From Bullets To Billions novel Chapter 116

Chapter 116: The Reason Behind Chad Stern

Max stared through the glass at Dipter.

His face, his knuckles, and his arms were marked with scratches and bruises, some old, some fresh. It was obvious he’d been fighting.

Made sense. Juvie wasn’t full of scared kids. It was full of people like Dipter, territorial, violent, eager to prove something. Fights were inevitable.

Max knew that world. He’d been there once himself. But someone got him out.

Now, he was sitting on the other side of the glass, face to face with a ghost from that world.

And the first words out of Dipter’s mouth confirmed what Max had come to suspect.

Dipter didn’t just know him as Max Smith.

He knew him as Max Stern.

"I saw the look on your face," Max said, calm but direct. "You figured it out. And now I know I was right."

His eyes narrowed. "You knew all along. You knew I was a member of the Stern family. Just like the client you were working for."

Dipter let out a snorting laugh. It started small, then spiraled.

"I can’t believe what fools we were!" he said, shaking his head, his voice cracking as the laughter took over. "We were being used. Just pieces in some rich family’s game!"

He slammed his fist on the small table beside him. "All that time, we were beating you down, and you said nothing. Then, when you finally made your move... You didn’t just beat us. You ended it."

He grinned wildly. "Gotta give it to you. You played it better than that idiot Chad ever could."

Dipter was unraveling. The calm, calculated version of him was gone. Juvie hadn’t broken him physically, but mentally, the cracks were spreading.

Max watched in silence. Letting him burn out.

Then finally, he asked, "So tell me, how did you figure it out? That I was a Stern? Chad didn’t tell you."

Dipter narrowed his eyes.

"So that’s why you’re here," he said. "You want information."

He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.

"Guess that makes sense. You made it pretty clear when you dumped me in here that we weren’t friends."

He stood halfway from his seat.

"You can rot in whatever mess you’re in. I’m not telling you a damn thing."

"Come on," Max said calmly, leaning in slightly. "You’re smarter than that."

His voice was steady, cutting through the tension.

"I’m the one who got you in here. And you know just as well as I do, those charges? Most of them weren’t even linked to you. You’re here because I made it happen."

He held Dipter’s gaze.

"And now that you know who I really am... you should also know I’m the only one who can get you out."

Max let that hang in the air.

"Life’s not as easy in here, huh? Not when you’re not at the top."

Dipter didn’t answer right away. Instead, he slowly sank back into his chair. His eyes dropped to the table, and the fight in his expression dimmed.

The bruises on his face, the cuts on his knuckles, they said enough. He wasn’t running this place. Not in here. For once, he was the one on the receiving end of the daily beatdowns.

His voice was lower now, quieter.

"When this whole thing started," Dipter said, "I had no idea you, or Chad, were part of the Stern family."

The wild laughter from earlier was gone. What was left was something closer to the real Dipter. Raw. Worn down.

"I climbed to the top of the school. Took control. Gathered the strongest students under me. We were ready to take on the other schools. Same old system, just under my rule. I thought that was the only thing that mattered."

He paused, jaw tight. "Then Chad showed up."

Max stayed silent, listening.

"He’d heard I ran the school. Said he had a small job. Deal with a transfer student... and a girl who went to our school."

Max didn’t flinch. He already knew who the targets were.

"And whatever was happening with you and your girlfriend? That became nothing more than a side mission."

"After that, this guy approaches me. Said he saw what we did. Said he was impressed. Then he makes a suggestion, why don’t we cut Chad out of the picture entirely?"