Chapter 85 Olivia

Chapter 85 Olivia
Olivia's POV

Carl's eyes, boring into my skin, his jaw snapped shut; fists bunched at his sides, unreachable and menacing, he stood between me and the door. I had been so very careful with feigned ignorance, and yet somehow he knew.

"You've been lying to me, Olivia," Carl said ominously in a quiet tone.

I glowered back with puzzlement, but inside my heart had started going crazy, pounding loudly inside my ears. "What's it? I don't-"

"Enough," he snapped-the word whistling through the air like a whip. "You think I do not see the way you are looking at me now? The reluctant one, the defiance in your eyes? You are remembering who you are.”

Instinctively I moved one foot backward, but behind my back was no place to go. "Even if I did," I said, and for some reason my voice wasn't shaking. "What does that matter? You have lied about everything to me, Carl-who I am, about my past-

“Because you needed protection!" he cut in, voice rising. That manic edge gleamed once more in his eyes and my heart ran cold. "You were lost, vulnerable. I gave you a purpose, a home. I kept you safe.”

"Safe?" I jeered, anger finally rising to the surface despite my better judgment. "You manipulated me, kept me trapped in this house like some kind of doll. I'm not Amanda, Carl! I'm Olivia, and I want my life back!"

Something in him snapped; some restraint was broken. Twisting his face, he took only two steps and most of the distance that separated us disappeared. I thought in a sudden flash that he would hit me; he had my arm in his grip with bruising force. "You don't get to leave," he hissed low, with controlled menace.

I yanked my arm free, glaring at him. “You can’t keep me here forever, Carl. People will find out what you’ve done.”

He laughed, a dark, humorless sound that sent a shiver down my spine. “Let them try. No one can touch me, Amanda. And as for you…”

He stepped back, his face a mask of cold determination. “You’re not going anywhere.”

He spun around, strode across the room, and slammed the door behind him. I heard that grim sound-a key turning in the lock.

Throwing myself at the door, I started beating against it with my fists. "Carl! Let me out!

There was no response, but the creaks of his steps kept falling back down the hall. I collapsed into the floor, my breathing coming in ragged while my panic clawed at my chest. I had underestimated him, and now I was going to pay for that.

KELLAN’S POV

I glared up at the stack of papers Thomas had just handed me, my chest tight. Each one was a piece of Carl's well-hidden crimes, and together, they painted an incriminating picture.

"This is enough to bury him," said Thomas, as if there were no more flexibility in the issue. "But that would not be easy. He has his connections everywhere, and the moment we spring into action too quickly or so fast, he finds ways to slither out of it.”

My fists, clasped under my body on the bench, clamped up-teeth cracking-at just the image of Amanda (Olivia) captive in his mansion. Every rise of a second spent with Carl was another second of danger.

"What about Olivia?" I asked low. "How do we get her out?”

Thomas let out a deep sigh, running a hand through his hair. "That's the tricky part. Carl's got security everywhere, and he's watching her like a hawk. She's practically a prisoner."

The word "prisoner" coursed through my body, bucking a tide of rage. Amanda didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to be manipulated and controlled by a man like Carl.

"I don't want to wait," I said, firm, pounding my fist into the desk. "We got enough evidence to let loose on him. Now it's time to do this. Push him to a corner, he'll have no other options but to let her go freely." Thomas hesitated.

"Kellan, if we try now and he finds out what we're doing, it could get dangerous-she could get hurt.Or worse," that makes my stomach turn right in thought.

"Then we do this carefully," I said, making my voice calm. "We allow the leak, letting him come right into panic-which of course, makes him begin screwing up thinking his walls cave in."

Thomas nodded, in very slow motion, "Risk. but it does work this way. I would stir around silent, and make him lose some of that support around him.".

The moment Thomas started working, I slumped back in my chair, my mind racing, literally every fiber in my body screaming to get up, charge into that mansion, and drag Amanda out-but it wasn't quite so simple. Carl was a dangerous man, and any silly move from me would shove her further into danger.

\---
Hours later, Thomas came back looking ashen.

We've got a problem," he said, slapping onto the desk a folder.

"What now?" I asked, picking it up.

"Carl's getting paranoid. He's shredding evidence, severing connections with his associates. He knows somebody's digging into his past."

"Good," I said, flipping through the papers. "Let him panic. It will make him sloppy."

Thomas hesitated, and I looked up to see the concern in his eyes.

There's more, he said. "I got word from one of my sources inside the mansion. Carl's planning on doing something extreme.

My heart went into a tailspin. "What do you mean, 'extreme'?"

Thomas let out a long sigh. "I haven't got it all, but he sounded desperate to keep the leash on Olivia. Whatever he had planned for her sounded dangerous.

Those words went cold down my spine; I jumped up, pacing around the room as my head struggled to wrap around what that really meant.

"Do you know what he's going to do?" I pursued.

"No, as yet," Thomas said, "though my source is following up on the rest. Meanwhile, we have to hustle things.

I nodded to myself, my mind several steps ahead. Carl had turned into a paranoid character-a double-edged sword, really. And probably, if harnessed right, this vulnerability could actually just be the key to getting Amanda out in time while this whole thing was not too large to handle.

I sat by the window, staring out to sea at the twinkling city lights below. Amanda was alive in my mind, her smile, her laughter, that special way of looking at me. I simply could not let Carl take all of that away from her.

And then there were Thomas's words that would not leave my mind: "Whatever he's planning, it's dangerous."

I firmed my fists. A tide of determination stormed within me. Whatever it took, I'd bring Amanda back. Time was up for Carl to account for whatever he'd taken from us both.

The ringing of my phone cut through my reverie, and I snatched it; Thomas was flashing on the screen.

I have it," he said the instant I answered. "Proof that one of Carl's financial transactions is directly linked to Eleanor's death. And. something else."

"What?" I asked, my voice tight.

"He's shifting money around. Getting ready for something big. I think he's going to disappear with Olivia. For good."

Those words felt like a cold shower was taken all over my body. "Then we don't have time to wait," I said, trying to keep the shakes out of my voice. "We stop him. Now.”