His Dangerous Love On Ice (Olivia and Zane) novel Chapter 187

Olive’s POV

I followed Michelle deeper into Judy’s suite, my eyes taking in every detail of the space that had clearly been his sanctuary, the modern furniture that somehow managed to look both expensive and comfortable, the bookshelves lined with titles. ranging from business textbooks to classic literature, the photographs carefully arranged on various surfaces showing Judy at different stages of his life.

But what struck me most was how lived-in it all felt, how personal, like Judy had actually spent significant time here rather than treating it as just another room in his mother’s massive house.

Michelle walked across the living area toward what looked like a blank wall, and I watched with growing confusion as she ran her fingers along the surface until they found some kind of hidden seam.

“Judy was always very secretive about certain things,” Michelle said, her voice quiet. “Even as a child, he had this need for privacy that went beyond normal. I used to think it was just teenage rebellion, wanting his own space away from his parents. But later I understood it was something else entirely.”

She pressed something and a section of the wall slid open silently, revealing a small door with a digital keypad mounted beside it.

My breath caught because this was clearly something Judy had gone to great lengths to keep hidden, to keep protected from anyone who might stumble across it accidentally.

“This compartment,” Michelle continued, staring at the keypad with an expression I couldn’t quite read. “Judy wouldn’t let anyone know the password. Not me, not his father when he was live, not any of his friends or associates. This was his sacred space, the place where he kept the things that mattered most to him.”

“Then how do you know the code?” I asked, my voice coming out smaller than I’d intended.

Michelle’s lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile.

“I read his diary,” she admitted. “After he died, I was going through his things, trying to understand what had happened, why someone would want to kill my son.. And I found his diary hidden in his desk drawer. In it, he wrote about this compartment, about what he kept here, about how desperately he wanted to tell you about it before his death.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Tell me? Why would Judy want to tell me about his secret compartment?”

“Because what’s inside relates to you,” Michelle said simply. “To your brother Klaus, specifically. Judy wrote that he’d tried to bring it up during your dinner together, but you got too scared when he mentioned Klaus’s name. You shut down the conversation before he could explain.”

I remembered that moment with sudden, vivid clarity-the way Judy had started to say something about Klaus, the way my entire body had tensed up, the way I’d practically demanded he hange the subject because I couldn’t handle talking about my dead brother with someone who was supposed to be a casual dinner companion.

If I’d just listened. If I’d just let him talk instead of running away from the conversation like I always did whenever Klaus’s name came up.

Would Judy still be alive if I’d let him tell me whatever he’d wanted to say?

“I’m so sorry, Judy,” Michelle whispered, and it took me a second to realize she was talking to her dead son rather than to me. She raised her face toward the ceiling like she was looking for him somewhere in the heavens. “I’m so sorry that I had to be the one to do this myself. That you never got the chance to tell her in your own words.”

“You will,” Michelle promised. “But Olive, what I’m about to show you is going to change how you see your brother. How you see Judy. How you see the past thirteen years of your life. And I need to know-are you ready for that? Are you ready to have your understanding of Klaus completely altered?”

My mind wondered through a whole lot of different scenarios, Ihought about whether I actually wanted to know whatever truth was contained in that album, whatever secret Judy had kept so carefully protected.

But then I remembered the threatening messages I’d been receiving, the article about Klaus investigating racing corruption that had mysteriously disappeared, the way everyone seemed to know something about my brother’s death that they weren’t telling me.

I was so tired of being kept in the dark.

So tired of secrets and lies and people making decisions about what I should or shouldn’t know about my own family.

“Yes,” I said firmly. “I’m ready. Show me.”

Michelle nodded slowly, then opened the album to the first page

And the second I saw what was there, my entire world tilted sideways.