From Bullets To Billions novel Chapter 445

Chapter 445: The Weight of Loss

When Aron had stabbed Joe, he had done so with two things clearly in mind. First, that Joe could easily be saved from the wound, and second, that it wouldn’t cause permanent damage to the point where it would affect his fighting in the future.

Aron’s intention was only to make Joe feel real fear, the kind of sudden, agonizing shock that might finally trigger his power. Aron himself remembered when he used to feel real fear; in his own brutal training, he had been stabbed a few times and had even worse things happen.

The thing was, everyone’s reaction to certain stimuli was different, and now Aron felt like he had done something drastically, irrevocably wrong.

"I apologize, all of this was my mishap! I went too far!" Aron said, dropping onto his knees with his head bowed to Max. The gesture was dramatic, but utterly sincere.

"This is not your fault," Max corrected him, his voice tired but firm. "This is mine. I was the one that told you to go that far. I was the one that told you to push him. Because if we want him to actually make it out there in the world we’re building, we have to push him to this limit."

"But do we have to?" Stephen interjected, his voice heavy with concern for his friend. "The rest of us have already achieved our Vows. Joe’s training was coming along well, he will continue to get stronger, and he can still help the group in other ways."

Stephen paused, his gaze hardening as he looked at Max. "From the way you’re speaking and the way you’re putting him through this, Max, it’s almost as if you’re saying if he can’t get through this, then he’s out of the gang completely."

Max’s silence spoke many, heavy words, but he did eventually speak up, his tone softening with genuine emotion.

"Joe was one of the first members of the group. Although him joining was mostly an accident, and yes, he has done some terrible things, I do now consider him a close ally. A real friend."

Max looked away, his jaw clenching. "And it’s because of that, because of what we will soon be doing, that I know dangerous things are coming ahead. In this life, we have already seen those close to us die. I can go to your funerals, I can send some gifts and make sure your family is okay. I can do that for a lot of you. But there are those I don’t ever want to do that for again. Joe is one of them."

Max met Stephen’s gaze directly. "That’s why I want him to get through this, or I don’t want to be turning up at his funeral."

For the others, like Stephen, who had been in the Bloodline group for a while, the words hit hard. He realized that even though Max was so young, he had already lost both Jay and Abby. That immense loss must have affected him more profoundly than they realized. No matter how mature Max seemed, this wasn’t something even most adults could handle.

"Hey, you shouldn’t beat yourself up over everything that’s happening, you know?" Wolf said, stepping closer. "If I got stabbed like that, I wouldn’t want to go back up against that maniac again either. I like fighting, but I’ll tell you now, I don’t want to fight that guy. But I can see you have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. You still want to help Max and be a part of all of this, right?"

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