Forbidden

32. Four letters

"Okay please go over this one more time, I'm just trying to understand" said Olivia. They had been on the roof for a while now, going over everything that had happened. Olivia was actually listening to what he had to say but it all sounded so crazy that she found it hard to believe. "Checo told you to stay away, but then we both talked in the elevator and basically told each other we cannot stop thinking about the other" stated Olivia.

"Yes, and then the next day I saw Charles texting you and I guess I got jealous. I thought you and I didn't stand a chance in hell if there were so many obstacles: Checo, Charles, Ashley, becoming a father... So I told you to leave Saudi with Charles instead of with me" said Max. They were both telling each other everything, everything they had thought and everything that had happened during the last few weeks. It was all out in the open now, they had nothing to lose.

"But that just made me realize I really couldn't be with Charles. I cared about you too much. So I broke things off with him" said Olivia quietly looking into his blue eyes, which reflected the now light blue sky.

When Olivia said that last part there was a hint of a smile on Max's lips and his eyes seemed clearer, less troubled, at least for a moment.

"When I got back to Monaco I didn't know what to do, because I felt so strongly about you. I didn't know if I could even try things with Ashley but also knew ending things with her did not mean you and I would be together. I didn't know if you would want to be with me with everything that has been going on" he paused for a moment "So I thought I would just take a few days to think things over, I thought not texting or calling you would be better. I didn't want to be stringing you along but also being with Ashley all day" he turned from the horizon to look at her "And then I saw that picture of you with my shirt on" he said and a smile definitely appeared on his face as he looked at her. Olivia blushed, she didn't know he had recognized his t-shirt, it was just a plain white t-shirt.

"Oh god" she said "I didn't know you saw that, that's so embarrassing. There you were looking at baby cribs and not talking to me and I was wearing around your shirt" she said covering her face with her hands for a moment.

"No, never be embarrassed about that please. My head had been a mess all week, thinking about wether you would even sign up to date someone who is about to become a father, someone with a crazy ex, someone who your brother doesn't want you to date. But then I saw that picture and I thought maybe you felt the same thing I did and I just knew I had to go for it, be all in." he said as he lightly removed her hands from her face and touched her cheek with his hand, a small smile appeared on her blushed face as she looked up straight at him.

"That's the day I told Ashley I would not be moving in with her. She told me she knew we would eventually get back together like we had in the past and to just get over with it. But after seeing you in that picture with my t-shirt on I knew I couldn't do that. So I told her we wouldn't get back together, that things had changed and that I had met someone and was falling for her" he dropped his hands and stopped holding her face, then he looked back to the wall, his back leaned on the edge of the building. "She asked me who it was, and I refused to tell her. I knew she would act crazy about it I just didn't know she would actually threaten to hurt you. She told me she wouldn't have it, and I told her I wasn't asking for her permission. Then she said if she ever found out who it was there wouldn't be a place on earth you would be able to hide" Max said somberly.

"But surely she didn't actually mean it, right?" said Olivia making a confused face. Max turned to look at her worriedly.

"Of course she meant it Olivia, she explicitly said she would hurt you if she found out about you. She doesn't want me to leave and is willing to threaten your life or actually put you in danger for me to stay. She knows I would stay if that meant protecting someone I love" said Max naturally, without even thinking.