Chapter <b>257 </b>
OLIVIA’S POV
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My memory slipped back years ago, uninvited, dragging me into a past I had tried to bury but could never fully escape. I saw it vividly – the night at Julian’s house. My mom, Julian, and I had been tied to wooden chairs, ropes biting into our wrists so tightly that I could feel the cirction in my hands cutting off.
That night, I had been certain it was the end. I could still remember the men who stormed in, they were cold, ruthless, and calcting. They didn’t scream or shout likemon thugs, they moved with precision
–
But despite the chaos, despite my heart hammering so violently I thought it might tear out of my chest, something had caught my attention. The leader of that group had leaned close, his breath brushing my cheek as he barked out an order to his men. That was when I noticed it — on the side of his neck, just below his jawline, a mark. At first, my panicked mind couldn’t decide if it was a tattoo or a scar. But the longer I stared, the clearer it became. It wasn’t Ink. It was flesh torn once and healed wrong, leaving behind a strange shape that looked like a triangle pressed permanently into his skin.
I hadn’t thought much of it in the moment. After all, I was seconds away from death, my family right beside me. But that scar burned itself into my memory. I couldn’t shake it, not even yearster.
And now, sitting here again in another nightmare I hadn’t asked for, staring down the barrel of a rifle pointed directly at me, I saw it. That same scar. That triangle.
My stomach dropped. My lungs seemed to forget how to work. My eyes widened, locking onto the sight as though confirming what my mind already feared. This wasn’t some distant memory haunting me. This was the same man.
The realization sent a chill racing down my spine, colder than the steel of the weapon threatening my life. He wasn’t just another faceless enemy. He was the very same man who had tried to kill my family years ago.
“You couldn’t just keep your butt in one ce, could you?” the leader sneered, his voice low, sharp, and dangerous. “And now, that’s gonna cost you your life.”
The words sliced through the tense air, but before I could react, Adrian’s voice broke out from the side.
“You want to kill her just because she moved? That’s nonsense!” he shouted, his voice carrying both anger and desperation.
But his words didn’t matter to me. My ears rang with the pounding of my heartbeat. My gaze was glued to the man with the scar, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t look away. It was as though time had folded in on itself, dragging the past and present together into a single horrifying truth.
That scar wasn’t a coincidence. It couldn’t be. The odds of it being someone else with the exact same mark were nonexistent. And then, the thought struck me like a thunderbolt, electrifying every nerve in my body, I knew I was right
Adrian was here. He was connected to this. He had to be. The way the leader treated him, the way Adrian moved In these situations as though nothing shocked him it all lined up. My stomach twisted in revulsion as the truth screamed inside me.
<b>9:15 </b>Mon<b>, </b><b>Sep </b>8 B
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It was him. Adrian was behind all of this.
“It’s you,” I whispered, my voice barely audible, as though speaking it aloud would solidify the terrifying
realization.
The leader’s lips curled into a smirk. His eyes gleamed with cruel satisfaction, as if he had been waiting for this very moment. “I was wondering when you would recognize me,” he said smoothly, his tone almost mocking. “I purposely took off my mask for you, so you could see me.”
My throat tightened. My entire body trembled as the weight of his words pressed down on me. He wanted me to know. He wanted me to carry that recognition, to feel the suffocating dread of seeing the face of the man who had haunted me for years.
“How… how did you find me after all this time?” I asked, the shock and disbelief still heavy in my voice.
The leader’s words echoed in my head, sharp and mocking.
“It wasn’t that hard after you came back shing your newpany on the inte. I gotta give it to you though, you’re the first person who survived a gas explosion. Even now, I still don’t know how you did it.”
His voice was cruel andced with amusement.
A ripple of whispers rose from the people around us. Their hushed tones grew louder, feeding into each other until the sound felt deafening. I could feel their eyes piercing into me, judgmental and using, as if I hadmitted some crime by merely surviving. No one seemed to care that a man with a loaded gun was just a few steps away from me, his finger twitching dangerously close to the trigger.
The leader’s smirk vanished. His tone shifted, colder now, a predator locking onto his prey.
“Well, that was all in the past. And me? I’m here toplete what I failed to do all those years ago.”
The way he said it, the finality in his voice, sent a chill down my spine. His gun never wavered. His eyes burned with a hatred I couldn’t understand, yet it was directed solely at me.
“Mom, what’s happening?” Charlie’s voice cracked, filled with terror his young heart couldn’t contain. “Are we gonna die?”
I turned to him quickly, forcing myself to be strong even though inside I was breaking. I cupped his face with both hands, trying to steady the panic rising in me.
“No,” I whispered, the word catching in my throat. “Everything’s gonna be okay. You’re gonna be fine, okay?”
But even as I said it, I knew I was lying. I could hear it in the way my voice faltered, thin and brittle. I didn’t believe those words any more than he did. His wide, teary eyes told me he could sense my fear. Still, I held him closer, as though sheer willpower could shield him from bullets.
The leader’s lips curled into a cruel grin. He leaned forward slightly, tightening his grip on the gun.
“I’ll do you a favor and kill your son first. Then I’ll kill you next.”
My entire body went cold. The horror of his words sank in. My baby
–
my Charlie.
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“Adrian!” I snapped, whipping my head toward him, desperation rising like fire in my chest. “Stop this. I know he’s working for you. You sent them here!” My voice rose, anger tangled with panic.
Adrian’s eyes widened in shock. He shook his head quickly. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, “I’ve never seen these men in my life before.”
Then, Adrian turned toward the gunman. His usual calm, polished demeanor crumbled into something raw. His voice cracked with genuine fear.
“Whoever sent you to do this, we cane to an agreement. Just tell me how much they paid you, and I’ll double it. I promise. Just… just spare them. Spare the both of them, please.”
It was the first time I had ever seen Adrian plead. The arrogance, the cold superiority he always carried was gone. In its ce was desperation, the trembling edge of a man stripped bare of his control.
In my mind, I hoped and begged that the leader would consider it, if I saw the slightest chance that he was going to then I would triple the price
But the man wasn’t moved. His eyes narrowed, his expression hardened, and his voice came out steady, chillingly calm.
“Sorry. But I keep to my contracts. Bye.”
My breath caught in my throat. His hand shifted, steady, deliberate, moving toward the trigger. I couldn’t keep the fear in anymore, my hands started shaking as my face nearly turned pale
I knew what wasing. There was no more time.
The other hostages went quiet, of course they would, if they dared speak in a situation like this they would be putting their lives in danger too.
I pulled Charlie against me, clutching him as tightly as I could, like maybe my arms could shield him from death itself. His tiny frame trembled in my embrace, his sob muffled against my chest.
My eyes shut tight. I couldn’t bear to look anymore.
Was this it? Was this truly the end for me, for my son? After everything I had endured, after all the sacrifices, was this how our story would close? Not with peace, not with redemption, but with the merciless bang of a gun?
Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes. My whole body braced for the inevitable.
Bang!