Page 50 of Damaged Enemy Next Door

Finally, I break off the gaze first and gesture for her to take a seat opposite me.

"Olivia," I say carefully. "I’ll be going out of town for a few days.”

She simply nods. She doesn’t ask me one question. Nohow long will you be going for, Adrian?Nowhere are you going Adrian?NoI miss you Adrian.

And so I don’t offer any answers.

Instead, I offer her forgiveness.

"I don't want to lie to you before I leave. I want to admit the truth. I've been hurt that you left me to find a way to appease your father all by myself. I could have used your guidance since you probably know him better than any other person in the world. But, you left me in the lurch. Needless to say, I understand why you did what you did. You must have been afraid. You must have thought it wiser to cut your losses before your pain runs too deep ..."

Here, in forgiving her, I find my own petty anger dissipate. I move forward and take her hands into mine. "Olivia," I say. "I have to go out of town because I think I found a solution that could work. After this, there's no way your father can remain mad at us."

CHAPTER 25

OLIVIA

“Adrian,”Icuthimoff. “There’s nothing. Nothing you can do anymore,” I say.

"What do you mean?" he asks, looking at me like I've lost my brain. "I've figured it out. I'm going to fly to New York, meet every CEO of every major bank I can, and I'll restructure the deal in a way that will benefit not only your father but every small landowner today and in perpetuity who we deal with. This is a change I want to make, Olivia."

"My father will never accept your offer, no matter how one-sided it is. He doesn't want to make peace with you. At this point, he wants you out of my life, forever. He's sent me here today, to give you this."

I hand him a letter. My hands tremble as I do.

"Olivia, what's this about?" he asks without opening the letter.

"I ... I don't know what to trust anymore, Ade."

He takes the letter. He opens it. There, right on top, in bold, are my words – letter of resignation.

He reads the letter, and his eyes widen in shock. "Olivia, what is this? Are you quitting your job?"

I nod, tears streaming down my face. "My father has given me an ultimatum. Either I leave you, or I leave my job."

"Olivia," he says, inching closer to me. He holds my hands in his own and gets on his knees, looking me in my eyes. "Listen to me, please. I swear, just give me a few days from New York and when I'm back we will sort all of this out."

"New York doesn't matter anymore," I say. "Don't you see, Adrian? It doesn't matter. Not after what your ex-wife said to my father."

"What did she say?" he asks, his voice turning ice-cold.

"Say? Showed more like it," I say, opening my tote bag and pulling out a large manila envelope. His eyes follow my every move, and my heart is beating so loudly I can hear it in my ears.

I place the envelope on the coffee table in front of me and slide it towards him. "Read it, if you want to know what changed everything," I say with a sad smile.

His hands shake as he picks up the envelope and pulls out the papers inside. They are printouts of emails sent from Veronica’s personal email address to my father. As he reads through them, my blood boils for the situation Veronica has put us in.

His ex-wife had fabricated stories about Adrian, painting him as a cold-hearted and manipulative person. She had made up lies about his business deals, saying he had cheated small landowners out of their property. She also claimed that he was still in love with her and using me as a pawn in his twisted game of love. About how Adrian and I met and fell in love while Adrian was embroiled in an affair with someone else.

Then, there were the photos.

Pictures of Adrian in precarious positions, with far too many girls. All of whom seem young. She portrayed that he has a type. Used me as bait, picked girls my age, just to convince my dad that I check a box for Adrian, and nothing more.

"Olivia. I've never met any of these women," he says, in shock. “Olivia, this is not true. You know me better than anyone else. You know I would never do something like this. I mean, this is disgusting!" he says, ripping up the photos.

"I know, Adrian. I trust you," I reply, shaking my head. “I know the photos are morphed.

But my father won't believe me. He thinks I'm blinded by love and that I'm being played by you," I continue, tears now threatening to stream down my face. "He's convinced that you're just trouble. He threatened to cut me off forever if I mention your name again. He..." I begin to cry. "He said he would never see my face again. I know he doesn’t mean ill by it. He’s only trying to protect me the only way he knows how."

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