Olivia’s POV
It was almost time to leave. Today was the second day, and I dropped my last bag at the cafe. I went to school, and the day went on as usual, but the entire time, my mind was poking me, trying to make me reconsider my decisions. But I had made my mind up; I was leaving the next day.
School came to a close, and Jaxon and I went to his sister’s cafe for a hot cup of coffee. I had been quite anxious the entire day and even more so around Andre for the last few days. I tried my best not to make him suspect I was leaving soon. I tried my best to act normally around him, and he was oblivious to my plan the entire time.
A coffee was brought, and Jaxon and I engaged in a friendly conversation.
“I guess tomorrow is the day,” he said before taking his first sip of coffee.
I wanted to answer but simply stirred my coffee blankly, watching the brown brew swirl into hypnotic patterns.
“If you’re still intent on going, I can drop you off during school hours. There’ll be fewer eyes around that time, and you can sneak off undetected.”
I finally took a sip of my coffee, and when I put the cup down, I stared at Jaxon in the eyes.
“Jaxon, I can’t thank you enough for everything that you’ve done. I know I stressed you out about this, but you still came through for me.”
He shrugged off my thanks with a smile.
“You really don’t have to thank me for anything, Olivia. I am just glad that I could be of help. However, I will miss you in the one week that you are gone. But I know that this is very important to you. Your father would be proud.”
His last line made me uneasy, and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat but tried my best not to show it. If my father did see me now, would he really be proud of me?
I looked up at Jaxon again. He was looking at me tenderly, and I felt my cheeks come to life with colour.
We finished our coffees, and Jaxon dropped me off at home. I waved goodbye to him and walked inside. I just wanted to go to my room and sleep. Anxiety was pinching at my nerves, and I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Hello, Olivia.”
I cursed silently in my mind, and when I turned around, I saw my mother standing behind me.
“Mom, I said nonchalantly, desperately wishing that she would let me go and lie down.
“I saw that handsome man dropping you off. It seems that you are making new friends.”
I rolled my eyes and folded my arms across my chest. I knew that she was going somewhere with this.
“So let me get this straight. You have friends in school and even handsome ones who volunteer to drop you off, yet you still make moves to seduce your stepfather. Why?”
I growled angrily and faced her squarely.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play the fool with me, Olivia. I have been seeing what you are doing. You forget that I am not blind.”
I scoffed and folded my arms across my chest again.
“Well, in this case, maybe you are blind. I have no idea what you were talking about. I have nothing to do with the Alpha.”
Now, it was my mother’s turn to scoff.
“Olivia, you are getting on my nerves. Why did the Alpha have to get the kitchen staff to open the door when you locked yourself inside the room? What were you two talking about? Why did he have to talk to you privately behind closed doors?”
I had to think fast. My mother was on to something.
“Well, he wanted to discuss birthday plans with me. We wanted it to be a secret, but because of how bitchy you are, I had to cancel them because I knew that you would get the wrong idea and embarrass me on that day.”
My mom looked at me suspiciously, and I could tell that she was trying to weigh the plausibility of my little story. But slowly, she began to buy every word I said.
“So, you cancelled the birthday plans that your stepfather had for me?”
“Yes, because of you. Are you happy now?”
Her face was reddening in anger, and her fist trembled while her arms were at her side.
“Olivia, you are such an ungrateful bitch. It is bad enough that your father died because of you, and he now left your worthless ass with me to take care of. And now that you are here, I can’t even be happy in my own home.”
“Well, I think you should rethink that statement. Is this really your home?”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt a palm land firmly and hotly on my cheek.
“You little witch! How dare you?!”
She didn’t even wait for my reply and stormed out of the house.
I felt anger and frustration bubble inside me. However, I decided to let it slide. Today was my last day here, and after today, nothing like this was ever going to happen to me again.
I calmed down and finally remembered I didn’t have enough money for my little adventure. This was the best way to get back at my mother for being such a letdown.
I snuck up to her room, determined to take money from her to fund my little expedition.
Her room was on the second floor, and I made sure that no one saw me as I quietly tiptoed into her room. My mother had always been careless and true to form. A wad of cash was lying on her table next to some papers. I am sure she wasn’t going to notice if a few notes disappeared.
I took some money from the stack, and then something caught my eye on the table. It wasn’t a document but a letterwritten by my dad!
I saw his handwriting and name on the envelope and snatched it from the table.
I opened it, took out the letter, and began to read.
My heart was pounding as my eyes glossed over every word. People were after Dad, and they wanted to kill him? How long had this been going on?
I soon reached the last paragraph of the letter, and the words that were written there nearly made me have a heart attack.
“Nicole, I know we haven’t always agreed on everything, but if something were to ever happen to me and I disappeared or was killed, I beg you, take Olivia and protect her with your life regardless of what you think about her. I have made the sacrifice just for her to live. Olivia must stay safe. Do this as a last favour to me.”
Sacrifice? What sacrifice? I didn’t understand anything. But I was able to understand that my dad knew that he was going to die.
I grabbed the letter and the cash and hurried to my room. I stuffed everything into my bag and sat on my bed, contemplating.
Maybe this was actually the best time to run away because now, I was going to find out who the fuck killed my dad, and I was going to make sure that he or she joined him in the afterlife.