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“Well, she’s not here. And a truck that I assume is hers is still in the driveway.” Kade shot him a disgruntled look.
“She had a rental car. She must have picked it up at the airport.” Max remembered seeing the compact vehicle in the drive, parked next to an older truck.
“Then she’s gone,” Kade said remorsefully. “Damn it.”
“I’ll stay away from her. Maybe she’ll stop running.” Max was resigned. Mia couldn’t seem to do anythingotherthan run from him, so he needed to stop chasing her. It was rather pointless anyway.
“She isn’t running from you, man. She’s scared,” Kade answered angrily.
“Of what?” Max asked, perplexed. He swung around and dropped his feet to the ground, shooting Kade a dubious glance.
“Long story that you need to hear. Take a shower, for God’s sake. You smell like a damn distillery. Since when do you get drunk?” Kade stepped back, waving his hand in the air to get rid of the odor to make his point.
“Since your sister decided to leave me again for another man,” Max shot back at Kade, irritation and what he assumed was a massive hangover trying his patience.
“We need to get one thing straight.” Kade was shouting now. “My sister loves you. I have no idea why. Personally, I think you’re a real asshole to wake up to, but she’s obviously blind to that. She didn’t leave youforanother man. She left youbecauseof one. There’s a big difference. If you would have stayed to hear Travis out instead of trying to kill him, you’d know the truth by now. Take a shower and meet us in the living room before you piss me off and I take a shot at the other side of your face.”
Max rarely saw Kade angry, so his brother-in-law’s outrage took him by surprise. He watched Kade turn and walk out of the bedroom, leaving him alone with his thoughts and his hangover.
He found the adjoining bathroom with a shower, cleaning himself up as he pondered Kade’s words. What the hell did it mean? Who or what was Mia afraid of…and why?
Feeling nearly human, he went to the living room, wearing the same jeans and t-shirt he’d worn the day before. He’d taken the time to cram a few things in a bag, but it was in the car.
Kade came out of the kitchen, carrying two mugs of coffee. Silently, he handed Max some aspirin, which he downed immediately, and then started on the coffee.
Travis was already sitting in one of the recliners, reading a newspaper with a cup of coffee in hand and Tucker sitting at his feet.
“Traitor,” Max mumbled to the canine, slightly satisfied when he noticed that Travis looked as beat-up as he did.
He sat on the couch, silently slugging as much coffee as he could. Tucker gave him an apologetic look and came to sit at his feet.
Travis put his paper aside and Kade flopped into the other recliner, both brothers drilling him with a hostile expression.
“I don’t know where she went. I did get drunk, and we…talked. She was here when I went to sleep,” he stated flatly. “I don’t know why she left and I don’t know where she went. She ran. Again. It’s something Mia seems to excel at doing. I assume there was no note this time?”
“Nothing. How much do you remember?” Kade asked, his expression relaxing to an only slightly contrary look.
“Not a lot,” Max answered honestly. “I remember her being here when I went to sleep. I have a few empty spaces in my memory of last night. I’m not sure what was real and what I imagined.” And he hated it. No wonder he’d never gotten completely plastered.
“Welcome to ‘the morning after,’ Mr. Perfect,” Kade said evilly. “I just wish I could have been here to see it. The ‘always in control Max Hamilton’ three sheets to the wind? I would have paid good money for that show.”
“No reruns. It was an exclusive showing,” Max grumbled, swearing he’d never get that drunk again. The next morning wasn’t worth it. He felt like he been chewed up and spit out by some kind of mythological monster with razor-sharp teeth. “Tell me about Mia.” His mind was on only one thing at the moment, and that was his wayward wife. “Is she safe?”
“I have a team of investigators tracking her as we speak. I should have a location on her shortly. She’s obviously headed back to the airport. She hired the rental she got from there and there aren’t many other means of transport away from here.” Travis spoke for the first time. His voice was well modulated and restrained, speaking as though he were in a business meeting. The only telling thing was his eyes, his usually glacial look expressing untamed emotion. “To make a long story short, she got involved in a bad relationship back when she was in college. The asshole finally got put in jail and we thought it was over. He got out of prison right before Mia disappeared the first time, threatening to kill you, Kade, and me if she didn’t come back to him. She was afraid…and I helped her. She’s my sister. Her safety was my main concern.”
“She was my goddamn wife. Why didn’t you tell me? I could have protected her,” Max answered angrily, ready to pound Travis all over again.
“You were unavailable. In fact, Danny had Mia in his grasp when your plane took off, your head in the sight of a rifle and ready to blow your head off. Your wife saved your life,” Travis answered casually. “Danny Harvey was a career criminal, completely insane, and ready to do whatever it took to get Mia back. He was also a sharpshooter who could pick off a target at long distances. He won a lot of competitions when he was young. He rarely missed a target.”
“Why was Mia even with him? She couldn’t have loved someone like that,” Max asked harshly.
Kade answered. “She was twenty-one years old, had an old man who was a raging alcoholic and completely insane. He beat his wife and children often and repeatedly. Mia suffered under my father’s hand. We all did. Do you really think she even knew what love was? Do you think she knew what normal was?” Kade leaned forward in the chair, his fists clenched. “I was gone, you were gone, and Travis was the only thing standing between her and him. I was pissed off, too, Max, when I found out he’d been responsible for hiding her. But I might have done the same damn thing if it meant keeping Mia safe.”
“You should have told me. I thought she was dead.” Max still wasn’t convinced. She was his wife, dammit. “All those years, I fucking grieved for her.”
“It wasn’t a picnic for her either. Do you think she wanted to go? She was terrified he’d kill you. She ran to keep you safe. She didn’t give a shit about what happened to her. I can testify to that because I saw the way he messed her up.” Travis’ voice was heated. “Back in college and before she disappeared.”
“You knew when she was in college?” Max questioned resentfully.