Matthew’s heart hammered in his chest. Of course, Max would come here bringing his problems. He liked the guy, sure, but there was something to be said about someone who got themselves mixed up with a cartel by running drugs. He didn’t know what beef Colin had with Max, but he was going to find out. Especially now that Max had brought danger to their doorstep.
“I’m gonna go talk to him,” Matthew said, and something in his face must have scared his mother because she looked at him with awed, if wide, eyes.
“Don’t do anything foolish,” she said.
“I’m going to find out why this person took my son. I’m not going to have my family mixed up in whatever crap Max is in,” Matthew said hotly as he stood up. “If anything happens to Patton, it’s on Max’s head.”
Ruth jumped to her feet and followed Matthew into the hotel. They walked up to Max’s room and Matthew burst in without any warning. His fear had ignited a new bomb of anger inside of him. First, David went against his wishes and went to the Carpenter Country, putting himself in all sorts of danger. Now, his brother-in-law had brought new problems to their door—problems that had resulted in his son being kidnapped.
Max was sitting up in bed and sipping on a bottle of water. He looked at Matthew with concern. “Hi,” he said but Matthew was done with pleasantries.
“Who the hell is Colin?” he demanded.
Max’s face went from exhausted-white to a gray-green color. “How do you know that name?” he asked softly.
“I’ll ask again, Max. Who is Colin?”
It seemed as though all words had left Max, and he seemed to be groping around for the right ones.
“Don’t even think about lying to me,” Matthew growled.
“Colin was in prison with me,” Max began, sounding as though he might be sick. “He was part of the cartel too. He’s been wanting to get revenge on me for accepting the plea deal I took. I gave up names and locations to the authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence, but doing that made me an enemy of the cartel. Colin has been after me ever since. I told you about the crashed car, but what I didn’t tell you was when I crashed the car, I was trying to escape them. Colin and some of his cartel friends had me cornered and were beating me up. That’s why I look like I do. They beat me up in prison, and then they beat me up on the road.”
“Why didn’t you tell us any of this?” Matthew demanded.
“I thought I’d lost them!” Max exclaimed. “I swear, Matt, I thought I escaped them.”
Matthew raised his eyebrow at Max. His brother-in-law was an expert liar, and he knew by the way Max tried to make himself look innocent—the earnest act—that he wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“He must’ve tracked me somehow. Maybe my marked-up map fell out of my backpack. I don’t know, but he must’ve found me somehow.” Max looked bewildered as though trying to present every scenario for consideration. “Matt, I would never willingly put anyone in danger.”
“You can tell that to Kathleen when you tell her that this Colin has kidnapped her son,” Matthew said, knowing his words were vicious and not really caring.
All the blood drained from Max’s face. “Colin has Patton?”
“Took him this morning,” Ruth said and crossed her arms. “Threatened him with a knife. To his neck. He said you have to meet him at the gas station next to the Galena Welcome sign by sundown or he’ll take out your crimes on Patton.”
“Oh my god.” Max swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll get him back. Matt, I promise I’ll go right now. He can have me. I won’t let anything happen to Patton.”
Too little too late, Matthew thought. He stared at Max, wanting to strangle him. He wanted to haul the man down to Colin right this instant and give him up. The rage and fear that overwhelmed him was frightening. It brought waves of both recklessness and calm as he began to see everything in stark relief. Buying this hotel was supposed to create a peaceful, safe life for him and his family. It was meant to be an idyllic retreat, not just a business. Living in the mountains, being in nature, spending time together…it was all supposed to be a good thing. When the EMP hit, he thought the hotel would be a refuge from the outside. A place of safety. Now, it seemed as though the hotel had become a twisted representation of everything bad and wrong in the world. Even more than that, Matthew had been mistaken. No place was ever going to give him a sense of security or peace. Not in this EMP-transformed world. Not now. Not ever.
“I get why you lied to us,” Matthew said, wanting Max to hurt. “But why would you lie to Kathleen?”
Max went still.
“She’s the only one that matters to you anyway,” Matthew said. “You don’t care about me or your niece or nephew. As long as you can keep Kathleen on your side, she’ll always support you. So why would you lie to her about something like that? Did the prison really just let you leave?”
“Please don’t tell her that,” Max pleaded. “I do care about you and the kids. I’m not using Kathy, I’d never do that. I wanted to be home with my family. I can explain. She’ll understand.”
“With our son gone? I wouldn’t bet on it.” Matthew’s hands clenched into fists.
“I escaped from prison,” Max said in a rush. “Colin was going to murder me. No one was going to stop it. Please don’t tell Kathleen. I’ll tell her in my own time.”
Matthew glared at Max. “Fine. But you will come clean about Colin, do you hear me?
