Page 12 of The Me I Left Behind (Tuckaway Bay #4)

“You’re a crap mother. You know that? How could you let her be alone with a boy in our house? You’ve got the hormones of a fucking rabbit, and you’ve passed them along to our daughter. Well, I’m going to fix that.”

“Right. How?”

“I’m taking her to Australia.”

Carol shouted. “No!” She pushed away from Tyler and closer to her dad. “You can’t make me. I won’t. I’ll run away first.”

“And I’ll beat your ass from here to Brisbane.” Max released Maggie and snatched Carol’s arm, jerking her closer. Carol stumbled and cried out. “Ow!”

“Hey!” Tyler lurched forward.

Maggie grabbed him. “No. Don’t.”

“Dad, let go! You’re hurting me!”

Something came over Maggie then, something she’d tamped down in the past, but couldn’t hold back now. Seeing Max roughly handle Carol, like he had her all those years, broke the dam inside her.

She rushed forward, fists pummeling his body. She went straight for his face, head, and neck. Hitting, scratching, clawing. “Let her go! Let her go, Max, or I swear I will fucking kill you!”

He shoved Carol away.

Peripherally, she saw her fall to her knees. Tyler helped her up.

But what came next—even though she knew what to expect, her husband in prime form—was worse than anything before.

“You. Fucking. Cunt.” He backhanded her across the face with a force that sent her sailing into the wall. At once, her jaw cracked and felt like it was coming off her face. Her head dented the sheet rock, sending plaster flying, and her body crumbled to the floor.

“Mom!” Carol screamed. “Dad! Stop!”

Maggie shook her spinning head and tried to focus on Carol, while attempting to pull up into a sitting position. Her vision was blurry, but she kept blinking and found her. Tyler held her back.

“Go,” she uttered.

“Mom, no!”

“Tyler. Take her. Now.”

The last thing she saw was Carol’s eyes, and the boy she didn’t really know, rushing her daughter away from the madness.

The only sensation she felt at the moment was relief.

Relief that the kids were out of the house. Relief that Chloe and Jason were safe.

Those things were all that mattered.

And oddly, relief that Max was here and dealing with her for what she’d done. The anticipation of his coming wrath would have driven her insane had he waited and let her stew on it for a while—wondering how he was going to punish her for breaking into this office.

From what she could tell, she was still in Carol’s room, lying on her side, her left cheek pressed into the prickly carpet. After the kids had left, Max had struck her once more, this time square in the face, and she’d blacked out.

Her breathing was shallow, barely lifting her chest, and she measured every breath like it was her heartbeat.

Maybe they were one and the same. With breath, there was a heartbeat.

Without a heartbeat, there was no breath.

One relied on the other. And right now, it seemed she had both things going for her.

But not much else.

She rapidly blinked her eyes open wide, staring across the bedroom floor. A pile of clothes over there. The legs of Carol’s bed. A pair of sneakers. Cymba, their yellow house cat, poked her head out of the closet. Max sat in the chair at Carol’s makeup table.

She breathed deeper and let the air out slowly.

“Time to wake up, Maggie. We need to talk.”

He crossed the room and bent to grab her forearm, forcing her into a standing position.

“You’re home. Early,” she spit out.

He grinned. “Surprised you, huh?” He half-dragged, half-walked her over to the bed. Her head fell forward. Dizzy. “Sit.”

“How.” Still finding her words. Somewhere in the depths of her brain, though, she couldn’t understand his being there, yet. Earlier than she’d expected. To throw me fucking off course, that is why.

“Charter jet services can work wonders in a pinch.”

Ah. “Expensive.”

“Oh, but so worth it to see your face, darling, when I walked through that door.”

Element of surprise.

“Did you know the cops called me when Carol had the wreck? They called me first, sweetheart.”

Shit. Why?

“How fucking stupid of you to let her take the kids to school while you were poking around in my things.”

He paced away from the bed, grabbed the wooden chair he sat on earlier, and placed it in front of her. He sat, leaning forward, and glared into her eyes.

Lovely. Max at eye level . She hoped she could remain conscious. Alert.

Reaching out, he softly, seductively, ran a finger along her jawline.

She jerked her face away.

“Sorry I had to pop you one there, sweetheart, but you were getting out of line.”

“Right. My fault.” It was in her best interest to be compliant, at this point.

“You know it is, darling. My bad girl.”

Don’t start that shit.

“You do need to be punished. Don’t you? I mean, this wasn’t the punishment, you understand. Just the wake-up call.” One corner of his mouth angled up in a half-grin. A heartless half-grin.

She jutted her chin up. “I’m awake.”

“Good. Let’s talk.”

“Fine.”

“Punishment later.”

“Whatever.” Her body gradually felt more aware, her brain sharper. The throbbing ache in her jaw was definitely a sign of being alive. She just wanted to keep it that way.

“So, did you find what were you looking for in my office, sweetheart?”

She glared back. I’m not going there, Max.

This was not the conversation she wanted to have. Not right now. What she wanted was to twist the narrative to something she needed to discuss—because this moment might be her only chance to get the upper hand.

If that were possible.

Besides, she wanted to keep him talking and not using his fists.

“I can’t even believe you have another baby. What the shit?”

He chortled. “Seriously? You want to talk about the baby?” Sitting back in the chair, he shrugged. “Cute little bugger. You should see it.”

It. Lovely. Maggie jerked her gaze away from his snarly, cocky attitude. She couldn’t look at him any longer. “Right. Let’s have a tea party,” she muttered.

Max laughed. “Look, sweetheart. It’s no big deal. Life goes on.”

“Are you insane? Life goes on? What the fuck?”

He leaned forward again, peering into her eyes. “You get it. Right? Nothing needs to change. We can make this work, and the kids will never have to know. Of course, I realize Carol already knows, but she’s practically an adult.”

“What are you saying, Max?”

He smiled and touched her bottom lip. “I’m saying that life goes on just like it always has. You and the kids will stay here in the States. I’ll come home now and again—just traveling and away more than usual. No one will suspect anything. And Lilly and the baby will live in Brisbane.”

“Lilly?”

He blinked. “Yes. That’s… her name.”

Bingo . She thought about the sticky note. “Ah. Your mistress.”

“Now, Maggie.”

“So, she and it, AKA the baby, will live with you in Brisbane.”

“Of course.”

“While we, your family of twenty years, will live here in the states. And everything will be hunky-dory. Do I have that right?”

“Best plan of action, I think. Don’t you?”

“Ridiculous.” She pushed up off the bed and moved away from him, refusing to give in to a fleeting moment of dizziness.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she hugged herself— suddenly cold —as she crossed the room and leaned against the window frame.

Gazing out on the street, she said, “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. ”

“I can’t?” He snickered. “I seemed to have managed so far.”

She glared at him. He was right. And she’d let him, dammit. “Not this time. Because I won’t let that happen.”

“Right.”

“You are a fucking asshole.”

He chuckled.

God, how she’d hated that sound over the years.

“You’re right. I am.” His grin fell into a frown. Abruptly, he stood and followed her. “Don’t fight this. I’m warning you. We can make this work, and no one will know. The beauty is that Lilly is half-way around the world.”

“And no one there has to know, either. Obviously.”

He ambled closer, that stupid cock-ass grin on his face.

“Look, Mags. You have it good here. I’ll send the money and pay the bills, like always.

Nothing has to change. You all stay in the house, the kids go to their private schools, and you keep the fringe benefits of being my wife.

Besides, you don’t want to mess this up for the kids and their futures.

I know you will do anything for those kids. And I mean, anything.”

He paused, looking her over.

She felt like a piece of steak at the meat counter.

“Why, Max? Why play this game? Just let me go and you can have your family in Brisbane. I’ll go on my merry way.”

“With the kids, right?”

“Of course. You don’t really have strong relationships with any of them. Not saying you can’t see them, but….”

“No!” he barked. “Not happening.”

Something out the window caught her eye. A patrol car? Pulling up to the house. Shit. Is that a good or bad thing?

“Carol has college coming up real soon. How could you pay for that without me?”

Bastard. “Scholarships? Student loans? Part-time job? How do you think people pay for things like that? I’ll find a way.”

He crowded closer. “You don’t want to strap Carol with student loan debt.”

No, she didn’t. But she also didn’t want to chain herself to Max for the rest of her life.

Or Carol. Mostly, she wanted to separate the kids from depending on him too much because, frankly, with him having another family in Australia, how long could that last?

At some point, she was going to have to tell the kids the truth.

Wait. Was that the thing she could hold over his head?

“On one condition, Max.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll go along with this two-family charade if, and only if , you tell the kids the truth. That you cheated on me, and often, and that you have another family in Brisbane. That’s my condition. They deserve to know the reason their lives are turning upside down.”

She could almost see the wheels turning in his head. If the kids knew, then who else? His family? The neighbors? “Not happening.”

“Then I’ll tell them.”

His expression went blank. Stone cold. “And you know what will happen if you force my hand on this, Mags?”

Oh, she knew. Punishment.

In one swift motion, he grabbed her by the neck and shoved her up against the wall. “Back off. That’s not happening. Things need to stay just the way they are with the kids. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

His grip was tight, constricting her airway. Immediately, she went lightheaded. Couldn’t. Breathe. Gasping…for breath.

“Fine.” She half-choked out.

He squeezed tighter and held for a moment, the back of her head and neck pressed tightly against the wall, his gaze boring into hers.

She knew her face was red, could feel heat in her cheeks.

Her lungs screamed for air. Her legs weakened, and she knew the only thing holding her up was him pinning her to the wall by the neck.

Then, quickly, he released her, knocking her head back against the wall. She slid to the floor. Gasping repeatedly, grabbing her throat.

“You may have just saved your life.”

“So… So, don’t…tell the kids.” She rested a hand on her throat, still leaning against the wall. Still trying to catch her breath. “But you can’t…kill me. What would the kids…think of you, then?”

Max shook his head and stomped off. “There is an easy way, Maggie. And a hard way. The one I proposed is the easy way. Quit making this difficult.”

“Tell Lilly. About us.”

He whirled back. “What?”

“Tell Lilly about us. Your family. Here. She needs…to know what she’s getting into. I’ll back off.”

“She already knows.”

“Really? Everything?”

He glared. Maggie held steadfast. He was lying. She refused to move even a fraction of an inch.

“I’ll tell her, Max, if you don’t.”

Slowly, his face broke into a wide grin. “Like you could find her.”

The doorbell rang downstairs, followed by a series of hard knocks on the front door, and shouting. Max twisted toward the sound. “Who the fucking hell?”

Maggie waited, saying nothing, until he rushed to the window and apparently spotted the patrol car. He turned back to look into her eyes. The seconds tripped by like silent heartbeats.

“Her name is Lilly Colling. She lives on Macleay Island. Do you want me to tell you her street address, too?”