Holy shit! What the fuck? No. It had to be a mistake. Max wouldn’t. Surely, he wouldn’t.
I jumped at the sound of the door opening.
“Hey, Babe. Sorry, I’m late. Are you ready to go?”
I stared at Max. I couldn’t speak.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay? Is it the baby? Angel.”
I tried to get up, but my legs were weak. I had two choices. I could ignore the mail and pretend that my life hadn’t just changed radically, or I could find out what the hell Max was up to.
“What’s this?” I asked, deciding on the latter.
“What?”
“You’re smuggling drugs? Are you fucking kidding me, Max?”
24
MAX
Iwanted to run. It didn’t matter where to, as long as it wasn’t somewhere I was forced to answer Angel’s question. The blood pooled in my feet as I stood fixed to the floor in my office doorway.
“Angel.”
“What is this, Max? Tell me this is a joke between you and Vlad.”
“Why are you reading my emails, Angel? Don’t you trust me?”
Oh, that’s great, Max, you fucking idiot. Attack is the best form of defense, is it?
“Excuse me? Is that really the way you want to handle this?”
“Fuck,” I said and closed the door. “No. It isn’t.”
“Is this the reason you’ve been so moody and distracted?”
I walked over to the leather seat and flopped into it. I knew this day would come, but I hoped it wouldn’t be so soon.
“Yeah.”
“Max. What are you doing? Why? I don’t understand. Your business is so strong. Why would you do something so fucking insane? Is it the money?”
“No. It has nothing to do with money.”
“What then?”
Angel was pale. I worried that the shock of what she’d just learned would be bad for the baby. More guilt boiled up inside me.
“I don’t have a choice in the matter. I fucking hate this, Angel. But, I’m trapped.”
“Who is this Grigoriy?”
“It’s better if you don’t know, Babe.”
“Oh, fuck off, Max! Don’t give me that bullshit. It’s a bit late for that now, isn’t it? I’m the attorney for this firm. I’m in it as deeply as you are. Talk.”
Pale had turned to red. Angel was fuming. I’d have to tell her everything. I owed her that much.