CHAPTER 193: CHAPTER 193

Olivia’s POV

The panic that seized me was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. My chest constricted, my vision tunneled, and I couldn’t breathe.

No. No, no, no. This cannot be happening.

How did this happen? How?

Had Kira made a mistake? Had someone found the package and replaced the contents as some kind of sick joke? Had a gardener thought it was trash and...

Stop. Focus. Call Kira.

My hands were trembling so badly I could barely hold my phone. I snapped a picture of the mess scattered across my bed and sent it to Kira, then immediately hit the call button.

She picked up on the first ring.

"Hey! Did you get..."

"What is this?" My voice was filled with panic and tears that were threatening to fall. "Kira, what the hell is this?"

"What? What’s wrong?"

"The package! It’s full of leaves! Just leaves! Where are the pills? I sent you a photo."

Silence on the other end.

Then: "What? That’s impossible. Liv, I swear I put the pills in there. I watched the pharmacist ring them up, I put them in that exact shopping bag with my own hands, and I hid them in those shrubs. I’m telling you, there were pills in that package!"

"Well, there aren’t now!" I was pacing my room, one hand pressed to my forehead. "There’s nothing but dried leaves. Someone switched them. Someone found the package and replaced everything with goddamn leaves!"

"Oh my God." Kira’s voice was small, horrified. "Liv, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how this happened. Maybe a gardener found it? Or security? Or..."

"It doesn’t matter how it happened!" I cut her off, my panic spiraling. "What matters is I don’t have the pills and I need them. Now. Today. Before it’s too late."

"Okay. Okay, don’t panic." Kira tried to calm me down. "I’ll go to the pharmacy right now. I’ll buy another box and bring it directly to you. Where should I meet you?"

"The front gate. I’ll sneak out and meet you there."

"Are you sure? Can you get out without being seen?"

I looked at my door, thinking about Maxwell somewhere in this massive house, about the staff who seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once, about the security guards stationed everywhere.

"I’ll figure it out," I said, more confident than I felt. "Just text me when you’re close. I’ll be there."

"Okay. I’m leaving now. I’ll be there in like thirty minutes."

"Thank you." My voice cracked. "Kira, thank you so much."

She hung up, and I was left standing in my room, staring at the pile of leaves on my bed.

Thirty minutes.

I had thirty minutes to kill, and I couldn’t just sit here spiraling into panic.

The sheets. Focus on the sheets.

Right. Maxwell’s sheets that still smelled like me. That he’d been in his room with, probably trying to identify the scent. I needed to do something about those sheets before Kira arrived.

I quickly formulated a plan: Pour Maxwell’s own perfume all over the sheets. Cover my scent with his. Make it impossible for him to smell anything but his own cologne.

It was risky. It was stupid. It was potentially disastrous if I got caught.

But it was better than doing nothing.

I slowly walked to the connecting door and pressed my ear against it, listening.

Silence.

Quietly, I cracked the door open and peeked through.

Maxwell’s room was empty.

Okay. You have five seconds. Maybe ten. Just grab a perfume bottle, douse the sheets, and get out.

I took a deep breath, counted to three, and ran into his room like a crazy woman.

His dresser was a sleek, modern piece against the far wall, and the top was lined with expensive cologne bottles - at least eight of them, all in different shapes and sizes.

I grabbed the first one, a heavy glass bottle that looked really expensive. My fingers fumbled with the cap, trying to figure out how to open it.

Come on. Come on. How do you open this thing?

The cap twisted, but nothing happened. I tried pulling it. Still nothing.

Fancy rich people perfume with fancy rich people caps that don’t make any sense...

I grabbed a different bottle. This one had a magnetic cap that I couldn’t figure out how to remove.

"For fuck’s sake," I muttered, trying a third bottle.

That’s when I heard it.

The door.

The main door to Maxwell’s room, opening.

Oh God.

I didn’t think. Didn’t plan. Just moved on pure instinct.

I dropped to the floor and rolled under Maxwell’s massive bed just as his footsteps entered the room.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

I pressed myself flat against the floor, the perfume bottle still in my hand, barely breathing as I watched Maxwell’s feet move across the room.

He was wearing different shoes than earlier - casual slip-ons instead of his dress shoes. He must have changed after we got back.

His feet moved toward the bathroom.

Please go in there. Please close the door. Please don’t notice anything out of place.

The bathroom door clicked shut.

Now. Move. NOW.

I scrambled out from under the bed, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. I didn’t bother trying to put the perfume back - didn’t have time. Just held it to my chest and bolted for the connecting door.

I slammed it shut behind me and collapsed against it, gasping for breath.

That was too close. Way too close.

I looked down at the perfume bottle in my hands - a sleek black expensive bottle I didn’t want to guess the price. Maxwell’s name was engraved on the body.

Great. Now I’ve stolen his cologne and I still haven’t fixed the sheet situation.

My phone buzzed.

Kira: Ten minutes away. Where exactly should I meet you?

Ten minutes. I need to get downstairs in ten minutes.

I shoved the perfume bottle into my nightstand drawer - I’d figure out how to return it later - and checked my appearance in the mirror.

I still looked like Oliver, looking slightly manic but passable.

Okay. Maxwell is in his bathroom, probably showering. This is your window. Go now.

I slipped out of my room and moved quietly down the hallway. The house was eerily silent and calm with no one in sight.

Perfect. Just get to the front door.

I made it down the grand staircase without incident, my feet silent on the stairs carpet. The front door was visible now, maybe thirty feet away.

Almost there. Almost...

The door suddenly swung open.

I dove behind a large decorative pillar, pressing myself against it, my heart in my throat.

Oh my God. Oh my God. Who is that?

I peeked around the edge of the pillar, praying and hoping it was one of the staffs just passing through.

But the moment I saw who was standing in the doorway, my blood turned to ice.

Kennedy.

My brother Kennedy was standing in Maxwell’s foyer like he owned the place, looking around with casual familiarity, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

What the hell is going on here!