Marry. Ride. Love.

And then I would fly home

little trigger warning! Mentioning of sick parents; emotional content

*Isabella*

I was sitting in the hospital in Monaco, in tears.

Tizia's call had caught me cold. Mom was not well.

Sure we had to expect that to happen at some point, but the thought of losing her....

I didn't want to think about it. Max sat next to me and held my hand until his cell phone started vibrating. He pulled it out of his pocket and took a quick glance at the screen only to push the call away. I hadn't looked at my phone in hours. Nothing mattered right now except Mom.

We weren't even allowed to go in to see her, because the danger of endangering her already weak immune system even more was far too great. Tizia and Collin were sitting next to us.

I was really happy for my sister that she had found and married someone who really cared about her. She had definitely made the right move and escaped a very loveless marriage.

Tino and I had argued again before I had left so hastily. That he had really insinuated that there was something going on between me and Pecco had offended me extremely. He himself was far from being a good husband and accused me of being unfaithful to him. By now it was just ridiculous. We just didn't work together.

And still, when I saw Tizia and Collin like that, I would have liked to have Tino with me.

Not that Max wasn't a good emotional support. On the contrary. He was the best at catching me. But it wasn't the same.

I had sort of just borrowed him from Arianna and I knew, even if he didn't say it, that he wanted to go back to her. Completely understandable. I had shown up unannounced and needed him. At least for a moment.

His cell phone vibrated again and he puffed in annoyance, but took the call.

"Lando what's wrong? It's bad right now I'm... yeah sure she's with me... oh then it was him? Let him stay where the pepper grows! He's not worried! If she was important to him, she would never have come here alone... no. No, he can go fuck himself! Lando, no.", Max looked at me apologetically and pushed himself up from his seat to walk a few steps.

He tried to talk quietly, but that wasn't really his forte. Besides, it was usually so quiet here that I understood him clearly despite all his efforts "Her mom is in a really bad condition. You know what condition she's in anyway. But I don't think Bella can take it, should... but even that he doesn't know. He doesn't know anything about Bella because he doesn't care. He only sees the money. And I swear to you, if it wasn't for her mom's life hanging in the balance, I wouldn't let her go back to him. Have you seen her lately? Shit, that's not our Bella anymore. And if this asshole doesn't get the stick out of his ass soon, then... then I'll burst soon... yeah, you can tell him that if you want. Many greetings from Max, but I'm sure not talking to him," then he hung up and shoved his cell phone back into his pants pocket.

He came back to me and sat down next to me again.

I didn't have to ask him who it had been about. I just looked at my best friend.

He just deserved all the happiness in the world. All the hate and anger that kept hitting him and hardly anyone got to see the side he showed me. That caring, concerned side. That side that would have killed everything and everyone if it had to.

And I wanted him to be happy.

"You should go home. Arianna's waiting for you, right?", I squeezed his hand.

"No way. I'm not leaving you alone.", he grumbled

"I'm not alone. Tizia and Collin are here and mom. And I can call you if I need you, but you belong home now. I've stolen too much of your time as it is."