Start Again | Forbidden Book 2

26. Two Cats Are Better Than One

On Thursday night, after having spent a few beautiful days enjoying their new beach house with Olivia's family, they all headed back to Monaco. After all, it was true what Carola had previously said to Liv, they would be staying in Monaco until the Monaco Grand Prix was over.

"You're not going" said Max referring to Imola "You were just shot less than a week ago, you are not going" he said after they had been flying for an hour.

Olivia looked deeply offended "But I already went to Miami" she said.

"And you shouldn't have" said Max plainly "I told you to watch the race from the Red Bull garage but you're too stubborn"

"How can I watch a race from Red Bull when I work for Mercedes!" she said.

"What's going on?" said Checo taking off his head phones.

"Max says I shouldn't go to Imola" said Liv pissed off.

"No, I'm saying you can't go to Imola" corrected her Max.

"Oh yeah, I'm with Max on this one" said Checo calmly.

"I can do whatever I want" said Olivia indignantly.

Max let out a desperate sigh "Olivia it's barely been a month since your accident and then you had a second accident less than a week ago. I still see you wince sometimes" he said "I know you can do whatever you want but I think you should still be resting".

"You can stay at our place while Max is not at the apartment" suggested Checo.

Max turned to look at Checo, not realizing that maybe the reason Olivia didn't want to stay had nothing to do with work and more to do with the fact that she didn't want to be alone in that apartment. He turned back to Olivia "Yeah and you can be looking for our new place" he said as he tried to give her a comforting smile "We can start looking tomorrow".

Olivia leaned back on her seat, feeling slightly less tense "Fine" she said "But Jimmy and I are staying with Carola until we get a new place".

"Sounds great to me" said Carola with a smile. Liv returned her smile before looking back at Max who simply mouthed the words 'thank you' to her.

By the time they arrived to Monaco it was Friday afternoon. They picked up Jimmy from his hotel, dropped off Checo, Carola and the kids at their apartment, and Max and Olivia headed over to theirs.

Olivia had rushed out of there so quickly that nothing had been picked up. The dead lilacs still laid on the table, there was glass on the floor and a hole in the wall were the bullet had struck but they police had already taken that with them. There was also a few drops of blood here and there.

"Is that your blood?" asked Max feeling shaken as he saw the whole scene.

"I think so?" said Olivia as she carried Jimmy in her arms so he wouldn't step on the glass.

"Oh my god Olivia" he said shaking his head in disbelief as he turned to her and hugged her, kissing the side of her head. Olivia rested her head on his shoulders as Max embraced her. "I'm so glad you're okay".

Afterwards they locked Jimmy in their room and started cleaning everything up. Max threw away the dead flowers while Olivia swept the broken glass. Then Max cleaned away the blood stains with a pained face imagining the whole break-in in his head once more.

After their apartment was back to normal they sat on the living room, Jimmy roaming around freely once more. Then their alarm rang. It was time to go looking for a new place to live.

"So how many bedrooms are you looking for?" said Sandra the real estate agent as they met in the first property they were looking at, just a couple of blocks away from their current apartment.