"How are you feeling?"
Alex gave him a tired but grateful smile, glad to have Christian here because the last thing that she wanted was to be on her own. "I should be asking you that," she replied, her voice still hoarse.
"Nonsense, it's just my face and my ego that's bruised and it's nothing compared to what you've been through." He took hold of her hand and briefly examined where two IV lines were going in on the back of it - one to fight any infection she might have from her various wounds and the other for hydration. She still looked weak, dirty and exhausted but at least she was alive. No doubt once she'd regained a bit more strength she'd be taken to a washroom to be cleaned up.
"Any word on Soren?"
"No, I'm afraid not," he gently placed her hand back down on the bed but still kept hold of it.
"I've killed him, haven't I." She choked as she began to get upset, fresh tears making more streaks in the grime on her face. "I'll have got out of one prison only to be sent straight to another."
He shuffled in his seat, reaching out with his other hand to tenderly stroke her forehead and cheek while quietly shushing her, "it won't come to that, I won't let it and let's be honest, it's no more than he deserves." He sighed and shook his head sorrowfully before adding, "I feel like this is all my fault."
"I don't blame you for any of this, not at all. You rescued me, if it wasn't for you then I'd still be trapped in that barn."
"But if it wasn't for me then Soren wouldn't have found you. I wish that I'd never agreed to help him search for you."
"Soren can be very persuasive when he wants to be, he knows how to get what he wants. I bet you had no idea of what he's capable of, he sold you a sob story, right?" She asked bitterly.
"We met in my hotel in Amsterdam, in the bar. We got talking, had a few drinks and yeah, he got emotional talking about you," he started to recall the evening where he'd agreed to help, the worst decision he'd ever made in hindsight. "He said you'd argued and that you'd left him, he just wanted a second chance, said he wanted to make things right but he only knew that you lived in Switzerland and worked for Sebastian. I offered to help him when I went back to Zürich and he jumped at the chance. We swapped numbers and the rest..." he sighed, feeling incredibly guilty as he looked at Alex's beautiful but bruised and wounded face, "I remember him sending me a picture of you and I could immediately see why he was so desperate to find you. The day we met in the restaurant, when you were there with Sebastian and his family, I called him the moment you'd left and agreed to follow you and keep an eye on you. I sent him the details of your address and how you left a key in the plant pot near the door when you went out running. I feel terrible and so ashamed. I led him right to your door."
"But you didn't know what kind of monster he was...is," she corrected herself, as far as she was aware Soren wasn't dead yet.
"And if I'd known then I'd never have offered to help him, I'd have steered well clear."
Knowing that he was in the same hospital as her made her shiver and she lifted her gaze to the ceiling, wishing that she knew what his prognosis was. "We're not the first people he's conned into thinking he's a nice guy and we probably won't be the last - unless he's dead."
"Let's think positive, shall we?"
"I still stabbed him with a pitchfork," she moaned, "he'll want the police to throw the book at me whether he lives or dies."
"We'll cross that bridge if or when we get to it, the police know what he's put you through and they will know it's self defence and like I said, I'll back you up on that, one hundred percent. You're the victim here, not him."
She nodded, she knew he was right but it was hard when she kept picturing Soren with a pitchfork in his back. But she'd been desperate to escape, desperate to take the chance that Christian had given her and also desperate to stop Soren beating him to a pulp.
The door opened a nurse walked in carrying a couple of slices toast that Alex knew were for herself. Food was the last thing she felt like having right now, all she wanted was for either Gisela to show up and take her home or for Seb to call, to just be able to hear his voice would mean everything.
"You need to start eating Miss Van de Berg so that you can start to build your strength back up." The nurse held the plate out to her, "You're quite underweight and understandably weak after what you've been through, eating little and often will help to build up your appetite again."
"Isn't anyone here to pick me up?" She asked as the plate was placed on her lap.
"I'm afraid not but you at least need to stay in for a couple of nights, you've got cracked ribs that we'll need to X-ray again tomorrow."
"What about Seb, is there anyway I can contact him? I've lost my phone and it had his number in it,"
The nurse checked her IV lines and then picked up her notes from the end of the bed before she answered, "his home number is down as your emergency contact but his wife said she couldn't come here."
"Maybe I can try calling Aston Martin back in England, see if I can get anywhere?" Christian suggested.
She shook her head, "the best they can do is maybe pass a message on. My sister tried to get my number and they wouldn't give it to her but they got a message to Britta."
"What about your sister then? You should have your family with you at a time like this." He leant to one side and pulled out his phone, "do you know her number?"
"It's a long story which I won't go in to but no, I don't have her number and I don't want it. I'm not in touch with my family and don't want to be." Alex picked up a slice of toast and examined it, knowing that she ought to make an effort to eat it.
"Oh," he looked surprised but knew not to press her on it any further, he didn't want to upset her, right now they were both alone and only had each other for company.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Doha.
"Van de Berg..... V, A, N...D, E...B, E, R, G, first name Aleksandra, spelt with a K and not an X..." Seb paced around his hotel room, growing more and more impatient with the man on the other end of the phone, "she's my trainer, she's been in the media, you must know who I mean!"
He stopped at the sliding glass doors to the balcony, huffing in exasperation, tapping his foot on the carpet a couple of times and then digging his toes in to it, "yes! That's her! I need to know how she is, I'm her boss..." he hated saying the word but knew that their secret couldn't come out just yet, "she's got no one else apart from my wife while she's in the country, do you know if Gisela has been in? Has anyone visited?"
He turned and leant back against the glass as he listened, Gisela hadn't been to the hospital at all but someone was with Alex, a man who was also taken to hospital but refused to be checked by medical staff. It made an unwelcome, unsettling feeling swirl in his stomach; who could this man be? Was it Soren? Was she still in his clutches? Or was it someone else, someone who he didn't know about? "Can you tell me what condition she was in when she was bought in and how she is now?"
This was painful, he felt like he was getting nowhere and he was close to dealing out the don't you know who I am card, something that he loathed and had never done before in all of his years in F1. "Well can anyone tell me?" He asked, banging his head back against the glass and trying hard not to raise his voice. "Then can I speak to Alex? Can someone get a phone to her? Please, this is important, I need to speak to her."
He didn't care that it was getting late at night and that he should be in bed sleeping by now, he just wanted to know how Alex was and to hear her voice. He'd tried ringing Gisela several times but had got nowhere; at first his calls had gone unanswered and then to voicemail, then towards the end they'd just gone straight to voicemail. She obviously didn't want to speak to him which pissed him off, all he wanted to do was ask her what she knew.
"You'll do that?" The tone of his voice brightened as he finally felt like he was getting somewhere, "yeah, if you can pass on my number to her that would be great. She doesn't have her phone on her and so won't have my details."
He reeled off his phone number and ended the call, finally feeling happier. He'd been told it could be a while before Alex could phone him back but he didn't mind, he'd stay awake all night if it meant he got to hear her voice though if he'd been able to have things his way then he'd be on a plane right now, flying back to be with her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zürich.
"I have a message for you from a certain Sebastian Vettel," the nurse smiled as she handed over a piece of paper, "he wants you to call him, from what I've been told he's been really worried about you."
Alex just about managed to stop herself from snatching the note out the nurses hand as she took it, she was so desperate to hear Seb's voice. She looked at the note, written on half a sheet of A4; Sebastian Vettel 077 577 4545 and then, very helpfully the code needed for Doha, +974. A glance at the clock on the wall to her right told her that it would probably be quite late in Doha but she knew that he'd be awake and even if he wasn't he still wouldn't mind her waking him up. Then she looked to her left, at Christian. She couldn't talk to Seb properly with him there.
Luckily he seemed to realise that she'd want a little privacy, not only that but she'd need a phone too. "Here," he handed his phone to her, "use my phone."
Her toast had gone cold, untouched on the plate on her lap, and she took Christian's phone. She didn't need toast when she had Seb to speak to. "Thank you," she smiled, "I'm really grateful."
"I can tell by the look on your face how much it means to speak to him, being his PT I know you two must be pretty close."
"Yeah," she bit the inside of her cheek, he had no idea at the moment just how close herself and Seb were.
He got up from his chair and picked up her plate, "I'll give you some privacy to make your call and I'll get you some fresh toast while I'm at it, ok?"
"Thank you," she nodded and watched as he left the room, dialling Seb's number the second the door was closed. It didn't ring for long before he answered, sounding tired but also curious.
"Hello,"
The sound of his voice hit her hard, making her throat ache and her heart feel like it was going burst out of her chest and make a trip to Doha. She'd missed him so much and hearing his voice again was something that, at one point during her ordeal, she'd thought would never happen again. She broke down, leaving herself completely unable to speak, not even able to string together a couple of words.
In his hotel room, Seb sat down on the bed, on the cusp of joining her in tears of relief and happiness. He knew it was Alex on the phone, he'd recognised the code for Switzerland on the caller ID and even though she was crying and hadn't said a word he just knew it was her. "Alex," he managed to say her name but his voice was raspy and breaking with the lump in his throat.
"Seb," she managed to say his name between her sobs, wanting him to say more, to fill her ear with the beautiful sound of his voice.
"It's so good to hear your voice, I can't even begin to tell you how good. I've missed you so much, I've been so fucking worried, so fucking scared..." he trailed off, having to stop and bite his bottom lip to stop it from trembling and to stop himself from breaking down.
It took a few more minutes before she could start to control the outpouring of emotion, he'd been silent during those minutes but she knew he was there, she could hear him breathing, his breaths shaky and revealing that he was just as emotional as she was. "I love you," it felt so good to be able to say those words.
"I love you too Alex, so much."
She wiped her eyes with her free hand, finally feeling like she might be able to say more than a few words, "I'm sorry, all I've done is cry."
"It's perfectly understandable and to be honest, I'm just so happy to have you on the phone that I don't care if you do spend all the time crying."
"You're ok though? You've been alright?"
She heard him chuckle at the other end and could imagine him shaking his head in disbelief at her question before he replied, "you're asking me if I'm ok? Baby you've got it the wrong way round, I should be asking you!"
"I'll be ok, I'll heal." She relaxed back into the pillows, the sound of his voice was working wonders on her. It was reassuring and made her feel safe, he truly was the only person in her life right now who was capable of doing that.
"Were you badly hurt? Was Soren behind all of this? Did he take you? Hurt you?"
She was now starting to feel exhausted, an unfortunate but understandable side effect of her finally relaxing. She didn't want to talk about Soren or the fact that she'd been held against her will in an old barn and beaten until she'd blacked out, "one question at a time huh?"
"Sorry," back in his room, he rubbed his forehead with the fingertips of his free hand, "there's just so much I don't know."
She suddenly felt flooded with emotion once more, all of a sudden hearing his voice wasn't enough, she wanted to see him and feel him kiss her and hold her, "I wish you were here," she croaked before she could stop herself, hearing him sigh at the other end.
"If you want me there, I can make it happen," he offered, hearing the exhaustion in her shaky voice. "Just say the word and I'll get a flight back as soon as I can."
She shook her head and took a deep breath, telling herself that the worst was now over and that she could cope until Seb returned on Sunday night or Monday morning. It was just a few more days, that's all. It didn't seem that long ago that she didn't need a man in her life, that she used them for her own entertainment and vengeance, now she couldn't imagine her life without Seb. "No, ignore me, I'm just tired and emotional. Stay there, race for me and then come back to tell me how great you were and how you drove the tits of off that car."
"Ok, I'll do this weekend for you as I have every weekend that you were gone. Just tell me, was Soren behind your disappearance? Did he take you? We know he was in the country, the police told us."
"Yes, it was him. Look, can we talk about all of that when you get home?"
"Of course. We can do anything you want."
"Can you find out if Gisela is coming to pick me up from here. I don't know what's happening when I get discharged, if I'm going back to mine or yours."
"Ah," he sounded shifty all of a sudden and it rang alarm bells in Alex's head.
"What?"
"She knows I have feelings for you, I think she's feeling under threat and to cut a long story short, I think I'm going to have to tell about us sooner rather than later. But I'll explain more when I see you and I don't want you worrying about it, leave the worrying to me. Oh, by the way, your phone is at mine, Gisela found it outside, underneath your car." He'd tagged the last bit on the end so casually but Alex's whole posture stiffened. Her phone was at his home - with Gisela. "The police wanted it, they've gone through it in case there was any clues as to where you were or who you might have been with." He added a bit more, completely oblivious to her reaction.
The photos, that video....Gisela must have seen them somehow. Maybe the police had unlocked her phone and left it like that? Maybe they'd seen the evidence of Seb cheating on his wife and shown it to her? Maybe she'd been too suspicious and looked for evidence herself? Shit. He's going to go mad! He's going to be so angry, this could end us before we've even began. She sat there, frozen and unblinking, her mind racing.
"Alex? You still there?"
Do I tell him now? But then I don't want to have to do it over the phone, face to face would be best. How do I explain it? Do I tell him everything or do I just tell him it was a souvenir of the night?
"Alex? You ok? You're worrying me,"
She gave a quick shake of her head, her insides churning with a renewed sense of worry and dread. She'd have to confess when they saw each other and hoped that he wouldn't be too angry with her, "yeah, I'm here."
"You sound exhausted, I'll end the call now and call you again in the morning on this number. If I can get hold of Gisela then I'll ask her to bring your phone to you."
"If you get hold of her?" She asked, picking up on the way he'd said it.
"She's not answering the phone to me but like I said, don't worry, leave all that to me. I'll speak to you tomorrow, I love you."
"I love you too," she felt herself choking up as she said it because she knew he probably wouldn't be saying those words for much longer. If she didn't tell him about what was on her phone, then Gisela definitely would.