43 - "I fucked up...a lot."

"You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never dared to commit."

― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

. . .

OLIVIA WOODS

I was crying.

I was cured into a ball under my blankets, crying my heart out. Maybe the sound was going outside, I couldn't care.

Was Zavier okay?

I had tried opening the door but it was locked.

He had locked me here. He didn't care about me. He thought I tried to kill Zavier.

I would never do that. I could never do that. Not to Zavier, not to anyone.

How could there be poison in the cake? I had made it with the same things Cassandra was making the cakes with. I had left it when it was baking. That was the only time I left it.

I grabbed my phone and called Cassandra. It was around four in the morning.

"Cassandra."

"Cafe got shut down." Cassandra sighed. "There was poison in the cakes. I was just about to call you. Did anyone eat it?"

I sniffled. "Yes. Z-Zavier took a small bite." "Is he okay?"

"I-I don't know," I whispered, sitting up. I couldn't stop crying. Maybe I was having a panic attack. I got Ashton hurt and then Zavier. A sob broke through my lips. "I don't know."

"Olivia. Take deep breaths now, honey. Come on."

I couldn't. I couldn't breathe. My hands were shaking. I hung up. I could not breathe. Black spots danced across my vision.

I had never fainted because of a panic attack before.

. . .

ASHTON CREED

"How is he?"

I glared down at my hands. "He is fine. He had only a small amount. He has to stay there for a couple of days."

"Pretty sure he's going to love that," Michael said sarcastically. "I don't see Liv anywhere." Michael looked around the living room.

"Go away, Michael." I drank deeply from the glass. I didn't hate alcohol as Zavier did but I preferred to not drink much, especially when Olivia was around.

"You think she poisoned him?"

About ten people had died and twenty were in the hospitals. Olivia couldn't do it.

Of course, she couldn't. She couldn't poison Zavier. Olivia was too good for shit like this but the... past took control over my mind and nothing good happened when that happened.

"Take her to Zavier," Michael said. "he'd be happy."

He would not be happy when he'd find out what I said to Little one.

I stood up and climbed the staircase. I walked towards Olivia's door and unlocked it.

She was laying over her blankets. Stains of tears were on her face and she looked pale.

I rushed towards her. "Olivia!"

She moved a little. She looked so pale.

I picked her up. "Little one."

Her eyes opened. She looked lost. "A-Ashton?" "Baby." I pulled her closer.

"I-I didn't do it." She sobbed into my chest. "I promise, A-Ashton. Please...please..."

"I know." I moved her till she was straddling me. "I'm so sorry."

"Why did you blame me?" She sobbed harder, gripping me tightly. "I-I would never do that."

I muttered apologies to her as she sobbed and shook in my arms, crying her heart out. I had never been bad to her. We never really had issues but I fucked that up. It was like my brothers and I were fucking it up one by one.

What if she left?

I looked down at her. She had fallen asleep in my arms. I wiped the tears away from her face. She could not leave. Not now when we had had. When I could pick her up and kiss her anytime. Not when she let me talk to her. Not when she was not scared of us.

Not now. Not ever.

I walked out of the room with her in my arms. She slept heavily when she was in our arms but if we put her down on the bed she'd wake up if you

breathe too loud.

I ordered Edrick to drive me and Olivia to the hospital and sat down inside the SUV. I pulled her closer to me, brushing my thumb over her cheek as she slept.

Edrick drove us, his big form dwarfing the seat he was on. Before long, we were stopped in front of the hospital.

I got out of the SUV, Olivia still clutched in my arms. Olivia's bodyguards had followed us. I hadn't ordered them to and it wasn't necessary when she was with me but I knew some of them had soft spots for her. How could they not?

We walked inside the hospital. I went to the elevator, feeling eyes on me and especially the woman in my arms. Olivia slept through this. Maybe she didn't get much sleep. I still wondered why she had run out of the kitchen like that. Was she mad at Xerxes?

I got out of the elevator and walked to where Zavier's poisoned ass was. I didn't like seeing him in pain but I was used to it.

I had found him fainted in the middle of his office, unmoving even when I kicked him - not too harshly.

I walked inside the room.

He was up, glaring down at the food in front of him. He had been in emergency first but now he was shifted to another room. I had gone to Olivia's room after making sure he was okay, which had been hours.

He looked at me and then at Olivia. He smiled. "You bought Kitten. Give me."

"No." I sat down on the chair near him. "Say that again?"

I chuckled. "Here." He shifted back and I laid Olivia on his lap.

His eyes moved over the stains of tears on her cheeks. "What happened?" "I-" I sighed. "I fucked up...a lot."

The door opened. Xerxes walked inside. He looked tired. "Cassandra doesn't know shit. The CCTV doesn't have shit but one thing is clear. Olivia was the target. I'm sure they thought she'd taste her cake and they did not care about the collateral damage. There were traces of poison in some of the cupcakes she had bought, too. The ones made today were poisoned, the ones made yesterday weren't."

"They must have put it in the chocolate frosting," Zavier said. "Someone who knows Olivia can't go without chocolate."

"Someone she has been friends with for a while," I muttered, running a hand through my hair. I did not want to hunt Georgia. I did not want Little one to go through a betrayal.

"Her location is unknown. She called Olivia today," Xerxes said. "But her location is still unknown."

I looked at Olivia. What had Georgia said to her?

. . .

You know what's delicious? Puffed rice.

Idk why I love it so much.

Go eat something. Rn. I don't want to hear excuses Byeee