobby shifted uneasily.

He had seen people break before. He had seen men tortured and women terrified. But there was something particularly disturbing about watching someone remember the exact moment their entire life had been destroyed.

Maximilian reached into his coat.

Charlotte flinched.

Instead of a weapon, he pulled out his phone. He turned the screen toward her. “Look.”

She stared at it without understanding. A news article filled the screen.

DORIAN BLACKWOOD CELEBRATES BIOQUANT’S RECORD-BREAKING GROWTH.

Another article.

BIOQUANT CEO DORIAN BLACKWOOD ANNOUNCES MAJOR EXPANSION.

Another.

BIOQUANT CEO DORIAN BLACKWOOD ANNOUNCES ENGAGEMENT WITH RANCH HEIRESS CATHERINE ELIZABETH PRESTON.

Photographs of Dorian smiling at charity galas. Dorian shaking hands with politicians. Dorian standing beside Catherine’s photographs from before her supposed death.

Charlotte’s eyes moved from one headline to another. “He…” Her voice was hollow. “He’s happy.”

“Yes.”

“He has everything.”

“Yes.”

Her fingers began shaking harder.

Maximilian swiped to another article. “This was published two days ago.”

Charlotte stared at the photograph.

Dorian was smiling. Smiling as though nothing had happened, as though Crawley had never existed, as though Charlotte had never existed.

And then Maximilian showed her the final article.

A headline about Catherine Preston and Dorian Blackwood.

The article speculated that Catherine had ultimately chosen to join BioQuant and continue her research under his company.

Charlotte stared.

“Catherine…”

Maximilian watched her carefully. “According to the world, she chose him.”

Charlotte’s eyes became wild. “No.”

“Dorian is living well.”

“No…”

“His company is thriving.”

Charlotte shook her head.

“And the woman you believed ruined your life is apparently working beside him. She chose him too. He has it all. While you are like this…”

“Stop.”

Maximilian didn’t. “While Crawley died screaming.”

“Stop!”

“While you were locked away in the dark.”

Charlotte suddenly screamed. The sound echoed through the warehouse.

Bobby flinched.

Charlotte clawed at her own hair, rocking violently. “He killed him!”

Her voice cracked. “He killed Crawley!”

Maximilian remained still. “Yes.”

“He lied to me!”

“Yes.”

“He left me here!”

“Yes.”

Her breathing turned into ragged sobs.

“I trusted him…”

Maximilian’s gaze softened by the smallest degree.

“That was his weapon.”

Charlotte looked at him. For the first time, the hatred in her eyes was no longer directed at Maximilian. It was directed somewhere else. Somewhere far more dangerous.

Maximilian slowly reached into his coat again.

This time, he took out a dagger. He placed it on the floor between them. Charlotte stared at it.

“You don’t have to forgive me,” Maximilian said quietly. “You don’t even have to forgive Catherine.”

He rose to his feet. “But you should remember who actually destroyed you.”

Charlotte’s eyes remained fixed on the dagger. Maximilian turned and walked away. Bobby followed him, glancing once over his shoulder.

Charlotte hadn’t moved. She was still staring at the weapon.

Outside the warehouse, Maximilian’s phone vibrated. He looked down. It was a message from Sebastian.

Dorian’s location confirmed.

Maximilian’s expression changed. “Bobby.”

“Yeah?”

“Leave her in that area.”

Bobby frowned.

“Where exactly?”

“Somewhere she’ll be able to find him.”

Bobby stared at him for a moment. Understanding slowly dawned. “Oh.”

Maximilian looked at him.

Bobby gave a low whistle. “That’s what you meant.”

Maximilian said nothing. He simply looked toward the warehouse. “A dagger doesn’t always have to be held by the person who wants someone dead.”

Bobby’s expression went grim. Now he understood. Maximilian was not planning on rescuing her. He had come here to remind her who had destroyed her life. And he had just given her a reason to find Dorian.

“I’ll see to it. But… Cathey wanted him to suffer,” Bobby said.

That was what she said again and again. He needed to watch everything leave him, and he should feel powerless before he dies.

Bobby didn’t think his sister would be happy if Dorian simply died like that.

Maximilian nodded. That sounded like something Catherine would want. She wanted Dorian to suffer the consequences of everything he had done, to lose everything he had built and watch his carefully constructed world crumble around him. But she had already given him a taste of that loss. Dorian was still stumbling around, desperately trying to recover, as though he could somehow claw his way back to the position he once held.

Maximilian knew better. This was the moment to end him.

“As long as he’s alive, we can’t be truly happy,” he said quietly.

Bobby understood. Maximilian’s decision made more sense than Catherine’s desire for emotional payback. Catherine might want Dorian to live long enough to understand what he had lost, but men like them knew better than to leave an enemy alive after bringing him to his knees.

If Dorian survived, there would always be the possibility that he would crawl back up again, rebuild his power, and come after them when they least expected it. It would be a constant battle.

It was better to cut down an enemy while he was already down. Then they would never have to worry about him again.

“She’ll understand,” Maximilian said.

He hoped she would.

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