Anna didn't quite understand what he was talking about.
"Maxwell, your mother... didn't your father know she was alive?"
Maxwell's eyes turned dark.
"Allister always knew she was alive, and only stopped meeting her when he bought you."
"Your father killed my family, and turned me into his family's slave. I hate him."
"I think Mom hates him too..." Maxwell said thoughtfully.
"You don't hate him?"
"No. What good would it do me to hate a dead old werewolf?"
Anna didn't want to see Maxwell's eyes darken and decided she should get back to the original subject.
"Wasn't he a good father to you and your brother?"
"Yes, Anna. He was the best father he could have been. He was a troubled, flawed and confused man, but he loved his children without a doubt."
"He left the whole inheritance to Adam. Don't you think that was a bad thing?"
Maxwell laughed.
"Is that what Adam believes?" He asked and gave an amused laugh. "Allister gave me an empire while he was alive, Anna. Everything Adam inherited, he multiplied with Adam's own inheritance. Everything he bought using his own fortune, he put in my name."
"So that's why Adam is so bad?"
"Who can say for sure why Adam is so adept at cruelty? But the inheritance wasn't what motivated him. There was no way for him to know what Allister was doing with his fortune. Adam never cared much about Allister's business. He's always had a free spirit and a penchant for mischief. When he became a mafia boss and began to rule several areas in the United States at the age of fifteen, he began to take an interest in mafia affairs, but he was already practicing torture like nobody's business, as my father encouraged him to do by delivering into Adam's hands all the people who needed to have their information extracted, and Adam took pleasure in it. He came to his father when he began to take a deeper interest in business. His father knows this world very well, and Adam wanted to take advantage of his knowledge, but he suddenly cultivated a strange friendship with his father, and never invited him to work together again. My father knew that it wouldn't be long before Adam discovered my secret and tried to kill me, so he made me leave the country and I stayed here for two years, learning to control my instincts, with my mother and... Then I became interested in my profession and the two of us started seeing each other less often. But it was Adam who rejected his family's love. He kept running away to the villages and the werewolves, attracted to the Alpha, hid him and taught him everything he needed to know..."
"Adam didn't want to marry a werewolf from any tribe?"
"No, but after he learned what to do with the toy between his legs, he went back and took the virginity of many werewolf girls."
Anna turned red.
"He... How do you know that?"
"Because, Anna, I was with him."
"As his brother, how would you define it?"
"Evil." Maxwell said and his eyes twinkled nostalgically. "He always amused me with his stories of evil. Once, he asked me why he couldn't see through my eyes, and I told him that I was never like him. It seems that he... He sensed what I was, and the need to protect me was very strong, because he told everyone he saw through my eyes..."
"That doesn't sound mean."
"It's not. It's the only time in my life that I've seen Adam do something for someone that didn't benefit himself."
"So one kindness doesn't erase all the evil?"
"No, Anna. It doesn't. Adam is dangerous."
"The Adam I knew wasn't like that. He's not bad. He just doesn't know how to listen to 'no'. He's spoiled, but he's not bad."
"You're intelligent, but you're misinformed. Have you ever witnessed him torturing his enemies?"
"It's his men who do the dirty work. I've never seen him torture anyone."
"Anna, it's not very difficult to find out that he's a psychopath. He recorded the torture sessions. He got pleasure from them. And he recorded them all. He sent some of these tapes to me before my father decided that I shouldn't return to the country. Allister believed it was a threat. Only I knew it wasn't a threat. Adam is the only one who knows my secret, Allister and Suzy only suspected, but Adam knew. He never said it out loud, but... I can tell you that he did torture a lot of people."
"It doesn't sound like we're talking about the same person."
"Do you want proof of what I'm talking about?"
"Yes." She accepted defiantly.
Maxwell stared at her for a while, deciding whether or not to show her what her son might have inherited from his father. He knew she would worry about it when she saw what Adam was capable of. But she couldn't close her eyes to reality. Ian would inherit his grandparents' wit on both sides. That was something they couldn't stop. But they could show other ways.
"All right. I'll show you." He said, standing up and holding out his hand to her, who accepted it and they went to his room. She let go of his hand and looked at him suspiciously as he opened the door and entered. He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking and said in a hurt voice, "I'm not going to do anything to you that you don't want me to. I'm not like that." He said, at that moment, it was true. She had no way of knowing that it would be any different in the near future.
Anna regretted looking at him suspiciously and hesitating, and she went inside, while he seemed satisfied, and taking out a box, which hid a safe, she opened it and took out a DVD. Then he left the safe open and went over to the DVD player, which she hadn't realized was a DVD player, and put it on, inviting her to sit down on the sofa next to him. She watched it all the way through, and contrary to what Maxwell imagined, she didn't look horrified or worried, she just stared at him for a moment after it was over.