My eyes slid closed, trying to pull back on the hurt and anger surging up, but when they opened, it was all still there. The love of my life, standing there, asking me to lie. It was too much to hold back. “I won’t keep lying to him, and you remember what happened to the last woman who asked me to lie,” I said dangerously low.
Olivia stumbled back like I’d hit her, and I regretted the comparison to my ex-wife. I regretted implying I’d leave her just as easily. We were so much more than what Ivette and I had been.
I ran a hand through my hair and was about to take the words back, when she squared her shoulders again, and slid a coat of armor around her, blocking out any emotion from coming through. “You should go.”
“I don’t want to leave like this.”
“There’s a lot of things you don’t want to do, but right now, I need you to walk away.”
“At least let me walk you out.”
“Please, Kent.” Her voice cracked, and I saw through the hard veneer she was barely holding on to. She just needed time to cool down, and we would figure it out later when emotions were running less high.
“Will you meet me at the hotel later? I’m leaving tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m not sure any of this is a good idea.”
Her words hit me like a punch to the gut, sucking all the air from my lungs. “Olivia,” I pleaded. We could work past this.
I loved her.
We loved each other.
“Please, just go.”
When I still stood there, dumbfounded by the rapid turn of events, she grabbed her things and walked out, leaving me behind.
26 Olivia
I exited the cab in front of the hotel and stared up at the tall building. Five days—the longest I’d been away from the hotel since I started over three months ago, and I missed it. But I was done here. I would finish my project next week, I just needed to grab some final information from Vivian, and I’d have no reason to come back.
I was happy at the same time as dreading it.
I was happy to finish the project. Relieved to not have to face Kent every day and miss him. I dreaded leaving because I’d lose the connection I had to something that had made me excited about my future. I dreaded leaving because I’d lose the connection I had to him.
He’d messaged me a few times a day since I’d walked out on him, but I ignored each one. I wasn’t even sure what to say or what I wanted him to say. Well, I knew what I wanted him to say; I was wrong. The reality was that the only person who needed to be saying that was me.
And I couldn’t because, over the past five days, nothing had changed. Panic crashed over me, stealing my breath, each time I thought of using it to tell Daniel the truth. Maybe I was just the dumb, scared girl he accused of being a façade.
Taking a deep breath, I prepared for whatever stood on the other side of those doors. I knew he was back from New York, but I didn’t know if he was here. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I was hoping to find.
I scanned each inch that I could, holding my breath around every corner until I found Vivian bent over some papers with one of the employees.
“Olivia.” She stood and smiled. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too. How has it been this week?”
“Fantastic. All the final touches are getting done this month, and then we open.”
“That’s so exciting.”
“All our hard work, coming to fruition. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Thank you, Vivian,” I said, smiling harder than I had in days.
“Oh, I wanted to ask you while Alexander is gone, his birthday is in a couple weeks, and we were going to throw him a little party in the hotel restaurant. It wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t there.”
His birthday was soon? How had I not known?
The idea of a party with Kent had me mentally scrolling through my wardrobe, trying to find the sexiest dress to tempt him. It all came to a screeching halt when I thought about Daniel being there and Kent having to pretend I didn’t exist.
Just like that, the stone in my stomach was back. “I’ll see what I have going on,” I answered noncommittally. “Is he here?”
“You just missed him. He had a flight to catch.”
“Oh.”
Vivian took me around to say goodbye and answered the few questions I had. We were in one of the offices, packing up when she stopped me.
“Miss Russo wanted me to give you this.”
I looked down at the packet of papers she had. “What is it?”