Chapter 16
In a split second, Silas Quinn dove forward, catching Olivia just as she stepped off the ledge, dragging her back onto the rooftop’s cold concrete.
“You don’t get to die, Olivia! Not like this.” he roared, breath ragged, his voice trembling as he frantically checked her for injuries. Only after confirming she was physically unharmed did he finally let out a shaky breath.
“If you die, who’s going to get justice for the Dean and Mrs. West? You want to let Harrison Lowell run rampant? Let that monster Emily Cain keep preaching about ethics while she’s out there taking lives and destroying medicine itself?”
“You can die–but not now.” Silas stared at her, tears streaking down his face, one dropping onto
the back of her cold hand..
She felt that tear seep through her skin like warmth returning to a frozen limb.
She looked up slowly. Their eyes locked–grief, rage, and something deeper surged between them, unspoken but undeniable.
She curled her fingers.
Silas pulled out his phone and pressed play on a recording.
Emily had passed her final residency evaluation–barely. She now held a medical license, thanks to Harrison’s illegal interference. He was even planning a grand engagement party in her honor. Olivia’s nails drove into her palm until blood surfaced–but she felt nothing.
After a long silence, Olivia spoke. Her voice was hoarse but clear.
“You’re right, Silas. I don’t get to die. Not yet. Not until every last one of them answers for what they did.”
A new fire lit in her eyes.
Silas helped her to her feet and back into the hospital. From that moment on, she threw herself into
treatment.
Her face–once mangled beyond recognition–was rebuilt piece by piece: skin grafts, bone work, dental restoration. Slowly, her body healed.
She erased Olivia Bennett like a scar–burned out of existence. With Silas’s help, she became
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someone new. Stayed in Rivermont with Silas and began gathering the evidence she needed.
Two years passed.
Silas Quinn–once a ghost in the newsroom–now stood at its helm as the youngest director Liberty Broadcast had ever seen.And Olivia–reborn–had become his top investigative journalist.
She had passed Harrison countless times–on courthouse steps, in elevator lobbies, near the
fountains outside Mercy General.
Sometimes, she’d let him almost recognize her, just enough to stir his gut.
Other times, she passed like a stranger, her new face sharp and unfamiliar, her name unknown.
But Harrison never stopped looking.
Every fleeting glimpse of someone who might be her–every voice, every silhouette–tormented
him. And when she was gone again, he felt like he was losing her all over again.
He bled money, burned connections, begged anyone with a badge or a camera.
But she never came.
Until tonight.
At a glittering black–tie gala, Olivia appeared on Silas’s arm–poised, radiant, unreadable.
The moment she stepped into the hall, she collided chest–first with Harrison Lowell.
Red wine spilled down his suit jacket.
“Oh no–I’m so sorry,” she said, already pulling out a handkerchief to dab the stain away.
Harrison froze. That voice. That touch. That face.
His heart nearly stopped.
He grabbed her wrist.
“Olivia?”
His voice cracked with disbelief.
“Olivia?” She smiled slightly and pulled her hand back. “I’m sorry–did you just call me… Olivia,
Mr. Lowell?”
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Harrison’s eyes went wide.
“Olivia… Where have you been? I’ve looked everywhere. You’re still angry at me, right? I get it. I deserve it. But I’ve changed. I know everything now.”
He was rambling. Desperate.
“Emily’s worthless. She knows nothing. I was an idiot–thinking she was different, covering for her crimes. So many people died because of me.”
“She’s paying, believe me. Her life’s a damn horror show. And if ending it would bring you back, I’d do it tonight.”
Olivia stared at him like he was a stranger.
Cold. Detached.
Harrison pretended not to notice. “I fixed it. I brought Lily home. The Dean… Mrs. West–they’re at peace now. If you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it–I’ll take you”
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