Chapter eight.

Alice Stevens paced around trying to gather her stuff to disappear from the scene as her gaze had fallen on a military-grade Range Rover.

Max Xanderson stepped out of the car and immediately removed his dark shades.

His gaze fell on his daughter Chloe who was still partly awake tied to a chair.

"Dad…is…that you?"

Chloe Maxwell asked, her voice was barely above whispers as tears wells down her cheeks.

Her body was covered in whitish powder from the fire extinguisher, her hair was all dishevelled.

Max Xanderson immediately ran towards her and held her closely.

"It's me, Chloe…I'm back…what happened to you?"

He asked as he examined the wounded body of his daughter.

As Max Xanderson asked the question, his gaze immediately fell on Alice Stevens who was now at the door turning the door knob to escape.

"You!"

Max Xanderson's voice was laced with authority and venom as he raced towards Alice Stevens who still struggled to open the door.

Before Alice Stevens could turn, Max Xanderson reached out and landed her a forceful slap that sent her falling backwards.

She tried to stand but staggered backwards and fell to the ground holding her face in pain.

"You animal!"

"How dare you lay your poverty-reeking hand on me?!"

"Haven't you done enough harm already to us?!"

"Why didn't you just die in that river that day?"

"You are the reason we are all suffering at the Stevens."

"I really wished my cousin hadn't wasted her life trying to save a dumbass like you."

"And you had the guts to impregnate her and disappear into thin air."

Alice Stevens continued as Max Xanderson stared at her viciously on the ground.

"You haven't seen anything yet…I will make sure you pay for laying your hands on me, immediately I leave here I'm reporting you to my Grandfather, Lord Dylan Stevens."

As Alice Stevens kept ranting, she immediately placed her hand on her right ear and noticed blood stains.

"What have you done to me?!"

Alice Stevens yelled as she rolled on the floor.

Max Xanderson immediately walked over to her daughter and stared around the room, his eyes catching some of the livestream gear that Alice had left on the table.

"Sweetheart, I'm back for you and mummy, what did she do to you?"

Max Xanderson asked as he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth in anger.

"Dad…she put a spider on my face and made her life streamers watch and laugh out loud, then she hosed me with that fire extinguisher."

Chloe's voice was laced with a mixture of anxiety and trepidation as she spoke and pointed at the half-empty fire extinguisher on the floor.

Max Xanderson immediately got up and walked towards Alice Stevens who was still yapping about how she would make Max Xanderson pay dearly for hitting her.

Immediately she saw the beastly and dreadful look on Max's face, she immediately swallowed a hard lump.

Her countenance changed from arrogance to a mixture of confusion, anxiety and trepidation.

"Max, I'm really sorry for what I did…I mean it wasn't my idea…I was only following orders."

Alice Stevens stammered as she crawled back slowly away from Max Xanderson and hid under one of the supermarket counters.

Max Xanderson gritted his teeth and immediately jacked the counter and heaved it away revealing a fidgeting Alice Stevens.

Max Xanderson immediately kicked her in the gut and she crashed into a counter, the groceries on the counter pouring all over her.

"Who gave you the stupid and devilish orders to humiliate my daughter, a 3-year-old girl?"

Max Xanderson's voice was laced with anger as he paced towards Alice now having his signature titanium claw weapon armed on his hand.

"It was my grandfather and before you take sides and do something nasty, I want you to know that Melissa, your wife, has gone to be with her new boyfriend Arnold Lucas."

"Your so-called wife abandoned your daughter and went to be with another man, you should be thanking…"

Her statement was interrupted as Max darted his blade-like weapon at her, slitting her throat from a distance.

Alice Stevens immediately knelt on the floor, holding her throat as blood gushed out slowly as she struggled to breathe.

"Help…"

Alice Stevens couldn't even complete her last words as she fell dead on the wooden floor holding her throat.

"That would teach you never to mess with my family or lie about my wife."

"If only you and your family knew how indebted I am to Melissa Stevens."

"None of you actually know what really happened that night by the Blueberg River."

"And I hope it stays that way."

Max Xanderson's voice was barely above whispers and laced with secrecy as he stared at Alice Stevens who lay in the pool of her own blood.

"Dad…is everything alright?"

The quaky voice of Chloe Maxwell broke through from behind him.