Page 65 of Shared By Her Brother's Best Friends

“He’s safe. He’s nearby. I just wanted us to have a little chat first, my love.”

I feel as though I’ve stepped into a surreal alternate reality. My head husband is very much alive and here in front of me and he’s acting as if nothing’s happened.

“Don’t call me that,” I snap.

“I thought you’d be pleased to see me,” Adam says.

“Why? Why did you do it?” I snort, somewhere between hysteria and anger.

“You might have to be a bit more specific for me there,” he smiles at me again and part of me starts to think that this version of my husband must be insane.

“Why everything! Why did you fake your death? Why have you been traumatizing your son? Why did you come back?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he says, seeming surprised by the question.

“No. Enlighten me,” I reply sarcastically, hiding the very real intuition that something isn’t right, as the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Obviously, it’s not. My husband just came back from the dead. But more than that, he’s changed. There’s a strangeness tohim, a dangerous energy that wasn’t there before, even when he was angry or violent.

“Because I love you. I needed to keep you safe. Both of you.”

“Adam, you’ve been gone four years. We thought you were dead! How is that keeping us safe?”

He shakes his head violently. “No. No. You’re not listening, this isn’t… you have to listen to me!” he says agitatedly, and I realize just how unstable he is.

“Okay, alright, I’ll listen. Let’s go get Max and we can talk,” I say trying to keep my voice calm and soothing.

“No!” he yells so loud that it makes me jump. “See… this is the problem. The second the boy was born you only cared about him!” he whines.

“I’m sorry,” I say, trying to placate him. “I’m just so confused, I’m just trying to understand…”

“Of course you are, of course,” he says, all of a sudden calm again. “Please, let’s sit and I’ll explain everything,” he adds, pointing to some chairs.

Hesitantly, I move toward them and sit down. I desperately want to ask about Max. But I don’t dare after Adam’s last reaction. Is my son alone? Is he frightened ? Is he even here?

“As you’re aware, we ran into some financial difficulties as a family. As the husband, it was my responsibility to fix that,” he says, acting as if our money troubles weren’t entirely because of him.

I bite my tongue and nod. “Right…”

“The problem was that I owed money to some unsavory characters who would never let me out of their debt unless I was dead.”

“So you faked your death to stop Victor Kane from coming after you.”

He looks surprised that I’m aware of Kane. “Exactly.”

“Why come back now? Why come back at all? Kane thinks you’re dead.”

“Because you’re my family. We belong together. So I came back to get you. We’re going to start a new life in Mexico,” he declares proudly as if I’d be thrilled by the suggestion.

While I don’t doubt he’s deluded himself into believing that Max and I belong to him and that he’s convinced we can ride off into the sunset as if nothing ever happened, I also know there’s more to his reasoning than he’s letting on.

“So it had nothing to do with Max’s inheritance?”

He flinches a little at that. “Of course not, though we will need the money to start our new life, of course.”

So, there it is. Same old Adam. Always after the money. I’m confident it’s no coincidence that Adam only decided to come back from the dead following his mother’s death and Max’s subsequent inheritance.

“So you knew Max was going to inherit your mother’s wealth. That your mother was dead?”

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