2018
When Neymar finally looked up from his phone, I had been looking at him for a good few minutes.
"Hey baby." He said, getting up from his chair by the window and approaching me. "How long have you been awake?"
"Not long. But you looked happy, so I didn't want to bother you."
"I was actually looking at some photos of Davi that Carolina sent me. They are for you really, a video too."
"For me?" I asked, sitting up. Today I felt better. My voice, although hoarse and raspy, was at least audible and the back of my head didn't hurt as much as before. The stiches on my face pulled, but Doctor Larcel said that was to be expected and they were healing well.
"Of course. He knows you're hurt and he wanted to see you but—"
"Better not, until I look a little better." I finished his sentence. I still hadn't looked at myself, but today was only my third day at the hospital. And I would probably be discharged tomorrow.
Neymar nodded, stroking my cheek softly with his fingers. "How are you feeling?"
"Better." I said, trying to smile at him. "Maybe we can go for a walk around the hospital. I went yesterday with Mikey."
"They told me. I'm sorry I wasn't here."
"They told me you were always here." I told him, squeezing his arm. "I could feel it too."
"Oh Livvie... I wasn't there when I should have been though. When it counted."
I turned to look up at him. "Don't say that. You found me, even though I hadn't told you where I was going. If you hadn't come when you did..." I started saying, but my voice broke, as my mind flashed back.
"I wanted to kill him. When I saw him on top of you." Neymar said, his face both angry and sad.
"Where is he?" I asked him. He looked at me for a second, looking crushed.
"He's out. They posted bail." He said, but he must have realized how much that freaked me out because he quickly added: "He can't get anywhere near you. There is a restraining order. He'd go straight to jail then and would have to stay there until his hearing. Besides, I'm not letting him, or anyone, hurt you ever again."
"No one can protect someone from everything. No matter how much they want to. Not even you."
Neymar looked away from me, taking a deep breath to compose himself. "Livvie..." He started saying, looking uncomfortable. "When I found you, your shirt was torn. Did he try...?" He trailed off.
"Ney..."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It changes nothing for me, or how much I love you. I am just sorry that—"
"I don't know what would have happened if you didn't come when you did." I cut him. "He said he would— And he kissed me. But I can't know for sure, what he would have done."
Neymar nodded.
"He was jealous of you." I told him, remembering Ian's words. "He was so jealous of you, I don't know how we didn't see that sooner. He was angry I rejected him but chose you."
"Oh Livvie..." Neymar said, but I felt him shift. He looked towards the open door, his face suddenly filled with tension.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"I've tried to get them to give you some time but... We can't put it off any longer Livvie, I'm sorry." He said getting up. "The police want to talk to you."
I felt my heartbeat quicken, suddenly agitated again, at the thought of Ian on top of me, punching me. And having to relive it all. "No..." I whispered. "I don't want to."
Neymar looked dejected, as two police officers came inside, a man and a woman. "Can we let her have one more day?" Neymar asked. "Can't you see how upsetting this is for her?"
"I'm sorry. We need to get a statement. We can't wait any longer."
"Can I stay?" Neymar asked and thankfully the man nodded. Neymar came and sat down next to me on the bed while the two officers sat on the other side of the bed, after the woman closed the door.
"Can you tell us what happened? In your own words, don't stress if you don't remember something now." The woman told me, trying to sound as calm and gentle as possible.
"I... I left the security room. I had a tape of Ian stealing Coto's laptop. And he must have been waiting there. He grabbed me, he—" I started breathing hard, trying to calm down, as the images flooded my brain and I could feel what I felt then. Utter terror. "He choked me and he punched me and when I woke up I was at the bathroom. He... I'm sorry." I said, feeling a panic attack coming.
"Can't you just leave her?" Neymar yelled. "What more can she tell you that you don't already see?" He said, pointing at my face. "He attacked her! He hit her! Who knows what else he was going to do if we hadn't gotten there!"
"I'm sorry but we need to hear it from her. At least a short version and then when you are better, we can do a full statement."
It was pointless, I realized and started telling them the rest of it. The police officers were writing stuff down and they tried to be understanding and compassionate. But Neymar... with every new blow I described, he seemed even more devastated than before. When I told them what Ian had said, Neymar put his head in his hands and I heard him sniffling. I told him to leave, not listen anymore, but he insisted on staying. For all of it.
~*~
Neymar's POV
Two days later, it was time for Liv to be discharged from the hospital. Doctor Larcel had taken her face stitches out and they had replaced the bandages on her eye with smaller ones. The gush to the back of her head still had stitches as it was a bigger one, but she said it didn't hurt as much as before.
A few hours before she was due to leave the hospital, the nurse brought her a mirror and she looked at herself for the first time since what happened. The left side of her face was still bandaged, and the gush on her lip was still there although not as puffy but the skin around it was purple. And then there were the remnants of scratches and bruises on her chin and neck. A black ring around her neck, where he pressed and pressed, suffocating her.
I don't know exactly what she was expecting, but she didn't betray any emotions when she looked at the mirror. The complete opposite of me, because every time I looked at her, I felt like I would break down again. That this happened to her. That she was so hurt and so in pain and I couldn't stop it.
I cursed myself over and over again for going to the game that day instead of going to her. I was watching the game while she tried to figure out who wanted to set us up. I went down to the tunnels to speak to my team and psych them up, while she drove to Loges, fearlessly, trying to find the proof we needed. I celebrated and drank champagne, while that monster was beating her senselessly.
In a way, I was glad we waited a few days and she didn't look at herself when she first woke up at the hospital. How she looked, when I found her in that bathroom, covered in blood that was running freely down her face, still haunted me.
The days Liv remained at the hospital, I filled her in on what I knew. I told her how I found out Ian and Angelique were behind the sabotage, remembering Clara telling me that Ian's new girlfriend was called Angela. And then when I realized Ian had left the stadium, I knew he'd try to cover his tracks. At first, I thought he'd go to our office and try to destroy Angelique's computer and told David to drive us there, but midway through, Peter who had finally arrived at the office and powered on his phone, called me.
When he said that Liv was at Loges and no one else had come to the office, I told him to lock himself inside and call the police but I had a bad a feeling about Liv... That Ian could be at Loges too.
I remember arriving at the parking lot, and running inside looking everywhere. Until I heard them, fighting. And I saw him... on top of her, with her shirt torn, and his hand ready to punch her again. She was already barely moving, covered in blood. And he had a big gush on his face too, his eyes frenzied, with hatred. I was blind with rage, when I pushed him away from her, sending him across the room. I hit him again and again and again. I don't know how I managed to stop.
In the next few days, everyone came to see Liv at the hospital. They were all shocked, when they saw her, even if they all knew what had happened. Nothing prepared them for the extent of damage.
I don't think one of them, managed not to cry, not David, or Peter or Alex or Rafaella, or anyone else. David blamed himself for not speaking up about Ian and his abusive behavior sooner, Peter blamed himself for letting her go to Loges alone, Alex for not telling me sooner that Liv and Peter never arrived at the stadium. And I?
I blamed myself for all of it.
Liv's teammates and coach came by too and it was another emotional reunion. Kylian and Toly and my dad, Thiago and Belle and Coto – who was thankfully cleared and reinstated. And Coach Emery came as well as PSG execs and the president of the club, all of them apologizing. Liv accepted, but I thought it was too little and too late.
Only the deputy general manager, Ian's uncle didn't come. We heard they tried to force him to resign but he wouldn't, claiming that his nephew was innocent and set up by us. In the end they fired him, having to pay him severance.
As the days passed and we learned more and more from the police, we started to piece the real story together. Ian was obsessed with Liv but also with me. A lot more than anyone of us had suspected. His friends told the police that he spoke about Liv constantly. And about her relationship with me. He was always telling them horrible things about her, horrible and untrue. But they didn't take him seriously, they thought it was just talk.
Angelique told the truth too. She first met Ian at the launch party of 3P. He was nice and charming and when they started dating, he told her that they should keep their relationship a secret, because Liv wouldn't be happy about it. He kept telling Angelique that Liv had a grudge against him and treated him badly, and finally convinced her to put that backdoor into the code, as a way for them to keep control if Liv ever tried to sabotage PSG.
I couldn't believe Angelique fell for it, but Rafaella told me that Ian must have manipulated her emotionally, so much so, that she ignored her logic and her intuition. Of course, when she saw what happened with Troyes, she understood that it was Ian that used the backdoor, but he told her that if she came clean, she would go down with him.
The police also found Liv's phone in Ian's pocket, that he must have stolen from her after the women's final game. It was still not returned to us and in police custody and we didn't know if he had managed to unlock it too, or he only stole it so that she wouldn't have means of communication.
But as it turned out, this hateful obsession, wasn't the only reason he sabotaged 3P.
The police told us that he had bet an exorbitant amount of money against PSG for their game with Troyes. PSG had been a favorite with bookers, which meant he had won more than 20 times what he put in. Police told us that his betting accounts on many companies were already flagged as suspicious, and sooner or later, they would have come to him, to investigate it.
And in one of the most surprising turns of events, Bruna reached out to me. I wasn't surprised by that by itself, because news of what happened that night at Loges came out right away and even photos showing police and ambulances at Loges. I was surprised by what she told me.
As it turned out, during my first game with PSG, Bruna had invited Liv to see the game together, and Ian was sitting nearby. He had heard them argue and realized that there was history between Liv and I.
He approached Bruna and fed her a story of Liv treating him badly and using him to get over someone else. He took advantage of Bruna's insecurity about my relationship with her and told her what she wanted to hear to make her trust him. They talked and she told him the whole story, from her point of view. Hence, that first article, the one that painted Liv as a cold, calculating person that used me to get ahead, was published.
Bruna realized that it was Ian behind it, but she didn't say anything then, because it would mean she would be blamed for what she told him. I couldn't help but think that if we knew about Ian then, we would have been more careful and none of this would have happened.
And learning this from Bruna, about Ian listening in on her and Liv, it made me think of all the times we spoke during training with our friends, when information was leaked. Like with the Switzerland accident, when we didn't know how it got leaked, since we were sure our friends would never leak it. It must have been Ian, always around, always listening.
I still couldn't understand why someone would go to such desperate lengths, to hurt someone else, all because she rejected him. I didn't understand why it was this particular rejection that set him off. Because, Liv rejected him months before all this started. Yes, he didn't behave nicely to her ever since then, but this obsession started after I arrived. When we all practiced together, when I stood up for her with him, when he learned we used to be together.
He couldn't accept it that she didn't want him but she wanted me.
"Ready?" The nurse asked Liv, bringing the wheelchair into the room.
"Do I have to?" Liv asked, getting up without help.
"Hospital policy, I'm afraid."
Liv sat on the wheelchair and we walked towards the elevator to the underground parking lot.
"It's mayhem out there. So many news channels." Michael said, who was standing by the window and looking outside.
"We'll be in the car. It will be fine." I said.
Liv took a deep breath. "I know. I have you, all of you. And I'll mend."