Page 195 of Money Reigns

---

The sound hits me like a punch.

Her voice, soft, broken, the sound of something coming apart.

“Where are you?” I manage. It comes out rougher than I intend, almost a growl.

I can hear her breathing, the faint hitch like she’s trying not to cry.

“Why did you pay for my family?” she asks.

I exhale hard, drag a hand through my hair. “Olivia… baby, I had to help. I couldn’t just—”

“No,” she cuts me off, voice trembling but sharp enough to wound. “Iaskedyou not to get involved.”

“Olivia,”I try again, softer this time, pleading. “Just meet me at home, okay? We can talk. I’ll explain.”

“No.”

The word is quiet, final.

“War, I can’t do this.”

The line clicks dead.

For a second, I just stand there, phone to my ear, listening to nothing.

Then I look down.

She hung up on me.

The floor tilts.

She wouldn’t.

Not Olivia. Not my sweet, stubborn girl who always obeys.

I hit redial anyway. The call doesn’t even try to connect.

Blocked?

My stomach turns to ice.

She wouldn’t turn her phone off.

She wouldn’t block me.

Not with me.

Not ever.

My hand fists against the marble counter, the crack of skin to stone echoing.

I press my knuckles to my mouth, breathing hard through the burn in my throat.

I willnotlose her.

I cannot.

Then, an opening. A thought.

---