The Good Bad Girl

Chapter 53 You Are My Dark Side

We reach the two-story beach house outside the city in fifty minutes. The journey was long and torturous. The moment I spot the white wood brick house by the end of the road, I stop the car with extreme pressure causing me to jerk forward. 

I rubbed my forearm off the dashboard, ignoring the pain from my hasty brake, and got out. I took my gun out and signaled my men to search the perimeter. 

They scattered around the place with light footsteps and alert movement, taking inches and corners of the house. The beach house was a typical American construct. White brick wood with a blue slanting roof on the main house, an attached wide gallery with double hung windows overlooking the sea across us. 

There's a driveway leading to the garage. Some maple trees around the place and a cobblestone path going to the backyard. Excellent. Looks like an 80s architecture thrown up here. The shit is all outdated and very picket fence-type. It'll be easy to blow up this place. 

Securing the gun, I got into the defense position and went inside the room. 

"The backyard is clear," one of my men said through the walkie-talkie. The static voice carried through the front of the house. 

"Second floor also clear," 

They said as I stepped inside. The minute I got in, my stomach sank. My heart plummets and suddenly all the naked bad thoughts come rushing in like a tsunami. Fuck, not now. I've been able to hold on to myself for a good amount of time now. I am this close to finding her and I can't fuck it up with my fears. 

Nope. Nothing bad has happened. But no matter how much I repeat the phrase my gut isn't listening. My heart is thumping so hard that I am concerned about having a heart attack on the spot. Sweat forms on my forehead, around my palm, and on my back as further I get inside. 

I crossed the foyer and took a right turn toward the narrow hallway. Passing the stairs, I enter the dining area. Everything looked neat. The oakwood table glistened with incoming sunshine, the cabinets were clean. No sign of fight or argument reflected on them. The fridge has children's magnets that hold a small paper calendar. Some numbers were circled, and some were crossed. The last number for this month had a star mark and a little red thing. 

It caught my eye and I moved forward to see it. 

"What the hell?" I pluck the calendar and bring it closer to my eyes only to see the red thing was blood. My years of experience dealing with blood marks told me it wasn't forced. Someone grazed it and didn't even realize they left a mark. 

That didn't help. I crumbled the paper and continued walking. Halfway to the room, I stopped when I noticed red footprints. Three different footprints lay on the thick coffee-colored carpet. 

Two of them were bigger leaving the third to belong to Olivia. 

Goosebumps spread when I realized she is here. 

"Oli-" I didn't even get her name out when someone spoke on the radio. 

"Boss, we found a body,"

All my blood froze. "Male or f-female?"

"Male sir,"

Oh god. "Where?" I blink rapidly. 

"The balcony,"

"All right," Relief unlike anything covers me. Thank you, god. Thank you so fucking much.

I left them to deal with the body and with heavy footsteps made my way to the living room. The footprints got redder and redder as I took a similar step like them. 

A weight settles in my heart when the footprint disappears under the pool of blood. I raised my head and got my breath knocked out at the scene. I blink several times to clear the blurry image but no matter how much I try I can never erase this scene. It took me some time to realize that my eyes were filled with tears.