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“Hold on. I found something,” Max told Kade, cradling the phone between his shoulder and ear as he moved the keys and snatched up the paper. His eyes scanned the words quickly.
Max,
My memory finally returned and I remember everything. I left you voluntarily. I didn’t think our relationship was going well and I thought it was time to separate.
I’ll have divorce papers served as soon as I can.
Mia
“What the fuck?” Max cursed violently into the phone, grabbing it as he tossed the note onto the table.
“What? What happened?” Kade asked anxiously, totally awake now.
“She’s left me. On purpose. She doesn’t want to be married anymore,” Max told him robotically, unable to comprehend the words Mia had written as he told Kade what was in the brief and impersonal note.
“Bullshit,” Kade’s voice exploded through the phone. “She’s in love with you. You know she is.”
“I can’t make her stay if she doesn’t want to,” Max answered, feeling like his heart was shattering. “She never wanted to be with me. She just didn’t remember.”
“You never gave up on her, man. Not once. Don’t give up now. There’s something going on that we don’t know about,” Kade argued, sounding like he was getting dressed as he was speaking, his voice muffled.
“Nobody forced her to write that note. Nobody is forcing her to leave. She made her fucking choice. Twice. Obviously she remembered that she didn’t love me,” Max uttered quietly, resigned. He’d spent years believing, never giving up, only to have her leave him once he’d found her again. To hell with her. He couldn’t do this anymore. He’d been deluding himself all along, thinking that Mia loved him the same way he loved her. She obviously…didn’t.
“Max, you know her. You know this isn’t Mia. We need to figure out what’s going on,” Kade said urgently.
Max plopped onto the couch, everything he’d always believed completely shattered. At that point, he didn’t know what to believe. All he knew was that he was imploding, and his whole world was being torn apart. “Truth is, maybe I never really knew her at all,” he replied brokenly.
He disconnected the call and stared blankly at the opposite wall, trying to bury his emotions, trying to force them deep inside until he was completely numb. He knew if he didn’t, he’d never survive.
Kade Harrison entered his brother Travis’ office at Harrison Corporation without knocking, shoving against the solid oak hard enough to make the door swing with powerful force and slam against the wall with a massivethud. Ignoring the sound, Kade focused on his brother, sitting behind his desk, buried in a mass of paperwork. Travis looked at Kade briefly, and then his eyes returned to his work, apparently unconcerned that Kade had nearly broken the heavy wood door.
Kade wasn’t surprised to find his brother in his office, even though it was Saturday. Travis was always in the office. He was pretty sure his brother had a secret apartment hidden away in this building where he slept a few hours before returning to his office again.
Dropping into the chair in front of his brother’s desk, he simply asked, “Where is she?”
Travis looked up again, his gaze narrowing as he met Kade’s scowl. “Who?”
“Mia,” Kade hissed impatiently, watching his brother’s face. They were fraternal twins, Travis older than him by a mere twenty minutes, but they shared the same blue eyes. But while Kade was fair like his mother and Mia, Travis’ hair was as black as a raven’s wing, his features resembling those of their father. “She couldn’t have done this alone. And there’s only one person I know who could pull this off.” Dammit, he knew Travis knew something. Mia was an intelligent woman, but she had to have had an accomplice, someone close to her to help her disappear so thoroughly for over two years. No one could cover their own tracks that well. And nobody was as painstakingly detailed and as cunning as his twin. This deed had Travis written all over it. “Two disappearances with no sign of her? Where is she, Travis? This is killing Max.”
Travis sat back in his chair, lacing his fingers together behind his head. “What do you mean…two? She’s back.”
“She’s gone again,” Kade stated flatly, eyeing his brother’s expression for a moment, fairly certain Travis didn’t know she had fled…this time. The two of them disagreed on almost everything, but they were twins, and they could still read each other well.Sometimes too well.
“Shit. I brought her back. Did she recover her memory?” Travis asked urgently, sitting up and placing his hands on his desk.
“Yeah. What difference does that make?” Kade asked warily.
“It makes all the difference. I have something I needed to tell her as soon as her memory returned. I needed to tell her not to run. She doesn’t have to anymore,” Travis said angrily, although Kade could see it for exactly what it was...fear.
Kade’s jaw clenched as he rasped, “You helped her disappear the first time?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me she wasn’t dead?” Kade wanted to get up and pound his brother to within an inch of his life. Travis, his own damn twin, had let him think his sister was dead. “Why?”
“She was in trouble. Her life was in danger and so were yours and Max’s. If keeping my mouth shut to keep everyone alive was what I had to do…I did it.” Travis’ fist crashed down on the desk, making every item on the surface tremble and roll. “Do you think it was easy for me not to say anything, to watch everyone grieve? Contrary to what you might think, brother…I don’t enjoy seeing you or Max suffer.”
“You weren’t close to Max; you didn’t see how much he—”