Page 86 of Money Reigns
I lean back in my chair, sip my espresso, and watch her in silence.
God, she’s beautiful like this. Wrecked and pretending she’s not.
“Slow down,” I say.
Her eyes lift to mine, wide and startled.
I can’t help it, I chuckle.
“Yup,” I murmur to myself, “definitely a little doe.”
She swallows hard, cheeks pink, and lowers her fork.
A beat of quiet passes between us. She fidgets with her napkin before finally asking, “The Parker Building… is it really back on?”
I nod. “Construction starts next week.”
“I’ve never seen you smile like that before,” she says softly. “You looked…happy.”
Something in me stills. Aneedtakes over.
A need to tell her.
“It’s where my best friend died,” I say simply.
Her shoulders drop. “What?”
“Noah,” I murmur. “He and I used to sneak into that building as kids. It was our little fortress before it became a Beaumont asset. One day we dared each other to get close to one of the windows. He beat me to it, leaned too far. The window cracked and he fell.”
Olivia’seyes soften. “Warren…”
“Don’t,” I say, voice sharper than I mean. “It was my fault.”
Her brows knit. “It wasn’t. You were a kid. You were both kids. No one could have known.”
I shake my head, but she leans in slightly.
“If you had beaten Noah to that window,” she says gently, “it would’ve been you. That’s not your fault. That’s an accident.”
I freeze.
No one’s ever called it that before.
Not the police. Not my father. Not even me.
An accident.
My parents called it a scandal.
Said I embarrassed the family.
That I shouldn’t have been anywhere near a run-down building on the “poor side” of town.
Not as a Beaumont.
And here she is, brushing crumbs off her napkin, talking about accidents. Like I’m still innocent.
I look away. Just for a second.
