MAXIM
He woke up with a loud gasp.
For a moment, Maxim simply lay in bed, breathing heavily as he stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom.
Wait...
His bedroom?
Maxim's forehead creased a bit as he looked around.
How the hell did he get here? he asked himself.
Maxim's eyes darted around the lavish room in confusion.
The last thing he remembered was being in front of the courthouse, his head spinning as he thought about...
...Ava.
Maxim immediately tried to sit up, breathing heavily as he did.
He found that he was still wearing the suit trousers from earlier, though his shoes and shirt were gone, leaving him barefoot and bare-chested. But he barely noticed.
His attention was still on the topic of regaining his past memories.
He pressed a hand against his forehead.
Shit.
How had five years passed without him remembering Ava? Without even laying eyes on the person he loved more than anything in the world?
And as for Ava herself...
How was it that she hadn't approached him during all that time?
Not even today, when she decided to show up at his trial?
Maxim closed his eyes, utterly bewildered.
With a frustrated exhale, he whisked the blanket off his body before swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He planted his feet on the cold marble floor.
He needed to find Ava, Maxim thought.
She was the only person who could answer the countless questions racing through his mind.
Just as he was about to stand, a glow from the nightstand caught his attention.
He looked up to see that the bright light came from his phone, which was now ringing.
Instinctively, Maxim stretched his hand toward it. He picked it up, glanced at the screen for only a second before seeing the caller's name.
Jonathan Holloway.
Without hesitation, he set the phone down onto the nightstand with unnecessary force.
He neither had the energy nor the inclination to deal with his stepfather.
As Maxim pulled his hand away from the nightstand, he accidentally knocked over the bedside lamp.
The lamp crashed onto the marble floor and broke into two pieces.
Maxim barely glanced at it, too preoccupied with carrying out his plan.
He pressed his hands against the bed and tried to stand.
The moment he did, however, a wave of dizziness struck him. The room tilted violently, making his hands tremble and forcing him to sink back onto the edge of the bed.
"Damn it..." he muttered.
What the hell was wrong with him now?
At that exact moment, the bedroom door burst open.
Levi stepped inside.
His expression remained as stoic as ever, though his imposing figure radiated restrained violence. The moment he saw Maxim sitting upright, some of the tension visibly left his shoulders.
He was about to take a step when someone else came into the room. It was Maxim's butler, Albert Wayne.
He was a competent looking man wearing a butler's uniform, complete with gloves and sensible shoes.
"Are you alright, sir?" He asked Maxim in a concerned voice.
Maxim didn't answer him, too busy putting a hand to his aching head.
The butler looked even more concerned now. Levi got scared for his boss too, looking at his condition.
"Go check if the doctor is close," he whispered to Albert. "I'll handle it until then."
The fifty-year-old man didn't look happy with this decision, clearly wanting to stay.
"But..."
"Go," Levi said, glaring at the man.
Albert bowed and reluctantly left the room. That was because Levi was next in the hierarchy of their organization after their boss. He was Maxim's second-in-command.
After Albert left, Levi turned his attention back to Maxim, who was only looking slightly better. He then approached him slowly, not trusting his boss's mood right now.
He'd never seen him like this.
"Sir," he said hesitantly, moving close to him. "Are you alright?"
Maxim looked up at him with a confused expression, still breathing heavily.
"How did I get here, Levi?" he demanded. "What happened to me? The last thing I remember is being at the courthouse."
Levi frowned.
"Sir... you don't remember?"
Maxim's expression clouded with more confusion.
"Remember what?"
"You collapsed at the courthouse."
Maxim flinched as though he'd been struck.
"...Collapsed?"
Levi nodded.
"That's right, sir. You lost consciousness. I brought you home myself. And the doctor is on his way."
For several long seconds, Maxim simply stared at him, a bit stunned by his words. He had no memory of this.
He quickly shook off the confusion, regaining his composure.
"Cancel the doctor, Levi."
"But, sir, you are clearly unwell—"
"I'm fine," Maxim cut him off sharply. "And I'm far too busy to have my time wasted by a doctor who will tell me just that."
Levi frowned in confusion.
"Busy? Busy with what, boss?"
Usually, Maxim hated being questioned by anyone or explaining himself, but he made an exception this time.
"I need to find someone," he said, looking at Levi.
The words had barely left Maxim's mouth before another sharp pain pulsed through his head.
Maxim winced at the pain.
Levi studied him carefully.
"If you're referring to the person who turned Robert Lannister against our organization, you can relax, sir. I'm making sure that our people are still looking into it."
Of course he was, Maxim thought.
Levi was the perfect right-hand-man.
It made perfect sense to Maxim that while he was out of commission, Levi had already begun hunting whoever had convinced Robert Lannister to testify against him.
They both knew Robert hadn't acted alone.
The accountant had always been good with numbers.
But he had never been brave.
Someone had gotten to him in order to get to Maxim.
The only problem was that they still had no idea who or why they had done this.
When he'd ordered Levi to eliminate Robert inside witness protection, Levi hadn't managed to learn who was behind the betrayal before Robert died.
Now they were forced to investigate from scratch.
Whoever had orchestrated the plot had covered their tracks exceptionally well.
Normally, finding out their identify would have been Maxim's highest priority.
Today...
He couldn't have cared less.
"That's not who I want to find, Levi," Maxim said, his voice tight.
Levi looked puzzled.
Seeing this, Maxim clarified.
"The person is a woman."
For a moment, Levi simply stared at him, not sure if he'd heard his boss right. Was he seriously looking for a woman?
This was very strange for Levi. After all, Maxim had never shown much interested in members of the opposite sex who weren't family members or worked for his, his current mistress included.
"...A woman?" he echoed aloud.
"Her name is Ava... Ava Morgan," Maxim told him, his voice softening ever so slightly as he said her name. "I need you to find her."
Levi blinked at how heartfelt the order sounded.
"...But why, sir? Who is she?" he asked curiously.
Maxim closed his eyes briefly, forcing himself to stay patient.
"That isn't your business, Levi."
He opened them again.
"Your only concern should be finding her. And while you're at it, I want to know everything she's done over the last five years. I want every address she's lived at, every job she's worked, every person she's associated with."
"And I want it fast."
Levi remained silent as his workload kept piling up higher.
Anything else? he asked in his mind.
Instead, he simply cleared his throat and said, "...I'm on it, sir."
"Try to be quick about it," Maxim said. "It's very important. And in case it isn't clear, this takes precedence over everything. Even the business."
For the first time since entering the room, Levi's composure completely slipped, his eyes widening ever so slightly.
Maxim Holloway was suggesting putting something ahead of his all-important business?
That had never happened before.
What was going on? Levi thought.
Maxim could tell that Levi had questions but, to his credit, he kept them to himself. That was because Levi sensed that it would piss off Maxim if he asked them. He was right.
"Understood, sir," the bodyguard replied.
He then turned and slowly walked out of the bedroom to carry out his orders.
Maxim watched him leave, a flicker of anticipation mingling with the chaos inside him.
Soon...
He would finally have answers.
And, best of all, he would be with Ava again.
---
AVA
She was standing in an endless white expanse.
Mist drifted in every direction.
There was no sky above, no walls around her, no floor beneath her feet—or anything else as far as Ava could see.
There was only white.
Ava looked down at herself and found she was wearing a white nightdress that ended halfway down her thighs.
A shiver of unease ran through her.
Where am I? she wondered. And what am I wearing?
Before she could search for an answer, a familiar voice called out to her.
"Ava."
She looked up sharply, startled, wondering who had said her name.
All she saw was the endless mist stretching before her.
Her brow furrowed.
Strange. She could have sworn she had heard someone calling out to her.
"Over here," the voice said again.
This time, a figure slowly emerged from the white mist.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Blond. Blue eyed. Dressed entirely in white.
He had the same handsome face she'd seen earlier that day in the courthouse—the same face she'd spent the last five years trying, and failing, to forget.
"Maxim," she whispered, almost breathlessly.
A gentle smile spread across his face.
"There you are," he said. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
His words made Ava's chest tighten.
"I've always been here, Max," she replied softly. "You're the one who disappeared."
Pain flickered across his features.
"You're right," he admitted quietly. "But I'm here now."
He began walking toward her, closing the distance between them with slow, determined steps.
Ava remained where she was, her heart pounding with equal parts anticipation and panic. She didn't know wether to meet him halfway or run away.
She never got to make the decision because as he stopped in front of her—
Ava jolted awake.
Her eyes flew open as she sucked in a sharp breath, the dream dissolving in an instant.
For several long seconds, she lay motionless in the darkness of her apartment, trying to steady the frantic beating of her heart.
'So much for life being easier after a nap,' Ava thought dryly.
She just couldn't get a break, it seemed. Apparently, seeing Maxim at the courthouse hadn't been disturbing enough.
Now he was even invading her dreams.
Before she could dwell on that thought any longer, a sharp knock echoed through the apartment, cutting through the silence.
"Ava?" a familiar voice called from the other side of the door. "Can you open up?"
She turned toward the door at once, her heart quickening again, eyes widening.
Blake.