24. Leo
LEO
Leo was alone.
He’d been alone before, but this was different. This time, he didn’t enjoy the solitude. He couldn’t focus on work. He couldn’t focus on anything.
Olivia was gone, and without her, his life was empty. He had only his empty apartment, his office, and his lonely walk back and forth between them. He didn’t have Kyle anymore — being without Olivia made him really face that. She’d opened his heart, and now, he couldn’t close it again.
Leo knew Kyle was gone. He could accept that, no matter how much it hurt. He’d found closure with his brother at the canyon in Nevada, and he knew Kyle would always be with him, in his own way. Olivia had helped him see that, too.
But every time he remembered that Olivia would never again greet him from the couch or go on a walk with him or kiss him, his heart broke all over again. He couldn’t accept that she was gone forever. He couldn’t accept that she had really left.
But she had.
And there was nothing Leo could do about it.
Every fiber in his being had screamed for him to stop Olivia when she left, to run after her, to beg her for a second chance.
But he’d held himself back. One of the biggest rules Kyle had taught him was that if a woman said it was over, it was over.
It wasn’t Leo’s place to push. He had to respect her wishes, no matter how much it broke his heart.
Anyway, he was the one who’d drafted the prenup that had chased her away. He’d let his worry over protecting his fortune win, and that was a mistake he’d always have to live with. Olivia had probably been right to leave.
“Still here, boss?” Jake appeared in the doorway of Leo’s office as he knocked on the frame with one hand.
“Yep,” Leo looked back at his laptop. “There’s no reason to rush home.”
It was after ten p.m., and most people had left. Back when Olivia was here, just weeks ago, Leo would have hurried home with them, ready to see her and spend the evening together. Now, there was no point. His apartment would feel just as empty, dark, and echoey as this office did.
“Did she leave?” Jake asked. Leo glanced up at him and nodded. “Did she sign the postnup?”
“She did. And that’s why she left.”
“Sorry.” Jake rapped on the doorframe again. “But better you found out now than when you woke up with half your money gone.”
“She was never after my money.” Leo looked away. “She signed the postnup without a second thought. It was the fact that I didn’t trust her that chased her away.”
“How could you have trusted her, though?” Jake asked. “You barely knew her.”
Leo looked out the window. He thought of all he knew about Olivia, from how she took her coffee to her professional dreams, her love of everything s’mores-flavored to her ability to see the good in people. He knew her.
It just hadn’t been enough.
“Good night, Jake,” Leo said. He couldn’t blame Jake for what had happened — Leo had been the one to pursue the postnup in the end. But he didn’t want to talk to Jake anymore right now, either.
“Good night, boss.” Jake left, shutting the door behind him, and Leo was alone again. In truth, he didn’t have more work to do. Hoping to stall for time, he clicked on his emails, and a new one popped up. It had the subject line Wedding Video.
Leo frowned. He didn’t remember ordering a wedding video — and the wedding had been weeks ago.
Then again, he’d been very drunk, so he probably wouldn’t have remembered, and the wedding chapel hadn’t seemed particularly professional.
Maybe it made sense that a video would show up weeks later, right when it would be the most painful to watch.
Leo knew that watching the video would hurt, but in the same way that he might poke at a sore tooth with his tongue, he couldn’t stop himself. He clicked on the link.
An image of himself and Olivia filled the screen. She wore that gorgeous red dress that had first caught his attention, and she was leaning on his arm. Her cheeks were flushed, just as Leo’s were, and they stood in front of a bored-looking officiant in a black robe.
“Do you…” The officiant looked at a piece of paper in front of him. “Leo Barclay, take this woman… Olivia Keller, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” Leo said, and even from the fuzzy video, Leo could see just how drunk he’d been. Beside him, the on-screen Olivia giggled.
“And do you, Olivia Keller, take this man, Leo Barclay, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, as long as you both shall live?”
At the question, Olivia’s eyes widened. She looked up at Leo and blinked several times.
“Um, Leo?”
“Yes, Olivia?”
“I think this might be a real wedding.”
The pair of them looked around with exaggerated suspicion, and the officiant nodded.
“It is.” He sounded bored.
“Should we be doing this?” Olivia bit her lip. Despite her flushed cheeks and slurred words, she seemed less drunk than Leo.
“Getting married?” Leo asked.
“Exactly. I mean, we just met. Did we think this through?”
Present-day Leo frowned at the screen. Olivia had had doubts on their wedding day? Yet they’d ended up married, so something must have changed her mind.
“We didn’t think this through,” Leo said. “This is a rash deci… decis…”
“Decision,” Olivia said. She put a hand on his arm. “Leo, we’re really drunk. Maybe we should take a step back.”
“Olivia.” The on-screen Leo met her eyes. “Like I said, this is a rash decis…”
“Decision.”
“That. But I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.
I always think my choices through, and look where that got me.
I’m in my thirties and completely alone.
Being with you makes me feel alive. It makes me feel seen.
You aren’t like anyone I’ve ever known. If you don’t want to get marred…
married… I understand. I won’t push. But I’ve never wanted anything more than to be married to you.
Let’s spend our lives together. Let’s figure this out. ”
The on-screen Olivia nodded slowly. “Let’s figure it out,” she said. “Maybe we don’t need to know everything.”
“As long as we’re in it together,” Leo said. He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him.
“Are we doing this or not?” the bored-looking officiant asked.
“We’re doing this,” Olivia said. She took Leo’s hands. “Maybe it’s okay not to have all the answers. Maybe it’s okay just to know that something feels right.”
“Exactly,” Leo said. “I promise, you won’t regret this. Not for a second.”
Olivia smiled. “Okay. I trust you.” She looked up at the officiant. “I do.”
“You may kiss the bride,” the officiant said. At that, Leo swept Olivia into a passionate kiss, dipping her back like in the movies. They straightened up, both flushed, with Leo still holding Olivia in his arms.
“Hold on,” he said. “There’s one problem.”
“What?” Olivia asked.
“What if we forget in the morning? We are pretty drunk.”
“Oh,” Olivia bit her lip. “Uh-oh. We’d better find a way to show we belong together.”
“I have a great idea. There’s got to be a store that sells handcuffs somewhere around here…”
The video cut off as the pair of them left the wedding chapel. Leo stared at the blank screen. He couldn’t believe what he’d just seen.
He had been the driving force behind the wedding.
He’d even been the one who suggested the handcuffs.
This had all been his choice, because he’d seen something in Olivia.
Olivia had seemed ready, excited, but it was Leo who had really wanted this.
There had never been a split second that Olivia had been in this for the money — after all, she’d been the voice of reason in that video.
Leo had been the hopeless romantic who had urged her to take a chance on a life together, saying she wouldn’t regret it.
Leo had messed up. He never should have distrusted Olivia.
And he never should have let her walk out that door.
He should have fought for her, like he had in that wedding chapel.
He should have told her he loved her. He should have apologized.
If she’d still wanted to walk away, he would have accepted it, but he was an idiot not to have tried.
It might well be too late now. Olivia might have moved on. She might never have felt for Leo what he felt for her. But he had to try. He couldn’t live with himself otherwise.