Page 24 of Rescuing Tobias

It was like she was stuck on an emotional rollercoaster, and she wanted off.

Only there was no getting off the trainwreck that had become her life.

CHAPTER 8

April 5th

12:26 P.M.

Frustration boiled inside Tobias.

It was growing worse the more time that passed without them gathering any more leads on the trafficking ring.

They had taken at least a dozen people into custody the night they’d rescued Isabella, that should have been enough intel to piece together to give them a clearer picture of what was going on, but even after all of those men had been interrogated they knew nothing more than they’d already known before they even found them. Not even the lists of names and medications Isabella had compiled had led them to anything significant, although it had corroborated things they’d already known.

Days—weeks—of going through the lives of every single person who had been rescued that night, Isabella included, to see where they intersected, what linked them all together, so they could find out who was running the ring. Without finding that person, they would never be able to end this. They could putdent after dent into the ring, but until they cut off the head of the snake, it would keep regenerating itself.

Because after all, there was a never-ending supply of people who were desperate enough to do anything, even turn to the illegal black market organ market to save their own life or that of a loved one.

So long as there was a market out there, the ring would never be stopped. Even when they did find the head of this ring—and Tobias had to believe that sooner or later it would happen—and closed it down, eventually another one would take its place.

Again, if there were people willing to look the other way and buy an organ without letting themselves consider where it had come from, there would always be people willing to take advantage of that.

Knowing they were no closer to shutting the ring down today than they had been three weeks ago when he first met Isabella was slowly killing him. Physically felt like that’s what was happening.

Those first few days after she left and the pain had been minimal, he’d actually started to reconsider his stance on relationships and whether he was too focused on his past and his parents’ relationship to see his future clearly.

Then things had changed.

The pain seemed to be getting worse, and needing to take his prescription painkillers had become an almost daily necessity. He’d gone back to see his doctor, demanded that more tests and scans be done, wondering if he had further damaged something by going back into the field.

Only all the scans showed that things were the same.

No better but no worse.

His doctors didn't know why he was suffering from an increased pain level suddenly, but Tobias had to wonder. Was it because of Isabella? Was giving her up, even though he’d neverreally had her to begin with, affecting him physically? How was that even possible?

It wasn't.

Or at least it shouldn’t be.

Yet he couldn’t figure out another reason for his pain levels spiking. Maybe it was his body’s way of reminding him what was at stake. If he got weak and reached out to Isabella, let her in, allowed feelings to develop, then he put her in a position where at some point in the future, she would have to help take care of him.

Without the reminder the pain gave him he might be weak.

Might give in.

Even though he knew he couldn’t let himself.

Didn't help that a few days ago she’d actually reached out to him.

It was early afternoon on March 30th, six days ago. It had come out of nowhere. He’d been returning from a late lunch, and just as he sat back down at his desk, his phone had dinged. When he’d seen Isabella’s name beside the text, he’d almost fallen out of his chair in shock.

Panicking, believing something terrible had happened, because he couldn’t think of another reason why she’d suddenly reach out, he snatched the phone up, dropping it in the process, then suffered painful back spasms for minutes when he leaned down to scoop it off the floor.

By the time they’d eased enough that he could function again, his entire team had realized something was wrong, and he’d had no choice but to admit he was in chronic pain. The way they fussed over him, the way they’d been treating him with kid gloves ever since, only added to his frustration at the whole situation.

One injury had changed his entire life.

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