“You’ve never asked Isaac?” she questions.
“No. I don’t know why, I guess I was worried that he might say no, and I wanted it to be him… you know?”
“Yeah. You wanted him to save you, to be your knight,” she relays my thoughts out loud.
“I’m a fool, right?”
“Nope. Not at all.”
We both remain quiet, and after about ten minutes, I think maybe she’s fallen asleep until she breaks the silence.
“I love you, Olivia. I won’t ever bail on you. When we get out of here, we’ll get through it together, okay, babe?”
I rest my head on top of hers. “Okay, I love you, too,” I whisper, holding back on all the emotion that’s eating me from the inside out.
I must drift off, because the next thing I know, I’m being dragged across the floor by my hair. I scream and get a kick in the ribs for it.
“Liv!” Helena shouts my name, and I hear a thump before she goes quiet. I desperately try to look over my shoulder, to check that she’s okay, but the man-beast holding me thinks I’m struggling to get away, so he shouts and then kicks me in the back.
“Stop fucking kicking me,” I scream, my anger winning out over my fear. He drops me, but I only get a moment of freedom before his fist connects with my already painful ribs. I hiss and then wheeze out a breath, every lungful after that is a battle to pull in and release air.
“See, I didn’t kick you that time. Your wish was granted,” he tells me laughing.
I want to shout ‘fuck you’ to him, but I can’t speak. I can barely breathe. He doesn’t care though, and once again grabbing my hair, he continues to drag me into another room. The minute we’re in there, I realise exactly what he’s about to do, as he pulls off his belt and starts unbuttoning his jeans.
ISAAC
I didn’t want her to see me like this—at my darkest. I know once she understands what I’m capable of, she’ll feel differently about me. But her life is my life, I’ll do anything to make sure she’s safe, even if that means giving her up.
As I pull up a little over two hundred feet from the derelict retirement home, I yank off my helmet and sit astride my bike for a moment. This is it. This is where I’ll save her and lose her all at the same time.
Pulling myself from the bike, I stretch every muscle, preparing for what’s to come. I check the few weapons I have and put in my earpiece. “Is everyone here?” A chorus of affirmative answers ring in my ear. “Five minutes until we go in. Darwin, have you placed everyone?” I question.
“Yes. King and Arlo are going in through the back. Clint and Brand are going underground through the basement entrance. Victor and Shelly are covering fire from the outside. Shelly at the back and Victor at the front. You and me, we’re going in the front.”
“Good. Shelly, Victor. Feel it out, but don’t rush in. If we need backup, we’ll call. Otherwise stay outside, we’ll send the girls out if we can.”
“Understood,” Victor chimes back.
“Shelly?” I push.
“Yeah. I heard you,” she murmurs.
“Get to your places. Darwin, I’m coming now. Three minutes twenty until we go in. Radio silence.” I give my orders to my team and stealthily make my way to the front of the run-down building. Seeing Darwin, we both gesture with our hands. He’ll go in first, and I’ll cover him. I pull out my knife—which is my weapon of choice since it’s silent—and get ready.
“Go,” I whisper and start moving.
Darwin and I come across two sleeping men. We dispatch them quickly and silently by cutting their throats, then make our way upstairs. I can hear a commotion has started so I know our cover has been blown, we need to be quicker. Reaching the first floor, Darwin signals right so I turn left. I clock five rooms. Two on each side and one set back at the end of the hallway, about ten feet further than the others. Moving into the first room, I find a man alone, but he’s ready, and when I step through the door, a knife slices through the air beside my head. I move forward and land a punch to his throat. He grasps his windpipe as he struggles to breathe. I step forward and break his neck. Turning, I prowl to the next room. It’s empty.
Room three has me smiling. When I move into the small space, I find the man who took Via, the one who clocked her with a gun. He rushes at me. I turn cocking my elbow and ram it into his nose, pushing it up into his brain. I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t have more time to deal with him, to extend his pain. But I have more important things to do. I want Via.
As I’m about to go into the fourth room, a crash pierces the air. My whole body stands to attention, every hair arrow straight on my body, my teeth grinding against each other. My muscles uncoil, and I run, flat out toward the room. What I see as I smash through the door is something I never want to see again. Via is practically naked on the floor, her hands tied behind her back. She’s struggling to breathe, her eyes streaming with tears as a man kneels before her, his jeans pushed down from his waist as he cradles his dick in his hand.
A feral roar thunders from my mouth emerging from somewhere in
