Chapter 107 Child Again
Max's POV:
Something was really wrong with Veronica.
I could feel it in the way she sat beside me in the car, staring out the window with blank eyes. In the way her hand felt limp in mine, no squeeze back when I tried to offer comfort.
This wasn't her. This wasn't the woman who'd stormed onto that stage to save me.
Was she already having second thoughts? About us? About the choice Theo had forced on her last night?
For fuck's sake, was she regretting it already?
"Are you okay?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.
"I'm fine," Veronica said automatically, looking lifeless. "Just exhausted. All this drama, the press conference, everything. I'm tired."
She trailed off, and I saw her eyes getting distant again.
"I miss my life when I was twelve," she said suddenly. "Everything was so peaceful then. Simple. I didn't have to worry about scandals or family feuds." She stopped herself. "I just miss being twelve."
"You were practically just a child," I said gently.
"Yes," Veronica sighed. "I was. Maybe that's why I was happy. Maybe adult life is just doomed to be depression and complications."
I drove in silence for a moment.
She wasn't wrong... adulthood had been pretty shit for most of us. Especially for people born into families like ours, where every choice was strategic, every relationship was leverage, and happiness was something you sacrificed for duty.
But it didn't have to be that way. Not all the time.
"Now I know where exactly to take you," I said, making a decision.
"What? Max, we're supposed to be going to your favorite café..."
But I was already reversing the car, turning in a completely different direction than we'd been heading.
"Where are we going?" Veronica asked, some animation finally returning to her voice. Confusion, at least, was better than that dead flatness.
"You'll see," I said, allowing myself a small smile.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of Luna Park, a carnival that had set up on the edge of the city for the summer.
Bright lights, cheerful music, the smell of cotton candy and popcorn... everything that was the opposite of the heavy, suffocating world we'd been drowning in.
Veronica stared at the colorful entrance, the spinning rides, the game booths, like she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.
"A carnival?" she said.
"A carnival," I confirmed. "You said you missed being twelve. So let's be twelve for a few hours. No press, no scandals, no family drama. Just... fun."
For a moment, she didn't move. Then, slowly, the smallest smile began to tug at the corners of her mouth.
"Thank you for this," she said, and her voice cracked slightly. "It's been really a long time since I've done something like this."
"Then let's make up for lost time," I said, climbing out of the car and offering her my hand.
She took it, and we walked through the carnival entrance together.
I'd called ahead while driving, arranged for a private security team to keep the paparazzi away if any showed up, but to stay invisible otherwise.
Today was about Veronica getting to have all the fun in the world.
She lit up when she saw the game booths, immediately running over to get tokens from the counter.
Her enthusiasm was childlike in the best way. She looked like a butterfly as she flitted from booth to booth, trying to decide which game to play first.
"The ring toss!" she declared, dragging me over.
I watched her play, and for the first time in the last few days, I saw genuine joy on her face.
Damn, all this time she'd been giving polite smiles at society events. Poor thing almost forgot how to even laugh.
She didn't win the ring toss, but she laughed anyway... that made my chest ache with how much I'd missed that sound.
"The merry-go-round!" she said next, pointing at the vintage carousel with its painted horses and cheerful calliope music.
"You're kidding," I said.
"I'm not! Come on!"
But she didn't wait for me, just ran toward it like a kid, her dress flowing behind her, and climbed onto one of the horses. The ride started, and she was laughing, looking free.
I pulled out my phone and started taking pictures.
Mostly candid shots of her on the carousel, the joy on her face, the way the carnival lights caught in her hair.
I knew I'd look at these photos later and remember this moment as a glimpse of who she could be when the world wasn't crushing her.
My phone rang, interrupting the moment. Theo's name flashed on the screen.
I stepped away from the carousel, answering with a sense of dread already building.
"Max," Theo sounded tensed.
"What happened now?" I asked, waiting for the bad news to hit me.
"That bitch Laura. She's opening up one of our old closed cases. The deal with Ontario."
"What?" I felt my blood run cold. The Ontario deal. The one from four years ago that had been investigated for potential bribery and insider trading.
We'd barely escaped that one, and only because our lawyers had managed to get the case dismissed on a technicality.
If Laura brought that back up, providing new evidence or testimony, it could be a major setback for the Ashfords.
"Why is she still coming after us?" I demanded, my hand clenching around the phone. "Isn't she facing enough criminal charges already? Why the hell is she after us now?"
"Revenge," Theo said simply. "She's going down, so she's taking everyone with her. She's given testimony to federal prosecutors about the Ontario deal. Claims she has evidence of wire fraud, falsified documents."
"Does she actually have evidence or is she just making shit up?"
"I don't know yet," Theo admitted. "Our lawyers are reviewing everything. But Max, if this case gets reopened, if federal investigators start digging... it could be really, awful for us."
I glanced back at the carousel, where Veronica was still riding, and smiling, blissfully unaware of this new disaster approaching.
"But don't tell this to Veronica," Theo continued, as if he was reading my mind. "She's already going through enough. She doesn't need this added stress."
"Okay," I agreed immediately. "I won't say anything. Not today."