Chapter 26

Chapter 26


OLIVIA

I was to run a few errands this morning before heading back to the office. Rachel asked me to drop something off yesterday.

I was coming out of the building when I accidentally bumped into someone. David.

Yes, David. The man Ryan hates. Or let's call him Ryan's rival. He stopped and started smiling at me. He made me bump into him. It's not an accident, I could tell by the look on his face

“You look familiar.” His voice came out raspy and everything in me screamed danger but I ignored it. Who the hell is this guy?

“David.” I called out his name, eyeing him from head to toe. “Drop the act.” I muttered under my breath and he rolled his eyes.

“Wow, he let you come out alone.” That sounded more like a warning than a mere speech from him. “To do what? Deliver something?” He added.

“Yes sir. My boss asked me to send out an item for tech training.” I replied sarcastically. “I'll be leaving now if you have nothing else to say.” I didn't wait for him to say anything else and I immediately started walking towards the parking lot.

My phone buzzed in my pocket when I got inside the car, I motioned for the driver to start the car while I brought my phone out of my pocket only to realize that I missed 2 calls from Melody and 2 from Dante.

“What could be the matter?” I asked in my head while dialing Melody’s number. It rang once then she picked.

“I hope you're safe? Where are you?” She questioned with so much panic.

“Whoah, chill. I'm good and what's wrong? You sound like you just finished a marathon.” I joked but something in me told me this wasn't the time to joke.

“What happened, Mel?” I asked, my chest tightening when she didn’t laugh at my joke.

Her breathing was uneven. “Olivia… there was an explosion.”

“What?” My voice came out small.

“At Ryan’s company,” she said in a rush. “It’s all over the news. They’re saying a section of the building went up in flames, Sector B or something. Oh my God, Liv, it looks bad.”

For a second, I forgot how to breathe. The phone felt too heavy in my hand. “What do you mean explosion? Was…was he inside?”

“They don’t know yet,” she whispered. “They haven’t released names. I’ve been trying to call him too but he’s not picking up.”

My heart dropped so hard I thought I’d throw up. “No, no, no.”

“Liv, calm down, maybe he’s fine—”

“I have to go.” I hung up before she could finish. My hands shook so badly I nearly dropped the phone.

“Drive faster,” I told the driver, my voice trembling.

“Ma’am?”

“I said drive!”

He didn’t argue. The car sped off, cutting through traffic like the world was ending. And maybe mine was.

My mind was racing faster than the car. Ryan. The company. The fire. The last time I saw him, he barely looked at me. He’d been cold, distant, acting like I was some stranger he regretted knowing.

And now this.

The city blurred past the window, sirens, people, flashing lights. By the time we reached the street near the company, the place was chaos. Fire trucks, reporters, smoke still curling into the sky.

I got out before the car stopped completely. The air reeked of ash and burned metal.

“Ma’am, you can’t go past the tape,” a guard said, stepping in front of me.

“My friend works here!” I yelled, trying to push through. “His name is Ryan…he’s the CEO!”

“Ma’am, please—”

But before I could keep arguing, I heard a voice behind me. “Olivia!”

I spun around.

He was there. Standing near the emergency trucks, hair slightly disheveled, soot on his sleeve. But he was alive.

For a second, I just stared. Then I ran to him before my brain could stop me.

He caught me by the shoulders just as I reached him. “Olivia, you shouldn’t be here.”

“I thought you were dead!” The words cracked out of me louder than I expected.

He blinked, taken aback. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not!” My voice broke. “You—you don’t get to almost die and just stand there like it’s a normal day, Ryan!”

His jaw clenched. “I wasn’t inside when it happened.”

“I don’t care! You could have been!”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You shouldn’t have come here. It’s not safe.”

“Then maybe you should stop giving me reasons to worry about you!”

That got him. His eyes flicked to mine tired and heavy, but something in them softened for a second.

“I didn’t ask you to,” he muttered.

“You didn’t have to,” I shot back. “You’ve been avoiding me for days. Acting like I don’t exist. And then I hear this?” My chest rose and fell fast. “What was I supposed to do? Pretend I didn’t care?”

He didn’t answer. He just looked at me with that same unreadable expression that drove me insane.

“I care, Ryan,” I whispered. “Even when you make it impossible to.”

He exhaled slowly, the tension in his shoulders easing just a little. “Olivia… you don’t understand what’s happening.”

“Then explain it to me!”

His gaze darted away, toward the smoldering building. “This wasn’t an accident. Someone set that explosion on purpose.”

I froze. “What?”

He nodded once, his jaw tight. “We’re still trying to figure out who. But it wasn’t random.”

The way he said it, the calm, clipped tone that barely hid the anger underneath made my stomach twist.

“So you were targeted?” I asked quietly.

“Maybe,” he said. “Or the project was.”

He didn’t say more, but the look in his eyes told me there was something darker he wasn’t sharing.

“Ryan,” I said again, softer this time. “You can’t keep doing this alone. You shut everyone out like it’s some kind of rule.”

He gave a small, humorless smile. “It’s safer that way.”

“For who? You or me?”

He didn’t answer right away.

“For both,” he finally said.

“Too late,” I whispered.

He looked down at me, confused.

“It’s too late to be careful,” I said. “Because I already care too much, and you already know it.”

Something flickered in his eyes again, guilt, want, something that made the space between us feel too small.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “You should go home.”

I frowned. “You’re doing it again.”

“What?”

“Pushing me away.”

He sighed, his voice quieter now. “Olivia—”

“Stop,” I cut in. “Stop pretending you don’t feel this. Because no matter how much you hide it, I see it. I feel it.”

He looked at me for a long time. Too long.

“I can’t afford distractions right now,” he murmured finally.

“Then don’t call it a distraction,” I said. “Call it something real for once.”

His jaw tightened, like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t.

Instead, he looked past me toward the building again. The reflection of the flames danced in his eyes. “You shouldn’t have come,” he said again, quieter.

“Yeah, well,” I said, wiping my eyes quickly, “you shouldn’t scare peopl
e half to death either.”

That made him smile barely but it was there. A soft, tired, human smile.

“I’ll call you later,” he said.

“You better,” I replied.