Page 29 of Our Darling Isabelle

Chapter 22—Markus

They are completely unaware of what’s going to happen when we take over this decrepit building with the help of Jared’s mole. We parked just down the street, grateful Steffen picked somewhere out in the sticks to set up his little trade. Everyone picked through the woods silently until we came to the edge of the clearing. The building was falling apart, windows broken or boarded up and the brick decaying under overgrown weeds.

“See the bell tower? It’s an abandoned church. They should start praying for mercy.” Alec mutters, sweeping to my left as he steps away.

“Their God abandoned them a long time ago.” I whisper to myself, itching to run ahead and end this.

The idea of my girl being held in this filthy dump pissed me off even more when I held binoculars up to peer through them. I spotted four men guarding the entrance, not expecting to be under attack so suddenly. Alec holds his hand up, pointing once to the building, and everyone springs into action. I pull an explosive loose and grin as I wrench my arm back and throw it. It lands at their feet, the four men scrambling to run inside, but it’s too late.

The ground vibrates as I pull another one from my belt and throw it just in time for two more unlucky men to peek through the broken doors. This blast does more damage than the first after landing at the doors. Rubble and blood splatter the front of the building as we converge with our guns drawn, and I can’t wipe the smirk off my face.

“Lay off the grenades until we find Isabelle.” Alec’s voice crackles through the earpiece and I roll my eyes. As if they’d have her so close to an exit.

“Informant said lower level, basement kitchen.” Jared’s voice fills my ear and I frown before pressing the button to talk.

“Why have a kitchen in the basement?” I ask. I can feel Alec’s sigh before he even speaks.

“Not the thing you should be concerned about.” He snaps. As if I could be concerned with anything other than getting back the reason my heart beats so steadily in my hollow chest. I can’t just think about our girl, because rage would control my actions and that’s what could get you killed in this type of situation.

As we charged through the now broken double doors on the front of the old church, I swung around the entrance, ducked low. Bullets fly just over my head. More of the deafening sounds join them as our men charge in to cover us. Upturned pews offer little protection, but the early rays of sunlight shine brightly through the broken windows and light up the room.

Rainbows cast from the stained glass give me a sick satisfaction, adding beauty to the blood being shed on holy ground. Through the smoke and gunfire, my eyes pick apart the room until I spot a staircase leading down. Keeping my head low and finger at the trigger, I make a run for it, driving my shoulder through anyone that steps in my way until my feet are pounding down the steps. Downside to a grand entrance? Everyone knows you’re coming.

“Get down!” Alec shouts behind me and I drop to a crouch on the stairs. Alec stands beside me with his gun raised, picking through the first few that were too slow to raise their weapons. The last five on the stairs draw their guns, aiming for us, but we easily pick them off and continue downwards, jumping over their bodies. At the bottom of the stairs, we start kicking in every door, but there are no guards to be found and my unease doubles by the minute. Something is coming, tension is building around us, and I don’t like it. I just wanna get her and get out of here.

“My man on the inside hasn’t confirmed getting Isabelle to safety. Work on the assumption they ran into some trouble.” Jared’s voice crackles over the headphones and I crouch low to the wall, carefully watching our back.

“Gotcha, we are sweeping the downstairs now. There’s almost nobody down here, Jared. Something is wrong.” I say and I’m met with static, apparently losing signal.

“Shit.” Alec curses as he sweeps into a room in front of us. The kitchen. A man is curled in the corner, slumped over in a pool of his own blood and clutching his knee. A chair lying on its side has cut rope restraints still on the arms, crimson spotting the surrounding area. Alec scoops something off the ground with a sound of rage deep in his throat. A tiny red earring sits in his palm as he holds it up to the light. Ice creeps in my veins, making me twitch as fear claws its way up my body.

“Where is she?” I snarl, storming back out of the room, but my answer comes quicker than I thought it would.

“She fucking bit me!” A man screams down a side hall and I dart towards the room at the end, smiling to myself at the idea of our little Isabelle fighting back. It had to be her, which means she is still alive and fighting.

“I’ll kill every single one of them for putting their hands on her.” I hear Alec’s voice clear in my earpiece and I stick a thumbs up in the air as we stop just outside the door and listen for a moment.

“Can’t go in there with guns blazing. Too risky.” I whisper and he nods, brows drawn as he stops to think a moment.

“I have a plan.” He says with a grim frown.

Isabelle

The windows high on the walls are blurring as I struggle to suck air in. A prominent burning ache in my side makes me think Steffen broke at least one rib when he kicked me, but that bite was worth it. I swipe my arm over my mouth, smearing the blood and wheeze out a small laugh.

“You taste fucking vile.” I hiss, spitting out blood as it fills my mouth from the cut on my lip. Another swift kick to my ribs makes me choke as I lay on my side and spew the contents of my stomach on the floor. Jeff tried like Hell to get me out the back exit, but in our rush, we didn’t empty Chi’s pockets. He was quick to snitch on the man for blowing out his knee. Steffen and his men were on us before we got out of the building, killing Jeff, and beating me until I was sure my face was a swollen mess. I doubt Markus or Alec would even recognize me.

Sparks dance behind my eyes, and I say a silent prayer for them to get here in time and in one piece. It would be so easy if I closed my eyes, just fell asleep and left all this pain behind.

“Who told him then? Where the fuck is Marlene?” Steffen shouts and my eyes snap open after hearing my mother’s name. My vision swims as I wheeze a slow breath, holding it even as my lungs burn. His phone smashes into the wall above my head, shattering and raining pieces on me. Steffen grabs a handful of my hair, wrenching my head up to scream in my face even as I fight to get free of his hold.

“Your mother is a fucking snake, know that?” With rage on his face, he draws me towards him, almost touching noses, until my toes barely graze the ground. I don’t have time to ask what he is talking about when Markus steps into the room, both hands in his pockets and whistling as if he’s on a casual stroll. A lit cigarette hangs from his lips and a chilling air of calm surrounds him.

“Just the weasel I was looking for. You’ve got something of mine right there and I’d like it back.” He smiles, unbothered by the three guns now pointed at him. I try to kick and fight Steffen, desperate to get to Markus, but he holds me to his chest and shakes his head.

“Where is that brother of yours? Neither of you cowards even take a piss without each other. I’m not stupid.” Steffen snaps.

“You might not be stupid, but you sure are an ugly motherfucker, aren’t you? Plus, some of us are so blessed it takes an extra set of hands to shake it dry. Isn’t that right, Belle?” Markus leans forward, his jaw twitching at the sight of my face. I try my best to smile and nod, but from the vein pulsing in his head, I can tell Markus is close to losing control.

---