Present

"When were you planning on telling me you were working with Micah?" I asked while we were in the elevator. I had taken a few slow breaths and now here we were, my anger still rising.

"When the time was right..." Esmond responded. I shook my head as the elevator doors opened and we walked out slowly to the cars.

"I only got out of prison yesterday, but I am already over this shit. What else are you hiding from me? Or was Micah the biggest thing?" Once again, I was talking like Micah wasn't present. If I pretended he wasn't here, then maybe he wouldn't be. We stood outside. I wanted to finish this argument before we got in the car.

"Now you mention it. I know who may have possibly made the virus that is in Dusk. But that's a maybe that will get confirmed at MI6." Esmond responded.

"You fucking what?" I could barely hold in my anger as my back throbbed.

"It's a long story, okay? I just need to confirm before you incriminate them." Esmond responded. "It wasn't their fault that this happened."

"How could it not be their fault? They made the virus." I argued.

"I don't know why you are so angry about all of this, Max." My name sounded like it was a struggle to keep bile down Micah's throat. Like it disgusted him.

"What are you confused about, Micah? The fact I have emotions? That I give a shit about people?"

"No. I'm angry about Jake because he is my family. I may not care about anyone outside of my bloodline, but I kill for those who are part of it."

"I don't have to be family to care-"

"You barely fucking talked to him after you started working for Queen. Before you got in prison, he barely heard from you. He asked me if I knew how you were. You only talked to him once you got fucking thrown into prison. You only ever used Jake to get what you needed, a fucking stepping stone to get from one side of a river to the other." He said, and it made me see red.

"How fucking dare you say that. I was working under Queen because he got me the job, because he told Queen I would be a good fit, he knew I-"

"He knew what? That you would fall off the face of the planet? That you would talk to him once a year?"

"That's not fair, I was addicted-"

"To fentanyl, I know. Everyone knows. That doesn't matter, and I don't care. He worried about you every fucking day, and you barely showed the courtesy of doing the same." I let that slide. Micah was right. I may not have contacted Jake anywhere near as much as I should have. But my situation mattered.

"That's not-"

"Hyde, this is my blood-"

"If you even fucking think about cutting me off again I will shove those stupid fucking Dusk tablets down your fucking throat so you can join Jake, do you fucking hear me?!" I shouted, and Micah seemed to be taken aback by my rage. He had pushed me way too far, especially without knowing the full story.

"Max. We need to get out of here." Esmond said. I shook my head and stepped away from him before he could grab my wrist. I instead moved closer to Micah so I could look right into his eyes, the best I could anyway with our height difference.

"You should never assume I didn't care. I was barely making it through each day when I was addicted, but you know what I did every single day without fail?"

"Double dose?" I had to forcibly hold my arms down to stop myself from punching him in the nose, had to cross my arms and squeeze my chest as I spoke.

"I checked the cameras."

"What cameras?" Micah seemed to have relaxed slightly, so I let my arms fall down again.

"The apartment cameras. When we lived together after my accident, we installed security cameras. I had access to them from my phone, so I could see everything. Before I went to bed, I would check the cameras. I would stare at the screen until he walked in the door. If he never did, that's when I would call him. He knew that's what I did. Queen keeps her court by blackmailing all of us, by holding something over us. I didn't want him to be used against me, so all I could do was watch." I said. Micah seemed shocked.

"He asked you for information because you had information. I made sure the right channels heard about me so information would get to you. And I didn't contact him more after I got into prison. I contacted him more once I got clean. Once I had my full mental capacity back to keep track of everything I said and did, which Esmond helped me do. I may not be your family, Micah, but I definitely fucking cared. Besides, that isn't what we're talking about. The real topic here is why either of you thought working together was a smart idea."

"I needed manpower that MI6 wouldn't give."

"And I need revenge for my brother."

"But you..." I pointed to Esmond. "You shouldn't be working with the most prominent criminal in England. And you..." I turned my finger to Micah and poked him in the chest. "You shouldn't be working with the fucking government."

"See, that's the thing... your little agent over there thinks MI6 is corrupt." Micah said. I took a slow and deep breath as Esmond spoke again.

"That theory relies entirely on whether Dusk is the virus I think it is, but it would make sense as to why they aren't helping me." I turned to look at him.

"How am I supposed to trust you?" Esmond looked away from me. He knew he fucked up. "Okay, well, are you two going to continue working together?" I changed the topic before I lost what little control I had left. My back was killing me, and my patience was running thin through the pain.

"We're each other's best chance of catching Queen." Micah said, and I realised he was right.

"Okay, then you get your men and you track her back to wherever the fuck she came from. We need potential storage locations for Dusk." I said. He nodded. He knew me before I left for Queen, knew I had to be in control.

"And what will you do?" Micah asked me. I watched Esmond look back at me from the sky.

"After I tear this asshole a new one, we will get Dusk tested. If it is what he thinks it is, then we have a whole other situation at hand, which will make the original situation a hundred times more difficult. We need to get that figured out today. Within the next few hours." I said. Esmond nodded. "First, we have to pick up Jacques. She can hack into the computers at MI6 and get information."

"Okay." Esmond agreed, his voice quiet for once.

"Updates twice daily, every twelve hours. Miss one check in and we start search and rescue." I said. Micah nodded in agreement.

"Choice word?"

"Fuck it, why not do 'pineapple'. End of the world may come, so let's make it fun. Obviously, delete previous check-in messages and phone logs. We don't want the Court working out what we're doing and covering up a kidnapping or a murder." I said. Micah nodded and walked away before Esmond walked up to my side.

"I almost thought you and Micah were going to kill each other." He said, I didn't laugh.

"If you were smart, you wouldn't be making jokes right now. You have been hiding so much shit from me, and I thought that me reading your fucking notebook might have given you the idea to tell me everything before I figured it out for myself. If you haven't told me everything, then I could miss pieces of the puzzle that you got me out of prison to solve."