From Bullets To Billions novel Chapter 190

Chapter 190: Out From The Group

Clutching a hard-fought victory, Aki walked back toward her teammates with a dazed but triumphant smile stretching across her face. Every fiber of her body felt drained, like all the adrenaline that had carried her through the fight was suddenly slipping away, leaving her trembling and barely able to stand.

Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Her legs threatened to give out beneath her at any moment. But she kept walking, step by determined step, toward the bright, beaming faces of her team.

"Aki, you did it!" one of the girls cheered, rushing over to her.

The others followed quickly, gathering around her in a warm circle of support. They offered their arms and shoulders without hesitation, letting her lean on them, holding her up so she didn’t have to carry her own weight anymore.

"Yeah, who knew you had that in you?" another girl from Seaton High added with a wide grin. "You took down that monster of a woman. If we’d known you could fight like that, maybe we wouldn’t have had to join the Bloodline group in the first place."

The girls’ excited chatter shifted suddenly as they turned their eyes toward Max, who had wandered off, away from the group. Their excitement soured slightly, just moments earlier, they had scolded him for not properly congratulating Aki. And now, of all times, he was stepping aside to take a phone call?

"It’s okay. Don’t blame him," Aki said softly, though her breath was still uneven. "It’s obvious there’s something bigger going on. Max... he’s not just a regular high school student like the rest of us."

"Stop making excuses for him!" another girl blurted out, exasperated. "Ugh, I hate it when people get blinded by love."

As for the call itself, Max was on the line with Wolf, an ally of the Bloodline group and someone Max considered incredibly important. The man had been instrumental in helping him behind the scenes, and the fact that he had reached out now, at this moment, wasn’t something Max could afford to ignore.

Wolf had called him directly, not the other way around. That alone made it urgent. Especially since it came so soon after the Rejected Corps had reached out to Max themselves.

"What the heck is going on?" Wolf’s voice snapped through the receiver the moment Max picked up.

"Does this have to do with the Rejected Corps?" Max asked, already suspecting as much.

"So you do know," Wolf replied, his voice sharp. "Let me get straight to the point. They contacted me. Directly. Didn’t go through you like they usually do. They asked me to help them out."

That fact alone told Max everything he needed to know. The Rejected Corps must have been truly desperate if they were bypassing him and reaching out to Wolf. Not only did it show they respected Wolf’s strength, it showed they were short on manpower and needed it now.

"And what did you say?" Max asked.

"Of course I turned them down," Wolf replied, without hesitation. "Told them straight. My loyalty is with you. If you’re not involved, I’m not going. Simple as that."

Max remained silent for a moment, taking it in.

"I figured that answer might ruffle some feathers," Wolf continued, "but I had no choice. I’m not getting tangled up in their mess on my own. I wasn’t hired by them, and I don’t want to dive any deeper than I already have. But I assumedsomething happened between you and them. I would’ve appreciated a heads-up instead of getting blindsided by a call like that."

There was a pause before he added, "You’ve gotten stronger, Max. But you’re not that strong. Not yet."

"What was that?" Rick’s voice growled from behind her, his fingers tensing against the cold metal of the cage. "You said you were the strongest woman in all of Brinherst... and then you lose. To another girl!"

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