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Before I can finish speaking, a video call request pops up on the screen. With reluctance, I accept, keeping the phone close to my face so she can’t see too many details of Luca’s bedroom.
“Where the hell are you? That bedding looks rather fancy for a cabin,” she demands, a crease between her brows and dark circles under her hazel eyes.
Maybe I should have checked the messages shared between Tori and Justine first. Not that I don’t trust Justine, but Tori is a sensitive soul, and my disappearance couldn’t have been easy on her.
I realize too late that I’m not prepared for this conversation.
“I’m not at the cabin any longer,” I reply, bracing myself for her reaction. “I’m sorry. I thought I told you when I left there.”
Her lip lifts into a snarl. “You know, considering I’m supposed to be your best friend, you haven’t been telling me much lately. Are you going to tell me where you are now?”
My chest aches as the lies push forward. I try to remind myself that I’m doing this for her protection. Tori can’t know the mafia is real. At least not while there is still a very real threat over my head.
“I met someone,” I reply, forcing myself to keep her hard stare. “He’s been letting me stay with him so that I can figure my shit out.”
The betrayal that sweeps across her face cuts me to the core. “Was my offer not good enough for you?”
“It’s not like that, T,” I protest, desperately attempting to mend the fracture between us. “I swear. I just... I managed to gather the funds through the auction Sandi set up for me, and I needed to escape.”
“And quit your job and stop answering your phone and start seeing some stranger,” she adds, each accusation slicing at my heart because of the half-truths they hold.
“Hurting you was never my intention,” I implore, my voice laced with genuine regret. “Please believe me. I promise to answer my phone now and talk to you as often as possible.”
“When are you coming home?” Her tone softens, the anger dissipating only momentarily.
“I don’t know,” I admit, feeling a pang of uncertainty.
She cuts me off before I can elaborate. “What the fuck do you mean youdon’t know? You have your mom’s house here, filled with boxes and waiting for you. You have a job to get back and a life, Olivia. Losing your mom is devastating, and my heart breaks for you, but you can’t let everything else slip away.”
Confusion fills me about the mention of boxes. I hadn’t once given all the shit in my old apartment a second thought. I have no idea how any of it got to my mom’s, assuming my stuff is what’s in the boxes, but I’m smart enough to know that now isn’t the time to ask Tori if she knows how the items were moved into the house.
“I know none of this makes sense,” I say, shifting to a more upright position. “But I promise I’m okay. Isn’t that enough for now?”
My kind, sweet best friend has been through hell in the last few weeks, thanks to my absence. Not that I haven’t been, but I won’t dismiss the hurt I’ve caused her. I just need her to forgive me and trust that I’m doing what I need to.
Her lips flatten, and I’m certain she’s going to keep yelling at me, but then her shoulders finally drop and she lets out a heavy sigh. “I guess, but when do I get to see you again? This is the longest we’ve been apart in decades.”
“Soon,” I promise and hope I’m not lying. “I just need to sort a few other things out before I can leave where I’m at.”
“Like what?” she presses. “I’ve been checking in on things at your mom’s, including the mail in case there were more bills, but it seems all of them have been paid in full. Plus, someone delivered all of your stuff to the house. Am I to assume the guy you’re staying with did that for you? Do I even want to know why?”
I blink several times, unsure if I’ve heard her right. My bills wereallpaid in full? I just assumed Justine took care of the property taxes so that I didn’t lose the house. How am I ever going to pay these people back if that’s not the case? I don’t know, which brings the fear of never having my freedom back to the forefront of my mind.
“I don’t know,” I answer her honestly. “I wasn’t told my bills would be paid for like that. I just…I don’t know.”
She seems to have pity on me for a brief second as her eyes soften. “Are you in danger, Liv? Who is this guy? Did you know him before, or did you just happen to stumble upon him?”
I do my best to shake the stupor that’s fallen over me. I need to sell this story. I need Tori not to worry and, more importantly, not to look for me. I don’t know what I would do if she got herself wrapped up in all this with me.
“I met him the night of the auction,” I reply and do my best to smile. “He won the winning bid for a date with me and wanted to go out that night. He drove me back to his place, we chatted, and he gave me a place to sleep. When I realized how nice it was to be somewhere I’d never been before, that didn’t hold memories to make my grief feel like it might never end…I made casual mention to him the next morning that I wanted to get away and he offered up his cabin.”
“And you just trusted him not to be a murderer?” she asks with raised brows.
“Oh, he definitely is,” I tease, attempting to inject some lightheartedness. “Bloody hands every other day, that one.”
She finally laughs, and I hate myself more than ever for pretending those words are pure fiction.
“Damn it, Liv.” She shakes her head, fighting a grin. “Please, don’t disappear on me again. Texting wasn’t enough these last few weeks.”
