Gabe (Blue-Collar Billionaires 3)

I sleep until Zack shakes me awake again.

“What is it?” I mumble.

“You need to come downstairs. We have a visitor.”

I’m too weak to dress myself so Zack helps me get a pair of sweatpants on and forces a T-shirt over my head. Getting down the stairs is just as difficult but I draw the line at anyone carrying me again.

Once we enter the living room, I stop. Max sits on the couch, his assistant Carole next to him. Luke, Tank and Finn are here, too.

When he sees me, Max’s lip quivers. His hand comes up to cover his mouth. “This is what my lies have done. I had to see.”

Zack helps me sit on the couch and I let out a deep sigh when I sink into the cushions. I know my appearance is shocking. One of my eyes is almost swollen shut and the bruise has already started to turn interesting shades of purple.

“What are you doing here, Max?”

He struggles to gain control of his emotions. Tears shine in his eyes as he answers. “To right a wrong. You asked me about Blade and I wouldn’t tell you. Maybe if I had, I could have prevented this.”

As angry as I’ve been at him since he came back into my life, I don’t want him to bear the weight of this alone. “It probably wouldn’t have stopped me. But he’s a threat to someone I love so I’m asking you again. Will you tell us about him?”

Max contemplates us all before nodding slowly. Finn takes a seat on the couch next to me, stretching his leg out in front of him. Zack perches on the arm of the couch while Luke and Tank remain standing. Once he sees that he has our attention, Max starts talking.

“I came to this country without a shilling to my name. It was 1985.” Shockingly his voice sounds completely different, the flat, generic American accent giving way to a lyrical, rolling brogue. We all look at each other in confusion for a moment.

“Wait a minute … You’re Irish?” Luke blurts.

Max chuckles, toying with the head of his cane. “So are you, young fella.”

That gets a startled laugh from Luke. The tension in the room goes down slightly. For a moment Max looks younger, his face animated with pride as he looks around at all of us. Finally he takes another deep breath and continues.

“I was born in Belfast. My family seemed normal enough. My father had extremely strong political opinions, especially about Ireland’s independence. But throughout my youth, I was unaware of just how strong his opinions were until I was older. He was the founder of a secretive group called Le Fírinne' that plotted to overthrow British rule. The name means the truth. It started as a political group with high ideals but by the time I was an adult it had become something else. Something much more dangerous.”

“Like the IRA?” Luke asks.

Max nods. “I was groomed in all aspects of running the organization and soon was traveling around the world to foster connections that would help us get the supplies we needed. Arms, explosives, drugs … " He makes a disgusted face. "My brother handled things at home while I was gone. I was the charming one so they trusted me to get what they needed.” Max glances over at me.

I shift uncomfortably under his scrutiny. We’re definitely two sides of the same coin, Max and I. It makes me feel an unexpected pang of sympathy for him. Suddenly something that Blade said comes back to me.

“Wait. Blade said that my last name is what saved me. Then he said that it’s because my last name is the same as his. Is he our brother?”

Max shakes his head sadly. “No, although that’s not the entire truth. My brother Donaghal had four sons. The oldest, Padraig, became the man you know as Blade. For me, marrying in Ireland was out of the question. Any children I had there would be squarely under the family’s control. So I remained unmarried for years and helped raise my nephews as if they were my own. In many ways, I am responsible for him.”

Anger flares. “Then why the hell is he trying to kill me?”

Guilt swims in Max’s eyes. “The family considers everything that we own to be for the family’s use. While I was traveling abroad, I began to dream of making money legally. They trusted me so I knew if I took some money, they wouldn't notice. At least not right away. I started building my business interests then and putting money aside that they couldn’t touch. Then while I was in the States on business, I met Claire.”

His eyes soften. Tank shifts and I can feel the tension coming from him. Finn has been staring down at his hands this whole time and he doesn’t look up.

“You married her and stayed here for years. I don’t get it. Why did you go back?” Tank sounds like he’s trying to keep his anger under control.

Max glances over at me again. “Because I came home one day to find Donaghal sitting at the kitchen table. He had found out about my little secret and come to see for himself. Claire had no idea how much danger she was in. She was so trusting.”

"She didn't know who he was?" Tank asks.

"I'd told her that I had a brother. She was thrilled to meet some of my family." Max looks so far away, his eyes dim with memories and regret. "I still marvel to this day that he left her alive. I think perhaps my brother might have still had a conscience at th

at point."

“So you ran away?” I’m suddenly seeing the incident with Sasha in a whole new light. His family had him backed into a corner and he’d responded with fear the same way I did. I imagine what it would have been like if I'd come to Sasha's house and found Blade there talking to her. My fingers clench into a fist.