Page 95 of Rivals Next Door

“What…? No…” I stubbornly stayed seated. “She’s been ignoring me.”

“You’re dying to go after her. I can see it.” She huffed. “Stop being a coward.”

I gave Candy an annoyed glance, but I was on my feet and moving toward the door without further encouragement. Call me crazy. Call me a fool, but I was going to apologize to her even though I was the one who felt slighted. Getting wrapped up in bitterness and heartbreak for another decade sounded like an utterly miserable life. I made it outside and went in the direction Olivia had fled. She was getting into a car further down the block, and I made a beeline for it.

However, I came to a halt when I almost collided with Elena who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Don’t you go anywhere near her,” she warned, wearing a no-nonsense scowl.

“This has nothing to do with you, Elena,” I bit out as I glanced around her at the car Olivia was in.

“Livy has been holed up in my apartment, crying her eyes out, and hiding from the press. I’ve been the one helping her keep it together, so this has something to do with me.”

My jaw tightened and guilt pricked me. The press was having a field day with the narrative that Olivia Brentwood ran her father’s empire into the ground and lost it. I knew more than anyone how she must have been torturing herself about her failure.

“I just want to talk to her.”

“No way, buddy.” She folded her arms and stood her ground.

When I tried to step around her, she shuffled to block my path. We went on to do an awkward dance in the middle of the sidewalk until I let out a growl. “What is wrong with you, woman? Get out of my way.”

“What’s wrong with me?” Her eyes blazed with fury. “What’s wrong with you? Olivia tells you she’s carrying your child, and you still cause her stress by taking her company—the thing she’s worked hard almost her entire life for. You are no white knight, Alex. You’re a ruthless demon who only cares about winning.”

Any other time, I would have laughed at being called a “ruthless demon,” but I was still stuck on what she said before that. “She’s carrying my… what?”

Elena went silent as she stared at me with widened eyes. “Wait… You don’t…?” She slapped a hand over her mouth. When she dropped it, she groaned. “Livy is going to kill me. But…” Her brows crinkled. “She said she told you…”

I felt the world tilt. “She’s…?” It was hard to even get the word out because I still couldn’t believe it.

Elena’s shoulders slumped with her deep sigh. “Yes, Alex, she’s pregnant. I guess she lied to me about telling you so I’d shut up about it… I don’t know…” Her eyes met mine and they burned with less fury. They were pleading now. “Look, she’s had a hell of a week… Thanks to you,” she added with a glare. “Just give me time to break it to her that I let the baby out of the bag, okay? She doesn’t even want to talk to you.”

“Well, now we have to talk, don’t we?” I practically growled.

“It doesn’t have to be now,” she snapped. “If she wanted to talk, then she wouldn’t be hiding in my car. You owe her time to compose herself before you confront her, Alex.” Looking skyward, she sighed. “I just got her to get out of the house to get some fresh air and you just had to be here and with another woman no less.”

“She’s not… I’m just out with a friend.” I was pissed that I was in the middle of the sidewalk explaining myself to a woman I barely knew. However, I was willing to listen to her if she got Olivia to talk to me.

“Sure,” she drawled in the most skeptical tone I had heard yet.

Ignoring her, I said, “If you can get her to talk to me without running, I’ll give her a day.”

“Two days.”

“One day,” I ground out in my most ruthless demon tone. “Or I show up tonight and kick down your fucking apartment door.” People typically listen when I use that tone, and Elena was no exception.

She gave me a withering glare but huffed, “Fine.”

As she walked away, I didn’t even have time to be irritated by the dirty accusatory looks she gave me over her shoulder. I was too busy reeling from the shock that Olivia carried my child and had kept it a secret for only God knew how long. Guilt almost choked me to death as I thought about what I did to her by taking BioTech. My friends were right when they predicted that my stupid revenge scheme would end in disaster.

I didn’t think it was possible for me to feel any worse after what I discovered last night, but I was proved wrong when I visited Liam this afternoon. He and I finally had a chat about me taking over BioTech. It was hard for him to miss since it was all over the media. He was pissed at me, but surprisingly only because of his sister. I guess they hashed things out… good for them.

When I came clean about why I went after BioTech, he shocked me all the way to hell with his revelation. I’d spent almost a decade thinking that Olivia dumped me because she was… Well, like everyone else who thought I was “trailer trash” and wasn’t good enough for a blue-blood princess. To my shock, she was trying to protect me from her old man’s wrath.

All these years, I had harbored so much anger and resentment for nothing. Why didn’t she tell me the truth when I waltzed into her office months ago, ready to make her pay for a crime she wasn’t even guilty of?

Letting out a loud groan, I dropped my head into my hands. I’d been sitting in my office reeling, trying to process everything for hours now. I glanced at my phone, noting that it was getting late. As I got up to tell my assistant that she didn’t have to stay because I wasn’t actually working, there was a light knock on the door.

“Come in, Opal.”

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