Her Heart

Chapter 41

Riley's POV

"You sure your mom's okay with me taking her car?" I ask Olivia as we're driving to my uncles.

She nods, "You wouldn't be the first person to take her car without telling her."

As we pull out of the parking lot, Olivia is silent, staring straight ahead. I steal a glance at her, wondering what she's thinking. She just left Sofia, possibly for the last time, and yet she's here, ready to confront something that might only bring more pain.

"Why are you coming with me?" I ask, my voice quiet, unsure if I want to know the answer.

She doesn't say anything right away.

"You're family." She says quietly.

Her words catch me off guard. Family. I don't know what to say, so I focus on the road ahead, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.

"I didn't think you would ever say that," I say after a moment, trying to make sense of it.

Olivia sighs, leaning her head against the window. "Well, things are different now, aren't they?"

Different. Yeah, that's an understatement. Everything's been turned upside down. Carter, Sofia, the mess with Jackson and my uncle... It's like the universe decided to throw everything at us at once.

"I don't know how to fix any of this," I admit softly. The words hang in the air, raw and vulnerable.

Olivia glances at me, her expression softening for just a second. "You don't have to do anything alone anymore. You have us."

"Thank you." She hums.

We stay silent for a few minutes before I see her jaw tightening, "Are you okay?"

"It just makes me so mad how I didn't see it. A while back people had broken into our house which made Sofia push me away I never stopped to think how they got into our house when our security was so good. How did I look over Jackson."

"He had the perfect cover." I whisper more to myself.

We don't talk anymore for the rest of the car ride. After what feels like an eternity, we finally pull up to the address.

We both step out of the car, and the cool night air hits me like a slap. I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself as we walk toward the entrance.

As we approach the door, Olivia stops me with a hand on my arm. "Riley, before we go in... I need you to know that no matter what happens, I've got your back."

Her words catch me off guard, and I meet her gaze. There's something fierce in her eyes, something I haven't seen before.

"I know," I say softly, feeling a strange sense of comfort in her words.

With that, we push open the door and step inside. The air is thick with dust, the dim lighting casting long shadows across the floor. My heart pounds in my chest as we move deeper into the building, the sound of our footsteps echoing in the empty halls.

Finally, we reach the room at the end of the hall. I can hear voices inside. The second I push the door open I regret it. Multiple guns are pointed at us.

"Now now it took you a while to come here." My uncle says with Jackson and Roman next to him.

"You don't look too good Liv." Jackson says.

Olivia stiffens beside me, her eyes narrowing at Jackson. "I've had worse days," she spits, her voice icy. I can feel the tension radiating off her, the anger simmering beneath the surface.