Page 44 of Accidental Theirs (Alpha Billionaire Daddies #6)

Chapter Forty

SEBASTIAN

A couple of weeks later, I have a meeting with Edwards close to Carter Holdings.

I know I shouldn’t, but I go to visit Olivia.

She’s busy in meetings, so I hang around, sniffing around the accounting department, just looking to see if I can see anything out of the ordinary.

I don’t, unfortunately.

My sleuthing led me nowhere, but I want to be more involved in finding this leak, so just before close, I go to Damien’s office.

I knock on the open door, and he looks up, his eyes widening.

“What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

I sigh. “Why does everyone always ask me that? Am I a bad omen or something?”

He laughs. “Kind of. You’re high up at Titan, and it’s a little concerning when you show up out of nowhere.”

“Fair enough. I wanted to talk to you anyway.”

“Yeah? About what? ”

I step inside and shut the door, standing across from his desk as he sits.

“I want access to the codes, the app that you use when someone accesses it.”

Damien frowns. “Okay, but why?”

I shrug. “More eyes on the leak. More opportunity to catch them. I don’t work as much as the rest of you.”

Damien grins. “Why, because you’re old? Arthritis acting up?”

“Oh, fuck off,” I mutter, but I smile. “I’ve earned my time off.”

Damien nods, pulling out his phone, and he grants me access to see when someone inputs a code to the hall of records.

“But if you hear anything, call me first,” Damien warns, and I nod, waving dismissively as I leave the office.

Back at home, I’m only on my first cocktail of the night about eight in the evening, when my phone dings with a strange notification.

I look down at it, and it’s the code. Someone has inputted Roland’s code ten times. They’re trying to get in.

I instantly call Damien.

“I saw it. I’m on my way. Meet me there,” he barks before hanging up.

I blink.

Damien is definitely not a man who knows how to speak to people, but he gets things done.

I rush to Carter Holdings and somehow, even though Damien lives closer, I get there first.

He must have hit some traffic.

I park in the shadows again, rushing to get out of the car, and head toward the door.

A shadow spills across the pavement, and I realize they’re still there .

My heart races.

I’m finally going to be useful and find the leak.

I nearly break into a run and instantly pin the person, a woman, up against the wall.

She squeals and looks up at me, and her eyes go wide.

Marie.

Olivia’s best friend. The woman I’d seen her with just a few weeks ago at Yelena’s.

“Marie, you-you're the leak.”

I expect her to defend herself, to tell me it’s all some mistake, but she just deflates.

“God, I never wanted any of this.”

I stare at her, not knowing what to say.

“I’m not the only leak, and the other one is more dangerous,” she hisses, and I’m about to ask her what the hell she’s talking about when police sirens make me wince.

She sprints away from me while I’m distracted, but a figure sweeps her up in a clothesline, grabbing her around the waist.

She cries out but stays still, allowing Damien to keep her until the police put cuffs on her.

I walk up next to Damien. “What did you do?”

“I told the cops someone was trespassing. It’s technically breaking and entering since she shouldn’t have access.”

“Smart.”

So, that’s why he was late.

Damien’s pretty sharp, and I can’t help but respect it.

Marie is led away in cuffs, and I look at Damien, rubbing my hand across my stubbled jaw.

“God, Marie.” Damien groans. “How are we supposed to tell Olivia?”

“We need to call Dominic and tell her together,” I say firmly, completely convinced this is the right move.

“But we found this. We did, not Dominic. ”

I snort. “Please, Damien. This isn’t a competition. I don’t think it ever was. We just need to be there for Olivia, okay?”

Damien softens. “You know what? You’re right. She would want Dom there with us.”

I nod, pulling out my phone to call her.

“Hey, Bash.”

My heart warms at her sweet greeting, but I ignore it.

“Hey, little girl. Listen, we found the leak.”

“The leak? Who is it? What’s going on?”

“Calm down. Just meet us at Carter Holdings.”

“I’ll be there soon.”

Damien hangs up his phone, having called Dominic, and he pulls up before Olivia.

We fill him in while he listens with a furrowed brow.

“It can't be Marie,” he says flatly when we tell him.

Damien looks defeated but hanging in there. “I’m sorry to say it is. Sebastian found her red-handed. She admitted to it, Dom.”

“And she said there’s another leak. A more dangerous one,” I point out. “We have to find them.”

“Another one? Fuck!” Damien kicks a rock across the pavement.

“Shit. This is going to hurt Olivia so badly.” Dominic shakes his head. “We have to find the second leak without her, while she’s processing this. We can’t tell her.”

“I know.” I wish we had more time to debrief before Olivia gets there, but she comes screaming up, parking the car wildly.

She rushes up to us. “Where are they? Did you call the cops already?”

Dominic walks up to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“Liv, come over and sit down.”

She bounces in place. “I’m not sitting down. Who is it? ”

“Marie,” I say, and Dominic and Damien turn to glare at me.

But they were beating around the bush, and she isn’t going to stop until she knows.

I know her too well. We all should know this.

They just don’t want to hurt her, but I’ve lived long enough to know bad news must be delivered quickly.

She instantly deflates, her shoulders slumping. “No... not Marie. It can’t be my Marie.”

“I’m sorry, Liv,” Damien says softly, and she stumbles.

I catch her around the waist, tugging her to the curb.

She sits down and puts her head in her hands, shoulders shaking with sobs, and I sit next to her, putting an arm around her.

Damien sits on the other side, and Dominic sits behind her, rubbing her back.

She cries for a while, and we all comfort her, and when it’s over, she moves away from us, standing shakily.

“I want to talk to her. I want to know why she did this.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Dominic hedges, but Olivia wipes at her eyes and looks at him seriously.

“I can handle it, Dom. Really. I just... I need to know.”

Maybe it’s the pleading edge to her voice or how wide her eyes are, but Dominic finally nods.

I’m all for it.

She needs to be able to get it out, to understand what’s going on. To learn why her best friend betrayed her like this.

Damien is the voice of reason. “We’ll have to give the police a few hours to process her.”

Olivia trembles, and I want to hold her, but it’s Damien who reaches her first, drawing her into his arms.

I’m not even jealous.

She needs the comfort. Maybe more than I can give her by myself .

“Do you want to go home, or do you want to—” Dominic starts.

She starts shaking her head before he can finish. “I want to be with you. All of you.”

My eyes widen while I look around. “Uh... right here?”

Olivia snorts. “Not sex, dummy. I just... I need you guys. I need some comfort. Cuddles, maybe?”

“How about we go home and put on your favorite movies. That one with the rat,” Dominic suggests.

“He’s a mouse, but that sounds perfect.”

It’s actually a good idea. It means Olivia will have some time to process and the cops will be doing what they need to do, too.

And we can be there for her. I think that’s all any of us want right now, anyway.

Back at Olivia’s place, she plops down on the couch, and we just settle around her, Damien with her legs in his lap, running a thumb along the heel of her foot. Dominic in the recliner, close enough that he can reach over and pet her hair, and me with her head in my lap.

She looks up at me as Dominic brushes her hair back from her face.

“Turn on the mouse movie.”

I have no idea what she’s talking about, but Dominic seems to. He flips on the television and maneuvers it to an animated movie with talking mice and other creatures.

Olivia shifts, turning to the television, seeming delighted.

None of us speaks during the mouse movie. It seems forbidden.

So, I keep quiet, just watching.

It’s a fairly good film, with good character development and a plot twist, and I’m pleasantly surprised.

But as the credits roll, Olivia turns her face into my stomach and suddenly, I realize my shirt is wet .

She’s crying.

I lean down, putting a hand on her head.

Dominic is in the kitchen getting her another bottle of water.

“What’s wrong, little girl?”

“I don’t want to know. I wish we could just be best friends again.”

Her voice trembles, and it makes my heart ache.

“I know, love. I’m sorry.”

She cries for just a moment longer, and then she’s sitting up, sliding on her shoes at the door.

Damien bites his lip. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

She sighs. “No. But I have to.”

We all pile into our various vehicles, her in Damien’s since this is their company.

I just hope she gets the closure she needs.