Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland (Gillian and Merrick) novel Chapter 279

Chapter 279 What Had Happened Six Years Ago

Chapter 279 What Had Happened Six Years Ago

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Ten years of being raised under that roof should have made Maddox grateful to Merrick’s family. Gillian couldn’t wrap her head around why he’d stood there and done nothing while the woman who took him in died.

And Merrick’s conviction-it looked like Maddox had his fingerprints all over that too. She remembered Merrick had been sentenced for killing his teacher, but how did Maddox fit into

it?

“Merrick, what exactly did Maddox do with the warding token to set you up?” she asked.

At the mention of it, a flicker of helplessness crossed Merrick’s eyes before it vanished. He told her what had happened six years ago.

“I killed my teacher, Sean Lloyd. It was self-defense. Worst case, I’d have done a few years. Griffinkin was pulling evidence that he’d attacked me first. But while we were waiting for the ruling, the Phoenixkin showed up with new proof.” He paused, like whatever came next was hard to get out.

Gillian read his face and knew someone had dragged his name through the mud. “Tell me. I already know they framed you,” she said.

Merrick continued, “They said I forced myself on Sean’s partner. That I held her captive, tortured her, and killed her. Sean found out and tried to bring me in, and I killed him for it. The evidence was my own warding token-the one I’d worn every day for eighteen years. They found it inside her body.”

“How did your token go missing?” Gillian asked.

She’d expected something ugly, but this was worse. His teacher murdered, the teacher’s partner tortured and killed. Someone had built a trap meant to destroy him completely, and it had worked.

“Where did your token go?” she pressed.

That was the thread. Follow it, and everything led somewhere.

Merrick’s eyes landed back on Maddox, and Gillian’s stomach dropped. “Maddox, was it you? Did you set him up?” she asked.

“You’re interrogating me already? That’s different from last time.” Maddox deflected.

When he’d first realized Gillian was staying, a flicker of surprise had crossed his face. He hadn’t

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Chapter 279 What Had Happened Six Years Ago

expected Merrick to lay everything bare in front of an Outer Planet female.

Gillian means something to him.

“That day, I thought you genuinely cared about my sister. I thought you were the spend her life with. Now I know you’re not worthy of her,” Gillian said.

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person she’d

“The way you shut people out-you’re exactly like your sister.” Maddox stared at her like she was prey, and the look set Merrick off.

His fist slammed into Maddox’s face and snapped his head sideways.

Merrick picked the story back up. “The day before, Maddox came to visit me. He said my mother had left something for us and that opening it required both our tokens. So I handed mine over.”

Gillian grabbed his hand and held it. She hadn’t known he’d been carrying this much.

“I wanted to ask him the same thing. How did it end up with the Phoenixkin?” Merrick’s voice had steadied now that Gillian was beside him. “Maddox, answer her. You did it, so own it.”

For six years, he’d clawed to stay alive because he refused to die in this wasteland with everything still unfinished. The first thing on that list was peeling Maddox’s skin off.

Maddox didn’t argue. He licked the blood off his lip and said nothing. No defense, no threats.

He was striking even now, nearly forty, with the kind of aura that came from years of wielding power. Even trapped like this, he hadn’t fallen apart. He just watched Merrick.

“Merrick, has Wasteland City been that bad? Compared to Capital Planet, you’ve got freedom here. You can do whatever you want. You don’t like this life? I even sent Elara to protect you. Isn’t that enough?”

Maddox didn’t explain why, but the implication was clear. He’d been the one who’d gotten Merrick sent here.

Merrick stared at him, and what he couldn’t understand was why the man wouldn’t just say it. He wanted to know why Maddox had betrayed him and his mother. If he had that answer, he would’ve snapped his neck the first second he saw him.

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