Page 29 of Charity's Redemption

Nico clasped his hands together, and I sat back in my seat, my arms resting on the chair’s armrests, my hands resting in my lap.

“We’ve known you your whole life. You think we can’t tell when something’s the matter?”

“There are no words to describe what’s wrong. It just is.”

Fair enough. I’m sure we’ve all had those feelings lately. The difference was we didn’t exhibit destructive behavior, and that was the path I saw Max heading down.

Nico’s phone pinged. He dug through his pocket, glanced at the screen, then frowned.

“Care to share with the rest of the class?”

He cleared his throat. The look of confusion slid away as he tucked his phone back into his pocket. “Notification.”

I eyed him over once again. After his words about us knowing each other our whole lives, did he really think I wouldn’t know when he was lying? Nico was a terrible liar with me, but that was for another time.

“Max, you know we’re here for you. But you at least need to let us in on what’s going on so we can help you.”

He shook his head, striking irritation at the back of my throat. There was so much I wanted to say right now, shake him out of it, but none of it would do any good in this case. He’d just shut down further.

“There’s nothing to say.”

“Fine.” I shook my head. If he would not give me an answer, then we’d talk about something more important. “Vito came to me and told me something interesting.”

Nico’s interest piqued, making him sit straight in his chair. Max did nothing, just stared at the ground with vacant, glazed-over eyes.

“Agent Harding, the one we all wished we could strangle, didn’t show up for work in DC.”

“I didn’t realize we were keeping track of his work habits,” Nico asked.

“We’re not. We’re keeping tabs onhim. I had someone run by his apartment.” I paused, waiting for Max to show some interest. He had to have some sort of response about the man that gunned for Charity.

He raised his head and changed his posture. “And?”

I squared my shoulders with success. If there was one thing, one person, that would get him out of the chaos running amuck in his head, it would be Charity and the threat to her safety. “He’s gone.”

Max raised his gaze to mine. “Where did he go?”

“How do you know he’s gone?” Nico asked, peeling my attention from Max.

“Harding’s apartment was clean, sterile almost, not a thing out of place. So my guys sat on it for a while, nothing. No activity.”

“So you don’t know where he’s at?”

“No. But they are out there looking for him.”

“It can’t be good if he’s disappeared. Do you think someone got to him?” Nico asked as though he’d read my mind.

“Can’t be sure. But there isn’t a trace of him anywhere yet. So whoever or whatever happened—it didn’t happen on a whim.”

Max rubbed his hand over his hair and exhaled. “Great.” He picked up his plate and headed into the kitchen.

“What do you think is going on with him?” I asked, making sure he was out of earshot.

“If I had to guess, it would be about house hunting. He lost everything that reminded him of Zio e Zia. That does something to someone.”

This place could turn into a pile of ash, and so long as there was no one inside, it wouldn’t be a loss. To me, it was just a building full of things that were replaceable. Hell, the only thing I’d want to keep were the pictures of our mother, and I had them backed up on the Cloud. Let the fucking thing burn.

Max walked back in with a steaming plate in hand and took his seat, just as Charity walked through the entryway.

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