Love Always Wins

3

Chloe wiped under her eyes with her hands while Seb was still sat in the chair next to her bed. He stared with wide open eyes down at the white floor, until now he'd pushed last Thursday to the back of his mind, unable to think of anything else but his pregnant wife but now after telling her what had happened and who had shot her, the whole day had come back to haunt him. He shivered, he'd gone ice cold, in his mind he could still hear her telling him that she loved him over and over as he'd held her in his arms while waiting for help to arrive. He could still see her blood on his hand from when he'd placed it on her and he could still feel the cool skin of her cheeks against his fingertips, he could vividly remember the gut wrenching panic he'd felt when he'd had a moment when he thought she'd stopped breathing. He could still see her laying in the snow, he could still hear that gunshot. He quickly realised that he hadn't given himself time to process and deal with what had happened, he hadn't even begun to deal with the fact that Antti had been the one who'd held a gun to his head, that the man who had been an integral part of his private and professional life had betrayed him and for what? Why? He had no idea. Was Antti still hung up on Chloe? Had he done it for money? Hearing Chloe quietly crying he forced himself to look back at her.
"So how do you feel now that you know?" He asked quietly.

"I can't believe it. What a fucking mess." She replied shakily. "And Michael.....is he still here? Did I know about his recovery? Can I see him?" Michael's secret recovery had been something of a revelation for her, the one good thing amongst all the bad. If she had a chance of seeing him then she was going to take it. She had to know that he was ok and that he wasn't angry with her over the leaked videos and photos that Seb had told her Stephen had released to the media just weeks earlier.

"I don't know." He replied, he presumed that Michael had returned to Switzerland, he hadn't seen him since Thursday night.

"You don't know if I can see him or you don't know if he's here?" Chloe pressed on, Seb suddenly felt as though he wanted to explode; he'd just relived the whole ordeal of last week for her and she was more worried about seeing Michael?! Could she not see how traumatised he was after going over every single detail all over again?! Did she not care?

"I don't know if he's still in the country, I presume he's left." He replied curtly.

"Is there any way I can contact him?" She asked.

"Is there anything else you want to ask me about that day besides questions about him?" He asked, his tone harsher than he meant it to be. He knew that Michael's number was on her mobile phone but he wasn't going to tell her that.

"I'm sorry." She sniffed and wiped her eyes again. Starting to feel uncomfortable with his presence she wondered where the hell her mum had got to and she looked to the door, wishing that she'd come back.

"No, I'm sorry." He ran his left hand through his hair and as she looked back at him she caught sight of his gold wedding ring, reminding her of the one she was wearing and that this man sitting next to her was very much hers. He looked upset and haunted. every so often he would shiver, clearly talking about that day had affected him. He stood up from his chair, was he leaving? "I need some air." He choked the words out and bolted from the room. He was swinging between feeling the shock and terror that reliving that day had brought back and then hurt and anger because all she was doing was asking about her ex lover. He wanted to hold her tight in his arms and tell her that no one would ever hurt her again and at the same time he wanted to vent and yell at her because she was more concerned about Michael fucking Schumacher than she was about the feelings of her own husband. As he ran down the corridor he didn't see Chrissie and David, he didn't see anyone because he didn't want to. He needed time alone and right now he wasn't sure that he wanted to come back. With Sebastian gone from her room she allowed herself a moment to digest everything that he'd said. Stephen had got hold of videos and photos of herself and Michael, but how? Had he hacked her laptop? It seemed that Antti had been Stephen's accomplice, why would Antti go behind Sebastian's back like that? What was his motivation? Was Antti the one who'd got access to her laptop? Stephen had planned for a sick re-run of the time he'd raped her but as he'd already leaked to the press, hadn't he got what he wanted? Her mind went back to Michael and then to poor Corinna; to find out that her husband had slept with his PA and to have it leaked to the world, it was no wonder she'd lost it and reacted like she had. Chloe wasn't angry or bitter towards her, Corinna didn't deserve that. She wasn't sure who she felt angry at or even if she felt angry any more. If anything she felt like this was all her fault. Corinna hadn't deserved to get caught up in this and neither had Sebastian.