Page 95 of Oliver

“No. You’re my brother. I love you. Stop before you get hurt!”

“Listen, I’m trying to save your fucking world. Go back to playing house with that idiot and let it the fuck go,” he sneers.

Christ. Does he really think that way about Maeve and Diem? Doesn’t leave much room for anything with me. This shouldn't be a surprise, but I sort of feel like he’s kicking me while I'm down. Asshole.

“Ollie,” Maeve whispers and tears fill my eyes. Can’t he see how much she cares for him? It’s killing her while he denigrates her relationship and refuses to give her the comfort she needs.

Why does that sound familiar?

“Mae,” Oliver growls. “Think about it. Our dad was a fucking serial killer. Dixie fucked him and dumped him. For what? Why? She ends up dead and Dad says he didn’t do it.”

“Okay,” Maeve says on an exhale. “If Dad didn’t do it. Who did?”

“I don’t fucking know. But someone was messing with Dixie. Someone convinced her to kill. Why?”

There’s an extended pause where my ears perk up before Maeve says, “I don’t know.”

“Exactly. This isn’t over until we know why. Why Dixie? Why Jaxon? What did this fucker hope to achieve?”

“Jaxon?” Maeve blurts and Oliver sighs.

“Look, you do whatever the fuck you want.”

“But what about you? What about Penny?”

Something slams against the wall, and I flinch before going still. Did either of them see? Apparently not because Oliver says, “Penny will be fine because she’ll be alive.”

Oliver

I’m not stupid. I know Penny was listening. It’s why I gave Maeve a partial answer. Penny needs to understand that this isn’t a fucking romance novel. There are no happy endings, unless you count being alive.

Someone somewhere orchestrated this whole thing using a teenager with a weird set of morals as their puppet. Why? It doesn’t make sense beyond that she was easily manipulated. Not only that but it was risky. She was unstable and unable to keep any secrets close.

Shit. She blurted out Penny’s story to me in a rage over my dad and his supposed infidelity. Toher…not my damn mother, his wife.

Dixie wasn’t dealing with a full deck. Whoever this fucker is, they knew, and they used it against her. Was it the dead fucker who attacked Penny? It’s likely but until I know for sure, I have to be cautious.

And even it if was, my story doesn’t end here and I’m not a shining white fucking knight, I’m the bad dude who’s hiding under the bed, waiting to take advantage of you.

Penny

After Maeve leaves, I sit up and turn to Oliver with a grim smile. “Did you know?”

“Know what?” he grunts.

“Dixie was going to hurt me…kill me.” I can’t believe those words just left my mouth. Fuck me.

His brows furrow as he says, “No, but I suspected.”

“How?”

“That fucker messed with her head, Penny.”

“So,” I whisper. “She was my best friend…my sister. I loved her and I know she loved me.”

When his lips lift in a humorless smile, I’m reminded of his words before.What has love ever given you?

Jesus, if Oliver equates murder with love, he’ll never bend.

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