The energy between us is so strong that it’s almost palpable.
Like me, he seems furious, and I don’t understand what is going on.
He turns off the car and walks around to open my door. We’ve done this so many times that it hurts my heart to know it’ll be the last.
He takes my hand, and even knowing I shouldn’t allow it, I don’t try to escape.
In the elevator, facing each other, the scene reminds me too much of what we experienced shortly after I started working at the hotel. I didn’t know it then, but I was already in love.
“Whatever you’re thinking, it was all real.”
“I won’t listen to anything other than what you said you need to tell me.”
He doesn’t seem to have heard me. “I’m crazy about you, Olívia. Nothing you decide will change that.”
I lift my face to look at him, and what I see hurts me. He’s suffering too. “You lied to me.”
“Never. I omitted some things, but I never lied to you.”
Chapter 46
“I forced my way into your life. I chose to look for you.”
“You looked for me?” I’m more confused than ever.
“Yes. Right from the start. Going to the café that day wasn’t random.”
“And everything that has happened since then?”
His jaw is clenched, and I can feel that, like it is for me, it’s torture for him not to touch me. “Everything since I stepped into that café has been about you. It had nothing to do with the reason I sought you out. It’s always been you.”
We’re in his apartment’s office. Unlike the first time, I’m fully dressed—like a ballerina—and he sits across from me.
He opens a drawer and takes out a leather folder. “Do you know who my late wife was?”
What? Why is he bringing Nina’s mother into the conversation?
“Olívia?”
“I do know. She was a famous socialite. I recognized her in the photos in Nina’s room.”
“Yes, she was. When she passed away, Layla had no living relatives, so I was tasked with taking care of all her affairs. Shutting down her social media accounts, emails, everything.” He pauses and runs his hand through his hair. “There were some outstanding matters, and among them, the final payment to a detective she hired to find you.”
“I don’t think I heard correctly. Why would she want to find me? We didn’t know each other.”
“I could answer all your questions, and I will if you ask, but I’d prefer you see for yourself. Everything in me says to protect you, but you’re an adult. I don’t think it’s healthy to keep you in a glass bubble. So here is the explanation for why I looked for you. When you’re done, I’ll be waiting outside to talk about us.”
He leaves, and my body is trembling.
I’m not sure I want to open the folder, because something tells me it will hurt me.
I remember all the times he tried to talk about the past and I stopped him.
I pick up the folder with uncertain fingers, and right away, I see pictures of me. I skip past them because they don’t interest me. I know where each one was taken.
Next, there are printed emails. I check the dates. They started three years ago, and there’s an address of a detective agency as the sender.
I read the first one twice to make sure I understand correctly.
