I can finally see that the Starr brother holding me is Tim, the second-oldest brother. I lean forward again and try to headbutt Tim, but this time I hit his chest and he just laughs at me. I see Nate standing to the right of Tim, watching, but not moving to help at all. Nate pushes his glasses up with a finger to the bridge of his nose, then turns around to search the crowd.
What the fuck is he even looking for?
Next thing I see, Tyler walks up with his stupid smirk on his face behind Alex. He raises his hand and the light reflects off the brass right before I could even say anything; he hits Alex in the head, and Alex crumbles to the floor. The entire room falls silent and turns to watch us. I am thrashing and screaming behind the duct tape, trying to get out of Tim’s grip to get to Alex, who is now crumpled on the floor.
Tyler laughs at my attempt to get out of Tim’s grip. He reaches forward to rip the tape off my lips, causing my lips to burn, but that doesn't stop me from screaming at him. "What the fuck, Tyler! Why the fuck would you do that?"
Everyone is looking at us. I'm trying to get any help, but all I'm getting are gawking eyes on me and whispers that I can’t make out.
"Well, well, well. Look at the little mouse caught in the mouth of the cat—or should I say cats?" I give him a look at his stupid comment. Who even says something like that?
"What the fuck do you want with me?" I try to pull against Tim's grip, anything to get a little bit of feeling back in my arms.
"What do I want? Well, what I want is my brother to be alive, but I don't foresee you having the power to bring back the dead." He rubs his chin, looking as if he is seriously contemplating something.
He leans forward and whispers in my ear, "You know what? Maybe we can kill you." I raise an eyebrow at him. This is the worst "villain" speech I have ever heard.
"Are you done yet?" The sass rolling off my tongue, which pisses him off. Next thing I know, my head snaps to the side from the impact of Tyler’s hand smacking me across the face.
"No, little murderer, I am not done. You are going to pay for what you did to Andrew." I just blink at him, waiting for him to stop talking.
"And why exactly would I do that? I told you what he did to me. I'm not going to pay for shit." I spat at him, trying to get my spit to hit him in the face.
Chapter thirty-five
Olivia
Wehavebeenwaitingin the treeline for over an hour. My nerves will not calm down until I see Alex and Rachel come out of the building. If I weren't pregnant and next to my paranoid brother, I would have gone in already to see what was going on.
A few people have already left the warehouse. Most of them are having intense conversations as they come out. One woman came out screaming about something I couldn’t hear, but her arms were flailing through the air, so it must have been intense.
"How much longer do you think it's going to take?" I ask Oliver, who is lying on the ground, his sights lined up on his sniper rifle.
"I don't know, but I am not taking my eyes off the door. I had a bad feeling about sending just the two of them in, especially Rachel. We should have sent other guys in with them." He stops talking, and his body goes rigid. I pull up my rifle and look through the scope to see what he is looking at. I see one of the Starr brothers walk out the door, but no Rachel or Alex.
"I swear to god, Olivia, if you don't put that fucking rifle down." He says without lifting his gaze. Oh my god, this man.
"Shut up, Oliver. I can shoot the rifle as long as I am safe! I looked it up." He shakes his head and goes back to watching the door.
This whole perimeter watch thing is more boring than a stakeout; at least we had shitty music in the shit mobile.
My mind starts to drift off to the day of the docks and all the people I didn't get to save, including fucking Jones. His dead body, bleeding on the dock, invades my memory. I swear I will figure out how to end these fuckers; for Jones, for the people in sex trafficking, and me.
"Olivia, I need you to stay calm, but look at the door," Oliver whispers, catching my attention. I lift my rifle and look through the scope, focusing on the door. As soon as my sight clears up, my blood turns ice cold. I see Tyler holding Rachel, being dragged out the door. My adrenaline spikes, and the only thought in my mind is ‘We need to get to Rachel right now’.
"What are we going to do, because staying calm is not going to happen, and if you don't give me an order soon, I am about to get real trigger happy, real soon." I look down at Oliver, who is taking deep breaths to calm his shaking, and I see the slight movement of his trigger finger. When I look back on my sight, I see one of the Starr brothers on the ground. Tyler reaches behind himself and pulls out a blade that shines in the street light, and holds it up to Rachel's throat. You can see her say something with a smirk on her face, so I can only assume it's some smart ass comment, and Tyler looks murderous.
For the love of god, Rachel, shut your damn mouth.
"Liv, look!" Oliver says to me. When I move my sight away from Rachel, I see Alex walking out of the door, blood dripping down from his forehead, with an evil snarl on his face. He slowly walks towards Tyler, almost creeping.
"Oli, I don't know what he has planned. Keep aim on Tyler; I will aim at the other brother, next to Tyler." He grunts his approval. I position it so that it sits perfectly in the pocket of my shoulder, and take aim straight at the nerdier-looking brother. I control my breathing so that my aim never wavers.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
