Chapter 151

Chapter 151
“Why are you here?” she asked softly, her voice cutting through the awkward stillness. “Shouldn’t you be with Caroline, helping her with the party?”

He looked slightly taken aback. She couldn’t tell if it was the question itself or the way she had delivered it.

It took him a moment to respond. “I came because I want to hear the reason from you myself. Why aren’t you coming to the party tonight?”

The question was direct and straightforward.

Olivia didn’t blink. If he was going to be blunt, then so would she.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to come,” she began, her voice faltering for only a moment. Then she decided to tell him the truth without hesitation. To hell with the consequences. She no longer cared.

“Mrs. Hi—” She caught herself and corrected quietly. “Mom told me I’m not invited.”

She saw the immediate shift in his expression. His jaw clenched. His eyes narrowed just a bit.

He was furious.

“That’s not what she told me.”

Of course it wasn’t.

Olivia had expected that. After all, they were talking about her adoptive mother.

Mrs. Hilton had always been good at weaving the narrative in a way that painted Olivia as the villain.

She was always the one at fault. The unfilial daughter. The disrespectful child. The source of every disappointment.

It wouldn’t even be a stretch to imagine that one of these days, they might disown her. After all, now that their real daughter was back, what need was there for her anymore?

“Tell me exactly what she said,” he demanded.

Olivia hesitated—not out of fear of his temper, but because she knew that if confronted, Mrs. Hilton would only deny everything and twist the story until it no longer resembled the truth.

Still, Clayton was looking at her as though he had no intention of leaving this room without an answer. So, she finally gave in.

“She told me tonight isn’t the official welcome-back party for Caroline,” Olivia murmured. “It’s just a small gathering for friends and close acquaintances, so there’s no need for me to come.”

Clayton straightened. He spared her only a brief glance before turning and striding toward the door.

“Where are you going?” The words came out louder than she intended.

“I’m going to speak to Mrs. Hilton and demand that you come with me to the party tonight.”

The sharp edge in his voice turned her blood cold. He rarely spoke in that tone, but when he did, it carried a kind of anger that was impossible to ignore.

Olivia was beside him in seconds, her hands wrapping around his arm to stop him from leaving.

“Please, don’t,” she pleaded. “I’m okay with not coming to the party.”

As much as she wished for Mrs. Hilton to have a dose of her own medicine, she didn’t want to spoil the evening for everyone else.

Her conscience wouldn’t allow it.

Mrs. Hilton, without question, was the scum of the earth. If arrogance and emotional sabotage were competitive sports, she would have been collecting trophies. One thing she deserved was a firm high five to the face.

But even so, for all her faults, Mrs. Hilton deserved this moment with the daughter she had been separated from for far too long. Olivia refused to let her personal disdain overshadow something that, at its core, was still deeply human.

Clayton turned slightly away. He was trying to control his temper through sheer force of will.

“It’s okay for you but not for me,” he said after a moment. His voice was much softer now. “You are my wife. If there’s anyone who should be with me tonight, it should be you.”

Her throat tightened immediately. He said it so simply. So clearly. Like it was the most natural truth in the world.

Olivia looked down at the floor. Looking at him directly would make it harder to speak.

“I actually understand why she didn’t want me at the party. It’s Caroline’s night. She didn’t want me stealing the spotlight.”

Clayton looked like he was about to argue, but he stopped himself.

Olivia continued before he could speak.

“I’m not saying she was right,” she added quickly. “I’m just saying… I understand it from her point of view. Caroline just came back. Everyone is trying to reconnect with her. And if I walked in…”

She paused, then gave a small, uncertain shrug.

“People would look at me. They’d talk to me. And it would appear l like I was taking the attention away from her.”

Guilt crept in quietly, the way it always did whenever she let herself think too long about Caroline.

Because the truth was painfully simple.

Everything Olivia had now, even the life she had been given, imperfect as it was, had once belonged to Caroline.

In a way, Olivia felt she owed her for everything.

For the family she had been given.
For the home she had lived in.
For the love she had been allowed to receive, even if only in fragments.

Perhaps that was why she could never bring herself to resent Caroline.

How could she, when so much of what Olivia had was only hers because Caroline had been gone?

“Everyone will be looking for you tonight. They’ll definitely pester me about why you’re not around,” Clayton insisted.

He still hadn’t given up.

But no amount of persuasion could change what Olivia had already decided. “Tell them I have an important patient who needs surgery.” Her answer came gently, but there was a finality to it.

Who would dare question her absence when a life was at stake? It was an excuse no one could argue with. And perhaps that was exactly why she chose it.

The look on his face told her she had won this round.

“If that’s the case, then I won’t force you to be there at Caroline's welcome party. I’m sure the guests will understand once I tell them the reason for your absence.”