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“He probably has the list saved somewhere.”

“I guarantee he does.” Max takes another drink of his coffee before his expression turns more serious. “He also made it clear that if I ever used what I knew about you or his family against any of you, keeping my identity secret would become the least of my problems.”

That sounds even more like Ronan.

“How long did he know before I figured it out?”

“A few weeks.”

“And neither one of you thought maybe I should be included in this?”

“I already admitted I should’ve told you. I’m not taking responsibility for Ronan too.”

I pick up my phone from the table. “Oh, he’s getting his own conversation.”

Max laughs. “I’d pay to hear that one.”

“You’ll probably hack into his phone and listen.”

His eyebrows lift. “Do you have any idea how difficult it would be to get into Ronan Murphy’s phone?”

Max thinks about it for a second. “Okay, fair point. I’d probably try.”

I laugh and manage not to piss off my side this time. “I can’t believe both of you assholes knew.”

“Technically, I always knew.”

“Keep talking and I’m telling Duncan you violated the two-hour visitation agreement.”

I finally look at the message Zee sent while I was watching Max.

Zee: Someone had to keep you from getting yourself killed.

I turn the laptop toward him. “You’ve been telling me the same shit from two directions for three years.”

“You’ve given me plenty of reasons.”

Unfortunately, I can’t argue with that. I close the encrypted chat and set the laptop aside, but Max being Zee is going to take longer to put away. I’m already thinking about conversations I had with both of them and wondering how many things I missed because it never occurred to me that they could be the same person.

“You realize I’m going to randomly remember shit for the next six months and get pissed at you all over again.”

“I figured.”

“And I’m going to use this against you whenever it benefits me.”

“That also seems fair.”

I pick up my coffee and settle farther into the couch. “Good. As long as we understand each other.”

Max reaches for the remote and turns on the television. I guess the interrogation is over for now. He’s wrong, but I have plenty of time to come up with more questions, and I’m not spending my first afternoon out of Duncan’s house in a month turning my best friend inside out for every answer at once.

I look over at Max while he flips through something to watch. Three years ago, Zee showed up on my computer and scared the shit out of me by proving how easily someone could find me. Not long afterward, Max walked up to me in a coffee shop and eventually became the person I trusted with parts of myself I didn’t give to anyone else. Finding out those two relationships started with the same man changes how I got here, but it doesn’t change the three years that came after.

Max catches me looking at him. “What?”

Something occurs to me, and I sit up a little straighter. “Wait a fucking minute. I paid Zee.”

Max’s mouth twitches. “You paid me for work I did.”