5. Oliver

Chapter 5

Oliver

His Isobel

“ I have located Isa. She is safe. I will bring her to you both. ETA two hours.”

Oliver’s knuckles whitened as he clutched the steering wheel aggressively. He sped down the back roads of their town, a specific destination in mind. The words from Milo echoed around his brain.

Why would it take two hours to return? Something wasn’t right.

There was one place he knew he could go. One man that ran this town. He could help them.

The man owed Oliver after all.

“You’re going to break it,” Maddox stated, looking up from his phone.

“I don’t care . She’s missing,” he bit out. “Why did we let her go out into the hallway? Why didn’t we do anything to stop her?”

“Because she asked us not to, and we respect her wishes.” Maddox shifted in his seat; he was almost comically oversized for the small vehicle.

“Emilio will find her for us.” Oliver would be reunited with his Isobel.

No matter the cost.

“From what you’ve told me, that man is the literal devil of this town, and you haven’t seen him in over 10 years. Who’s to say he’s even the man in charge anymore?” Maddox grunted out, readjusting again, his knees squeezing against the dashboard.

Oliver turned the corner, whipping the vehicle dangerously close to the sidewalk. Up ahead, the moon shined brightly onto a church that he was intimately familiar with. It was where he went for Sunday service his entire childhood. Where he first met the young Emilio.

Where his dad died .

“Something doesn’t seem right. Why is it lit up like that? Isn’t their business usually conducted under the church?” Maddox cut through Oliver’s anxiety. The words ricocheted around the confined space of the vehicle.

Oliver wasn’t sure what was stabbing at his psyche, but without thought, he swerved up onto the lawn of the church and jumped from the car.

Just as he made it to the steps, he heard movement behind him.

“State your business.”

Oliver paid no mind to the unfamiliar voice; he didn’t pause as he flung the church doors open.

He blinked his eyes a few times to adjust to the sight before him.

“Isobel!”

Panic. Anxiety. Turmoil.

Confusion.

“Get the fuck away from her!” Oliver was sprinting now, ignoring the candles on the ground and the familiar rhythm he couldn’t quite place. The voice in his brain screaming something wasn’t right.

His attention focused on Isobel’s tear-stained face. On the man that held her, the man from the plane, from the reunion.

Was this the man who took her? Had Milo lied when he had said he’d found her?

Her eyes widened in surprise. He couldn’t hear her, but he could see as she mouthed his name in horror.

He didn’t understand. Nothing made sense .

Isobel stepped out of the man’s embrace as Oliver reached them.

Oliver didn’t pause; he raised his fist, pulled back, and swung it directly into her captor’s gut.

The man made a satisfying grunt of pain, bending over, before Oliver was restrained, his arms pulled uncomfortably behind him by firm hands. The cool metal of a gun was pressed to his temple.

“What are you doing?” Isobel shrilled. “Let him go!”

“Boss?”

The captor stood back up to his full height, brushing off his clothes and turning the severe intensity of his gaze to Oliver. “We need to talk,” he stated brusquely before reaching out and tugging Isobel back to him.

Rage percolated through Oliver’s veins as he took in the stranger who held his Isobel hostage.

This must be who took her. A fucking stalker.

“You sick freak!” Oliver yelled the words, spit flying from his mouth as his chest heaved in and out. He wasn’t in control, and his mind was unraveling. His good boy persona liquefying.

“You really don’t recognize me? I’m hurt.” The freak’s smile was all teeth as he tightened his grip on Isobel.

Oliver had a moment of shock to see she wasn’t fighting back before a new voice broke into the space.

“Ellie?”

Oliver turned to the voice, the pistol following his move.

Maddox was being pushed into the church, two goons at his back.

“Is this really necessary?” Isobel’s soft voice was static with concern. “Oliver, Maddox, I need to say this first. I haven’t made a choice, but I need you both to understand. And if at the end of it you want to leave me? You don’t want to deal with this? I understand, but just know that I do care about you both more than words can express. ”

Her hand came up to cup Oliver’s face.

One of the candles reflected off of a ring on her finger.

“What have you done?” It took a moment to realize it wasn’t his own voice.

Maddox was no longer the docile prisoner as he fought back against the two captors. Swinging one into the other.

Without further delay, Oliver did the same. Reaching up to grab the gun from his temple and twisting it away.

He pivoted, delivering a bone-crushing kick to one of the men’s faces. It was the man who had been holding the gun and it bounced against the ground a few feet before sliding underneath a pew. Oliver only had an instant of satisfaction before the stranger that had his Isobel launched off the podium at him. A fist finding his cheek, the shock causing him to take several steps back.

After that it was a chaotic mess of fists, kicks, and yelling that Oliver couldn’t keep track of.

He was delivering as much violence as he could, allowing his anger and confusion to power him through.

That was, until a gun shot pierced the room.