Se connecterChapter 232: Olive's POVLike all the sound had been sucked out of it. Like the air pressure had changed."Olive," my mother said carefully, "what are you—""And I'm not talking about the bullshit story of him dying in a car accident," I said, cutting her off, my eyes locked on Walter. "I want to know the truth now, father. The real truth."Nobody spoke.I could see the calculation happening behind Walter's eyes, the way he was trying to figure out what I knew, how much I knew, where I'd gotten my information from."Olive," my mother said again, her voice trembling now, "what are you talking about? Did something happen, baby? Why are you bringing Klaus's death up?"I could see the hurt in her eyes. Knew bringing this up was going to rip open a wound that had finally started to scar over.But she needed to know.She needed to know the real truth about her son's death, and she needed to hear it from the man who had been hiding it from her this entire time."Walter," I said, my voice har
Chapter 231: Olive's POVMy hands pushed against the steering wheel with much more force than necessary as I drove through the dark streets, my hands shaking with fear and rage and something underneath both of those that didn't have a name yet, something raw and ugly that felt like it was going to eat me alive from the inside out.The car was moving too fast.I knew it was moving too fast because Brenda was clutching the armrest beside me and her face had gone pale and I could see her glancing at the speedometer every few seconds.But I couldn't slow down.If I slowed down my brain might catch up with me, and if my brain caught up with me, I was going to lose what little control I had left.It was the truth.That was the worst part. Everything Alonso had told me had the awful ring of truth around the edges. Not because I trusted him, not because I believed his version of events, but because too many of the pieces fit. Too many of the small wrongnesses I'd been ignoring suddenly made
Chapter 230: Olive's POVHe'd lied to me.He'd lied to me for months.And now I was sitting in a warehouse with a man who hated him, listening to a story that I couldn't verify but couldn't dismiss either, trying to figure out how much of what I was hearing was true and how much was being twisted to hurt me."What about my father?" I asked."What about him?""You said earlier that you were going to tell me about him.""Did I?""You said there was something I needed to know."Alonso smiled.That awful smile again."Your father knows, Olive.""What?""Your father has known the truth about Klaus's death for years."The room tilted.The walls did the thing they kept doing, that closing-in thing, that suffocating thing, and I had to grip the edges of the chair to keep myself upright."What do you mean my father knows?""I mean exactly what I said. After Klaus died, Zane went to your father. He told Walter the truth. Or, at least, he told him a version of the truth. He told him that Klaus's
Chapter 229: Olive's POV"That's not fair," I whispered. "He was forced to choose. That wasn't a choice. That was being put in an impossible position.""Was it?""What does that mean?""Olive, think about it. If those men had really wanted to kill his mother, they would have killed her. They didn't need Zane's permission. They didn't need to set up some elaborate test. They could have just killed her. The fact that they gave him a choice tells you something."I blinked, wanting to know the truth has never been so awful."Like what?" I managed to whisper."Like they knew which way he'd choose. Like they were giving him an opportunity. Like they were telling him, 'Look, your friend is getting close to exposing you. We're going to handle it. We're going to make sure he doesn't talk. But we want to make sure you're on board. We want to make sure you understand that this is what's best for everyone.' And Zane understood. Zane chose his mother. Zane chose himself. Zane chose his secrets sta
Chapter 228: Olive's POV"Eleven years ago," Alonso began, "your precious brother was getting in the way of things he didn't understand."His voice had changed.Whatever softness or restraint had been there before was gone now. What replaced it was something cold and sharp and almost amused, like he was settling into telling me this story the way a sadistic kid settles into pulling wings off flies."Klaus was a smart kid," he said. "Too smart for his own good, really. He'd been digging around in places he shouldn't have been digging. Asking questions about Zane that nobody wanted answered. Putting pieces together about a past that was supposed to stay buried.""What pieces?" I asked.My voice was barely working. I could feel my pulse in my throat, in my ears, in places I didn't know it was possible to feel a pulse."That's not really the point of this story, Olive.""It's the point to me.""Mm." He smiled, and it was an ugly thing, that smile. Nothing like the charming grin from Hunte
Chapter 227: Olive's POVThe room was spinning."What?""Klaus found me," Alonso said, and his voice was almost gentle now, almost soft, like he was telling a bedtime story instead of dropping a bomb on my entire life. "He tracked me down somehow, followed me back to my hotel, and confronted me in the parking lot.""You're saying you were in his unit.""I was.""And you survived the explosion.""Barely. But yes. I survived.""Then why didn't anyone know?""Because the people who saved me had reasons for keeping me hidden. And because by the time I was healed enough to go back into the world, I didn't look like the man I used to be. I needed a new face. A new name. A new identity. And I needed to stay hidden until I was ready to do what I came here to do.""Which is what?""Which is finish what should have been finished twelve years ago."I felt sick.I felt like the floor had become liquid, like the whole room was tilting, like every assumption I'd ever made about the man I'd thought
Chapter 36: Olive’s POV"Hit send and it's yours," he said, watching me carefully. "But first, I need to know something."Of course. There was always a catch."What," I said, not taking my eyes off the screen."How did you do it?"I looked up. "What?""How did you get him?" Ryan leaned forward, elb
Chapter 34: Olive’s POVThe door slid open on its own, smooth and silent. I stepped inside.Grayson sat at the round table with three board members, all of them turning to look at me like I'd interrupted something sacred. Their faces were tight, eyes sharp. Judging."You can leave," Grayson said to
CHAPTER 28: OLIVE’S POVMy heart was trying to break out of my chest. The room was spinning. And Zane was looking at me like I was the only thing that mattered in the entire goddamn world."I'm yours," I said, louder this time.The corner of his mouth twitched. Almost a smile. "Good girl."And then
Chapter 24: COLE’s POV"You've been different since the game." Her voice was soft, careful. "You almost cost us the win, Cole. You went after Zane like... I don't know. Like it was personal.""It wasn't personal. He was playing dirty.""He always plays dirty. You know that." She pulled back just en







