His Revenge by Charlene Raquel
Chapter Twelve
“Done?” Drew challenged.
“I don’t think we need to spell it out for you.” Adrian sneered.
Drew decided to keep his mouth shut. It was more important to gather information than piss off Adrian. He tried to sidestep Adrian, but the man turned and stalked down the steps, leaving Drew and Parker to follow after him.
Drew was shuffled in between the two men, which he figured was intentional. They wanted to keep Drew in line and not allow him to wander off on his own. Drew would make sure to come back another time to check things out thoroughly. He knew Dean and the Special Forces team would love to investigate. It was the first break they had received in a couple of weeks.
The bottom of the steps opened up to a small room with two metal doors. Both doors had keypads next to them. Adrian moved to the door on the left and punched in a long code. Drew tried to see it, but Adrian was blocking the view. The best he could do was count how many keys were hit. It had to be at least ten digits. It would be next to impossible to figure it out.
The door clicked so loudly, it sounded like a gunshot. No one on the inside would miss that someone was entering. That would be a problem for later when he brought the team back. Knowing Jeff, he had some sort of tech that would render the keypad and locking system useless, or at least he hoped.
Adrian twisted the handle and pushed the door open. Flickering lights lined the stone walls of a long hallway. Unlit torches lined the walls mixed with more modern lights that were made to have an ancient feel. Whoever updated the space, did a great job. Just enough modern mixed with old.
The hallway led to the large stone ritual room that Drew had been inside of twice. Once when the Scorpio Society was deciding if they were going to induct him into their ranks, and once when they forced his initiation. His arm still had the welt from the scorpion sting as a vivid reminder.
Adrian sneered over his shoulder. “Have fond memories of this place, Maxwell?”
Drew smirked and then began to whistle like he did the first time he was there. The whistling part of Guns and Roses filled the stone hallway. It had pissed off Adrian the first time Drew had done it, so he was sure it would again. He had a hard time keeping the song going when Adrian whipped around and stepped into Drew’s personal space.
“Everything’s a joke to you, Maxwell. You disrespect everything and you don’t deserve the honor that has been bestowed upon you. You wouldn’t have if it had been up to me.”
Drew gritted his teeth. “Yeah, you tried your damnedest to make sure I didn’t survive.”
“Gentlemen, so glad you could join us.”
Drew turned away from Adrian to take in the large circular stone room in front of him. It was the first time he had been in the room without being tied to a chair. He strode forward, faking a confidence he didn’t quite feel.
The president of the university sat at the head of a long table that Drew had not noticed before. The room was also larger than Drew had thought it was. When he had been brought inside, they had placed the chair in the older part of the chamber. The last two times, he had been more concerned with surviving and trying to figure out what was happening than to explore his surroundings.
Now he could see the mix of decorations from over the decades and even centuries.
Drew nodded to the Dean of Students, the president of the first National Bank, several other business leaders, the head of the largest union in the country, and his father. Others were making their way to the large table and chairs that lined the walls on the far side of the table.
From the way people were entering the chamber, there had to be another way inside. A light flickered on the opposite side, drawing his attention. There were several doors he hadn’t noticed before. It appeared to be a complex grid of chambers and interconnected hallways.
“Drew Maxwell, please come forward.”
Adrian and Parker slipped past him and took seats at the end of the front row of chairs not surrounding the table. Interesting, they’re not as powerful as he had thought.
Drew stopped a yard from the table and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, adopting a carefree pose. Confidence and arrogance were going to have to get him through whatever was coming next.
The president of the university, Dr. Tim Kerr, rose and stood next to Drew, holding his hand out to him. “Welcome to our ranks, Drew. I’m offering our sincerest apologies for what happened during your initiation. That is not how this society inducts members.”
Drew decided to play things straight. “You mean you don’t give inductees a partial dose of antivenom and the dump their bodies in the woods when they pass out?”
Several outraged shouts broke out and many people were talking at once.
The president’s jaw dropped, and his eyes grew large. “Excuse me? Surely you’re making an inappropriate joke.”
“With all due respect, Sir, I would not joke about something as serious as waking up in the middle of the woods, head pounding, disoriented, and nauseous. It took me hours to make it back to my apartment.” Drew was shocked to see his father’s furious face inches from the president’s.
Senator Maxwell’s fists were clenched and Drew thought he might lose his legendary cool. “What the hell did you do to my son, you bastard? I lost one son to this school under your watch and now I find out that I almost lost another! Neither one was supposed to be hurt. That’s not what this society is about.”
“I assure you, Oliver, I had no knowledge of any of this. Drew’s initiation was not supposed to happen until later this month. Some of the younger members jumped the gun. I was told he had a bad reaction and they brought him to the university clinic.” President Kerr glared at the students in the first row. “I will find out what happened. Colton, a word?”
President Kerr addressed the group. “We will reconvene next week. It appears that there are some things we need to sort out before we welcome Drew formally. We will have a cocktail party at my residence for the major donors as a cover. Make yourselves available.”
With a lot of grumbling, everyone but Oliver Maxwell, Drew, Adrian, Parker, and President Kerr left the chamber.
Oliver pulled Drew to the side of the room, away from the others. “You should have told me what happened.”
Drew didn’t hide his surprise. “I didn’t think you would care.”
Oliver’s face fell and for a second, his real emotions escaped their careful confines. “You’re my son. Of course, I care. We haven’t always seen eye to eye, but that’s all part of growing up, you becoming a man. I never worry about you because you’re a strong individual, a strong man. Your own man. You don’t give a shit what I think or anyone else. I sometimes resent that because you don’t follow along, but I also respect that. You never should have experienced what you did.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know I’m hard on you but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. It doesn’t mean that I’m not pissed as hell and heartbroken that we lost your brother. We can’t show that to the world. There are too many people ready to push our family to the side, knock us down, and take over what I’ve worked for my entire life. Ready to take away what rightfully belongs to our family. The legacy that is yours. Whether you like it or not, you are a Maxwell and that means something.
“The Scorpio Society makes or destroys careers. The men and women who belong to this society are world leaders in every aspect; politics, business, sports, non-profits, and yes, even Hollywood. I wanted that for you. I wanted you to be able to do whatever you wanted, be whatever you wanted, and have a clear path to get there with people in power to help you out. I don’t know what happened to you, but we will find out and punish those responsible.”
Drew had to consciously keep his mouth from hanging open. His strict, rigid, unbending father had never spoken to him so openly before. Oliver had never shared any of his feelings or thoughts with Drew before, and it was the first time he acknowledged losing his son, Landon. “Why didn’t you tell me about the society?”
Oliver pinched his bridge again. “That’s a discussion for another time when people are not trying to hear what we are discussing.”
Drew had been so distracted by his father opening up to him that he had forgotten where they were. Giving his father a brief nod, Drew squared his shoulders and turned to face the other men.
President Kerr was whispering to Adrian and Parker with a murderous expression on his face. Whatever he was saying had Parker looking down, but Adrian had a calculating look in his eyes.
Oliver glanced at his son and gave a slight chin raise, indicating that they should join the others.
Drew was going to follow his father’s lead until and unless Oliver did something Drew didn’t agree with. His father had way more experience and knowledge of what was going on and about the Scorpio Society.
“Tim?” Oliver’s tone was not welcoming.
President Kerr shifted to face the Maxwell men. “There seems to be a discrepancy in the reports of the events of that night, Oliver. It seems that your son had an allergic reaction to the scorpion sting and was taken to the clinic. He was being treated in one of the rooms and was kept there for evaluation. Sometime during the night, when the staff was seeing to an emergency situation, Drew disappeared from the room. Reports stated that he wandered off, stumbling on his own. Because this is a college campus, it was assumed he was slightly intoxicated. No one realized that he was in a medical crisis. We apologize profusely and will make sure to tighten security at the clinic. That staff will also receive additional training.”
Oliver let out a mirthless laugh. “Additional training and tighter security? That’s your play, Tim?”
President Kerr shifted from foot to foot. “I assure you nothing like this will ever happen again. It was misfortunate that it was your boy, but it could have been anyone. Never know how the body is going to react. Don’t you worry, your boy will get his proper ritual. We will get through the next event at my house and then plan something.”
Drew couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Adrian was lying his ass off and the president was grasping on to it for dear life. He was about to open his mouth when his father gave him a sharp look. Drew hadn’t been inclined to heed that look for years, but something in his father’s expression held him back. Nothing he could say would have any bearing on the conversation. It was his word against Adrian’s.
Oliver narrowed his gaze on Adrian but continue to address the president. “Restitution will be made.”
