Page 112 of Merciless Sinner

Now we have to decide what to do with them.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

Olivia

Numbness fills me as I walk across the path leading to the park.

This is where I'm meeting Amelia for the talk we should have had years ago.

When Virgo told me the truth, he contacted Amelia to let her know I knew.

It's taken me five days since to message her and get to this point.

My mind was still reeling from the memory of what happened to my parents, but hearing what my best friend did pushed me into a deeper hole of despair.

When I saw Dr. Belmont yesterday, he gave me the strength to do this.

That's why I'm here. My sessions with him have almost become a necessity. I still can't remember the people responsible for the attack on my parents, but I know that will come.

Since Virgo told me about his father, I keep imagining his father in my father's office shooting him. I imagine his horrible face giving us all that same look he gave me at the wedding. As if I were nothing and he despised me.

If it turns out to be him, I wouldn't be surprised. But right now, we still don't know anything because he's in a coma.

And I'm still where I am because I can't remember anything more. Little moments and memories have come back to me like puzzle pieces sitting themselves in place. I would even go as far as saying that I feel like my old self again when I'm around Cillian, Seamus, and Virgo, but there's an awareness about me that knows I'm still not right.

This news about Amelia has shoved me further into that category of not being right. Everything feels wrong. Because we're not the friends I thought we were.

When I get to the Rose Garden, I spot Amelia sitting by the duck pond. We've been coming here after our shopping trips to talk and hang out.

All those times, I didn't know her secret on whatever attraction she held for Virgo. He'd explained further about their initial marriage contract, but it doesn't explain what she did, because that would have been years before.

I stopped for a moment to steady my mind. I'm really not ready for this.

Learning what Amelia did has hurt me deeply. But I feel like this is the kind of thing that will fester in my soul if I don't address it.

That was the reason I came today. And I'm interested in hearing what she has to say. Part of me wants to know why she would do that to me.

But I'm really not ready for this confrontation. Summoning all the strength I can, I continue walking. She sees me before I reach, and stands. Worry has riddled her features, making her look gaunt.

I haven't seen her in well over a week. But the last time I saw her, she didn't look like this.

I stop before her and her eyes become glassy as if she might cry. I hope she doesn't, because I don't know if I could offer the sympathy I should, as a person who is supposed to be her best friend.

“Thank you for coming,” she says first.

“I guess I made it.”

“Do you want to sit?”

I answer by sitting, but I keep my gaze trained on her. She sits too, and stares at me with expectancy.

“I don't know what to say to you,” I speak slowly.

The more I look at her, the more I wonder how she could have done what she did to me.

“I don't expect you to say anything. It's me who should talk. And the only thing I truly, truly want to say to you is that I'm sorry. Olivia, I'm truly, deeply, so sorry for what I did.”

I can see that she's being genuine, but that does nothing to ease the hurt nestled in my heart.

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