Chapter Thirty Three
Olivia
But I can’t walk in there and pretend my world didn’t fall apart last night.
I’m not ready to see Caterina. I’m not ready to see anyone who might ask how my night was. I’m not ready to lie.
I make coffee, take a sip, set it down. It goes cold on the counter while I stare at the screen and don’t type.
I keep replaying the fight. The way his voice went soft when he said he’d never hurt me. The way mine broke when I said he’d lied. The look on his face right before I walked out. I can feel the door slam in my bones like it’s still happening.
This is what the end feels like. Not dramatic. Just heavy. A dead weight in my chest that I can’t move.
I open my laptop. Close it. Open it again. Every thought circles back to him—his mouth, his hands, the things he wouldn’t say, the one thing I wanted him to say. Would things be different if he had said the words?
I tell myself I chose this. I tell myself it was the only choice. It doesn’t make it any easier.
The knock at the door makes me freeze. For one hard beat, I’m sure it’s him. If it is, I don’t trust myself not to open the door and fall into his arms. I need to feel safe so badly.
I stand, walk to the peephole, and look. Caterina.
My stomach dips. Not better.
I back away a step. She knocks again. “Come on, Olivia. Open up, please.”
I curse silently, then unlatch the deadbolt and pull the door a few inches. “What do you want?”
“To talk,” she says. “Just talk.”
“I don’t think we have anything to talk about.”
“Ten minutes. Please,” she adds softly, her brows pulled together in worry.
I open the door and turn my back on her. “Fine.”
She steps in and closes it behind her. I walk to the small table by the window and stop, arms folded. She doesn’t come too close. Good.
“Hi,” she says, softer now.
“Hi.”
Her eyes flick over me like she’s checking for damage. “You didn’t come in today.”
“Working from home.”
She nods. “Okay.” A beat. “I’m sorry to show up without asking.”
“You’re here,” I say. “Say what you came to say.”
She laces her fingers together. “The comps you saw were routed to you by mistake. That part is true. I fixed the table so it won’t happen again.”
“Great,” I say, my voice hard.
“Olivia…” She swallows.
But she doesn’t continue.
Finally, I snap. “What?”
She flinches.
“What do you want, Caterina?” I continue, my voice harsh. “Is there some other part of my life you haven’t ruined yet? You come here to finish the job?”
She opens her mouth to speak, looking hurt, but I don’t let her.
“I mean, my job is a sham. Our friendship is a sham.” I raise my voice. “And my love life? Safe to say that one’s a big, fat lie.”
Caterina goes pale. “That’s not true,” she says, voice low. “You built that weekend. You. No one can take that from you.”
I laugh once, sharp. “Except the part where the owners—one of whom is supposed to be my best friend—uses the property for money laundering.” I say the last two words through my teeth. “I gave up legitimate job offers for this. I moved my whole life out here for this.”
“That’s not all it is,” she insists. “It’s a legitimate business. I hired you to be the marketing coordinator for The Regent.”
“Don’t bullshit me,” I say. “I think you’ve done enough of that, don’t you?”
“Fine, I handled it wrong. I was trying to keep you out of it. You were never supposed to be involved. And our friendship is not a sham. You were my friend before any of this.”
“And Roberto?” I ask. “Was that part of the package, too?”
“No,” she says firmly. “No. What happened between you was all you.”
“Except the bottle of wine and private dinner.”
“I wasn’t thinking about any of the casino stuff when I did that,” she insists. “Or the… other stuff. I saw the way you looked at each other. I haven’t seen him look at anyone like that since his wife died. We weren’t running some sort of play on you. I would never do that to you.”
“How can I trust that?” I say, my voice breaking. “You looked me in the face, and you lied over and over.
Caterina’s mouth tightens. “You can’t. Not today,” she says quietly. “All I can do is stand here and tell you I didn’t bring you here to use you, and I didn’t throw you to the wolves. I wanted you beside me because you’re the best at what you do and because you’re my friend.”
My laugh scrapes my throat. “Your friend who was kept in the dark.”
“Yes,” she says sincerely. “Because the dark was the only place I thought you would be safe. I thought if I walled it off from you, you could just build the thing you came to build and never have to carry anything else.”
I shake my head. “And if something went wrong? If the feds showed up? I’d be the idiot who said I didn’t know.”
“Plausible deniability,” she says.
“Or what if they don’t believe that anyone could be so stupid as to not know who they’re working for,” I spit out. “Who their friend really is. Who the person they’re sleeping with really is!”
Caterina’s eyes shine. “Then let me take the hit,” she says. “If you want out, I’ll process it today—paid out, full reference. If you want to stay, I’ll firewall you. No owner approvals touching your queue. We go back to the way it was supposed to be.”
My stomach twists. “So that’s it? I keep my head down and pretend I didn’t see what I saw?”
“I’m asking you not to blow up your life tonight,” she says, voice low. “I’m not asking for me. I’m asking for you. Give me forty-eight hours to pull anything that could brush you. If after that you still want to walk, I won’t fight you.”
“Forty-eight hours to do what, exactly?” I ask. “Make the comps disappear?”
“To route them where they should have gone and lock the doors you never should’ve had a key to,” she answers.
“You know I can’t do that,” I say quietly. “You know I can’t just turn away and pretend it’s not happening. I won’t be able to live with that.”
“Then tell me what I can do,” she begs. “Just please… Please don’t take this out on Roberto. It’s not on him. I hired you before I told him. He didn’t bring you into this. I did.”
“Yeah, but what he did was worse,” I say, and I can feel my eyes burning. “He let me fall in love with him, and it was a lie.”
I’ve never said the words out loud before, and I can’t believe this is how it happened.
Caterina shakes her head. “No. That part wasn’t a lie,” she says. “Whatever else you believe about him, don’t rewrite that. He’s a lot of things, Olivia, but he doesn’t fake what he feels. Not about you.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” I choke out. “You didn’t put your heart into his hands, only to come out feeling like an idiot.”
Caterina steps closer but keeps her distance. “You’re not an idiot,” she says. “You were in love with a man who made you feel seen. That’s not stupid. That’s human.”
I wipe under one eye with my thumb and look away. “It feels stupid.”
“It feels like betrayal,” she says quietly. “I get that. Be angry at me. Be angry at him. You’re allowed. But don’t quit, don’t walk away like this.”
My laugh is rough. “That would be the smartest thing to do, just walk away.”
“Olivia,” she says. “Whatever you think, I love you. I don’t know if I can ever fix this, but I’m trying.
I can protect your job, your reputation.
I can stay away from you, if that’s what you want.
But I can’t take it back. Truth is, I don’t know if I want to.
It’s a relief not having to lie to you or hide it from you anymore. ”
“Does your family feel the same way?” I ask. “Your dad?”
She flinches again, then clears her throat. “He doesn’t know.”
“And if he did? Would that offer to leave still be on the table?” I ask. “Or would he have other solutions in mind?”
Caterina’s jaw tightens. “I’m the one who hired you,” she says. “I’m responsible for you.”
“That’s not an answer, Cat,” I say.
“It’s the only one I can give you without making promises I can’t control,” she admits.
“My father protects the Family first. If he thought you were a threat, he’d move fast. But he knows he’d lose a brother and a daughter in the process.
He already lost one daughter for a long time, and things are still shaky there. He wouldn’t risk it again.”
I stare at her. “You’re asking me to bet my life on family dynamics I’m not part of.”
“I’m asking you to bet on me,” she says, pleading. “On the friend who dragged you to midnight tacos, who let you cry on my bed after that awful internship, who begged you to come build something with me. Not on my last name. On me.”
I press my knuckles to the edge of the table until they ache. “And if I can’t?”
“Then you can’t,” she says, throat tight. “And I’ll have you out of town by tonight, somewhere he can’t reach.”
“And you can do that? Just make me disappear?”
“If you want me to,” she says.
I wrap my arms around myself. “I don’t want to run, Cat,” I say, suddenly exhausted. “But I don’t want to die because I trusted the wrong people.”
“Just give me some time,” she says. “Don’t make a decision right away.”
I sigh, my chest burning.
Caterina’s phone rings.
She glances at the screen. “I’m sorry. It’s one of my brothers.” She swipes to answer. “Nico? I—” Her face drains. “What? When?” She paces two steps, listening. “Which hospital? Is he— No, I’m here. I’m coming.”
She ends the call with a hard tap, breathing fast. “I have to go.”
“What happened?”
Her mouth opens, closes. “My uncle. Hospital.” The words stumble out. “He’s—he’s hurt.”
Ice grips my spine. “Roberto?”
She shakes her head, throat working. “Antonio. My uncle Antonio. He was shot.” She’s moving already, snatching her bag with unsteady hands. “I have to go.”
“I’ll drive you,” I say.
She starts to argue. “Olivia—”
“Don’t.” I grab my keys. “I’m coming.”