Page 210 of Money Reigns

He turns back to me, expression shuttered, voice cold as stone. “Deal.”

And I don’t know whether I’ve just secured Olivia’s freedom… or made the biggest mistake of my life.

There goes Noah’s legacy.

And I don’t even know if Olivia will ever come back.

But I’ve got one more thing to do.

Chapter forty-four

Olivia

Two Months Later

Iwake before the sun, the house still quiet except for the pipes knocking as someone turns on the shower down the hall. It’s cold,really cold; the kind of cold that seeps through the windows and settles in your bones. My chest feels heavy, the way it always does when I’ve cried myself to sleep, tight, bruised, hollow. I pull on jeans and a soft, thick sweater, twist my hair up, and sink back onto the edge of the bed with my phone in my hand.

No word from War. Not a call. Not a message. Nothing.

The silence hurts worse than the gossip articles I can’t stop torturing myself with. His picture with her, glossy and perfect, splashed across the internet. I scroll past them again, just to feel the sting, a self torment. Maybe it’s punishment. Maybe it’s proof that I was always a fool.

I thought he’d call on Christmas.

When the house was strung with lights and the scent of cinnamon rolls filled the kitchen, I kept looking at my phone. My heart wishing he was here. Imagining his chuckle filling the hallway as my brothers tried to size him up, my mother sneakily adding extra glaze to his plate, like he belonged.

He would’ve hated the caroling; loved teasing me for knowing every word, but he would’ve kissed me anyway, twirling meunder the mistletoe like it wasn’t the first real Christmas I’d ever let myself enjoy.

But he wasn’t here.

And not on Thanksgiving either, when I sat at the table, smiling so wide it hurt, pretending I didn’t feel his absence in every toast. I kept thinking about how he eats—or doesn’t, watching me after every bite I take like it’s instinct, and wondering if he’d like my mama’s peanut butter cookies better than mine.

And New Year’s?God.

Midnight came with paper hats and cheap champagne, and my family’s cheers rattled the windows, but all I heard was silence. I stood outside under the snow and stars alone, wondering if he was thinking of me. If he kissedherwhen the clock struck twelve.

My thumb hovers over his name. I don’t even know what I’d say if he picked up. Confess everything? Tell him about Ronnie, about my family being tangled up with the mob? Ask him point-blank who that woman is? All of it comes out in a jumble when I rehearse it in my head, tangled and messy.

Still, I hit call.

Straight to voicemail.

My heart drops. I try again.

Voicemail.

Again, like maybe my need alone could force him to answer.

Still voicemail. The tears are already stinging hot when my phone lights up with an incoming call.

Not him.Ella.

I swipe it up fast, wiping my cheek with the back of my hand. “Hey, El.”

“Guess what?” her voice is bright, bubbling with excitement. “I’m in town!”

I shoot up to my feet, pulse racing. “You’rehere?”

Ella chuckles, a familiar warmth threading through the static. “I’m downstairs. Please save me from Chase.”