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Twenty-Five
Abby was makingtea in the kitchen when Max entered holding a stack of papers and wearing a serious expression. He’d been behind the closed doors of the room that he’d been using as his office, and she immediately stopped what she was doing, anticipating bad news related to the plans for the assault on the Tangier the nextday.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, turning to facehim.
“Nothing’s wrong, but there is something I’d like to talk to you about. Come sit withme.”
Her heartbeat quickened as he headed for the sofa in the livingroom.
“Want some tea?” sheasked.
“No,thanks.”
She picked up her steaming mug and carried it into the living room, setting it on the coffee table before sitting next to Max on thesofa.
He turned his body to face her. “I know you’re not going to want to have this discussion, but I hope you’ll keep in mind that I won’t rest easy until wedo.”
She swallowed her nervousness. “Okay.”
He took her hand. “I’ve been talking to Charlie for the past couple weeks about all the money and property in theestate.”
Charlie was Max’s lawyer, had been Max’s father’s lawyer aswell.
“Is there a problem?” sheasked.
She didn’t care about Max’s money. She never had. He could lose everything. They could move into a seedy apartment on the wrong side of town. She would still consider herself the luckiest woman in the world if she fell asleep in his arms everynight.
“No problem.” He looked down at their joined hands. “I just needed to make sure you were taken care of beforetomorrow.”
It took her a few seconds to realize what he was saying. When she did, she rose to her feet without thinking and shook herhead.
“You’re right. I don’t want to talk aboutthis.”
He reached for her hand and pulled her back to the couch. He lifted the hand to his mouth and opened her fingers, kissing her palm beforecontinuing.
“I understand. I do. But Abby, I would have been worried sick about this if I hadn’t taken care ofit.”
“It’s whatever,” she said, waving it away. “I’m glad you have some peace of mind. I don’t need it because I know you’re going to befine.”
He tipped his head, sadness lurking at the edges of a faint smile. “I appreciate your faith in me, but it’s important that you have this information. Will you listen? Forme?”
She didn’t want this to be happening, didn’t want Max to be sitting in front of her with a mixture of resignation and love in his eyes. Didn’t want to talk about his death to make him feelbetter.
She swallowed it all. “Okay.”
“First of all, I’ve had some money moved offshore,” he said. “That’s a precautionary measure suggested by Nico, and it’s for both of us. If we have to run, or if something happens to the rest of my assets, our assets, there’s enough set aside to take care of us for the rest of ourlives.”
He was using the word “us” to avoid the word “you”. To distract Abby from the fact that he was really telling her there was money hidden away for her in the event of his death or any forfeiture of assets that might happen if the FBI decided to get serious about their investigation into theSyndicate.
It was easier to play along than to call him on the lie of omission, easier to nod and hope that would be the end of theconversation.
“Charlie knows how to access the money,” he said. “If I’m not here, all you have to do is call him and he’ll provide you with instructions. It’s perfectly legal, and the money is well hidden behind three different shell corps. It’ll be there regardless of what happenshere.”
She nodded. She just wanted this to be over. “Thanks for letting meknow.”
He sighed, then tapped the papers on the coffee table. “I’ve updated my will to make sure it’s current.” He laughed a little. “The funny thing is, I didn’t even have to change much — I’d left almost everything to youanyway.”
She looked down at her lap, swallowing the emotion that rose in her throat like bile. “Please don’t make me dothis.”
