Unethical

Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Sarah

“ D oc,” Maxim says from the driver’s seat, but I shake my head to stop him. Just sitting beside him makes my skin crawl. I don’t need him trying to talk to me too.

“Don’t, Maxim. People rarely have to sit in such close proximity to a man who assaulted them, so it would be great if you could at least let me sit in silence.”

“Suit yourself,” he says.

I’m the one who demanded silence, yet I can’t stand it. With each breath he takes, he ignites a rage I’ve never felt. It’s insufferable. He is insufferable.

How did I ever allow myself to end up in this position? Before he strolled into my office, my life may not have been perfect, but it was better than whatever it’s become. This man has broken my trust on a profound level, and I can’t wait to send him back to the cage from whence he crawled.

There’s just one question eating away at me, and I need the answer before I hammer the final nail into his coffin.

“Why’d you do it?” I ask.

“Do what?”

“Assault me while wearing that mask.” My eyes land on the plastic abomination staring at me from the back seat.

“Can’t we get past this somehow? I didn’t do anything with that mask that you didn’t let me do without it.”

My gaze wrenches free from the mask and lands on his face. “I let you , not whoever you pretended to be. It’s not the same thing, even if you’re the same person.” I inhale. “You betrayed me.”

The sun dips low on the horizon, hanging at the edge of the world as it waits for his reply. He takes his time coming up with an answer, but I don’t prod him to hurry up. Though I want to know the reason behind his deplorable actions, hearing his voice only drives daggers into my psyche.

“I can’t explain why I had to have you like that, but I did,” he finally says. “If I’d known I could’ve had you without the false pretenses, I’d never have needed to be him.” His hands tighten on the steering wheel. “Would it change your mind if I told you something about my childhood?”

“I won’t be coerced by your core childhood memories, Maxim. Besides, how could I trust that what you say is the truth and not some manipulation tactic?”

His mouth opens and closes as his brain searches for a rebuttal, but he comes up short. It’s a bit of a disappointment. Despite what I said, I’d hoped he’d forge ahead and give me something. Not that I would believe anything that comes out of his mouth in this moment of desperation. He’s lost me. He has to know that.

After a few more miles of silence, he finds his voice. “I killed my brother, that much is true, but I didn’t do it out of malice. When I pushed him down that well, I thought I was doing something good.”

While I can’t stop my eyes from rolling, I at least have the forethought to look out the window while I do it. He’s spinning some concocted tale to sway me, but I’m unmoved.

“Yeah, killing someone is always a good way to solve a problem.”

“Sometimes death is better. We didn’t have a happy childhood, doc. Our father was a drunk, but he didn’t need the alcohol to find a reason to beat us. There were no intermittent breaks of happiness between the bouts of drinking. There was no loving mother to beg him to stop. Hell, she participated or egged it on most of the time.”

He shifts in his seat, clearly uncomfortable. With any other person, this would be the point when I would offer some kind word of affirmation or a sympathetic glance to give them the strength to continue. I offer neither to Maxim.

These are likely lies, anyway.This is how people like him operate. Once they’re caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar, they suddenly become master magicians. If I look closely, I’ll easily see the moment the penny changes hands. He won’t fool me.

“The beatings weren’t the worst part, though,” he says. “Our parents put us inside this like...unattached basement. They’d throw us into the pit of hell in the middle of the backyard and lock us behind those two gray Bilco doors. And when I say they threw us down there, I mean it in the most literal sense. One time, my brother’s leg...”

He swallows, unable to continue.

I turn toward him and expect to find crocodile tears brimming in his eyes, but I only see a clenched jaw and a rage-filled stare. He missed his calling as an actor. If I didn’t know him and what he’s capable of, I’d probably believe him. He’s very convincing.

I open my mouth to tell him that’s enough, that he doesn’t have to keep spinning a tale to try to save his ass, but he keeps going before I can say anything.

“While we were locked in the dark, me and my brother would try to claw our way out. We were starving, cold, and scared.” A look of shame colors his face. “Have you ever seen what concrete walls can do to fingernails, doc? Before we managed to sneak some rocks down there, that was all we had to dig with.”

“If what you’re saying is true, why not run away? Why not report your parents at school?”

He slams his fist against the steering wheel before gripping it again. “Haven’t you listened to anything I’ve said in all the time you’ve known me? Do you think I didn’t try? The system fucking failed us. I reported them multiple times, and my parents were investigated, but they had a believable excuse for every bruise and broken bone.”

What he’s saying isn’t so far-fetched. Children slip through the cracks all the time. But the fact that he’d concoct such a lie based on the horrible truths of so many of America’s youths makes my stomach turn. Just when I think he can’t go any lower, he plumbs new depths.

“You’re sick,” I whisper.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m a sick fuck. But someone infected me. Isn’t that what your textbooks say? What I am is a product of what I’ve been through.”

“Not always. Some people are born with this disease of the mind, and no amount of happy childhoods and loving parents can save them from what they’ll become.”

He pulls the car to a stop at a red light and turns to me. A fire rages behind his eyes, but something else lurks there as well. If it’s pain or remorse, he’s faking it. “I killed my brother because I thought I was saving him.”

I shake my head. I don’t fucking believe a word he says. Behind every genuine moment with Maxim resides a tenfold of inauthenticity. Nothing is real where he’s concerned.

Not even the feelings I’ve developed for him.

“You’ve lied to me all this time, so I’m not sure why you think I should believe you now,” I say.

“Fine, then don’t.”

The light turns green, and he focuses on the road again as he eases the car through the intersection. I fold my arms over my chest as he continues toward the mall. The silence between us is absolutely suffocating, and I can’t wait to get a breath of fresh air the moment we get to the parking lot.

He doesn’t see the problem with what he’s done to me. The mental torment he’s put me through as that man in the mask. He witnessed the aftermath in my office, when I was nearly catatonic from one of his assaults. Does he not remember sending me home from my own job because of his selfish actions?

He has to know I can’t forgive him for this. Despite forgiving everything else I knew about him, this was too far. Too personal. Maxim has always been a tornado, but for the first time, he’s touched down on me. He destroyed me and left me forever changed.

Maxim pulls up beside my car, and I have the door open before he can come to a complete stop.

“Sarah,” he says, but I slam the door before he can utter another word. I don’t want to hear it. Nothing he can say will assuage this white-hot anger roiling through me.

I scramble to pull my keys from my pocket, and then I get into my car and close the door behind me. I hit the lock button, and the sound is like a death knell as all four doors latch. I drop the back of my head against the headrest and let myself cry because I deserve to. I need to. A piece of me has died, and I need to grieve.

And that’s not even the worst part. Maxim can still ruin my life. He can report my unethical behavior and completely decimate the career I’ve built.

When I open my eyes and look out the window, he’s gone. It’s just me and this broken version of myself and the decision I have to make, regardless of the consequences. Maxim belongs back in prison, and I’ll be the one to put him there. Even though it may cost my career, I’m turning him in the moment I get back to the office on Monday.