Page 73 of Maximus

“Kenneth hired an investigator,” Tex announced. “A good one.”

“So he found her,” Max, who was pacing the room, guessed.

“Yes. He found her,” Tex confirmed.

“This is good,” Max said, and I glanced in his direction, noting he was speaking to me. “Now we know who took out the contract. We’re one step closer.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

Though it didn’t feel good—all of it felt bad, really fucking bad.

“Give me a few hours and I’ll call you back.” Tex’s voice boomed. “Bubba, thanks for your help. Know how difficult it is to dredge up the past.”

“Glad I could help. Eva, take care of yourself.”

“Thanks…um… you, too, Mark.”

“Is that Mark?” Liam shouted from behind me.

Damn. I’d been so caught up in my misery, I’d missed him entering the room.

“Liam, honey, what are you doing?” I asked as my son came closer.

“Is that the Mark Wright? I wanna say hi,” my son continued.

Okay, this is not good. Not even a little bit.

“This is Mark, who am I speaking to?”

Oh, shit.

“This is Liam. Is it true, what Mom told us about you, that you’re a Navy SEAL?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Wow. Mom says you’re the bravest person she ever met. She says you’re like a hero. Mom says that Navy SEALs are better than superheroes because they’re real. I said that Captain America was cooler but she said, and I quote, Mark Wright can beat Captain America any day. Is she right? Could you beat Captain America?”

Mark’s deep rumbling laughter came over the line and I closed my eyes.

“Don’t know if I could beat Captain America. Though I could totally take Spiderman.”

Oh, God, Mark was being a good sport. Laughter from the other men filled the room.

“Really? Spiderman?” Tex sputtered. “I think you mean Captain Underpants.”

“Tex, brother, I don’t even know who that is but—”

“Tex, too?” Liam cut off Mark. “Wow. This is so cool. Mom says you’re a hero, too. I don’t need to ask you if you can beat Captain America because you can beat anyone. Mom says she thanks God every day for you. And that’s the truth, she totally does. Every night when we say our prayers me and Eli do, too, and Mr. Mark and Miss Zoey, too. All of you. You saved us.”

The room went deadly silent. So silent, I could hear my breaths coming out in pants and I really wished my son hadn’t announced that.

“That’s real kind of you, Liam,” Mark said after he cleared his throat.

“Got stuff to do,” Tex clipped. “Liam, we’ll see you soon.”

Before Liam, or I for that matter, could ask what that meant, Tex disconnected, and with him went Mark since Tex had patched him into the call.

“Wow, Mom that was so cool,” Liam gushed.