Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
T evin pulled up to Olive’s apartment building and put the van in Park. They’d already talked everything through, reviewing what had happened. They’d reached no conclusions, however.
“I’ll walk her up,” Jason said before Tevin could volunteer.
“You don’t have to do that.” Part of Olive wanted space from him. The other part wanted to talk more. Conflicting emotions weren’t her thing. She liked certainty.
“I don’t mind.” His voice still sounded hard, and his eyes appeared tortured from everything that had happened.
She knew Jason wanted more answers. She couldn’t blame him.
But being away from him was the safer choice.
Olive hesitated a moment.
“I can wait.” Tevin peered at Olive as if trying to send a silent message that he’d be her wingman.
Olive smiled but shook her head. The situation with Jason wasn’t Tevin’s issue, and she had no intention of letting someone handle her problems. “Jason can walk me up. I’ll be fine.”
She told Tevin goodbye, and then she and Jason climbed out.
“Where’d you park?” she asked. “Will you need a ride to your vehicle?”
“It’s not necessary.” He nodded to the north. “I parked on the street just a couple of blocks down.”
Tension crackled between them as the two of them strode silently into her building, took the elevator to her floor, and walked beside each other down the empty hallway.
She reached her door and unlocked it before turning toward Jason. “Do you want to come in a minute?”
She knew better than to think she’d simply tell him goodbye and that he’d leave.
He nodded, his gaze still hard. “You know I do.”
She led the way inside, went into the kitchen, and began fixing them some drinks. She didn’t bother to ask him what he wanted. Tonight would be merlot night.
She handed him his wine glass, and he took a long sip before placing the glass on the table.
She nudged her hip against the countertop and leaned there. “Want to talk through things?”
“I don’t even know where to start.” His jaw hardened again as he stood across from her, mirroring her own lean against the counter. “I feel like everything I’ve known and thought to be true has been turned upside down.”
Guilt pounded at Olive. She was part of the reason he felt that way, and she hated herself for that.
“I’m really sorry, Jason. I think Adriana will be okay.”
“Part of me doesn’t even care if she’s okay.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. “No, I take that back. I don’t wish any harm to her. But I do want the truth.”
“What are you going to do?” His possible reactions made her nervous. Olive didn’t want him to blow this whole operation.
He shrugged. “I’m going to act clueless, like I didn’t know any of this happened. I’ll wait for Adriana to make the next move. See if she calls me and what she says. Then I’ll take it from there.”
“I think that’s the smart choice.”
He nodded slowly, his gaze still hard with the hurt of betrayal.
“Do you want to sit?” Olive nodded at her couch.
“Sure.”
She refilled their glasses.
Then they walked over to the living room and sat together on the beige leather couch.
Olive sat a respectable distance away and curled her legs beneath her. She sensed his need to talk and waited for him to continue.
His gaze met hers, some of the hurt fading and replaced with confusion. “I feel like there’s so much I don’t know about you, Ollie.”
Her throat burned. “My life has been . . .” How did she say it? Hard? Complicated? She was so tired of throwing around that word. Finally, she said, “A mess.”
“Why did your family leave Texas so suddenly? I’ve never understood it.” He set his glass on the coffee table and leaned forward with his elbows propped on his knees.
She took another sip of her wine. “It wasn’t my choice. My family mastered the art of suddenly up and leaving the places where we lived. We rarely stayed anywhere for more than a couple of years.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “My dad’s job.”
“I thought he worked at a bank. Did he get transferred a lot?”
“Not exactly. He didn’t always work at the bank. He hopped from job to job. Over the years, he was a salesman, a home renovation contractor, a bookkeeper. Then he became a pastor at a small congregation.”
“A pastor?” Jason’s eyebrows shot up. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“None of us were. But he found Jesus and was called into the ministry.”
The whole transformation had been a shock, all things considered. She wasn’t even aware that her dad had owned a Bible before that, and he hadn’t given any indication he’d turned into a religious man.
“That’s . . . surprising.” Jason twisted his neck and shrugged.
“It was for all of us.” She licked her lips, unsure about her next words. She never talked about this. But for some reason she felt compelled to tell Jason. “Listen, Jason . . . the truth is that about a year after we moved from Texas, my entire family was killed. Murdered.”
A wrinkle formed between his eyes, and he tilted his head. “What?”
“I sneaked out one night to go to a party, and when I returned, I found my mom, my dad . . . my sisters.” Her voice cracked as images of that terrible night filled her mind. She remembered that bloody handprint on the door molding. The sickening scent of blood. Her mom’s lifeless eyes. “They’d all been shot.”
Jason reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”
She nodded, her throat burning. “Me too.”
“Was their killer ever caught?”
“No.” The word came out just above a whisper. “He’s still out there a free man—as far as I know, at least.”
“That’s tough, to say the least.”
“Yes, it is.” She swirled her wine in her glass as she tried to get her thoughts under control before they completely derailed her.
“I . . . I tried to look for you. I can’t believe I didn’t see any reports about your family’s murder.”
“It was kept pretty quiet.”
He slanted his gaze. “Don’t you think that’s strange?”
“I wondered about it sometimes, but I didn’t want to deal with reporters anyway.”
Silence stretched another moment.
“What happened to you afterward?” Jason finally asked. “Where did you go?”
“One of the FBI agents on the case took me in until I graduated. He really brought the stability in my life that I needed. The two of us are still close.”
“I’m glad you had someone there for you. I can’t even imagine your loss.” He paused. “And somehow you went through all that and ended up working for an elite private investigator agency? How did your path lead you to this place?”
She let out a breath. They had a lot to catch up on. “It’s a really long story. But in a nutshell, I crossed paths with the leader of this agency. He saw potential in me, then recruited and trained me.”
Jason nodded silently as if chewing on the tidbits she’d fed him.
“Do you always work in this area?” he finally asked. “In Chicago?”
“No, the agency sends us wherever we’re needed.”
Another few seconds passed before he asked, “Did you know I worked at Conglomerate before you came here?”
“I didn’t,” Olive said quietly. “I had no idea. Then when I saw you . . . I didn’t want to lie to you. But you know what the stakes are . . .”
“I wish I could argue with you. But I can’t. Plus, there are so many other more important things to be upset about.”
More silence stretched between them.
Jason took a long sip of his drink and stared straight ahead. “I can’t believe we’re sitting here right now. I used to dream about this.”
Olive noted his word choice of “used to.” She didn’t hold him at fault for it.
She understood.
They’d both moved on. A lot of years had passed. A lot of changes had taken place.
She glanced at him, and their gazes met.
Something passed between them—a zing of electricity.
Suddenly, Olive could hardly breathe.
Their feelings for each other were still there, weren’t they?
That fact scared Olive more than any enemy possibly could.
Olive wasn’t sure how it happened, but she and Jason had somehow gravitated closer on the couch. Had she moved or had he?
She had no idea.
But suddenly, her knee touched his thigh.
She didn’t move.
And she couldn’t take her eyes off Jason. Off the smoky look in his gaze. The way his lips parted. The way his broad chest angled toward her.
“Who are you, Olive Whiten?” His voice sounded throaty. “Is that even your real last name? I just assumed that maybe you’d been married at some point.”
“I haven’t been. Whiten is an alias. Olive Sterling is my name.”
At least, she thought that was her real last name. She wasn’t sure about the truth anymore.
“Good to know.” Jason stared at her. “And back to the first part of my question: who are you?”
Olive licked her lips. “Truth? I don’t really know anymore. I take on a different personality wherever I go. Looking back, I realize how unstable my childhood really was. My family moved so much, and each move brought a different lifestyle and a new group of people. My dad . . . well, let’s just say he wasn’t who I thought he was. I suppose I have an identity crisis.”
“You know what I think?”
Her breath caught at the hoarseness of his voice. “What’s that?”
“I think we decide every day who we are. We define ourselves with every choice we make. Do we choose to do good? Or do we choose to be selfish?”
Something about his words brought a wave of comfort over her.
Maybe she wasn’t the product of her past or even her career.
Even if her dad had potentially been a conman, that didn’t mean she had to follow in his footsteps.
He leaned closer. “I think you’re an extremely intelligent woman who wants to leave the world a better place than you found it. That’s who I think you are.”
Her heart beat harder. It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said about her. In her profession, people praised her skills. Her successes. They rarely praised who she was.
Olive stared at Jason’s lips.
More than anything, she wanted to kiss him. To be swept back in time to when she and Jason were in love. Back to when she didn’t have the problems and worries she had now.
Somehow, his face was close to hers. Only inches away.
All she needed to do was lean forward, and she could . . .
A whiff of his woodsy cologne filled her senses, making her resolve melt even more.
Olive remembered their time together back when they were teens. Their stolen kisses. The way his lips felt against hers.
Those had been some great days, filled with young love and the promise of a sweet future. She’d forgotten what it was like to feel that way.
Jason reached and tucked a hair behind her ear.
He was waiting for her approval, wasn’t he?
She licked her lips as she decided what to do.