Page 45 of Accidental Theirs (Alpha Billionaire Daddies #6)

Chapter Forty-One

OLIVIA

I let out a shaky breath as I stand outside the police station, staring at the double doors.

Dominic, Damien, and Sebastian have walked in ahead of me, but I just can’t seem to propel myself forward.

Marie is in there. Probably in cuffs. Uncomfortable. Scared.

She’s my best friend, and my heart goes out to her—even though I’m the one she wronged.

Dominic notices I’m not with them and starts to come back outside, but I take in another, less shaky breath and put my hand on the door.

He steps back to let me in.

Damien touches my hand to get my attention. “I talked to the guard. Marie’s agreed to speak with you, but it can only be for five minutes. They’re booking her now.”

I nod.

“Do you want us to go in with you?”

“No. I need to do this alone.”

All of them look nervous but it’s true .

I have to get closure, and I can’t do that if we’re not one-on-one.

Damien stands up suddenly from the lobby, looking down at his phone.

“What happened?”

He gives Dominic and Sebastian a look, and the two of them stand at attention.

“What are you three hiding from me?” I ask tiredly, and Dominic winces.

“We haven’t meant to hide it, Liv. It’s just...”

“Marie says there’s another leak. Someone more dangerous,” Sebastian answers.

God.

Another leak? Another person that betrayed me?

“Who is it?”

“We don’t know,” Damien says quickly, as if in a hurry. “But they just tried to use the code. Since Marie is here...”

“Then the leak must be at Carter Holding.”

I look at them. “Go. Hurry. Don’t involve the cops. Not yet.”

Dominic frowns. “Why not?”

“Because. I just... just listen to me, okay?”

I can’t explain to them that I don’t know if I’m pressing charges because I don’t know if I can do that to Marie. She betrayed me, yes, but she is still my best friend in my heart.

“Okay,” Damien says quietly, and he draws me to him, kissing the top of my head before they leave.

I sit there with my thoughts spiraling.

The guard finally opens the door and calls me, and I walk in slowly, like I’m going to the gallows.

I might as well be.

Marie looks so small sitting at the metal table. She’s always been petite, but it’s like she’s shrunk in on herself .

I haven’t noticed, but I can tell now that she’s lost a good deal of weight in the past few months.

Guilt, I suppose.

Anger rushes through me for the first time. I’ve just been so hurt that I haven’t been able to feel it.

She doesn’t look up at me.

“Why did you do it?” I demand to know.

She flinches but still won’t look at me. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t take it back.”

“Would you even want to? Did you do this just to hurt me?”

She gasps. “I would never hurt you like that if I had a choice, Olivia.”

“Could have fooled me. What reason could you possibly have for doing this?”

I sit down stiffly in the metal chair across from her.

She’s shackled to the table, and I can’t stand to hear the sound as it jingles when she moves.

“I did it for Callum,” she whispers.

I blink at her.

For Callum?

Callum is a bright and sweet teenager and he’s always been so sweet and polite. He loves those little pocket monsters and has his whole bedroom themed.

What the hell is she talking about?

“Callum is thirteen. How could he possibly?—”

“He’s sick.”

Dread washes over me.

“What do you mean, sick?”

“Leukemia. He needs a bone marrow transplant, and my insurance won’t cover him.”

“Jesus, Marie, why didn’t you tell me? You know you could have come to me. I would have fixed your insurance, or I would have paid for it myself ?— ”

“I know.” Marie chokes out a sob. “I know, but it’s so much. Your mother already put down the down payment on my apartment and helped my mom with her business... I didn’t want to accept more from you.”

“So, you decided to steal it from my company?”

“I didn’t think you’d miss it.” Her voice gets lower and lower like she wants to disappear. “It was only supposed to be five hundred grand. But then it spiraled into millions and...”

“And what?”

“I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop him.”

I freeze. “What do you mean? Who?”

“Roland.”

My heart stops in my chest, and it feels like ice water is dumped over my head.

“Roland’s in on this?”

Marie looks up at me for the first time, eyes red and puffy.

“In on it? It was his idea. He’s the one that spiraled the cost into the millions.”

“You’re lying.”

My eyes start to water, but then Marie leans across the table, the handcuffs and the shackles preventing her from doing it fully.

“You have to be careful of him. Please.”

“Of Roland?” I ask incredulously.

Even if he is the leak, even if she’s not lying, why would Roland be dangerous? Embezzlement isn’t a violent crime.

“You don’t understand, Olivia?—”

“Time's up!" The correction officer’s voice booms in the small room, and I startle.

Marie just stares at me, her eyes wide. Brown eyes that I’ve looked into, promised I’d always be there for her.

And now they’re leading her away in cuffs.

“Olivia, don’t forget. Be careful of Roland!”

I can’t believe her words .

Roland isn’t dangerous.

She has to be lying, right?

Roland has been with me since the beginning. He’s been my friend.

Not only that, he’s cooperated with us about the leak the whole time. It’s his keycard that got stolen.

Or did it?

Panic crawls up my throat as I think about the guys.

They’d gone after the other leak. If Marie is right... it’ll be Roland. And she warned me he’s dangerous.

Do I believe her?

I finally decide that it doesn’t matter. If she’s telling the truth, my boys are in danger.

And I can’t have that.