Chapter 32 #2
The night air greeted Olivia with an icy chill.
It felt colder than usual, and even her coat offered little protection as she made her way toward the parking lot.
She slowed her pace and reached into her purse for her car keys.
Her fingers searched past lip balm, her phone, hand sanitizer, and a bottle of vitamins before finally closing around the key fob.
Just as she was about to turn the corner where her car was parked, her attention shifted to a sleek black sedan on her right.
Her brows knitted together. That car... She knew it.
Before she could think further, the driver's door swung open.
A familiar figure stepped out. "Isabelle?"
Olivia muttered. Clayton's older sister was the last person she had expected to be waiting for her this late at night.
Isabelle closed the car door and crossed the short distance between them. She stopped only when she was close enough to speak without raising her voice. "The nurse at the front desk said you were in the middle of surgery when I asked for you, so I decided to wait here."
Olivia masked her surprise behind a calm, unreadable expression. She had waited all this time? Knowing Isabelle's impatient personality, that alone meant whatever had brought her here couldn't be trivial. "What happened?" she inquired, a flicker of concern crossing her face.
"Clayton's been drinking," Isabelle blurted out. "For three days now."
Olivia visibly relaxed. Her fingers played with her car keys.
After a while, a faint, sardonic smile tugged at her lips as she lifted a brow.
"So he's celebrating that I'm gone?" she replied coolly.
"He can't stop drinking?" The idea was almost laughable.
Clayton drinking for three days straight?
Impossible. He was the very definition of discipline.
Isabelle had to be talking about someone else.
Frustration flashed across Isabelle's face.
She clenched her fists before forcing them to relax, but the worry etched into her exhausted features remained.
"My brother hasn't shown up to work either."
She rubbed her forehead wearily. "I've talked to him, but he won't listen to me. He won't even listen to Mom. And Dad..."
She let out a helpless sigh. "Dad isn't an option. If he goes anywhere near Clayton right now, they'll be throwing punches before either of them finishes a sentence."
Her gaze searched Olivia's face as though she were her last hope. "I've run out of options. You're the only one left-the one person he might still listen to."
A hint of sympathy flickered in Olivia's gaze, but it did nothing to sway her resolve.
She was patient to a fault, yet once she decided, no pleading could change her mind.
"I'm sorry, Isabelle, but I can't help you."
Olivia had made herself a promise the day she left that she would no longer interfere with affairs that weren't her concern.
She turned and walked away without waiting for a response.
Behind her, she heard footsteps rushing to catch up, but she refused to stop.
Isabelle had no choice but to step in front of her.
"Please." The single word came out broken.
Then, without warning, Isabelle dropped to her knees.
"I've never seen my brother this broken, this devastated before. Just talk to him once. That's the last favor I'll ever ask of you."
Seeing Isabelle beg was painful for Olivia, but her decision had already been made. She would not seek out Clayton or interfere in his life again unless it was a matter of life and death, and this clearly was not. "Go home, Isabelle. Stop wasting your time." Olivia's voice was no longer gentle.
The devastated look on Isabelle's face slowly twisted into anger as she stood up. For the first time, Olivia saw her delicate features contort with rage. "How could you be so heartless? How could you be so unfeeling toward my brother?"
A ringing filled her ears. Heartless. Of all the cruel things Isabelle could have said to her, that was the one word Olivia never expected to hear.
She could accept being called selfish, prideful, or bitter, but never heartless.
In fact, she had spent years putting everyone else before herself just to make others happy.
And with Clayton... She had stood beside him through thick and thin, loved him with everything she had even when his heart belonged to someone else. Yet now, after everything she had given, she was the heartless one? A bitter laugh nearly escaped her, but she swallowed it down. "Really, Isabelle?"
For a moment, Olivia wished Isabelle could feel even a fraction of the pain she had endured, just enough to understand why she had made this choice. "I walked away quietly instead of blaming my husband and calling him every cruel name imaginable. Tell me, Isabelle, which part of that was heartless?"
Isabelle ignored the question. She lifted her chin defiantly, refusing to let Olivia's words weaken her defense of her brother. "My brother isn't perfect, Olivia. I know that better than anyone. But don't pretend he never sacrificed anything for you."
She continued, trying to steady her trembling lips. "He gave up promotions that would have taken him overseas because he refused to ask you to abandon the career you spent your whole life building."
"He became an anonymous benefactor to your orphanage because he knew how much that place meant to you. He never told you because he didn't want you to feel like you owed him anything."
"When people tried to dig into your past and use your childhood against you, he was the one who shut them down. He made sure no one looked at you like you were less than the woman you became."
Isabelle's eyes filled with tears. "You may not have seen those things, Olivia, but they happened."
"If this is your last attempt to change my mind, it won't work, Isabelle." Olivia's voice remained calm, but there was a quiet exhaustion beneath it. "Stop trying to make me feel guilty for choosing myself."
"Also, I never said he didn't sacrifice anything," Olivia continued, pressing her lips into tight lines. "I know he gave up things for me too. But sacrifices don't erase pain. You told me everything he sacrificed for me, but did you ever ask what I sacrificed for him?"
Isabelle's lips parted but said nothing.
Olivia looked away, blinking back the tears gathering in her eyes.
She refused to let them fall, especially not in front of the woman who had just called her heartless.
"Your brother is hurting because he lost something. But Isabelle... I was hurting long before I left."
They stared at each other for a long moment, neither willing to be the first to look away. The confrontation had lasted only a few minutes, yet it left them both drained. Too many emotions had been dragged into the light, and many wounds that neither of them knew how to heal were exposed.
Olivia had said everything she needed to say. When she finally turned and walked away, Isabelle didn't stop her this time. Perhaps because, for the first time, she had no words left to defend her brother.