Max Devore and Mattie Devore’s hostility

Max Devore and Mattie Devore’s hostility grows from Max’s attempt to buy his way back into the family and culminates in his plan to have Mattie killed after she refuses him. Their conflict over Kyra is therefore not merely a custody dispute: Max treats both Mattie’s independence and Kyra’s place in the family as obstacles to be overcome, while Mattie’s refusal makes her a target.

The Attempt to Buy Mattie’s Compliance

After returning from California, Max came back intending to buy Mattie’s agreement to a separation from the family. Mattie would not sell. The contrast defines the conflict: Max approaches a family relationship as something that can be acquired, while Mattie’s refusal establishes that her decision is not for sale.

The available evidence does not describe every stage of their dispute, but it makes clear that Max’s failed attempt to purchase Mattie’s compliance preceded a more dangerous escalation. Once the offer failed, the struggle over Kyra became bound up with Max’s hostility toward Mattie herself.

From Family Conflict to a Murder Plot

Max’s hostility was not simply an extension of his desire to know his granddaughter or repair family ties. Mike later rejects those possibilities, describing Max as a human monster who had returned to buy Mattie’s separation from the family. When Mattie refused, and Sara gained influence over Max, he began planning Kyra’s death. Mike suspects Sara found him a particularly willing instrument.

The revelation changes the meaning of Max’s earlier conduct. His pursuit of Kyra cannot be separated from his effort to control Mattie: her refusal to yield made her an impediment, and his response was to plan her murder. The account establishes the plan and its cause without presenting it as an act Max carried out himself.

The Lasting Shape of Their Antagonism

The conflict is also connected to Max’s return from California and to a much older family history. Mike recalls that Max had set the whole TR alight when leaving for California. In the final supernatural encounter, the figure appears in Jared Devore’s clothes, but Mike recognizes him as Jared’s great-grandson Max, whose life had ended in suicide after arranging Mattie’s murder. The apparition thus brings the family’s past into the present while confirming the extremity of Max’s hostility.

Mike’s later explanation further complicates the apparent motives behind Max’s return. Max’s plan against Mattie and Kyra developed after his attempt to buy Mattie failed and Sara took hold of him; at the end, Mike concludes, Max’s purpose was no longer centered on Sara or Kyra, but on the sled associated with Scooter Larribee. That final recognition does not lessen the harm done to Mattie. It shows instead how Max’s fixation could outlast the immediate family conflict that first gave it force.