“He does, but I was the one who walked out on our last conversation. What if I reach out and he wants nothing to do with me?”
Fred put his hand on my shoulder. “Maybe I should confess something, too.”
“Confess what?”
His face went red.
“That night at the club. I knew we needed to be quick or we’d risk losing the kid again.”
“Yes…” What was he getting at? What did this have to do with Max?
“I was kind of jealous when I saw you with that guy. You were so focused on him like the club could have caught fire and you wouldn’t have noticed.
“I made it look like… maybe you and I were together. I saw the light in his eyes disappear. You were so focused on the missing kid you didn’t even notice, and I was just glad I had a genuine excuse to get you away from him.”
“Fuck, Fred. Seriously?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Jesus.” I rubbed my hands over my face. I didn’t want to be mad at Fred because the outcome would have been the same. I would have looked out for the kid every time. “Frederico Mendes, you owe me big time for that stunt.”
“You name it.”
