CHAPTER 9 – The Face Behind the Door
906 Words
Olivia’s POV
The door creaked open.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I scrambled back, pressing myself against the cold wall.
A figure stepped in.
A woman.
Tall. Slim. Wearing a long black coat and dark lipstick. Her eyes were cold, almost lifeless, and yet something about her looked... familiar.
She smiled slowly, like someone greeting an old friend.
"You don’t remember me, do you?" she asked.
My throat tightened. I shook my head, confused.
She stepped closer, and I flinched.
She laughed.
"I’m not going to hurt you," she said. "Not yet."
She pulled a chair from the corner and sat down, crossing one leg over the other.
"You really have no idea why you’re here, do you?"
"Why are you doing this?" I croaked. My voice was hoarse from screaming.
"Because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time," she replied simply. "And because you're carrying something that doesn't belong to you."
I froze.
"What do you mean?"
She stood slowly and walked over. She crouched in front of me, inches from my face.
"You think that baby is just some accident? Some innocent little gift?" Her eyes narrowed. "You’re carrying power, Olivia. Something I was supposed to have. Something that was stolen from me."
I blinked in horror. "You’re crazy."
She smiled wider. "No, sweetheart. I’m just cleaning up a mess someone else made."
She stood and walked to the door.
"We’ll talk again tomorrow. Maybe then, you’ll be a bit more grateful for the answers."
She left, locking the door behind her.
I sat there, breathing hard, my whole body shaking.
Who was she?
What did she mean by power? What could my baby possibly have to do with any of this?
Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to cry.
Not yet.
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Leo’s POV
The entire block had been searched.
Every alley, every store, every camera.
Nothing.
Olivia had vanished.
I sat in the back of the car, fingers steepled against my mouth, mind racing.
The last text was still on my screen.
“Next time, you won’t find just a bag.”
They wanted to scare me.
They succeeded.
But fear wouldn’t slow me down. It never had.
I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadn’t touched in years.
He answered on the second ring.
“Leo.”
“I need a trace. Black-level. No questions asked. The target is a woman. Name: Olivia Grayson. She's missing.”
A pause.
“Send me her photo. I’ll get on it right now.”
I ended the call and stared at the night sky through the tinted glass.
I didn’t care what it took.
I was going to find her.
And when I did...
God help whoever laid a finger on her.
---
Unknown POV
She’s still confused.
Good.
Let her sit in that confusion a little longer.
Let her wonder.
Let her suffer.
Because when the truth finally hits her...
It won’t just break her.
It’ll destroy her.
Olivia’s POV
I barely slept.
Every creak, every gust of wind outside the walls made my skin crawl.
The woman never gave me her name. But her face haunted me now more than the nightmares that jolted me awake every time I shut my eyes.
She said I was carrying something that didn’t belong to me.
What did she mean?
How could a baby be tied to any of this madness?
I touched my stomach, gentle, unsure. I didn’t feel any different. Just tired. Sick. Frightened.
But beneath that fear, something new was rising.
Anger.
I had been dragged into someone else’s war, and I still didn’t know why.
If they wanted to keep me here, fine. But I wasn’t going to sit around waiting to die.
I started checking the room inch by inch.
The walls. The floor. Behind the small metal cot. The dusty corners.
That’s when I noticed it.
A loose screw on the vent near the floor.
I crouched, heart pounding.
It took a while, but I managed to pry it off with my fingers.
Inside, wrapped in plastic, was something small.
I pulled it out.
A phone.
It was cheap, old, probably forgotten. Maybe hidden by someone else who’d been trapped here before.
My fingers trembled as I powered it on.
Low battery. No signal.
But one saved number.
L.P.
I blinked.
Leo Parker.
My breath caught.
This phone… it had been meant for him.
Was someone trying to reach him from here before?
I typed a message.
“Help me. I’m alive. I don’t know where I am.”
I hit send.
The message hung in the outbox.
No bars. No delivery.
I stared at the screen like my life depended on it.
Because maybe… it did.
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Leo’s POV
I hadn’t slept either.
Every second wasted was another second she could be hurt.
The trace was slow. Too slow.
Then my phone buzzed.
Blocked number.
I answered instantly.
“Speak.”
A voice. My contact.
“I don’t know how, but there’s a signal trying to ping your number. Very weak. From a phone that hasn’t been used in years.”
“Where?”
“Trying to triangulate now. Give me fifteen minutes.”
Fifteen minutes.
It felt like a lifetime.
---
Unknown POV
She found it.
Clever girl.
Let’s see what she does with it.
Let her try.
Let her hope.
Hope makes the fall so much sweeter.
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