While Oliver thought of himself as a pretty good cook, Rosalita's food blew him away. After such a incredible and relaxing day getting to know here, he couldn't imagine a better way to cap it all off... Until she insisted they take some leftovers home as well. It was almost like he was a part of the family, and he realized that was likely her intention to begin with.
She wanted him to feel like a welcome part of the family. Her daughter loved him, and that was good enough for her.
With no other obligations to worry over, Oliver decided that spending a couple days to just relax with Polina was in order. Snuggled up with her on the couch the next day, he planned to do exactly that... Until his phone rang again.
Silently cursing the disruption of his peaceful day, he considered ignoring it before snatching it up off the table. While he didn't expect it to be important, likely just his friends checking up on him, it was still possible his lawyer needed something from him.
Eager to get back to his relaxed day, he answered, fully prepared to brush off whatever it was until later. Within seconds, his expression shifted from annoyed to frustrated, then to angry. Oliver hopped off the couch and quickly gathered his wallet and keys before slipping on his shoes.
“Oli? What's wrong?”
Oliver turned to see Polina right behind him, a worried frown etched on her face. With a regretful sigh, he gave her a quick hug. “Sorry hon, I've got to go. Someone broke in to my mom's house and tore up the place.”
“I'll come with you.”
“You don't have to-”
Before he could finish his sentence, Polina rushed out of the room to get dressed. In less than a minute, she was ready to go. A warm smile flashed across his face as they headed out to his truck. “Thank you.”
They had been driving for a few minutes when Polina took his hand gently in her own. Clearing her throat, she spoke softly to broach what she knew would be a difficult subject. “Your mom's house? I know you mentioned her before, and that she was gone...”
Oliver nodded slowly. Losing his mom was something he still struggled to deal with, but he felt that Polina deserved know more. And that she would understand. “Yeah. She died of cancer a couple years ago. Left everything to me, including her house down in Gooseneck. She had already payed it off and everything, so all I've had to do was keep up with the property tax and stuff. I go down there once or twice a year to keep the place maintained... Honestly, I just can't bear to sell it, even if that's what she told me to do. We didn't have a lot really, so it's one of the few things of hers that I have left.”
Polina nodded in sympathy. “I understand that. I can't imagine how I would feel if I lost my mom.” She squeezed his hand and offered a gentle smile. “Will you tell me about her? I know she was important to you...”
“Yeah. I think she would have liked you.”
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The house wasn't anything impressive. A small, two bedroom cottage style home on a plot of land just outside the unincorporated community. Despite being clean and well maintained, it had an unlived in air about it.
The front door being kicked in, and windows broken, didn't help.
Pulling up near the pair of police cars out front, Oliver stared in shock at the visible damage. For such a small community, he knew that things like this were pretty rare. Usually it was just small things; petty theft, minor vandalism, and sometimes high school kids getting up to some mischief. Never anything like this. Polina's nudge broke him from his shock as one of the officers started their way, and Oliver climbed out of the truck to meet them.
“Can I help you folks?”
It took him a moment, but Oliver recognized the older officer. Officer Jordan had been a part of the community, and one of their few police officers, for longer than he could remember... And longer than his mother could remember, or so he had been told. “Officer Jordan, it's been a while.”
“I know you son?” Jordan responding while squinting in his direction.
“Yes, sir. I use to live here with my mom.”
The officer stared for a moment longer before he nodded in recognition and patted Oliver on the shoulder sympathetically. “You're the Silk boy. Oliver, right? It was a shame when your mama passed. She was a damn good woman. Made the best buttermilk pies in the county, too.”
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Oliver appreciated the kindness, and the attempt to lighten things a bit. His mom really had made some good pies. “Thank you, sir. She was always proud of those pies.” Clearing his throat, he awkwardly changed the conversation. “Can you tell me what happened? I've never seen or heard of anything like this happening around here.”
Officer Jordan sighed as he shook his head. “Not a lot I can tell you there. Everyone was at work or school, so no witnesses. My boys spent a while checking for finger prints and such, but didn't really find anything. Who did you piss off, son?”
Oliver was surprised by the question. While he knew he had upset some people, he had no idea how the police in a small place like this knew about it. “What do you mean?”
Jordan grunted and waved for them to follow him into the house. As soon as he walked into the living room, Oliver froze in shock at what he saw. Couch cushions were ripped open, with stuffing strewn around the room. The coffee table lay in pieces. His family pictures were ripped off the wall and tossed about haphazardly.
And, painted red in bold letters across the wall, was the phrase 'Welcome Home'.
Oliver missed whatever the officers said as Polina pulled them aside to talk. All he could do was tremble with barely restrained fury at the words that defaced his mother's home.
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Someone was going to pay, and Oliver had an idea of who. It wasn't enough that they tried to ruin his life. It wasn't enough that they caused problems for Polina. He could move past that, and fix the damage they had done. He knew he could fix his mother's house too. But that wasn't the point.
They had desecrated her home, and stomped on her memory. And now he was pissed.
“How did that bastard even know about this place?”
“Public records, probably.”
Polina's answer snapped him out of the haze he had been under, though it did little to suppress the anger he felt boiling inside. “What?”
Polina took his hand gently, he gaze filled with concern as their eyes met. “If you know where to look, it's pretty easy to find. I'm sorry, Oli. I can probably guess who did this, and I'm sure you can too. Well, he probably didn't do it himself. Just sent someone to do it... With the news from your lawyer yesterday, I really thought this shit was over. I can't believe how petty this asshole is...”
Oliver let out a low growl of frustration. “And with no proof, there isn't anything the police can do. I can't believe this bullshit!”
Polina hugged him tightly. She had never seen Oliver so angry before, not even when dealing with Carl and Jess. “Don't let them get to you, Oli. That's how they win. They want you to get so angry you do something crazy, then they'll use it against you. We'll figure something out, ok? And I'll help you fix everything we can. We won't leave your mom's home like this.”
Oliver took a moment to let Polina's comforting presence push back on his anger. Closing his eyes, he laid his head on her shoulder and just held her.
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It took two days to clean up his mom's house, and Oliver was more than grateful for Polina's help. He had no clue how to replace the broken windows, but her father had worked in construction and taught her more than enough to manage it. Replacing the door, and cleaning up the mess that was left, was simple in comparison. Though replacing the broken and damaged furniture would have to wait, and wasn't as much of a priority since no one actually lived there.
Repainting the walls after scraping off the message that was left would have to wait, as he wanted to match the original color as closely as possible... And he was emotionally exhausted after dealing with the whole thing.
With two long days of work, and the hour drive back to Polina's house, Oliver's anger had cooled... into an icy fury as he coldly calculated what he would do to them. Not just for his mother's house, but everything they had done to try and hurt him.
While Polina hopped into the shower to clean up, Oliver sat at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea in the early morning sunlight. With enough time to consider it, he had an idea of how he wanted to pay them back. With a thought, he pulled up the Bounty Board and started filling out the form to post his own bounty.
And the damn phone rang again.
Oliver paused what he was doing, a sense of dread filling him at the thought of something else he cared about being messed with. Did they go after his mother's house again right after he left? Or did they mess with the apartment he shared with his friends?
Suppressing a frustrated snarl, he snatched up his phone and answered. “What!?”
A soft giggle echoed across the line, followed by a sultry whisper. “Did I catch you at a bad time, Oliver? Do you mind if I call you Oli? I'm told that is what you prefer.”
Oliver hesitated in confusion. He didn't recognize the voice or the number they were calling from. “Who is this? Only my friends call me Oli.”
The voiced tsked at him, and he could almost feel the mock friendliness through the phone. “Perhaps we could be friends, then? And call me Eve, please. Obviously that's not my real name, but it will do until our business is concluded.”
Oliver tried not to grind his teeth. He had no idea who this 'Eve' person was, but he was quickly getting the feeling that this wasn't just some prank call. “Ok, Eve, why don't you tell me what that business is before I hang up on you. I have a lot on my mind, and whatever your playing at isn't exactly endearing you to me. I really doubt we will be friends.”
He could hear the pout in her voice clearly as she spoke. “That's a shame, really. But you don't want to hang up on me. In fact, I think you'll want to meet me. Tomorrow night. How about around midnight? I'll text you the location.”
Oliver wanted to scream at the cliché villain setup. “Let me guess, I'm supposed to come alone and not talk to the police or you'll threaten to go after someone I care about?”
He nearly flinched at the smokey laughter when she responded. “Oh, you are a smart one. But I won't go after anyone... Though you really should check in with your friends more often. One of them could have just disappeared off the face of the earth and you wouldn't have a clue.”
“Until someone called you.”