Page 26 of The Torturer's Target

“Your father really wanted to stick it to Walker, didn’t he.” she muttered.

Max smiled. “Yeah. It was probably his way of giving Walker the middle finger. Of reminding the man what he had taken away from him. Anyway, the child was born, DNA was taken, and confirmed my father was indeed the biological father. The child was the spitting image of me when I was a baby. My father named him Maximus Kingston. The child became Maximus Kingston McCarthy—taking on Lisa’s surname.”

“Which brings us to your claim that this imaginary Maximus Kingston McCarthy is the bully in your fairytale and the man that killed my father,” she chirped in a mocking tone.

Max ignored her. “My parents got back together three years after being separated, and I think they found love much later in the marriage. My father made sure that Maxi never lacked for anything. Lisa raised him on her own. The child grew up to be a dick. He knew he had two powerful families behind him, so he used it to his advantage to do whatever he wanted and get away with it. My father wanted Maxi to have the best education, we ended up in school together. We looked identical, but no one seemed to put two and two together. And our characters were so different.

“Maxi always hated me. Always,” he deadpanned. “According to him, we were the reason his father couldn’t love him,” he scoffed and shook his head. “Useless sonofabitch. His father couldn’t love him because his father didn’t know how to show love. Our father showed love through his money, and the bastard never lacked for anything. Anyway, Maxi was a druggie during school, and a big-time bully. I simply avoided him. He tried to rape a girl in school and got expelled. My father covered up the crime, but he was so mad at Maxi that he brutally cut him off. Maxi blamed me for that. That same week, he… he and his gang …. The things they did to me…” Max averted his eyes. Memories assailed him, and his hands balled into fists as he tried to suppress them. He hated those memories as much as he hated the man responsible for them.

“After I escaped, Maxi was nowhere to be found. My father died two years later of a heart attack, and the bastard came back to get his share. I was in med school when I got the news of what he did.” He swallowed tightly. “That monster attacked my poor mother. He assaulted her.”

The emotions in his eyes… Tesiera was starting to believe his stories. The man looked murderous.

Finally, he took a deep breath and continued. “The things Maxi and his gang did to me didn’t hurt me as much as what he did to my mom. I hated violence since I was a child, and I was going to be a doctor. Because of Maxi, I vowed I would never let him hurt my family again. So, I learned how to defend myself and protect my family. I learned how to fight. I learned to use guns and knives. I was trained by skilled men who were each a master of their art.”

That would explain why he was able to defend himself that night, she thought. The man wasn’t just a fighter, he was a professional.

“I vowed to kill Maxi for what he did to my mother. I went after him for years, but Maxi was good at hiding. Seven years ago, my men found him. He was a big-shot drug dealer who’d changed his name, but it was him. I went after him, but the bastard escaped.” Max paused. “Weeks later, rumor had it that he was killed in a gunfight with another drug dealer.”

She scoffed, derisively. “Isn’t it convenient that the man is dead? There’s no one to refute your little story.”

His eyes bored into hers. “I don’t believe that he’s dead either. I think Maxi faked his own death to avoid being caught by me or the law enforcement. But it doesn’t matter. I never gave up searching for that asshole. I will search until I see his lifeless corpse. I’ll never believe that he’s dead otherwise. My scars are nothing compared to my mother’s demons. I will find that bastard, and I will kill him myself,” he stated vehemently.

“I don’t believe you,” she told him bluntly.

He shrugged. “That’s too bad, Tesiera Anderson, because that is all you’ll get. Over the years, I have had a lot of people mistake me for Maxi. I have been attacked by people he wronged before; you are not the first.” He angled his head, his eyes lighting up at what he saw. “You have doubts. I see it in your eyes. The battle to believe or to deny.”

When had she become transparent? Tesiera narrowed her eyes, her anger bubbling to the surface. She hated that he could read her so clearly. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He bent down to be eye level with her, and firmly said, “I did not kill your father.”

“I don’t believe you,” she repeated just as firmly.

Max stared at her for a moment. Then he reached into his pocket and withdrew a key. Still holding her eyes, he reached behind her and inserted it into the lock.

I could get lost in his eyes.

The thought that came out of nowhere startled her as much as his actions confused her. “What the hell are you doing?”

He ignored her, unlocked the key, and yanked the chains off her, freeing her arms. He did the same to her feet before he stepped back to give her room. As Tesiera rose, he withdrew a dagger from one of her sheaths and raised it between them.

She instantly assumed a defensive stance at the unexpected action. But he didn’t attack. Instead, he moved closer to her, his eyes holding hers captive again as he pressed the dagger into her hand.

He didn’t let go of her hand; instead, he raised it to his throat and pressed it there. “Cut me,” he ordered.

“What!?” she hissed, completely caught off guard.

“You believe I killed your father, and I have told you that I didn’t. Since you don’t believe me, kill me. After all, you want to avenge the death of your father, right?” He was completely calm as if they were discussing the weather.

She looked down at the knife and then back at him. She couldn’t believe this man. Just when she thought she’d figured him out, he went and proved her wrong.

“Do you think I won’t do it?” she hissed, tightening her grip on the knife.

His hand dropped, but hers remained. “Then do it.”

Tesiera glared at him. She hated being caught unawares and she wasn’t one to hesitate when an opportunity presented itself. So why was she hesitating now?

A flick of her wrist and she’d kill him. Dig into his trachea, then gut him like a fish. So why the hell was she hesitating?

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