? 50%


    Olivia’s POV


    Olivia had started to pull her cell out of her purse when she heard the healer ask the question. She slipped her phone away again,


    listening intently for Julian’s reply.


    At first, he didn’t say anything. The silence grew along with Olivia’s simmering irritation. Why wouldn’t he answer? It wasn’t a


    hard question.


    “No,” Julian said atst. “At least she was a devoted wife.”


    Olivia bristled. A devoted wife, he’d said. He could only be talking about one person.


    Why was he still thinking of her? Olivia had done so much work to rid Julian’s mind of that human whore. She’d gotten pregnant.


    She’d orchestrated Amber’s death.


    Even after all of that, after five years, was Julian still hung up on her?


    Olivia whipped around towards the door, disgust twisting her face into a sour expression.


    All she saw was Healer Amanda coldly shutting her office door in Julian’s face. He stood there, looking at the door, as if he was


    unsure what had happened or how he’d arrived there.


    He turned toward her. As soon as Julian noticed her, his face stiffened back into the imprable expression Olivia was so used to.


    “How dare she speak to an Alpha that way?” Olivia demanded, instinctively wrapping her precisely manicured fingers around


    Julian’s arm. “The absolute disrespect.”


    “She seems not to believe what I said.” Julian shrugged, shaking his head. “Don’t know why. But they say geniuses have odd


    temperaments. Maybe it’s true.”


    Olivia held back a scoff. If she had the power of a Luna, she wouldn’t stand to be spoken to the way the healer had just spoken to


    Julian. She didn’t understand why he’d always had such a hard time epting that his status demanded special treatment.


    Olivia tried to make eye contact with Julian in the car, but he stared out the window, ignoring her. Julian’s description of Amber


    rang through her mind. A devoted wife.


    “Would you like to eat at my house tonight, my darling?” Olivia asked Julian, reaching out and stroking his knee.


    Olivia hated that she had to invite Julian over for dinner this far into their rtionship. She hated that they didn’t live together yet.


    He still hadn’t fully dedicated himself to her.


    He still hadn’t made her Luna.


    Julian had never even allowed Olivia to enter therge house he’d shared with Amber. After her death, he’d kept the ce stuck in


    time, as though keeping all her shoddy housework in tact would keep part of her alive.


    12:34 PM Tue 26 Aug


    ? 50%


    He’d bought Olivia her own house, a new house with modern features that at first Olivia had taken as a sign of Julian’s infatuation with her. She thought he was disying a desire to move on from Amber, to have a separate, independent rtionship with Olivia without the memories of his life with that whore seeping in.


    Then, he hadn’t moved in with her. He never stayed the night. He hadn’t been intimate with her since Amber’s death.


    It made her furious.


    “Can’t,” Julian said, still gazing distractedly out the window. “I’m workingte tonight.”


    Olivia seethed. “You’ve used that excuse so many times. Remember, that’s the excuse you used the night I decided to bring you


    dinner. It was pouring outside, and I ended up in that terrible car ident.”


    Julian’s posture sagged the tiniest bit, guilt softening his armor just as Olivia intended it to.


    “I lost our baby in that ident, Julian. You must remember, don’t you?”


    Olivia knew the reminder of her miscarriage would hurt Julian. That’s why she brought it up.


    It had been just a few months after Amber’s death, and Julian had been distant despite all of Olivia’s attempts. When she’d phoned


    the office to see if Julian would be over for dinner, he’d told her that he’d be workingte. Again.


    She decided that, if Julian wasn’t going to y the game the way she wanted, she would change the rules. She put together avish


    basket with steak and potatoes, prepared by her private chef, of course. Then, she got in the car and headed to the office.


    Olivia told her driver she felt like driving herself that night.


    “But, Miss Olivia,” the driver had protested, “it’s pouring outside. Don’t you think it would be safer if I drove you tonight?”


    Olivia had peered out the window at the steady rain and smiled. “No. I like to drive in the rain.”


    In truth, she wanted Julian to see the effort she was personally putting into their rtionship. She didn’t want him to think that


    she delegated all of her care to the hired staff that surrounded her.


    12:34 PM Tue 26 Aug