A Chance for Normalcy

CHAPTER 39; talking

"Wow I feel like I've already missed so much." Max says looking through the pictures and videos. "He's good though? Like healthy and everything?"

"Yeah, he's fine. Healthy baby boy. So... back to Abu Dhabi."

"What do you remember before waking up in that room?" Max asks.

"I remember you winning. I remember running out of the garage with Sara down to park ferme.  Hugging you when you got out of the car. Running to the podium with Sara. Not seeing Cass, or anybody which I thought was strange, but there were so many people they could have been anywhere. After the podium, Sara went to go find you to get you to the media pen, and I tried calling Cass. She didn't pick up which was strange, so I went back to the garage to look for her. When I got there, I couldn't find her, so I asked one of the mechanics. That's when I noticed the Capone family tattoo on his arm. I tried to leave but then it all went dark." You say looking out the window. "What do you remember?"

"I, ugh, remember winning. Being so excited and proud, you know everything was falling into place. Hugging you and the team, through the whole podium ceremony. Then Harper running up, saying you collapsed. So naturally I panicked because no one knew about the baby. Daniel and I followed her and ran right into a trap. I don't exactly remember what happened, just a lot of screaming and then darkness." Max says staring at his hands.

"She really had us fooled, didn't she?" You ask looking back at your tablet.

"They all did. I would have never expected any of them to do anything like that." Max says honestly and you nod in agreement.

"I want you to know that I didn't mean what I said in that room, about you thinking you're the epitome of racing, and all that stuff I said to Declan. I was just trying to by us some time until Dimitri could get to us." You say looking at Max.

"I know, I figured you had something up your sleeve. It still hurt to hear it though." Max says still looking at his hands. "How did Dimitri know where we were anyways?"

"The, um, bracelet he got me," you say holding it up on your wrist. "The pendant has an emergency beacon in it, so if I press it, it sends Dimitri my location and then continues to send it every 30 seconds or something like that. Luckily they didn't take it off, so I was able to activate it. I just didn't know how long it would take for him to get to us."

"Smart." Max says looking at the bracelet on your wrist. "What happened with Declan after you left? I keep thinking worst case scenario and it's killing me." Max says looking at you. "Hearing you scream like that. Took every fibre of my being not to react to that."

"It was pretty convincing wasn't it," you say chuckling slightly.

"What do you mean?" Max asks looking at you confused.

You hesitantly lean forward pulling up another video on your tablet, turning it towards Max.

"There were cameras?" Max asks surprised.

"Apparently. Dimitri pulled all the footage for me so I could piece together how everything happened." You say, "I ugh, had a little too much free time on my hands after getting back."

Max hits play on the video, and you watch his reaction to the scene unfolding on the screen in front of him. You've watched it so many times by now that you know the words being said by heart, the voice of Declan saying, "now how about you get on your knees for me and put that pretty mouth of yours to better use." Still makes your skin crawl in disgust, and Max's jaw clenches his eyes filled with anger and hurt as he hears those words for the first time. Max's expression softening once he sees you strangling Declan and then finally Dimitri stabbing him. The conversation of Dimitri telling you to scream before heading down the hall. Max sits for a moment staring at your tablet trying to process everything he just watched.