Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
O liver's footsteps were a rhythmic thrum against the worn wooden planks of their living room floor. With each pass from the tattered couch to the stone-cold fireplace, his boots whispered across the grain, a stark contrast to the chaos thundering in his head. He couldn’t believe the story Lisa had just told him. He was angry with her for going behind his back and putting herself in danger; for that, he was furious, but deep down, he couldn’t help but be a little proud of her for getting the recordings. She told him she had sent it all to the local newspaper, and hopefully, they’d run the story. Oliver was afraid of what kind of storm they were facing.
“Why would you do that?” he asked.
“We can’t very well go to the police, can we?” she added.
“You’ve put us all in danger, Lisa,” he said. “I don’t like it. The sheriff has a lot of friends around here. They’ll go to great lengths to protect him. You don’t know if the editors at the paper are on his side.”
His mind raced with worry, the same way it did when the sea turned merciless.
"Oliver," Lisa said, her breath coming in short, sharp intakes. "I couldn’t just… he murdered your sister. And then he covered it all up. He raped her and tried to make her get rid of the child. He’s done it to another woman too, maybe even more."
“I can’t believe you went to meet him,” he said, sounding angrier than he was. He was more worried. What did this mean for them now? For their family? “He could have killed you. Why didn’t you tell me?”
"Because you would have stopped me. Michelle's boy…." Lisa's voice broke, the fragments laced with horror. "Sammy. He's your nephew, Oliver. The sheriff… he killed Michelle because that boy is proof—proof that he raped her. And now, Sammy is in danger, too."
Oliver's heart thudded painfully against his ribcage, the implications of Lisa's words spreading through him like wildfire.
“We agreed,” he said. “We agreed when he attacked you to leave it alone. It was too dangerous. We have children, and yet you… you… you’ve put us all in great danger. We risk losing everything we’ve built—the café and the life we have with our children. How could you do that to us?”
A shudder racked her body. "He came after me again, Oliver. I managed to escape, but he's after me. He wants to silence me. I'm terrified for Ethan, for Abigail, Julia, for Daniel…. I know you asked me to stop, but I couldn’t. How could I?" Her voice cracked, dissolving into sobs.
Oliver stared at her, his fists clenching. All he wanted was to forget the whole thing. Once he realized it was the sheriff in those Polaroid pictures, he knew they were up against someone stronger than themselves, someone too powerful, and it wouldn’t be worth the fight. Oliver wasn’t ready to lose everything for this. He had hit rock bottom and just come back and turned his life around again. He was on the right track. And now this? It was all destroyed again. Oliver sighed and glanced toward the liquor cabinet, craving a drink to calm his nerves. Luckily, it was empty and had been since he threw it all out after deciding enough was enough. Lisa’s big eyes stared up at him, awaiting his response, his love. How could he not give it to her?
Oliver wrapped his arms around Lisa, pulling her close and feeling her tremble against him. His mind churned with the need to act, to protect the woman he loved and the life they had built together. Fear clawed at him, but beneath it all, a fierce determination began to smolder. Tomorrow, they would meet with Travis, and they would form a plan—a plan to bring the truth to light and keep their family safe. He would know what to do.
But for tonight, he held Lisa, his embrace a fortress against the darkness encroaching upon their small-town existence. It was love entwined with fear, heartwarming yet chilling, as they stood together on the precipice of a battle neither of them had asked for but were both ready to fight.