Chapter 3: Coming Clean

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson



Maria closed the door quickly. She stopped in her tracks. Terror bubbled up in her. How had he known. She had tried very hard to keep her name out of the papers. Apparently he had seen the one that did publish her whole name.

"How did you know. Do they know. No if they knew I would know they knew. But I didn't know you knew. Dammit HOW!" Maria was mumbling uncontrollably.

`"Shhh" Max told her. "It'll be alright. None of them knows just me. Not even Liz." Max tried to sooth her.

"How" Maria uttered the only word her brain could form.

"After you left I watched you. I followed you. To make sure that you were okay. I figured that Michael would have never forgiven me if you had been killed and I wasn't there to stop it. But I felt an obligation. When Michael came back I never told him or any of the others that I knew where you lived or that you had married and had kids. I didn't think you wanted them to know. I don't know when he started to hit you. According to your mom he hid it well. He knew where to hit that you would never see a bruise. I wanted to kill him. You are Liz's best friend and like family to me. To us all. But I waited, waited to see if you would come for help. But you never did. You were too proud, too scared, too broken." Max told her the story quietly.

"Wait a minute you said my mom. My mother knew you were there. And how did you leave so often without Liz getting suspiouis." Maria asked.



"Two years after I graduated I joined the FBI. I knew somebody on the inside that helped me get on the inside too. They never knew who I was. It was a thrill to put one over on the organization that had caused me so much pain. I quit last year" Max smiled.

"WHAT ABOUT MY MOTHER" Maria was getting impatient.

"Your mom knew I was there watching over you. She talked me out of killing your husband. Your step dad knew I was there too. But I didn't know she died. I knew she was sick but when I tried to heal her it didn't work. She said that it was fate. Meant to be. Destiny. Damn I hate that word. I think Paige knew I was there, she looked at me like she did. She figured me out before all of you. If she didn't look so much like Joe Diego I would wonder if she really was his daughter. She's so smart." Max smiled again. He meant it Paige was smart. Max and Maria talked a little before Maria let him into the motel room. When paige saw him again her eyes lit up.

"Do you know Max?" Maria asked her.

Paige nodded sticking her thumb in her mouth then taking it out again.



"I saw him at Gramma's house. When I asked her who he was she said he was our angel. That he would try and help keep daddy gone." Paige smiled then her smile faltered.



"But daddy hit momma again and my little brother died. Gramma said the angel tried to save him but something were meant to be. Destiny."Paige put her thumb back into her mouth and went back to the bed and sat down to watch T.V. It perplexed Maria. She was totally comfortable around him. It took a minute before the reason dawned. She didn't see him as a human man. She saw him as a Angel. Maria realized that her mother had planned it that way. So she wouldn't be scare in the event that Max had to come 'save' them.

"I better go" Max told her. "Liz is going to start to wonder where I am. I'll see you guys in a couple of hours." He turned to Maria. "Don't worry, Your secret's safe with me. I won't tell anyone. If you need me call." He told her before he handed her a card with his cell phone and home phone number.



"I own a security company since I quit the FBI. The number's on there." He told her before slipping out the door. Maria felt lighter somehow. She wasn't alone anymore. She felt better knowing she had an ally. Maybe she would come out of this alive after all.

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TBC