Page 29 of Protecting Olivia

“So, she lied to both of us. How did the bad guys find out I was his daughter if no one knew?”

“I didn’t say no one knew – only I didn’t know. And now we’re getting close to a line I can’t cross. Telling you what I know about your parents is one thing, but I cannot jeopardize national security to soothe your curiosity.”

“You think that’s what this is? Curiosity. Jesus, you’re an ass. My mother lied to me about who my father is. You don’t think I have a right to know the story?”

This girl went from laughing to having a snit faster than any woman I had ever met.

“Now, we're back to silence. You know what? Fine, I prefer the silence anyway.”

“Let me ask you this? Why do you want to know who else knew?”

“Because I have a right to know,” she shot back.

“You do? Or do you want to know so you can manufacture reasons to be even angrier? Which I gotta tell you, is stupid.”

“I want to go back to silence.”

“I bet you do. You have every right to be mad as hell at your ma. She lied to you and to Peter. What you do not have a right to do is find reasons to beat her up because you're pissed. That is bullshit.”

“You think this is bullshit?”

“Woman, listen to yourself. You’re doing it with me right now. I didn’t say your situation is bullshit. I am telling you, your ma fucked up. She betrayed you. That is going to be hard enough to repair without you piling more shit on the heap. Don’t shovel more shit. Stay on the single topic of the lie. Find out why she did it. And a word of advice. When you do sit down with your ma, remember that she’s human and makes mistakes just like you have in the past. Remember the times that you hurt her and betrayed her trust. And then, you remember all the forgiveness she has shown you. Life is short,” I told her softly.

I know that Olivia didn’t ask for my advice, and more than likely I was wasting my breath. But I knew one big piece of the puzzle she didn’t – her ma was sick. That was how this all started. I didn’t know with what and I didn’t know how bad, but it had to be critical to make a woman who had kept a secret for twenty-five years finally come clean. I didn’t want Olivia to push her ma so far away they couldn’t repair this quickly before it was too late.

Olivia closed her eyes and turned her head feigning sleep.

I hoped for her sake she was mulling over what I had told her – life was short.

Chapter Twelve

Olivia

It had been hours since I had last spoken to Leo when we pulled into a nice, well-manicured neighborhood.

“Where are we?” I braved.

“At Wolf and Caroline’s house,” he answered as he pulled to the curb and cut the engine.

I glanced at the house we’d stopped in front of. There was a ginormous black SUV parked in the driveway. Either these people had a boatload of kids to cart around, or the California drivers were crazier than I thought and it was necessary to drive a tank around town for safety reasons.

“Are we staying here?”

“No. We’re picking something up from Wolf and meeting Abe here. He’ll drive us out to his cabin where we’ll be staying,” Leo explained. “Wait for me to open your door.”

Leo came to my side and opened the door. The moment I stepped out Leo tagged me around the waist and pulled me to his left side. Damn, I forgot.

Before we could make it to the front porch, a man came out of the house. Holy shit he was good looking. I was beginning to wonder if Leo knew anyone that wasn’t good looking.

“Panther, glad you made it,” the man greeted. “You must be Hash. I’m Wolf, nice to meet you.”

Not only was he hot, he was tall, too. Leo was quite possibly the tallest man I’d ever met in person, and Wolf looked him in the eye just shy of matching him in height.

“Hi, Wolf. Nice to meet you, too,” I replied.

“Wolf, thanks for letting us stop by, brother. Appreciate it,” Leo said as their eyes locked in some sort of silent badass communication I didn’t even pretend to understand. Wolf finally broke the stare, and his eyes traveled down to Leo’s arm around my waist. His face breaking out in a wide smile. “Good to know,” he said cryptically.

I was about to question what he knew when a woman’s voice called out from the house. “Are they here?” The woman didn’t give him time to answer before she walked to the door. Wolf was so large I could barely see the woman behind him. Which was saying something because she was not short by any means. She had to be a few inches taller than my five feet four.