Chapter 3 - A skeleton in the cupboard

The sun streaks through the window, casting a small bent light across Olivia's floor. She stares at it, watching dust motes dance, wishing she could float away like them. But she can't.

She swings her legs out of bed, heavy with two hours of sleep, and heads to the bathroom. The mirror shows a stranger. Puffy eyes. Pale skin. Broken.

In the living room, Chloe scrolls through her phone, half-asleep, waiting for coffee. She's thinking about Olivia. Something is wrong. She feels it in her bones.

Then she sees it.

"Logan Industries Announces Major Merger….and a Logan Wedding. Aiden Logan engaged to Olivia Hughes."

Chloe reads the words three times. Her brain refuses to process them. Her sister. Engaged. To a Logan?

The coffee maker beeps. She doesn't hear it.

Her phone slips from her fingers. A scream rips from her throat….high, sharp, terrified.

Olivia runs. She bursts into the kitchen, heart pounding. Chloe stands frozen, face white, eyes hollow.

"Tell me it's not true," Chloe whispers. "Tell me you're not engaged to a Logan."

Olivia's first instinct is to lie. But their mother could wake any second. She crosses the room and clamps her hand over Chloe's mouth.

"Shh. Mom can't hear this. Not yet."

Chloe's eyes fill with tears that spill down Olivia's fingers.

"It's true," Olivia breathes, lowering her hand. "But it's not what you think."

Chloe laughs, wet and broken. "You're engaged to the son of the man who killed our father. What else is there to think?"

"I didn't have a choice." Olivia's voice cracks. "How was I supposed to tell you when I haven't even digested it myself?"

She thinks about her mother's condition. The bills. Chloe's future.

"I would have told you. I just needed time."

Chloe stands there, tears streaming, arms limp at her sides. She doesn't move. Doesn't speak.

Olivia pulls her into a fierce hug. Chloe doesn't hug back. She just stands, rigid, silent, while her sister falls apart against her shoulder.

The day stretches forever.

Chloe locks herself in her room. She doesn't come out for breakfast or lunch. Olivia knocks. Begs. Gets nothing but silence.

Magdalene notices, of course. "Did you two fight?"

Olivia forces a smile. "Just a sister thing."

Magdalene studies her too long. "You look tired, baby."

"I'm fine."

Another lie.

That night, Olivia sits against Chloe's door. "I can't do this without you. Please don't shut me out."

A muffled sob answers. But the door doesn't open.

The next morning, Olivia moves like a robot. She tells her mother she has an early meeting. Avoids Chloe's door.

At 11:30, she leaves.

The drive to the library takes twenty minutes. Her heart races the whole way. “I know your father didn't die from shock. I know he was silenced.”

The words keep playing in her mind.

She parks. Walks to the entrance. Takes a deep breath. Then pushes open the door.

Third floor. History section. Empty.

Her phone buzzes. "Good girl. Now come to the café section."

She walks toward the café. It's empty. No customers. No barista. Just silence.

In the corner sits a woman. All black. With a dark scarf hiding her hair, leaving only her eyes visible. Late forties, maybe older.

Olivia walks toward her. Each step feels like walking into a trap.

"Sit."

The voice is low. Rough.

Olivia sits.

The woman's eyes are dark. Knowing.

"That drug you gave your father every night….did you ever research it?"

"What?"

"The sleeping pills. The ones Doctor Weiller prescribed. The ones you handed him with water, never knowing what they really were."

Olivia grips the table. "Doctor Weiller was helping him."

"He was killing him. Slowly. Doses small enough no one would notice. Just enough to weaken his heart. To make it look like grief."

"No."

"Alexander was poisoned, Olivia. Night after night. By the doctor you trusted. With pills you gave him."

The words hit like bullets. Her father was murdered. And she helped.

"You didn't know," the woman says. "That's what makes it cruel. You were trying to save him. But every night, you handed him his death."

Tears explode from Olivia. She clamps her hand over her mouth, but the sobs push through.

"I was Doctor Weiller's nurse," the woman continues. "I saw things. Heard things. When your father died, I knew it wasn't natural. But I was afraid. I've lived with that guilt for three years. I can't anymore."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because you're engaged to Aiden Logan. You'll live in their home. Have access to their secrets."

Olivia's tears stop. "You want me to spy on them."

"I want justice. Sebastian Logan didn't just steal from your father. He killed him. And he didn't act alone."

The woman slides a photograph across the table. Grainy, but clear.

Robbin Jonathan.

Olivia's blood turns to ice.

"He set you up," the woman says. "He hired you. Kept you close. Made sure you were exactly where Sebastian needed you."

Robbin helped kill her father. The man who gave her granola bars. Who stared at her with kind eyes.

"Marry Aiden," the woman says. "Find the proof. Payments. Emails. Sebastian keeps everything. He thinks he's untouchable."

"And if I find it?"

"Then you destroy them all. And your father gets justice."

Olivia folds the photograph. Puts it in her pocket.

"I'll do it," she says. "I'll marry him. I'll find the proof. And I'll make them pay."

The woman nods and stands to leave.

"Wait," Olivia says. "What's your name?"

"You don't need my name. You just need the truth."

She walks away, disappearing into the stacks.

Olivia sits alone in the empty café, hands shaking. Her father was murdered. Robbin helped. And she's about to marry the killer's son.

She pulls out her phone. Texts Chloe: "I'm coming home. We need to talk. Everything."

Three dots appear. Then: "I'm waiting."

Olivia stands. She has a sister to tell. A mother to protect. And a family to destroy.

As she walks to her car, she doesn't notice the black sedan across the street. The engine running. The man inside watching.

Robbin grips the wheel. He saw her leave the library. Saw the woman in black.

She knows.

He picks up his phone. Dials.

"She knows about Weiller. About everything."

A pause. Then Sebastian Logan's voice, cold as ice:

"Then you know what you have to do."

The line goes dead.

Robbin stares

at Olivia's car as she pulls away.

He doesn't want to hurt her. But Sebastian gave him a choice.

His company. His life. Or hers.

He starts the engine and follows.