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Olivia.
I close my eyes and see hers. Will it always be this way?
I close my eyes and see her as she was that Sunday in her flat, and her disappointment and devastation wrap around me like a localised thunderstorm.
‘Con?’ the voice says.
I frown. ‘Dash?’
‘Hey. What’s up?’
His voice is so...normal. Like he’s the same person he was five or so weeks ago. Like he has no idea that my life is tipping itself over the edge.
‘Nothing.’ It’s barely a grunt.
‘Is it a bad time?’
Spectacularly. But that doesn’t feel likely to change any time soon. ‘No. Not especially.’
‘Good. I just wanted to thank you.’
‘What for?’
‘Olivia Amorelli. You were right about her.’
I stop breathing. I stop everything. ‘Was I?’ It takes several long seconds for me to answer.
‘Yeah. We’ve offered her a traineeship. I didn’t even have to fight hard for it. She’s a unique candidate. She’ll be an asset to the CPS.’
Pride bursts through me, unmistakable and fierce. It rips me apart, making all my organs glow. ‘Yeah,’ I say, my grin spreading like wildfire. This is the happiest I’ve felt in for ever.
‘I haven’t met anyone with her conviction in a long time.’
‘She’s unique,’ I say with a nod, a stupid, happy, euphoric nod. Olivia is going to live her dream. She’s going to live her fucking dream!
Then he chuckles. ‘I can’t believe I’m going to be working with someone who wrote a high school paper on one of my cases.’
It takes me a second to compute his reference. She mentioned something about it that night—Dash’s case against the Robinward Council.
‘Anyway, I thought you’d want to know.’
Jesus. Of course I want to know. I disconnect the call as soon as I can and even as I’m getting off the phone I’m walking to the door, the rest of my day’s schedule forgotten.
It’s not logical and it’s not sensible—but I need to see her. I need to hug her and tell her I’m proud of her. This i
s just the beginning for Olivia and she’s going to go far.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I AM SO HAPPY. I am so happy. I am so happy. I tell myself that over and over and over again as my parents smile at me and my sisters laugh with me, and Pietro stands beside me, his pride in my achievements muddied by an unmistakable air of propriety and expectation. As though I am now available to date and I will choose to date him.
I know I have to find a way to crush his hopes once and for all. And I will.
I have nothing but newness on my horizon.
I am so happy.
And I am happy, but I am also still hurting. It’s been a day since I got the letter and this hastily pulled together celebration in my front room is making my little flat feel ready to burst.
