Xanthi's POV
"And? How was it?" Max asked as I crawled next to him in bed.
"I don't know" I mumbled, turned my head to him. "Maybe I was wrong after all"
"You? Wrong? Impossible" he chuckled. I nudged him, rolled my eyes. "I am honestly so confused. I don't know what to think anymore"
"What did she say?"
"A lot" I mumbled.
"Yeah no shit Sherlock" he chuckled, wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his body. "Tell me everything"
A FEW HOURS AGO
I walked with Francesca on the balcony. I wanted to talk to her first, hear her side of the story.
Because after hearing everyone else's side, I was actually genuinely interested in hearing her side.
I told her everything Jordan told me. She listened, didn't change her facial expressions when I told her everything I knew.
She sat down on one of the loungers and sighed.
"Jordan was telling the truth, I did cheat on him with Chase. Biggest mistake but I was a mess back then. Jordan found out, broke up with me and I took the job in the paddock"
"And then he abused you because he was mad?"
She shook her head. "Jordan only grabbed my arm a bit too tightly. It was honestly nothing. Chase was the one who got extremely mad"
"Why?"
"I don't know. He probably thought we would get together or something. He's extremely violent, gets mad over nothing"
I nodded, totally agreed with that. He got mad because I made a joke at the club, even though it wasn't really a joke.
"And then one night, I was out with Savannah. Jordan, Chase and your best friend were working at the club" she sighed. "I was drugged, someone must have put something in my drink, I was pulled in the backroom and .."
She looked down.
"For years I thought it was Jordan, or I made myself believe that but it obviously was Chase"
"Jordan was the one who caught-"
"Who saved me" she interrupted me.
And Jordan thought Francesca was cheating on Lando with Chase, just like she did to him.
But she wasn't.
"Chase was stalking me, begging me to get together, to give him a chance but every time I said no, he became more and more aggressive"
She looked up at me.
"When I found out I was pregnant, I left. I was scared he would do something to me, to the baby. I wanted to protect us both"
"And then you came back.." I said as I looked back at her. She nodded. "Then I came back"
She didn't give me any explanation why she came back and I wasn't gonna push her.
She told me enough for now.
Chase was an aggressive, violent asshole. He assaulted, abused, drugged and raped her.
He was the reason why she left, why she was scared and why her and Lando broke up.
But this wasn't over, she was still scared.
I totally understood that because I had that same fear when I was 15.
Got abused by my foster dad, several times, for years.
Until I had enough.
"Jess said you were using Lando, definitely in the beginning and maybe even the entire time" I said.
Her eye twitched a little. "No, I never used him."
I tapped the railing of the balcony a few times. "Okay, if you want, I will go with you to get Chase arrested"
"No, I don't want that" she quickly said. A bit too quick.
"Why not?"
"I just don't want that"
