From Bullets To Billions novel Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Who’s Stronger?

The day after Sam’s funeral, Sunday, Max realized he needed to start preparing for the worst when school started again.

He had given in to his anger and attacked Mo earlier than he had planned. There was a decent chance he’d done enough to keep Mo from telling anyone else, but there was still a possibility that word had spread. If the entire school knew what happened, that would be a serious problem, for a lot of reasons.

Originally, his goal had been simple: to figure out why the real Max Stern never touched the money. With that kind of wealth, he could’ve easily put a stop to the bullying, hired someone, paid the others off, maybe even transferred to a new school altogether. But he hadn’t done any of those things.

And Max was still nowhere closer to figuring out why.

On top of that, he’d only uncovered two names from the list so far. The first was Ko, the self-declared leader of their classroom and the one responsible for most of the torment aimed at both Max and Sam. The second was Dipter, apparently the top delinquent in the entire school. He was the one giving orders, the one even Ko answered to.

The real problem was, this school wasn’t just any regular public school, it was crawling with more scum than most.

That explained why no one ever stepped in during the chaos that unfolded in the classroom. Nearly all the boys in class were delinquents.

They listened to Ko. Some greeted him like a friend, others just followed his lead. Sure, it was the main trio that acted like they ran the place, but the rest weren’t exactly innocent. They went along with it, and that was just as bad.

A lot of this, I found out through texts with Joe, Max thought, confirming what he had already suspected.

Basically, if Max ever made a public move against Dipter or Ko, it’d be like declaring war on the entire school.

Even if, in the past, he could’ve taken on a hundred students at once, that wasn’t true anymore, not in this body.

Things would be so much easier if I still had the White Tiger backing me like I used to... Max thought. Then again, there’s always the option of handling things outside of school. On weekends, Aron is around to protect me.

That could be a way to get him involved without directly asking for help. If random students started attacking me, Aron would have no choice but to step in, right? That’s literally his job.

The problem was... tomorrow was school, and everything could change in the blink of an eye.

Max could feel the tension crawling in his fingers, like they were itching for something to do. He’d already made up his mind, he needed to stay sharp for whatever was coming. That’s why he texted Steven and asked him to open up the gym.

He’d rested yesterday. Today, he needed to move.

As he walked, his thoughts kept spinning.

How do I isolate Ko? Take him out without Dipter ever knowing? Max wondered. Could I bring him to my side... like I did with Joe?

But then, that thought twisted in his stomach. He remembered everything Ko had done to Sam.

According to Joe, nearly all of it had been Ko’s idea. Luring someone in, rewarding them with money... it made Max feel sick just thinking about it.

"Sir... are you sure this is the right place?" Aron asked, standing at the front of the gym. The metal shutter was still pulled down, leaving nothing but the cold exterior in view.

"Yes," Max replied plainly. "And you said you wouldn’t bother me with questions if I brought you along."

Well this is weird, Steven thought, glancing sideways. Why am I the one getting all shy? This is my gym.