Page 14 of Maximus

“What happened to Jay?”

“He’s not an issue,” Tex replied curtly.

“That’s not what I asked,” I sighed.

“It’s the only answer you’re gonna get.”

“Why are you being so sketchy? You deal with facts and solutions. Vague and elusive isn’t your normal MO.”

“I’m always elusive.” Tex muttered a few curse words before he explained, “Jay is not a threat, mainly because he’s not breathing. His operation was bullshit and easy to dismantle. The only person he was truly a threat to was Eva and those kids. He used the boys to control her. She was his ace, when he lost her, he was nothing. That’s why he took the boys from her. He knew she’d do anything to get them back. Jay set up the meeting with Bubba’s brother. Did you know she’d already contacted the police? Eva was prepared to work with them, but then Jay hurt Liam and Eva took matters into her own hands.”

Tex wasn’t telling me anything that I didn’t already know from reading his report. Though I was pleased to know he had Jay taken out—it would save me the trouble of hunting down the asshole myself. Though I have to admit, it would have been satisfying.

Nothing that Tex had said eased the knot in my stomach. We needed more intel on who hired Chris Peters to kill Eva.

“Where are you tracking down Peters?”

“I have a team in place. They moved in when you and Eva left her house this morning.”

“A team? Jesus. Are they in her house waiting?”

“Yes, three men are in her house, one is waiting at the airport. Peters took a flight to Florida this morning. I want to see what he does, who he contacts, and lastly if he goes directly to her house or if it takes him a while to find her.”

“Christ, Tex, that’s her home. Her kids live there. She’d go through the fucking roof if she knew a team was in there.”

“Then don’t tell her. And you know they wouldn’t be in there unless that’s where I need them to be. All of this should be over in a few days, maybe less.”

Thank God for that.

“Keep me informed. Brooks is lining up our hotel and I’ll have the rest of our trip plotted out by this evening.”

“Copy that.”

Tex was gone, the music was back on, and my mind was racing. Christ, Tex and his secrets. Eva and her unwillingness to cooperate. Between the two of them, they were making this mission damn harder than it should’ve been. But the fuck of it was, I’d given in to Eva. She’d come up with the cover story, the one we were going to use when I just happen to see them at the museum. The truth would’ve been easier, however her need to keep the danger she was in a secret was tangible. I felt the desperation rolling off of her.

Damn, but the woman was trying her best to give her boys normal after all they’d been through. I couldn’t tell her no. Just like I couldn’t stop wondering what it would’ve been like if my mother, after all the ways she’d fucked up, had tried to make it right. If it would’ve made a difference. Would the outcome of my childhood been different? Would I have forgiven her?

There was no sense in going down that road. My mother hadn’t changed, she didn’t protect me, she forever altered my life and made me into the man I was.

* * *

“Hey, Max!”

I turned and feigned surprise when Eva called my name from across the museum parking lot.

“Eva,” I greeted, mostly annoyed we were playing this charade.

“Boys. This is my friend from work, Max Brown. Max, these are my boys, Liam and Elijah.”

Eva gently placed her hand on each of the boys’ shoulders when she mock-introduced them to me.

“Elijah.” I tipped my head to the younger of the two, then slid my gaze to Liam.

I hid my flinch when I looked at Eva’s older son.

Guarded. Untrusting. Angry.

For a moment, I wondered if that was what I’d looked like at his age. The time of my awakening, when I coldly discovered what kind of people I lived with. When I learned how cruel life really was.