The Billionaire's Salvation(40)

“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.

“Not immediately. She went to Virginia to go to college. My father wanted her to go to business school in Florida and get involved in the business, but that wasn’t what Mia wanted. Gran made jewelry when she was alive, and that’s what Mia wanted to do. Mia had this house and her trust as an inheritance, but she didn’t have control of anything yet. She had to bury herself in student loans that she could pay back later to attend the college in Virginia that had the BFA and MFA that she wanted to become a jewelry designer.” Travis released an audible breath, pausing for a moment before continuing, “Kade and I were both in school too, but once I finished my business degree and was working, I decided to go to Virginia to surprise Mia. I ended up more surprised than she was when I saw what was happening to her.” Travis’ voice cracked, a slight dent in his emotional shield.#p#分页标题#e#

“What happened?” Max asked stoically, not at all sure he wanted to know. But he needed to hear it. “Did he hurt her?”

“Yeah,” Travis confessed. “Pretty badly right about the time I went to visit. But even through all that bullshit, she was working part-time and pulling excellent grades. She was about ready to enter her master’s program. And he was trying to convince her not to—with his fists. He didn’t want her accumulating more loans. The bastard wanted plenty of that trust fund left when she was able to get to it.”

“Fuck!” Max exploded, so enraged he wanted to kill the guy. How could any man hurt Mia? “How did she separate herself from him?”