Breaking the Lock

Thirteen

After Maxie's escape attempt, he returned her to the cage in the basement and handcuffed her once more to the wall. He cursed at her the entire time, getting in her face but she refused to let him get to her. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction. When she wouldn't cry, he struck out at her giving her a bloody lip. He paced the room, muttering to himself. Half of what he said made no sense which scared Maxie more than the slap in the face. He stopped pacing and turned to face her glaring angrily at her.

"He teach you how to do that?" He demanded.

She wiped at her lip trying to think. This guy was nuts and he obviously hated Nathan. The last thing she wanted to do was make things worse for Nathan. "What are you talking about?"

"West. Did he teach you how to pick locks?"

"No," Maxie replied shaking her head. "My dad is a cop. Was a cop," she corrected herself. "He taught me and my sister how to do it."

"Was? Is he dead?"

"No, he isn't a cop anymore." She jerked her chin up. "What's your name? Who are you?"

He snorted derisively. "Just like that, you think I'll tell you? You're as dumb as your boyfriend." He turned to a shelf and reached for a toolbox. "You know what though? I will tell you. You managed to get free once so maybe you're not as dumb as you're acting right now. Name is Frank Byron. I used to be a cop too. Just like your dear old dad." He rummaged in the toolbox coming up with a hammer and a box of nails. "I know how things work in this world. Like right now, you wanna ask why I'm doing all this. I think I already told you that. Revenge. Plain and simple."

"You said something like that. What did Nathan ever do to you?" She didn't know what to do but to keep him talking. Maybe he would give away something that would help her or Nathan somehow. He moved over to the window she and Britt had broken and looked up at it thoughtfully.

"I used to have a kingdom in the city. No one had more power than me when I was on top. Do whatever I wanted and no one could fucking touch me, no one. But your boyfriend shows up and things change." He was swinging the hammer at his side as he talked hitting the metal of the cage sending tremors through the bars. "He was green but eager. I thought maybe I could mold him; make him into something besides the rich mama's boy everyone thought he was. Biggest mistake of my life."

Maxie couldn't help but feel a little proud of Nathan. Despite being saddled with a family with questionable morals, Nathan's moral code was impeccable. He held onto his honor fiercely going so far as to arrest the woman he thought was his mother once for murder and once for kidnapping. A lesser man would have looked for a way out of it. If Nathan got wind of any wrongdoing, he wouldn't hesitate to report it.

"Your boyfriend played along with me but he was in thick with IA the entire time. He gave them some crap story about me beating a kid to death and they believed every word of it." He aimed the hammer at the broken glass and smashed away the shards as he spoke. "Put me on trial for murder with him as the star witness. I lost everything when that guilty verdict came back. I lost my freedom, my job, my pension. My wife divorced me the minute I was behind bars. My kids barely speak to me. I got five kids and only the youngest one will bother with me. I've got no money and no friends. Nathan West took all of that away from me."

He laid the hammer down and fished in his pocket. "I got out on a technicality you know. I sued and sued the state of New York until I found the loophole I needed. And here I am, free to do whatever I want again. And what I want is to make that sonofabitch pay for messing with me in the first place." He pulled a phone out of his pocket held it out to Maxie. "Call him."

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"I said call him," he repeated coldly. She took the phone and stared at him. Just what the hell was he up to? "Go on. Call him. Say whatever you want. You've got two minutes."

"With you listening?" She shoved the phone back at him. "No thank you."

"I said call him." Byron took a step back from her cage and folded his arms. "Might be the very last time you get to speak to him. Do it."

Maxie dropped her eyes to the phone. Every instinct she had said not to call Nathan. But the thought of hearing his voice was too tempting to resist. She called his number, closing her eyes as she pressed the phone to her ear.

"West." He sounded tired.

"Nathan, it's me."