Chapter 26
Oliver
Things went from insane to total chaos in the blink of an eye. Things were so similar to how they were before that I got lost in the memory of that night her father died.
The only difference was that there wasn’t a bunch of criminals here, looking to finalize a deal.
It was just them and us.
They wanted to be gone before the police arrived, but we were standing in their way.
I didn’t expect Mikhail to tuck tail and run.
He never left business unfinished, and I, well, I was unfinished business.
He either wanted me under lock and key, only to be released to do his bidding, or he wanted me dead to protect his secrets. There wasn’t much time to decide.
“Let’s go. We gotta get the fuck out of here,” Mikhail said to his lackey.
“What are we going to do with them?” he asked, both of them looking our way.
The only thing I could think to do was angle my body in front of hers.
Mikhail’s eyes narrowed on me.
I could tell that he was torn between killing me and taking me. I figured that deep down, he’d want to use my special skills for his own personal gain in the future, but there wasn’t much time to wrestle me into the car. He knew I wouldn’t go willingly.
“Fuck it. Shoot ‘em. We gotta get out of here.” He turned and headed toward the side exit, retreating in a hurry to try and get away before the police arrived.
I turned my attention to my left, where the guy who did the dirty work was working to pull his gun from the waistband of his pants.
Before he could pull out the gun, I jumped forward and tackled him.
Both of us went flying back to the floor.
He lost his grip on the gun, and it went sliding across the dirt-covered floor.
Luckily, I was on top, so he couldn’t easily reach for it.
I pulled my fist back and sent it flying toward his jaw.
He was a big man, though, and my fist did nothing but piss him off.
He brought his hands together, laced his fingers, and then sent both fists into my stomach.
I instantly doubled over, making it easy for him to throw me to the side.
I groaned as I rolled from my back to my stomach.
My eyes were clenched shut in pain, but I forced them open to see the large man getting to his feet.
Lying on the floor made him appear even bigger than he was.
I expected him to race toward the gun. I was shocked when he stood and froze.
It was like time stood still as I watched him slowly move his hands to the air.
I pushed myself to sit up, and in doing so, I could see around him. Amelia had the gun, and she was aiming it at his head. I turned and looked for Mikhail.
The side door slammed.
He was nowhere in sight. He had made it outside the building, and he didn’t give a shit about anyone inside. He just wanted to get away, thinking that his dirty work was getting taken care of.
“You’d better put it down,” the big guy said, glaring at Crash.
She tightened her hand on the gun, but didn’t make any attempt to lower it. “Not going to happen. This ends now.”
“Then shoot me, because I’m not going back to prison.”
I could tell that she wasn’t prepared to shoot him. She wanted to hold him for the police, but I knew that he wasn’t the type to go down without a fight. The police sirens grew louder, and I heard their cars screech to a sudden stop just outside the building with the missing wall.
“Police! Lower your weapon!”
Amelia nearly jumped out of her skin when several police officers moved into the building, all with their guns drawn. She rushed to put the gun on the floor.
“Now step away,” one officer yelled.
I stood and reached for her. She reached for me as she took a couple of steps closer. When our hands touched, I pulled her against me, hugging her tightly as I buried my nose in her hair, inhaling her sweet scent.
One of the officers bent down to pick up the gun she set down, and that’s when everything started moving in slow motion.
The big guy who had been standing with his hands in the air dropped them to his side before bending down.
My attention jumped over to him in time to see him lift his pant leg and pull the gun he had strapped to his ankle.
It was like everyone noticed at once. Several of the officers pulled their own weapons. I could see their lips move as they yelled at him to lower his weapon, but I couldn’t hear anything other than my own racing heart.
Things went from slow motion to fast forward. He went from bending over to standing upright and spinning around to face me in one swift motion.
Suddenly, I was looking down the barrel of the gun. I didn’t have time to think or process. All I knew was that I had to do something or he’d end up shooting Crash in the back.
On impulse, I spun around. The sound of the gun firing cut through the sound of my own heart. Then I felt the heat as it sliced through me. I knew I’d been hit, but she was okay.
There wasn’t just one gunshot. There were many, and they came from all different directions. The police, who had drawn their weapons, all fired the second he shot me. My knees gave out, and even though I released Crash, she held tight, falling to the dusty floor with me.
She held my head in her lap as she looked down at me with tears in her eyes.
Everything hurt. I felt like I was on fire. So this was what getting shot felt like.
I wasn’t a fan.
“Hang on, Ollie. Don’t you leave me.” She wept, clinging to me.
I felt dizzy. My heart was racing, and my breathing was labored, but it felt like I couldn’t get in enough air. My lungs felt heavy, like I didn’t have the strength to breathe. Then I felt cold and tired.
“Crash,” I whispered.
Her tear-filled eyes locked with mine.
It took every bit of strength I had to mutter the words, “I love you.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to hear that right now.” She used the back of her arm to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “Tell me later. Once all of this is over.”
“I don’t know.” I took a shallow breath, and my eyelids grew heavy. “If I can.” My vision was starting to turn black around the edges, like smoke filling a room.
“Yes, you can. Hang on, Ollie. Please,” she cried.
The blackness filled my vision completely, and I felt jostled as I fell unconscious.
I was lost in the darkness, but I could still hear some of the things going on around me.
It was like listening through a tunnel. I could hear people talking around me.
I could hear Crash crying and doors slamming.
I felt pressure on my chest and heard the sound of sirens.
I didn’t know how I knew, but I knew I was in an ambulance, going to the hospital.
I just prayed that I’d get there in time.
It seemed like my life changed in the blink of an eye. One day, I was alone, living a shitty life, and willing to die in order to get out. The next, I wasn’t. I wasn’t alone. I had her. She crashed into my life, and everything changed.
I no longer wanted to die. I wanted to start fresh.
I wanted to be the kind of man that deserved her.
I wanted to be better than I ever had been.
And even though I didn’t know where life would take us, I had already been envisioning a future together.
A life played out before me, and before I could stop it, I was sucked into the dream that felt like reality.
“Did you hear me?”
I was lost in my own thoughts, but his voice made me shake my head to clear it.
“What?” I looked at the teenage boy who was sitting at the kitchen table across from me.
“I said, what do you consider to be a major turning point in your life?”
“What kind of question is that?” I asked, looking around the kitchen. There was a plate of bacon and eggs in front of me, but I couldn’t remember how I got there. It was like I woke up in the middle of a life that wasn’t mine. Yet somehow, I had all the memories of this life I’d lived.
That’s how I knew the boy across from me was my son. It’s also how I knew that my wife would be joining us in just a few minutes.
“It’s for my essay, which I have to write for my advanced literature class.”
Sure enough, Crash walked into the kitchen, stealing the air from my lungs. She smiled at me as she walked past, allowing her hand to run across my upper back until it fell back to her side once she was out of arm’s length. She stopped at the kitchen cabinet and poured some coffee into her mug.
“Dad?”
I tore my eyes away from my wife and looked at my son. “What?”
His brows lifted, and his eyes doubled in size. It was a look of annoyance. I knew I’d seen it multiple times over the years, and yet it was all too familiar because I’d seen his mother look at me the exact same way since the day she crashed into my life.
“Oh, right. Turning point,” I muttered, rubbing my jaw as I thought it over. I looked back at Amelia, and the answer came to me. “The day I met your mom. That was a turning point in my life.”
He rolled his eyes but wrote it down. “And how do you think your life would be different if you hadn’t met Mom?”
“Easy. I’d be dead.” I shrugged.
He frowned at me.
“Let’s just say that I was not heading down a good path before I met your mom. The day she came into my life, she changed it all. I fell in love with her, and that was enough to make me give up the life I’d been living to start fresh with her by my side.”
I stood and picked up my plate, wanting to be closer to her. I set the plate in the sink and stepped in front of her, trapping her between me and the counter. “And I thank my lucky stars every day I wake up to find you beside me,” I said softly as I lifted my hand to cup her jaw.
Her warm blue eyes met mine, and she smiled sweetly as she lifted herself up on her tiptoes.
“I’m thankful you came into my life, too,” she said, pressing a kiss to my mouth.
Our son gagged. “Gross. I’m going to school before you two start working on giving me a sibling.”
I grinned as I turned to see him grab his books and take off out the door. I looked back at Amelia.
“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea. What do you think?” I didn’t give her time to answer because I moved in, collecting her lips with mine.
Her soft lips parted for me, allowing the tip of my tongue to slide inside, getting a taste of the sweet coffee left on her tongue.
She broke the kiss after a second, and she pulled back to look up at me.
“As fun as that sounds, I think that ship has sailed. How about we be selfish with our time instead?” She ran her fingers through my hair.
“He’ll be going off to college soon, and then we can go back to it just being the two of us again. ”
I nodded. “Yeah, I like the sound of that.” I ran my tongue across my bottom lip before moving back in.
Pain tugged me from my peaceful dream. I opened my eyes and found a white ceiling above me.
I groaned as I took in the machines I was hooked to, the piss-yellow hospital gown, and the scratchy white blanket that was pulled up to my chest. That’s when I noticed Crash beside me.
She was sitting in the chair she pulled up next to my bed.
She was bent forward, resting her bent arms on the bed as she lay her head down.
“Crash,” I muttered, but my throat was dry, and my voice was quiet. She didn’t budge. I cleared it and tried again. “Amelia, baby?”
Her head popped up, and her sleep-filled eyes found mine.
“You’re awake,” she said, her voice trembling as she clutched my hand.
“How long have I been out?”
Her eyes moved to the clock on the wall.
“Since yesterday. They took you into emergency surgery the second the ambulance arrived. They were able to remove the bullet. Luckily, it missed your spine and any vital organs. You’re expected to make a full recovery in time.” She took my hand and squeezed it gently.
“What happened with Mikhail and his pissant lackey?”
Her brows lifted, and she took a deep breath.
“The pissant was shot several times the second he shot you. He didn’t make it.
” She shook her head. “Mikhail is gone. I-I don’t think he’s coming back because it sounds like it’s more than the police who want him.
Some guy named Dominic showed up with a group of really scary-looking men.
The police practically bowed to them. And that Klaus guy?
With the car? He was there too. I did some research.
Dominic is a king and has been looking for Mikhail for a long time.
So… I don’t think he’s going to come back, especially if it means he’ll be taken by these king guys from Chicago. ”
“So… It’s over?”
One corner of her mouth lifted slightly as she nodded. “It’s over. You’re free.”
I couldn’t explain the amount of relief I felt from hearing her words. “And what about us? Are we in any trouble?”
She shook her head. “We broke a lot of laws on this little adventure of ours, but as far as the cops know, we’re just two people who were taken and going to be sold into sex trafficking. You’re finally able to leave the past behind you so you can focus on starting over.”
I planted a kiss on the back of her hand, my heart filling with joy. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Everything,” I said, pulling her hand until she lay down beside me. My hand found her jaw, and I directed her lips to mine, kissing her until we were both breathless.
“It’s finally time to start over. What’s the first thing you’re going to do with this new life of yours?” she asked.
I thought about it for a moment before deciding.
“Crash?”
“Hmm?”
“Will-Will you marry me?”