Wild Heart [Max Verstappen]

Part 29

MAX'S POV

I had to find Nora, I had heard her voice a few times further down the hall along with some coughing. Fortunately, I knew my house like the back of my hand and knew exactly where I was. I started moving forward wary of what might happen, "Nora?" I shouted again, hoping to hear from her again. I heard coughing and coughing that was close by now, two smaller hands were suddenly under mine and I immediately knew it was Nora. She let herself fall on me and I held her up. I had to and I would get her out safely that was my main goal now.
"I can't go on anymore" I heard her voice softly, followed by a heavy cough. I swung her up and carried her like a bride, her arms hanging weakly around my neck. Full of courage I walked towards the stairs where even more smoke had developed, at the bottom of the stairs there was now a sea of ​​fire. So going down was not an option, we had to get to the roof, from the roof there was a ladder at the back of my house that could be slid down. With Nora in my arms, I walked up another floor so that we finally arrived in the open air on the roof. We both gasped and let the cool night air fill our lungs. There was the sound of fire brigade sirens pulling into my large driveway. We both kept coughing and I put Nora on the floor for a moment so I could slide out the stairs.
"Just a moment, Nora, I'll get you out of here safely. I promise you" I coughed
Unfortunately and yet to my surprise there was no answer, I turned around so I could look at her and what I saw I could hardly believe. A black-robed figure had Nora in a stranglehold and thrust a gun to her head. I held up my hands and looked at Nora.
"Calm down... you don't want to do this... whatever you want I'll give it to you..." I said in a somewhat calm way.
"I don't need anything from you, she's apparently the problem."
"What do you mean?"
The figure looked at the firefighters getting ready to start extinguishing the fire, only when the police drove up I did feel that he was getting nervous.
"Let her go"
"I can't, I failed the first time. Not again"
"Why are you doing this?"
"I have to do this on someone's behalf"
"Whatever they pay you I'll pay double... just let her go"
Nora's face was black and all confused, the fear you could see in her beautiful brown eyes.
His grip loosened slightly but was still tight enough so Nora couldn't escape.
"Come on, we're standing on a burning building, we can't stay here... otherwise this won't end well for anyone" I tried again. The slight creaking of the stairs gave me hope, they were probably policemen carefully coming up.

NORA'S POV

What was going on this week. It was so much, too much for me and my mind. I just wanted to be with Max, the concern was written all over his face. He looked and sounded so hopeless and he didn't know what to do to help me, honestly I wouldn't know either. It was as if everything was going in slow motion, suddenly 4 heavily armed men were standing in front of Max, a 5th officer was already taking Max down. The gun that had first been pressed to my temple was now aimed at the 4 officers who were now trying to convince him to let go of me and surrender. When he didn't, a shot was fired, I felt the figure let go of me and he grabbed his arm. His gun flew from his other hand on the ground and he fell to his knees, his scream of pain sickening me. An officer grabbed me by the shoulders and started asking questions. I didn't react I was in shock of what just happened and everything was still in slow motion. I was calmly and carefully escorted downstairs where Max was waiting for me in the ambulance with a blanket wrapped around himself. When he saw me coming he immediately came to me and wrapped his arms around me with the blanket. I put my arms around him and rested my head against his chest. I turned my head and watched as the fire brigade had the fire under control and the other officers walked with the figure to the police car.
"Are you alright?" His otherwise normally rough voice now sounded extra rough from the inhaled smoke. Carefully I lifted my head and looked at his face which had black/gray spots here and there from the smoke.
"Well yes" I tried to smile slightly to make him feel a bit better.
"I'm so sorry about your house Max..."
"That's not your fault at all"
I shrugged "If I hadn't stayed with you, this wouldn't have happened"
"Don't think about that now, the most important thing now is that you are safe"
A nurse came to us and took us both to the ambulance. We had to go to the hospital for some tests, so we could inform our family there.

After a lot of tests, Max and I were free to leave. Lando was waiting for us to take us home. Victoria and Emma also went there so that Max could accompany them to his parents' house.

Victoria and Emma were in the car waiting for Max, Lando had gone back inside so Max and I could have a chat before he had to leave.
"Are you sure I shouldn't stay here?" He asked
"I'm with Lando it's okay I'll see you for race week in Great Britain"
He nodded reluctantly "if there is anything I can do call me..."
"Same goes for you"
He gently placed his hand on my cheek, his thumb gently stroked my cheek and I enjoyed this. Of course I knew very well what would happen next and I certainly wouldn't stop him.
His soft lips touched mine, I had missed this so much. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed back.
With a wide grin he broke the kiss to look at me "I promise to take you on a date when everything is back to normal"
I nodded "that's good I'll hold you to that"
He gave me another quick kiss before walking to the car where his 2 sisters were watching with the biggest grins on their faces, of course they had seen the kiss.
Leaning against the door frame, I waved until they were out of my sight and then went inside.