Third POV

I apologize deeply. I am truly sorry for leaving you and abandoning you. I thought you were somewhere safe and living a good life. I wanted to reach out to you, but I was terrified of my mother. I was scared of what she might do if I tried to come for you. I didn’t understand the torment she put you through. Please forgive me, Max wept, overwhelmed by the shock for the first time.

He realized she was right; he could see how his son looked at Eve. The boy seemed like her little soldier, and he couldn’t imagine the suffering his mother had inflicted on him....