The fight left her body, and she straightened in her chair, eyes darting between me and Cillian. He had taken a seat himself by turning his chair backward and resting his arms on the back like he was settling in for a show.
His dark eyes were lit with amusement.
“What do you want?” Olivia asked.
“Glad you’re smart enough to understand your position,” Cillian said with a smirk that made his scar pull tight.
She rolled her eyes, but I saw her hands trembling.
I pushed another file toward her. It was thicker this time. “I know your history, Olivia. After graduating, you couldn’t land a job in your field and had to waitress to pay off your student loans. Started… dating men when they approached you and didn’t care if they were married or not, as long as they?—”
“I get it.” She cut me off. “You ran a background check on me. Congratulations. You know I’m a mess. Is there a point to this?”
“The point is we know you’re already planning to ditch Jack,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “You’ve been seen with Mark Henley twice this week who’s married and worth about twenty million. Sound familiar?”
She didn’t deny it.
“So?” she asked, lifting her chin. “What’s it to you who I date?”
“Nothing. Except we need your help with the case.”
She scoffed and leaned back. “Why would you need my help? Jack is losing it because he knows Paige will win and he has to pay a fortune in alimony.”
“We know that.”
“Then why the fuck do you need my help?”
“So that we can embarrass that piece of shit,” Cillian said. “Easy.”
Olivia frowned, looking between us. “How?”
“By confessing everything during the hearing in court,” I said. “The affair, the timeline and the fact that it started during Paige’s second trimester. All of it on record.”
“And if I don’t?”
Cillian and I both looked at the file in front of her. The one with evidence of her theft. The one that could send her to prison.
“You’re blackmailing me.” Olivia’s face paled.
“I’m giving you a choice,” I corrected. “Help us destroy Jack’s case, or face the consequences of your actions. Your call.”
She stared at me for a long moment, and I held her gaze without flinching. I would do far worse than this to protect Paige. Would burn the entire world down if it meant keeping her and Lily safe. Would break every rule and destroy anyone who tried to hurt them.
“Fine,” Olivia said finally. “I’ll do it.”
“Good,” I said, my shoulders relaxing slightly. “Cillian will give you the details about when and where.”
Cillian moved behind her, cutting the zip ties with a knife that appeared from nowhere. Olivia rubbed her wrists and stood, but stopped at the door, looking back at me.
“You didn’t have to kidnap me or dig up my past, you know,” she said, her voice quiet. “He was threatening to sell our videos. I wanted to get rid of him, so I would have helped you, anyway.”
“Then what about meeting Paige?” I asked, keeping my voice even.
Olivia sighed, and I saw genuine regret flicker across her face. “I’m sorry about that, but he was listening to us the whole time and had his phone recording everything.”
“Wait,” Cillian said. “What the fuck were you talking about? Videos?”
When she looked flustered and embarrassed, I sat up straighter because I recognized that look. I had seen it in enough clients over the years.
