The Billionaire's Salvation(41)

“She didn’t have to. He went to jail. I think she’d been trying to get away from the relationship for a while, but he really did a number on her,” Travis answered, setting his coffee mug on the table, and leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of him.

“What were the charges?” Max asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Travis, reading something unsaid.

“Assault with a deadly weapon. Nasty ordeal,” Travis replied, deadpan.

“You set him up,” Max guessed, fairly certain Travis was the man who had put the asshole in jail.

“I went to have a discussion with him. Let’s just say I made sure there were witnesses.”

“Did Mia know?” Max was enraged, his mind flashing with scenarios of Mia hurting, Mia crying, Mia bleeding.

“No,” Travis answered calmly. “She had her studies and her job to worry about. All she ever knew was that he was going to jail, and she was safe. It was all she needed to know.”

Max barely noticed when Kade got up and took the empty mug from his hand. He let go, his hand shaking with pent-up rage as he released the handle. “And last time?” Max rasped, spearing Travis with a resentful stare.

“He took her by surprise when she was leaving her car in a parking lot. She had dismissed your security, telling them she was going to be with Kade and me, and had our security. She told them to take some time off because she didn’t want them following her around town on errands. Danny had her in his vehicle before she even realized what happened. It was the morning you left, and he took her to an area near your jet, forced her to watch while he showed her how easily he could kill you,” Travis explained, picking his coffee mug up from the table and taking a sip of his coffee, scowling as he realized it was now cold.

“She’s a smart woman. She told him she would go with him, gave him everything he wanted to hear, but she said she needed a day to take care of some things first. She finally convinced him to let her go by herself by telling him she needed to arrange things to get to her trust fund. Somehow, she convinced him to meet her the next morning, making him think she wanted to go with him. I don’t think she wanted to even tell me, but she asked for my help and I wasn’t going to refuse her. We set up the stuff at the beach, hoping she would be assumed dead, and I got her away from Tampa as fast as I could. I wanted to tell you, Max. And I wanted Kade to know she was alive. I just wasn’t entirely sure how either of you would react. I couldn’t risk leaving any trail to Mia. This man was psychotic, probably more deranged than my father and a hundred times more dangerous. I wanted her safe and needed time to track his ass down. I never realized that it would take over two years to find the bastard,” Travis grumbled.

“What about the police?” Max asked, already fairly certain he knew the answer. He’d dealt with the police himself on Mia’s case, and he was doubtful he would have wanted to give Danny that kind of time to take Mia away.#p#分页标题#e#

Kade walked back into the living room, handing Max a full mug of coffee as he answered, “Our father was a nut case. Do you have any idea how many times the police were at our house for a domestic dispute, usually reported by neighbors? The Harrison family was notorious, and not in a good way. Do you really think they would have taken her seriously? They would have done their job, but it would have alerted Danny, and it probably wouldn’t have stopped him. There isn’t a lot they can do with stalkers.”

“But he hurt her,” Max argued, having problems even speaking those words.

“No witnesses. No proof that he was to blame. They wouldn’t have had any evidence to immediately arrest him. Do you really think we could be totally certain that she was safe?” Travis drawled bitterly. “I’m sorry, Max. But I wasn’t taking that chance with my baby sister or Kade. She needed to disappear for a while until I could track him down. Had I known the bastard was getting out of prison early, I would have had him tailed.”

“For over two fucking years? You should have told me. She was my wife to protect.”

“She was my sister before she was your wife,” Travis pointed out gruffly.

“I didn’t know,” Max answered, his statement haunted and hollow. “She never told me. I should have known she was in danger. I should have known about him.”

Did I ever open myself up to her? Did she think she really had reason to trust me not to judge her? She was trying to be the perfect wife, trying to please me.

“You’re not psychic, buddy,” Kade replied. “She obviously didn’t want to talk about it. I never knew either. And he had been in jail for years. Nobody could predict what he was going to do when he got out.”