Page 72 of Maximus

It was no surprise Sean had cut ties. What was surprising was, Kenneth was standing by his wife who was also having an affair with Malcom.

Oh, the tangled web you weave when greed and murder mingle.

“Kenneth’s standing by his wife?” Kyle sneered. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“Wish I were,” Bubba mumbled. “I’ve known the man a long time, my dad trusted him, Sean trusted him. Never thought I’d see the day where Kenneth Eklund defends the woman responsible for my pop’s death.”

The sadness in Bubba’s voice couldn’t be missed. Eva was right—not that she didn’t deserve Bubba’s help, but we were digging up demons that should stay buried.

“Wait.” I stood, doing my best thinking while on my feet. “You met with the prosecutors. Did they ask you about Eva?”

“Shit,” Tex mumbled. The man had been so quiet, I’d forgotten he was still on the line. “I see where you’re going with this.”

“They did,” Bubba confirmed. “But since Zo and I had already decided we weren’t pressing charges in light of Eva’s situation, I didn’t correct them when they called her Eve Dane. I also didn’t tell them I knew where she was.”

“So, they’re looking for her,” I surmised. “But they’re looking for Eve Dane.”

“And if the prosecutors are looking for Eve Dane to tie up their case and possibly press charges, then Kenneth Eklund would be looking for her, too.” Thad picked up the thread and finished it.

“Mother—” Tex started, then stopped. “You’re correct. The prosecutor’s office is running searches on Eve Dane.”

I’d long ago learned not to ask how Tex got his information and how he did it as fast as he did. It seemed there was nothing the man couldn’t find.

“If they find that plane, they’ll have her prints,” Kyle added.

“Plane’s been taken care of, no one’s gonna find it, because there’s nothing to find,” Tex told us. “The prosecutor’s office was nowhere near finding Eva. They’re not even on the right track, but just in case, I wiped Eva’s new identity clean. Eva, Liam, and Elijah Dawson no longer exist. Neither does Eva Dawkins for that matter.”

I glanced over at Eva as the first tear rolled down her cheek.

Earlier, Eva had told me she was nothing, and now standing in the dining room of a safehouse, Tex wiping her identity clean, she was less than nothing. She was a woman who didn’t even exist.

She was no one.

And that was unacceptable.

If I gave her nothing else before we parted ways, she’d know she was something.

Someone special.

Chapter 21

I stood frozen, listening to a group of men I didn’t know, save Max who I only knew slightly better—and most of that knowledge was in the biblical sense—and Tex, who I only knew from speaking to him over the phone, as they dissected, scrutinized, and investigated every part of my life.

Brooks had been scribbling notes on a pad of paper. Kyle had his tablet out and was scrolling. Thad, Declan, and Max hadn’t written anything, nor had they been scrolling, but they were intently participating verbally.

It totally unnerved me—these strangers knew pretty much everything about my life.

Tex already knew everything down to the very last detail because he’d deserved to know all of it before he agreed to help me.

Mark Wright knew what he knew about me, which was to say a lot, and even though I’d done what I had, he’d helped me.

I couldn’t begin to wrap my head around that.

And now Tex was doing more for me, and that was interfering with the prosecution of Tracy Eklund.

It wasn’t right. I should be in jail.

That was where I belonged.