Maddening Max

Chapter 32: Conclusion

"You can't just hope for happy endings. You have to believe in them. Then do the work, take the risks." — Nora Roberts

Max's POV

I didn't care if I get a speeding ticket. My ears was roaring, my heart was in my throat. My head was swimming with so many negative thoughts.

My wife is in danger. Held hostage by a fucker.

And Noah betrayed me. He knew all along that Paul set me up, and he killed his stepsister, and his lover.

What fucked up world we have.

My wife. 

My wife needed me right now, and I left her alone.

Where are my securities?

And why did they let that fucker get to my wife?

So many questions, and anger roaring through my veins.

I'm so close to home when I heard a loud siren approaching. I thought they will gonna pull me over, so I pulled on the side of the road and waited. But the police car zoomed past me, and I quickly followed suit. 

Just then I realized the cruiser was heading in the same direction I'm driving.

As soon as I parked my car, a block away since the road was blocked with police cruisers and nosy people watching the scene unfold like a movie.

I squeezed myself into the throng of prying people, made a beeline until I saw her. I halted on my tracks, my chest pumping furiously against my ribcage. And I felt like the only air in my lungs was vacuumed out of my chest, I couldn't breathe. 

My wife. The only person that made my life essential, who made me complete. The only light to my dark soul. The reason for my smile. The reason why I get up each day motivated, inspired. And that psychotic man was holding her hostage.

The man was huge. Taller than me by a few inches, and was holding my wife by the neck, with his gun pointing at her temple. She looked so small, fragile against his hold, and my whole body freezes, rooted on the ground. My legs felt like lead, I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. My lungs and chest felt like lead weighing it down.

And at the same time, my ears buzzed with fury, red hot rage swirling in my veins, zipping up to my head.

Moments later, I instinctively move, trying to get past the police, standing behind their cruisers, negotiating with the psychopath, holding my wife hostage, but I was abruptly halted by two large police officers.

I struggled to get free, my eyes zeroing in on my wife. Her face stricken with fear. Her terror-filled eyes,/tricken face will forever haunt me in my dreams.

"Sir, we can let you go closer. We need you to back away," one of them said, but my eyes locked on her, my vision was hazy with red hot rage. 

"That's my wife!" I expostulated, swatting their grip off my arms. Fear still evident in my angry tone. 

"Sir!" another police officer pushed, hustling me backward, but I dug my feet on the ground. They had to carry me to move if they can, but I'm not stepping back. I need to save my wife. It looked like they've been negotiating for hours now, and there was no development. 

"That's my wife!" I growled gruffly in protest, and the hold on either of my forearms slackened when my words sunk in their brain, and perhaps they realized I am not budging.

I'm like a mountain of tree trying to fell using an axe. 

It  will take them at least ten men to move me, if most of these officers just reach my ears, and weight half of my weight.