She crossed her arms and reset her feet. “You’re telling me that Tate knew all this and kept it from me because mom asked him to?”
Quinn lifted a shoulder. “Mom said it would cause more stress for you and more problems between us. And that’s true. It’s not like you could have done anything—”
“Don’t.” She put out a hand. “Just don’t. This isn’t about whether or not I could do anything to help. This isn’t about the money. This is about being honest with the people you love. Or in this case, claim to love. I’ve told you and mom this over and over. I resigned myself to the fact that we have different values. That we would never have the relationship we had before. That there is too much hurt and loss between us to repair things. But to ask Tate to keep something like this from me? When you both know how this kind of…”
She stopped talking. Closed her mouth. Shook her head. “This is pointless.” Tears spilled over her lashes. “God, I should have known he was too good to be true.” She lifted her gaze to Quinn, but felt more pity for her than anger. “Should have known…nothing would change.”
She pushed her hands into her back packets and turned for the exit.
“Olivia,” Quinn called. “Where are you going?”
She had no fucking idea. She’d already learned that no matter where in the world she traveled, pain followed. She only knew she needed to get away from the people hurting her. “Away from here.”
Quinn ran in front of her just as she reached the door. “Liv, mom and I are the ones to blame for this. Tate was caught in the middle. He didn’t tell you because he loves you.”
“No, Quinn. People who love you don’t keep parts of their lives secret. People who love you don’t shut you out. People who love you stand up in the face of the hardest choices and choose you. Not only didn’t you and mom do that for the umpteenth time with me, but Tate didn’t do it either.”
Olivia held it together until she’d reached the Metro. But waiting for the next red train gave her too much time to think. And, as if her mind had been just waiting for the opportunity to ambush her when her walls were down, everything hit her at once. Years of lies and loneliness. Years of grief over the loss of her father and her family. Years of taking care of everything on her own. Even trying to take care of her family from a distance the best that she knew how.
But none of it had been enough.
By the time the train pulled into the station, tears were all over the place. She just kept wiping them away with her shirtsleeve, grateful for the first time in her life for the red line at quitting time, where she was packed into the next car like a sardine. She stared at the floor while the car swayed, trying to untangle the knot in her head. But it was useless. The pain created a haze she couldn’t think through.
She only had to endure the sardine can for three stops. Then collected herself on the short walk and paused outside the office of District Distributing. Olivia wiped her face one last time, took hold of her emotions the way she’d taught herself over the years and looked up at the sign over the door. She took several deep breaths of the summer afternoon air, and once she could take a full lungful without a hiccup, she blew it out slowly.
Olivia pushed through the front door, praying the negotiation skills she’d learned bartering in the streets at markets all over the world would come through for her now.
Tate climbed the grand concrete steps of the Andrew Mellon Auditorium and threaded his way through the lobby and halls toward the kitchen, feeling jittery. He felt guilty about how excited he was to spend time with Olivia tonight, because he knew the problems with her mother’s company would upset her.
He still thought it would be better to tell her about it tomorrow night, after the banquet, but Joe had convinced him the sooner the better.
Pushing into the kitchen, he found the sous chefs gone, the kitchen clean and all kinds of things stacked on counters in bowls and pans, covered in clear cling wrap. Man, this woman impressed the hell out of him.
“Liv?” he called then wandered into the storage room and found her standing at some shelves with a clipboard, taking notes. She’d taken her hair down from the knot on the back of her head and it skimmed just past her shoulders. “Hey, this place looks amazing.”
She turned and the instant her eyes met his, he knew it wasn’t Olivia. He also knew Quinn had been crying. Alarm pinched his gut. “Oh, hey Quinn. Where’s Olivia?”
Quinn lowered the clipboard and turned toward him. “I don’t know.”
When she didn’t expand, Tate’s unease deepened. “Okay. Maybe she went home to change for dinner. I’ll just—”
“No,” Quinn said. “She didn’t go home to change.”
Tate exhaled, pressed a hand to the wall and asked the obvious question. “What happened? Did you two have another fight?”
Quinn cleared her throat and came a little closer. “I have some bad news.”
Tate listened as Quinn explained the liquor fiasco. And how the liquor fiasco had lead to exposing the companies troubles. Tate was vibrating with stress for Olivia when Quinn finally dropped the bomb.
“She knows you knew,” Quinn said. “About everything.”
Tate’s breath froze in his lungs.
“We were both so upset and she was stressing over how she was going to tell you. She’s tried so hard to make this perfect for you, and I couldn’t stand to see her twisted over one more thing.”
“Oh my God.” Tate’s heart dropped clear to his feet. He closed his eyes and planted a hand over his face. “Oh my God.”