“Did they ask for your help?”
“No. But that doesn’t matter.”
“I think it does.”
“Max, together or apart, Vanessa is my second.” When it came to our partners, it was a mutual understanding that they were the priority of us all. If Cynthia’s mother were kidnapped, we’d all be involved. “She’s still my second. She’ll always be my second.”
Max’s nostrils flared in annoyance, but he finally dropped the argument.
“I’ve gotta do this, Max. I know Vanessa…if she loses her brother, she’ll never get over it.”
“I don’t see how that’s your problem, man. She turned her back on you.”
But she didn’t want to. I remembered the last day we were together, the way she was broken like shattered glass. I’d never seen her lose her strength like that, seen her sob like that. Losing me was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. I knew she still loved me, even if she was with someone else. I knew she would never love him the way she loved me. “Even if she did, I would never turn my back on her.”
Max sighed, his eyes dropping their hostility. He moved his hands to his hips, staring at me with indecision in his eyes. He considered the task before him through several heartbeats.
“I need an answer, Max. I have to get going.”
He dropped his hands and picked up the bulletproof vest from the table. He started to strap it on. “I’m in. But not for them—for you.”