AllFreeNovel
Share Us
No. She hadn’t given two shits about him. That was clear.
She’d likely heard rumors that the Tomb of Kazemde was close to being discovered and tracked down the lead archeologist on the discovery. It just happened to be his bad luck that they were related.
A large, warm hand rested on his arm and he lowered his hands enough to peek over his fingers at Ed to find the man watching him with eyes filled with concern.
“Max, I’m so sorry. No one’s family should act like that. Especially an older sibling. She should have been looking out for you,” Ed said in such a sweet voice.
That was why Max felt guilty when a bark of laughter jumped from his throat. Horror gripped him that such a sound had escaped him. What kind of person was he that he’d laugh in the face of Ed’s sympathy?
He grabbed Ed’s hand in both of his as he drew it back, half sitting up. “No! Sorry! I’m not laughing at you. I appreciate your sympathy. I really do. It’s just…my family has always been screwed up. Well before I was even born. Trust me, I was lucky to get out when I did. If not, I’d be in jail or dead or possibly even something worse than my sister by now.”
With a heavy sigh, Max released Ed’s hand and flopped in his slump. His dad had died via firing squad in Cambodia. Wow. He’d heard through the grapevine that his dad was dead, but he’d kind of assumed he’d died in a prison somewhere.
And that his mom had stood by and let it happen?
Okay, so maybe that wasn’t a big shock. He’d always known that his parents’ love for each other and their children had never extended so far that it could interfere with a giant payday or their own selfish needs. If his mom had been forced to choose between her life and her husband’s, well, that probably wasn’t a hard choice at all.
Same if his life was interfering with a nice profit.
Clearly, Amy—no! Rive—wasn’t any better.
“Max?” Ed prodded. “It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but it does kind of complicate things going forward.”
Alexei snorted from the front seat. “Family always has a way of complicating things. Unless you’ve got a kickass uncle who has no problem committing patricide.”
That caught Max’s attention. He held one finger up in the air. “I have questions.”
Alexei turned and grinned at him between the seats. “The short of it is: My grandfather was a spy and a bastard. Former head of the KGB and major homophobe. Tried to have his own son—my uncle—murdered. My uncle killed him and some other family members who wanted him and me dead. Trust me, I know shitty families. I was lucky, too. I got out and grew up with a pair of assassins. But they’re nice assassins.”
Max’s wide eyes darted over to Ed, who was smiling at him. “I think I have even more questions.”
“Don’t worry. We can talk more later. Izzie has a ton of shitty family stories, too.” Alexei crowed suddenly, punching one fist in the air. “We have another member for our club. No!” He stopped on a gasp, his fingers jumping to his lips. “Maybe I should adopt him. Izzie needs a brother.”
“What is happening?” Max mumbled, trapped between horror and confusion.
“Just roll with it,” Ed whispered, still grinning like he thought this was all hilarious.
Was the crazy assassin with killer eyelashes threatening to adopt him?
Soren reached out and gave Alexei’s shoulder a shove. “Later. You’re supposed to be helping watch the mirrors to make sure we’re not followed.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Alexei grumbled. Before he turned forward, he winked at Max and mouthed, We’ll talk later.
Shoving that to the back of his brain, Max focused his attention on Ed. “Are West and Charlie okay?”
Ed nodded. “They’ve gotten away. Some of Rive’s men took minor damage.”
“And who the hell is Barry Allen? You said we had to ask him.”
Low giggles filled the car as Max’s gaze jumped from one man to the next until finally settling on Ed again. “It was the signal to the rest of the team. Barry Allen is the real name of The Flash. You know, the superhero.”
Max groaned. “The Flash. In other words, flash-bang. Got it. So, I’m traveling with an assassin, mercenaries, and comic book nerds.”
“Hey!” Soren cried from the driver’s seat. “I’m just a part-time mercenary. Full-time cat burglar.”
“Are you really okay?” Ed broke in as their conversation threatened to devolve into more nonsense thanks to the chaos couple in the front of the car.
He offered Ed a genuine smile. “I am, I swear. I’m surprised more than anything. There was always the chance of running into my blood relatives if they continued in the same line of work, but I’d never expected it to happen quite like this. Honestly, I’m more embarrassed than anything.”
