We left Max and Ella in a pretty messed up state at the end of the last one. Follow Max as she enjoys her freedom, while the FBI sets a trap to bring her to justice and Kenny's struggle trying to reclaim his daughter from her own darkness. They are on a crash course with each other, and not everyone will come out unscathed. Part 3 of my take on the Revelation Stories: Enjoy Revelations in the Dark.

3 Years Later: Eastern Europe

Got to make a living, the woman formerly known as Maxine Lacos thought, taking the silencer off her gun and slipping into the shadows. Putting my skills to good use to scratch my itch. Smiling, she climbed on her motorcycle, and sped off into the night.

3 Years Later: Chicago.

Kenny sat in his parent's parlor, watching Hannah color on the floor as he sat with a happy Ella. Who the receptionist isn't pressing charges on, and Dr. Bailey still wants to see. Ella who wakes up screaming, crying for Max, asking for Noah… Max, I can't think about her now, she did it to herself. Noah sucks. Ella, I can save her. I couldn't save her mother, but I can save my daughter.

"Daddy?" she asked. "Daddy, are you still mad?"

"Never, Kiddo," he said, stroking back her red hair. "You knew Grandma and Grandpa what to take you and Hannah to Disney World?"

She nodded. "If Dr. Bailey says I can. I just wanted to see if she'd be like my picture, Daddy. Noah said the leg was the best place to learn."

I'd kill him myself if Max hadn't already. The one good thing she did with him. No, two, she sent our kids home with Jill. "Not on people, El. You know how it feels when you skinned you knee? You don't want to hurt anyone like that."

"But Noah said."

I hate Noah. I hate what he turned Max into and what he locked in Ella's head. "He was wrong, El, we don't hurt people like that."

"Mommy did. Noah showed me her doing it."

"Mommy was wrong too. Deep down, she knew that," Kenny said. "It's why she sent you and Hannah back to me."

"But I like it, Daddy. Mommy and Noah liked it. Noah said I'd be just like Mommy when I grew up."

Noah is an asshole. "Why do you like it?"

"Noah said I should."

"Ah, El," he said, hugging her close. I wish I could resurrect him and kill him myself. "You don't have to do anything Noah said. I love you, Kiddo."

3 Years Later: Sheriff Station

"Morell," Jimmy said, shaking his hand. "What brings you back here?"

"I had something that may interest you," Morell admitted. "A few things actually. How often do you talk to Kenny Lacos?"

Jimmy felt a pang in his chest. "Not often…He's cut most of his ties here. Jill does, she feels responsible toward Ella and Hannah. Why?"

"I have a watch on them. Unofficially, with who their mother is."

Max, Jimmy thought, the videos of her killing 18 women seared in her brain. She saved Jill, she killed Noah, saved her kids, vanished. She became complicit, she told Jill she liked it and planned on continuing to kill…but to protect her kids from her. "Any leads?"

"One thing at a time. Ella Lacos is in therapy, she's showing signs of being like her mother."

Jimmy nodded, remembering Jill's tears over it. The video of the dog, the blood and flesh cookies, how much did Max know? "She's seven, she can…Kenny hasn't worked in years, he's doing everything he can for her."

"I hope it's enough. The girl has been through a lot," Morell said. "We have a lead on Maxine. There has been chatter over the past two years of a new assassin for hire. One who is particularly lethal, with both knives and guns and leaves no trace of herself. She is very high in demand."

"You think it's Max?"

"I know what I saw in the videos. We both know what she is capable of, Sheriff."

"You're laying a trap?"

Morell nodded. "We're setting up a request on the darknet. If it's her, we'll get her. If not, at least it's some other killer off the street."

"I want in. She nearly got my wife killed, killed 18 people with Noah Quinn, she destroyed Kenny," Jimmy said. "She needs to be put in prison."

"Let's get her."

3 Years Later: Chicago

I could kill Max, Kenny thought, locking Ella's door behind him. I swear if I ever see her again, I might. It's better than she deserves for what she did. I deserve better than her. Ella and Hannah don't deserve to be the kids of Monster Mom…Fresh start, once Ella is okay. I can't let her end up like Max. Even she didn't want that.

"Kenny?"

"I hate locking her in there, Mom."

"I don't care about the cat, Kenny. I care about my granddaughter and her screaming for her mother."

"Her mother won't ever get near her again," Kenny stated. "She was four, she couldn't say no…Her mother jumped right into his arms and…she's just, more, responsible for El's problems than him. I want her caught, I want to look into her eyes and make her see what she destroyed."

"Kenny."

"I loved her. I wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We were going to have a big family, and…she threw it away. No, she let her arrogance destroy her instead of letting me help her. I don't think I'll ever be over it."

3 Years Later: Cambridge, MA

Yoga, Max thought, my other life. Leah Carson. Yoga instructor. Good old gardening, book club, organic food eating, health guru, knitter, Leah. Everyone loves Leah. Stretching a bit, she admired herself in the mirror. Her hair dyed black and cropped to very short two inches, accenting her cheekbones and making her green eyes appear grayer than before. Yoga, she thought, another way I squashed the itch to kill, changed my body and mind. Controlled.

"Good class, Leah. Are you up for a coffee?"

Max looked up, smiling at her friends. "If I can get a green tea instead."

3 Years Later: Chicago

"It's a school for…troubled kids," Kenny said. "Dr. Bailey wants us to send here there for a semester. She's seven, how do I…She was such a…Mom, I want her to get the help she needs."

"I know how much you love her, Kenny."

Like I loved her mother, he thought, her serial killer mother. "She's not getting better. I could live with her crying for her mom because before all of this, Max was a great mom."

Sarah nodded, squeezing her son's hand. "I know she was. I know you hate taking money from us. We will support you and pay for whatever Ella and Hannah need. It's what the money is for."

"She was locked in that bunker; how do I lock her away again?"

"To help her, Kenny. She was traumatized. She needs more help than we can give her," Sarah said. "I know you wanted to…You couldn't save Max, I know you wanted to. I know how much you loved her. Let's help Ella now."

Kenny let out a long breath. My little girl, how do I do this to her? "I'll make the calls. Thanks, Mom. For all of this. Not just the money and letting us live here, everything."

3 Years Later: Brock House

"She didn't kill me," Jill said. "I have to believe…I want to believe she's a better person than she was with him."

"I didn't want to believe she killed all those people either. I know he forced her in the beginning, that something cracked inside her," Jimmy said. "Whether it was self-preservation, a way to cope, the ending ones…That wasn't the deputy I knew. She told you she planned on continuing killing. Of course, she'd find a way to make it productive and a living out of it. She goes by Quinn Harper on the darknet. It has to be her."

"They'll kill her."

"They want to question her. Study her," he said. "The videos tell a story, we watched Noah Quinn transform her into a merciless killer. Her story…I want to know what happened to her down there."

3 Years Later: Cambridge, MA

Job accepted. Transfer here.

We'll pay after the job is done.

That's not the way I do business. If you want my services, you transfer the five million now.

You better be worth it, Quinn. Your money will be there in an hour.

I'll be in touch.

Max smiled to herself, shutting her computer and severing the connection. Time to get to work.

3 Years Later: Sheriff Station

"Quinn Harper accepted," Morell said. "We've dug deeper into her two years on the darknet."

"How many has she killed?" Jimmy asked. "How much as she profited by this?"

"We paid her five million. She's done 20 jobs we can verify, for between one to 20 million," Morell said. "Your deputy is doing very well for herself financially. The people, Sheriff…the women she killed with Noah Quinn, they were a mix of all walks of life. He brought them to her to learn on, to teach her how to kill. It didn't matter to either of them who they were."

"I saw the videos. I know."

"She's been killing child molesters, sex traffickers, rapists, criminals."

"She doesn't get to be judge, jury and executioner."

"I know. It's a quite a turnabout though, if this Quinn Harper is Maxine."

3 Years Later: Chicago

"Daddy? Don't you love me?"

"Ah, El, I love you more than anything," he promised, hugging her tightly one more time. "You're going to have a great time here and I'll come visit."

"Mommy and Noah too?"

I hate Noah. Max made her choices with him, Ella had none. "No, Kiddo. We've talked about this."

"I want Mommy!" she screamed, lunging at him and sinking her teeth into his arm. Drawing blood, she tore his flesh away. "I hate you Daddy!"