Chapter 28: The Rescue

"It is, what can you do about it?" The evil grin that was spread on his face only widened.
"Why are you holding me hostage?" Jessie questioned.
"I don't know, but we will know when we get to our destination." With that Oswald drove off, towards a warehouse located in the suburbs. With Jessie cursing and muttering words under her breath, trying to wriggle out from the grip of the person that was with her in the backseat, "if she could just hit Oswald to unconsciousness, then the person holding her was not going to be a problem" she thought, her mind wandering through various options.
The roofs of the car danced with the pour from the rain, and Jessie could hear the murmuring of the storm through the window. It sounded like the buzzing of an angry bee just that she could not differentiate if it was the agony her heart was going through or the storm that came upon Carlton city.
On another end of the road, Charles rode at speed trying to chase Oswald, he had seen the other car that carried Jessie at first, but they were still not his priority. He just could not allow the thought of Oswald trying anything funny with Jessie to stay in his head, so he tried brushing it out. Out of anxiousness, the thoughts still came running back. The anger, coupled with the darkness that had settled in Carlton city, almost made him hit another car that was running at speed.
Oswald continued till he got to the warehouse and dragged Jessie inside with him. The strength she had gathered earlier gradually began to turn to fear, and in a matter of time, she was in sobs.
"Let me go," she said amidst sobs, trying to drag herself backward as she had already given up hope for a savior.
"You remember when you were running your mouth earlier?", Oswald started with a wide grin, "what did you even say? That Charles is better than me. That's why you are now doing whatever you want to do with him. Leaving me waiting" the grin that was spread on his face began to fall into a frown and his eyes darkened.
"Just so you know, all of those things that you think Charles is befitting of, I will experience all"
"No, just leave me ", Jessie yelled.
"Oswald", Jessie heard a voice say out in rage. "You won't want to touch her, would you?"
"What brought you here? How did you get here?", Oswald said, confused, still gripping Jessie.
"Let her go" Charles declared.
"I won't, and you have no right to tell me what to do" Oswald stated in response.
"I always knew she was not like this, you are the cause of everything... you transferred your crazy characters to her and now she has the right to walk out on me" He declared in anger, turning his gaze to Jessie.
"That's none of my business" Charles voiced out, "Let her go. I really don't want to have this issue with you "
"I won't, what will you do?"
Charles who was already angry from what happened at his family's house earlier, and in rage that instead of resting, he had to be chasing Oswald almost went mad.
His eyes became red and he clenched his fists moving closer to Oswald.
Jessie that was shaking from all of it was left in shock when Charles came, and in more shock when she saw the figure that walked towards her and Oswald.
She did not see the innocent and peace-loving person she knew, instead, she saw Charles wearing a tight-lipped smile, throbbing veins around his fists, neck, and face with his eyebrows squinted. He walked in all might like he was certain he was going to defeat the enemy and save the princess in distress.
Oswald saw what was coming for him, so he pushed Jessie aside, running towards Charles to hit him. Charles, with keen eyesight and pretty good reflexes, dodged perfectly well at the right time and threw a punch at Oswald on regaining his composure.
"Is that your best?" He sneered at Oswald, making him want to throw a kick. Charles took a dodging stance that got Oswald on the floor instead. Standing up to his feet, "you should stop dodging my attacks and show me what you can do"
"I had no plans to lay my hands on you to such extent that you are disfigured. But if that is what you want, then I'll do just that" Charles smirked and threw a punch at Oswald which got him right on his face.
"Aargh...", Oswald gritted his teeth, holding his face in pain, "this fight was not between me and you, but you decided to draw the line between us. It won't go well, I promise" As Charles was about to throw another punch at Oswald, Oswald did a counter-attack which got Charles on his knees.
Jessie flinched watching everything happen in front of her, she wanted Charles to save her, but she didn't want him to hurt himself just for her to be okay. "Charles" she shrieked, running to him and she was pushed back by Oswald. Oswald left Charles that was on his knees and began to walk toward Jessie.
"No, no..." Jessie stuttered, making her way out of the warehouse into the heavy rain. She had not gone far from the warehouse when Oswald grabbed her and began to chuckle loudly.
"So did you think he was going to save you?" He said staring deeply into her eyes, "sadly, I don't think he will."
Jessie gave no response to him, instead, she had her eyes fixed on Charles who was behind Oswald. Charles dragged Oswald out of Jessie's grip, and began to pass him blows till Oswald was down to the floor, "you should change your ways, because next time if we are to cross paths this way, you won't like it."
He said and reached out to Jessie, dragging her from where she stood under the rain, shivering, with teary eyes, and took her into the car, driving off without uttering a word.
When Charles arrived earlier, after taking a long time to find the exact place they were in, he saw one of the men standing in front of the warehouse, and went behind him, using a stick to hit him, making him unconscious. Quickly rushing inside, he heard Oswald saying to Jessie that she said "Charles was better than him," and he froze in his track. She had so much trust for him when he was going to break her soon. A part of him felt guilty, but a larger part saw it as his satisfaction so he decided to ignore the thoughts.
Getting to his house, he just went in, letting Jessie in also, without sparing a word. Jessie began to feel worse thinking he was angry because of her, as he didn't talk throughout the journey and had not said anything all through, instead he walked into the kitchen. She sat at one side of the couch, curling into herself, and she began sobbing.
The phone that Charles put into his pocket, kept on ringing, and he picked it up to see Luciana. Going into the sitting room to hand over the phone to her, he met Jessie with her legs curled to her chest, and her face buried into her arms, shivering. Resolving that she wasn't in the right state of mind to take the call, he took it instead and told Luciana that she was fine, and was passing the night with him.
He tried to just let her be, but his confused conscience kept on flogging him and he went over to her.
"Hey," he called out. Not getting any response, he crouched on his knees to her level, and raised her face, only to be met with painful tears. Immediately, he raised her head, she fell into his embrace and kept on muttering "I am sorry."
"It's fine," he said to her as he tried raising her to her feet, taking her inside.
"I am sorry, it's all my fault", her voice was still shaky, and he began to regret that he didn't do a more terrible thing to Oswald. He alone was the reason she was going through that stress and he hated him for that.
Getting her to his room, he tried consoling her, rubbing her back till she was a little bit calm, then he showed her to the Bathroom, left her to wash up, and went to the kitchen to prepare food.