Saving Her Billionaire Vigilante

Fourteen: Oliver Oswin

Fourteen:

Oliver Oswin

            Someone was poking my ribs.

            Someone with a sharp, pointy nail. Was the bird girl that I had seen attacking me? This was how I was going to die. Ripped to shreds by something that looked like it was part of X-men. The sharp poke came a third time, this time hard enough that it caused my eyes to fly open. “HOLY HELL!” I shouted.

            Then I heard cackling.

            “He lives,” I heard my sisters voice say.

            My eyesight adjusted, and I found myself staring at Olivia, my twin sister. She was older than me by five minutes and liked to remind me about it. But we didn’t look alike. Olivia had brown hair, and blue eyes. “Olivia,” I grunted.

            “Mom called,” she said, “what the hell happened?”

            I shook my head but stopped quickly as wooziness had taken over me. “I got attacked….by a thing….”

            She raised her eyebrow. “You were attacked by a thing?”

            I nodded. “It was a girl, with wings. I went to the Powell’s storage shed with Piper.”

            Olivia’s eyebrows rose even higher. “Powell? Like Piper Powell?”

            “Yeah, she came back for Mr. Tanagers funeral.”

            Olivia grinned. “Piper came back, and the first thing that you did was go sneak into an old storage shed?”

            I scowled at her. “Don’t say it.”

            Olivia grinned even wider. “YOU’RE TOTALLY GETTING BACK TOGETHER! Oliver, I’ve given it a lot of thought, and if you name your daughter Olivia JR., we can totally call her Olive for short.”

            “I’m not having children with Piper. I’m not doing anything with Piper. Ransom’s caught up in something, which means she’s caught up in it too.”

            Olivia rolled her eyes. “Oh please, Oliver. I know you. You’ve been in love with that girl since the first time that you saw her. You were going to propose to her. We found the ring that was in your jacket pocket.”

            I sighed. “That was a long time ago. I’m not that person. I’ll be her friend, always. But I can’t date her again. Especially since she’s going to be working and living with Ransom. It’s not worth the trouble. He’ll probably punch me again, because he thinks that I’m stealing information on him.”

            “Does this have anything to do with those EVO things the news is always talking about?” Olivia said. “I heard on the news that there was one that’s been controlling girls with their mind.”

            “Creepy,” I said, “and yes, I think it does. There were rumors that Tanager was responsible for it, but no one ever confirmed it.”

            “You know you’re going to have to tell Mom, right?” said Olivia.

            I sighed. “Why?”

            “Because she’s been trying to get hold of information that could destroy Tanager for years. This could be the thing that does it.”

            “If I do that, she’s going to know that I’m back in contact with Piper. She’ll try getting me to use her again. I won’t do that.”

            “If you’d married her in the first place, you could have avoided all of this. You know that, right? By now, you’d have kids, and they’d have half of the Tanager estate. But if Mom finds out and she doesn’t hear it from you, she will disown you. You wouldn’t handle poor. You like designer suits and your motorcycle too much. Plus, there’s your expensive wine habit.”

            I ran my hands through my hair. “Christ, your right…. but if I try to go after Piper again, Ransom will kill me.”

            Olivia shook her head. “Okay, well, creepy mutants and corporate espionage aside, also our manipulative, momster aside, and Ransom Tanager aside----what do you want when it comes to Piper?”

            I thought about seeing her again, at the funeral. How sad she looked. How beautiful she was, with her red hair, and green eyes. I loved her so much. I’d always loved her, from the first moment that I’d seen her. I’d been serious a few years ago when I wanted to marry her. It wasn’t just because my Mom had wanted information on the Tanagers. Or to get access to the Tanager fortune. I’d honestly been in love with her.

            “I want her,” I confessed, “she’s all I’ve ever wanted. But I don’t want to be with her because Mother thinks that she’ll get something out of it.”

            Olivia leaned forward and patted me on the shoulder. “Look, Emma Oswin is always going to be insane when it comes to the Tanager’s. She’s never gotten over Richard Tanager choosing someone else instead of her. But you can’t let that dictate your life, you know. All that matters is whether or not you want Piper. That’s it. If she’s what you want, what will make you happy, then go for it. Forget all of the rest. Except for her.”

            I smiled. “I hate that you’re always right.”

            Olivia grinned. “Anyway, if you marry Piper, that means that I can get what I’ve always wanted.”

            “Which is?”

            “Ransom, of course,” she said.

            I rolled my eyes, laughing. “Of course, there’s always something in it for you. I’d be worried if you were actually giving me decent advice without an ulterior motive.”

            “Naturally, darling,” she said with a wink, “nothing matters unless I’m able to get what I want in the end. Everything else is secondary. Well, except for you dear brother.”

            I smiled. “You really think I should go for it?”

            “I think we should probably do something about the EVOS roaming the streets, but after that, yes.”