Max Brady

Max was given away by his father Trent Becker at an early age. He was taken under the protective wing of then Frankie Donner, now Frankie Brady (Billy Warlock). Frankie and Max made their way to Salem. They were taken in by kindhearted Steven Johnson and his wife Kayla Brady Johnson. Frankie and Max were legally adopted by Kayla's parents Shawn Brady and Caroline Brady (Peggy McCay). The boys gained brothers Roman Brady and Bo Brady and sisters Kimberly Brady and Kayla Brady. Shortly thereafter, both boys left town.

In mid-2005, more than a decade later, Jennifer Horton Deveraux (Melissa Reeves) ran into Max at the racetrack and renewed ties with both him and Frankie. Once back in Salem, Max was immediately drawn to Chelsea Brady, his adoptive niece. When Chelsea was blamed for the accidental death of Zack Brady, Max stood by her side and kept her dark secret for as long as possible. Max eventually broke up with Chelsea, feeling she was too immature for him. He briefly dated fellow racer car driver Stephanie Johnson, who also happened to be his adoptive niece.

Max then briefly dated his nephew Shawn-Douglas' soon-to-be-ex-wife Mimi Lockhart. During that same time, Max employed Abigail Deveraux (Ashley Benson), Steve's niece, at his garage. Since his brother Frankie was engaged to Abigail's mother Jennifer at the time, she was expected to be his future step-niece. When Mimi experienced a variety of personal and family difficulties, he tried to stand by her, but ultimately confided in Abigail that he was finding it difficult and that he didn't know what to do with his life. Abigail admitted that she was jealous of his relationship with Mimi, and that she had had a crush on him for a long time. When Mimi left town soon thereafter, Max and Abigail dated until she left Salem as well in May 2007.

Jeremy Horton, Jennifer's nephew, convinced Max to become his financial banker for Touch the Sky Airlines and also for his side business of smuggling of what he believes to be designer clothes. It was eventually revealed that the airline and clothes smuggling were both fronts for a human trafficking ring, and Max lost his garage in the subsequent investigation.

Max then renewed his relationship with Stephanie, and supported her as she dealt with her rape at the hands of Ford Decker. Later, Max's actions cause confusion and he is alienated by his friends. It seemed he was trying to interfere with Nick Fallon's proposal for a grant to develop green energy, but in actuality he had corrected errors in a way that demonstrated a significant competence in mathematics and science. Max's biological father reemerged as Trent Robbins, the dean of the physics department at Salem University, as well as his half sister, Melanie Layton. The change of his last name from Becker has not been explained, so may be either a retcon or an indication of an alias used by the character. Max was a suspect in the death of Trent, but it was found out that Nick killed him so he could be with Melanie, Trent's daughter

Due to the confusion of Trent's impact on Max, Stephanie began to have trust issues with Max. Though she stood by his side the whole time, she didn't like Max's newly found sister, Melanie. Melanie is a troublemaker and Stephanie thought that Melanie was just trying to break her and Max up. Stephanie and Max eventually ended their relationship due to Melanie and trust issues. After the breakup, Max started talking to Chelsea a lot about what he felt since she is Stephanie's best friend. They started spending a lot of time together and talking a lot more than normal. Both made it very clear to everyone they were just friends, although there were signs of attraction everywhere. On New Year's Eve, Max was Chelsea's date to the big party at Chez Rouge. At midnight, they shared a kiss and Chelsea ran away embarrassed. They got back together shortly after.

Chelsea left for London to help her mom recover after she was in an accident. She was gone for a while and on June 7, 2009, Chelsea returned to Salem to inform everybody that Billie was doing better. She asks Max to move to London with her and he accepts. The Bradys later hear that Chelsea and Max are planning to tie the knot. The two lovebirds soon flee to London together to assist Billie in her job.

On March 15, 2010, Max returned home to Salem for a few hours on his way to a Medical Convention in San Diego, where he first surprised Caroline. She told him what had been going on with Melanie. He then went to visit Melanie at the hospital, where he tried to convince her to give Carly Manning - her biological mother - a chance. Melanie then said how although Trent isn't really her father, and that Daniel Jonas is, the two will always be brother and sister no matter what biology says.

• Max at soapcentral.com