56. Olivia #2
Carter doesn’t respond to my message after that, but I feel a lightness taking over me.
They didn’t kill me. They didn’t march into my home, pull me out of bed, and try to end my life.
It was all a fucking sham concocted by Franco to make me believe they had done it.
But the question still stands—why? Why would Franco lie so deeply about that?
Was it to hurt me the most when they slit my throat last?
I shake my head. The answers I seek aren’t in this cave.
Although butterflies burst in my gut when I peek over at the initials carved into the wall.
Every tarnished memory sits at the forefront of my mind.
For so long, rage lived deep inside me at the thought of them killing me or attempting to.
I thought the worst of them, hating them to their core.
Now? Now I’m free to remember them as they were and hope we can come to an understanding together.
Fuck. Together.
The word rings in my mind over and over again as I stand before the initials, letting my mind get lost in the forgotten promises and twisted past.
Tonight, I’ll talk to them. I’ll do exactly what JJ wanted from the beginning and explain myself. I’ll take off the mask I’ve worn since I stumbled back into town with my heart in my throat and nerves eating me alive.
I’ll face them like I should have. No more locking myself away.
They deserve to know the whole truth, and so do I.
I want to hear from their lips where they were that night.
Even though Carter already helped me out.
Maybe my brain will process it more if we all talk it out like we should have done years ago, because someone, somewhere, lied to me.
I blow out a breath and lock up every single feeling lingering inside me.
For now, though, I need to make it through this initiation task.
I need to stop standing in this small cave and find my way to them and prove to Mack that Oliver can make it past his cruelty.
Fuck. I cringe at the thought of telling him.
And Huxley. I don’t know how this will go over, but at least I have JJ in my corner.
With that, I turn my flashlight on again and make my way out into the darkened passage, only illuminated by my phone. Counting my steps, I try to follow the sound of the music still blasting through the caves and the sound of Huxley’s deep voice echoing through now.
“Welcome to the frat, boys!” Huxley shouts enthusiastically.
“Ah, ah!” Mack chuckles. “They aren’t in quite yet,” he replies jokingly.
“Right,” JJ softly says, but there’s a worry in his voice.
“What?” someone asks in the distance.
“Before you’re fully initiated into our frat, you will compete in three separate initiation tasks…” Huxley trails off.
“Yeah. Fucking tasks we come up with. It could be anything. Swimming with sharks. Digging your own grave. So, go get some rest, you fuckers, because in the next few days, you’ll be getting more information on where we’re meeting.
” I can only imagine the grin taking over Mack’s face as he says those words.
He really does love to torture people. Ugh. This is going to be so hard.
The closer I get to their voices, the more my nerves ramp up and my palms sweat.
I’m about to face the three men who have been absolved of my murder, and my head still can’t seem to get the images of that night out of my head.
Or their voices. Fuck. I can’t focus on anything but being in the same room with them, which is ironic and has me cracking a nervous smile.
“Oli!” A voice rings out behind me, and my brows furrow when my steps slow at the sound of the familiar voice calling me.
How weird. Why is Wade here in the caves? Did he initiate, too? I don’t remember seeing him have any interest.
“Oli, hey, wait up!” he says again as his steps get closer and closer.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him what the hell he’s doing here, because there’s no way the Dean’s son would choose to be initiated into a gang.
But I don’t get the chance to utter anything but a raspy scream as pain overtakes my stomach and I’m left gasping for air.
I should run. I should fight. Anything. But I can’t when he wraps an arm around me and grunts as he pulls my front to his, deepening the pain of the knife he jabbed deep into my gut.
“Your father says hi,” he whispers, twisting his grip on the knife in my stomach, slowly turning it to the right and then to the left. “He wanted you to know he knows you’re here to cause who the fuck knows what.” His heavy breaths.
“My father?” I choke out, the scent of metallic blood filling my esophagus and falling onto my tongue. “No.”
“Oh, yeah,” he chuckles. “Alive and well. It’s pretty fun, actually, pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes, and now, no one will fucking know, because you’ll die here.
They won’t come looking for you, Olivia.
No one will fucking care.” Too bad he doesn’t know I have an entire agency behind me.
They’ll come. They’ll find out he did this.
But no. I won’t die here.
I ball my fist at my sides and count inside my head.
I’ve been in situations like this before.
Well, not exactly this. Basically, getting sucker-stabbed without warning.
But I’ve trained for this. I’ve trained to handle the pain of anything, especially during torture sessions.
Because you never know who is going to grab you and torture information out of you.
“How did you know about me?” I ask, sucking more air into my lungs when he twists the knife again and again, never letting his grip go. If only I could distract him long enough to incapacitate him for good and run for help.
In the distance, I still hear them. They’re a beacon in the next room, calling out to me. My rescuers. The only people I can count on now.
“You hear that?” Mack asks slowly.
“No,” JJ says, and Mack makes some obnoxious joke in response, prompting JJ to scoff.
“I bet it’s fucking Oliver,” Mack chuckles again.
“What the hell did you do?” Huxley grits out with agitation.
“Nothing. I know where he is. He’s probably stumbling around.”
“You fucking jackass,” Huxley hisses again, but I have to drown them out now as Wade breathes against my ear, whispering answers.
“From the moment I broke down the bathroom door and saw your tits in the silhouette of the shower. I knew. Then, the blood tests confirmed my suspicions. Besides, he knew you were coming. We all did. We knew who to look for and stay clear of. He wants to handle you his own way and welcome you back into his family,” he chuckles sardonically.
“But I think not,” Wade insists. “You’re not welcome back into your fucking family.
I finally have something in my life besides an overbearing mom and all the other bullshit I have to put up with.
He’s my father now. My fucking mentor. He is mine, and you can’t fucking ruin this for me!
” he drones on and on like a true villain spilling his guts to his victim, which works for me.
“Like I’d fucking want that,” I hiss, loosening my body and ignoring the pain in my gut. “I’d never set foot in front of that abusive prick ever again.”
I jerk back when Wade grabs me by the throat, grinning in the dimness of the cave. Perfect.
“Why do you think I’m here?” He raises a brow, and his expression goes blank the second my fist connects with the side of his neck beside his ear. A glaze forms over his eyes as his lips pop open and closed, stunning him into silence.
“You forgot who you’re up against,” I hiss, rearing back and throwing my fist again, hitting the same spot, and this time it does exactly what it’s supposed to.