I Have an Invisible Stalker (Guardians #1)

Chapter 56

Samuel's POV

"Olivia?" I call and softly tighten the hold I have over the scar on her left forearm. While a part of me hoped that Isaiah had been lying about Olivia hurting herself, another one wished that at least my charge would never remember it. But as Olivia continues to stare at me with an ashen expression, I know it's too late.

"It's okay," I say. "Whatever—"

Before I can finish, Olivia tears her arm out of my hold and edges a couple of steps back. As she tries to complete the third one, she bumps into her mother. Mina, who has been standing nearest to Olivia while paying attention to Nick's still ongoing explanation, turns to her daughter.

"Liv?" she whispers. "What are you doing? Stop moving around and help Nick explain what's going on."

"I..." Olivia opens her mouth but then shakes her head. "I need to go to the intersection."

"Don't be silly," Mina waves her off. "Nick said you're waiting for Brooke and her boyfriend."

Olivia, however, shakes her head again and edges a step closer to the front entrance. "I know, but I need to check something first. I... I need to know the truth."

Without waiting for another moment, Olivia spins around and rushes to the glass door. She bolts out of the café before any of the other humans notice what's going on. I immediately step forward to follow her, but before I can finish the third step Eliza squeezes past me. She pauses directly between the front entrance and me, forcing me to a stop.

"I'll follow Olivia," she says. "You stay with your charge and make sure to find the evidence they need to take down that bitch." Without giving me a chance to disagree, she closes her eyes and disappears out of the café.

Even after she's gone I continue to stare at the glass door, contemplating to forget everything and just go after Olivia. Then my senses kick in, and I turn back to the group of humans just as Mina finishes reassuring everyone that Olivia went out for some fresh air and that she'll be right back.

While the humans go back to waiting for Olivia's childhood friend and her boyfriend, I turn to pace up and down the closed café. No matter how many minutes tick by, I can't shake off the feeling that something isn't right. I know that the feeling is mostly connected to my inability to trust Lucien and his words, but there is something else. Just below the surface lingers a deeply unsettling feeling I'm yet unable to name.

What feels like an eternity later, the annoying bell finally goes off, but instead of Olivia and Eliza, Brooke and her boyfriend, Weston, enter the café.

"Mission accomplished!" Brooke lifts her arm, which she has intertwined with Weston's, in a victorious shout. "Weston and I are back together. Oh, and I got there just in time to stop him from selling his car... Wait, where's Olivia?"

For a second the café is filled with dead silence. Then the six humans, with Nick leading the way, jump to life and all at once start asking a chorus of questions. While I'm not able to hear much in the chaos, I'm able to dig out that Weston didn't sell the car back to Anya and that the vehicle is now parked near the café. But as the humans celebrate, I can't help but wonder if this is really it. Can it be this easy?

Once the humans settle down, they agree to head for the police station, where officer Wright is already waiting for them. And while Nick volunteers to call Olivia, Mina decides to call Anya—claiming that she also needs to be at the police station when everything goes down.

Despite Nick reaching for his phone much faster than Mina, it's Anya who first answers the call.

"You never give up, do you?" Anya's cold voice comes from Mina's phone, which she put on speaker. Her voice is barely distinguishable over the roar of the engine, but I can still catch a pinch of excitement in her voice.