My eyes flicked into storage rooms as we passed, stacks of containers in some while men lifted, carried, and organized whatever was inside. In other units, women young and old shuffled through clothes hanging from free standing closets, wearing an emptiness in their eyes, and skimpy outfits.
And my feet kept moving until we reached the end of the line, where the hallway broke off into two opposite directions. Three offices laid out before me, and to my horror, Irish man made a left when I’d been counting on him to make a right. Rooted in place, he turned back to face me. “Something the matter?”
I forced a step forward. “No, all good.”
We stopped in front of the door, and the Irish man was quick to open and usher me inside with a gesture of his hand. “It’ll be a while. In the meantime, sit, and enjoy the entertainment on Ghost,” he emphasized with humor in his tone.
I took a step inside the room, the door shut behind me, and I halted in place when a familiar face stared back at me from against the desk. Utter chaos swam inside her dark brazen eyes. “Mum?” my voice hiked.
“Oliver,” she rushed out, yanking me away from the door and in front of her. My eyes darted around the bare room for answers as she gripped my hand, “We don’t have time. You have to listen to me—”
“What the fuck is going on?” Words left me, but I couldn’t hear them, and I jerked my arm away and took a step back as her expression softened. My heart hammered inside my ears, and I clenched my jaw as I tried to make sense of it all. “Did Dex fucking send you? Of all people, he sent my mum to make sure I killed him? Or did you want to see me die? Has the last twenty fucking years of torture not pleased you enough?” I shouted through a whisper and turned and pushed my nervous hand through my hair before grasping it. “No, you have to fucking go.” My hand hit the doorknob.
“Oliver, stop!” her stringy blonde hair smacked her cheek as she jumped out in front of me. Her hand squeezed my bicep, and I flinched.
I looked down at her hand and back into the terror in her eyes. “Don’t fucking touch me,” I seethed, walking her backward into the wall and dug my finger into my chest. “You don’t have the right to touch me, to talk to me, to fucking watch me die. You lost your bloody rights.”
“I know, Oliver,” she cried. “I was a terrible mum. The truth is, I never deserved you.”
“I don’t have time for this,” I shook my head, then looked around the room for something to keep the door open to retrieve the gun lying on the opposite side of the building. Ghost would walk through that door any second.
“No, listen to me,” she cried, following my erratic pacing. “I got clean, baby. And once I got clean, I could finally think clearly! You can’t do this, Oliver! If by some miracle, you made it out of here alive, it’s not over. He planned to kill you all along,” she frantically rambled.
I whipped around. Time was ticking, the rage was building, and my hand shook as I vigorously tapped the side of my head. “You don’t think I fucking know that?”
“No, you don’t know everything!” she cried out.
“I have two seconds before they get here, and you had twenty fucking years to make it up to me!” I whisper-shouted inches from her face, my teeth clenching.
Mum’s shoulders sank, and she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Let me do this for you. After everything I’ve put you through, let me be a mum for once. Let me do this.”
“No,” I shook my head, vision blurring as I took off my boot to wedge in the backdoor. “they’ll kill you. I’ve already accepted my fate.” I whipped around and reached for the back door.
“It was Dex who ordered Leigh to kill Mia to make sure you’d go through with this.”
I paused and turned around.
That couldn’t be right. I’d known girls like Leigh before. “No, Leigh was jealous of Mia.”
“No, Oliver. Leigh would’ve done anything for Dex. She would’ve done anything to feel a part of something, to feel a part of a family. Who knows if Dex would ever leave Mia alone. And you can’t do this, Oliver. Mia needs you. The baby will need you.”
I froze.
My lungs froze.
My chest froze.
I couldn’t think.
“What?” I whispered, my head slowly shaking and my eyes squinting, unsure if I heard her right. I couldn’t have heard her correctly, but my heart must have. Hard and heavy hits slammed inside my chest, an extra skip than before.
It was loud and eternal,Ba-dub. Ba-dub. Ba-dub…
“Mia’s pregnant,” she blurted, and tears froze in my eyes. “I saw her four weeks ago. She had that glow about her, one only a mum could see. I’ll never forget that look in her eyes, Oliver. If you do this, you’re not only risking Mia’s life. You’ll risk your babies too. Who knows what Dex would do once you’re dead.”
As soon as she said that, the door opened, and everything that followed seemed to happen so fast in slow motion.
A tall man in a suit took one step into the room when Mum pulled a gun from under her skirt, pointed it at his head, and pulled the trigger. A thunderousBang!pierced my eardrums as the man collapsed to the ground. A ringing ruptured in my ears, my hearing temporarily impaired, and my eyes darted around when Mum’s lips moved, “RUN!”
