You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 885

He felt like a ranch owner who had just lost his sheepdog. Now he had to round up the sheep himself. The whole thing drove him crazy.

Upstairs, the bedroom was dark, the curtains pulled tight. Patricia was still asleep. He stepped in quietly, checked on her, then slipped back out without a sound.

“Call Chelsea. Ask her to come over.”

“Huh?” Sara looked up, confused, and pointed at herself. “Me?”

Oliver gave her a look she couldn’t mistake. “Is there a problem?”

“No, no problem. I’ll call her. I’ll do it now.”

Forty minutes later, Chelsea walked into the tea room at Cloud Peak. She headed straight in, looked around, and frowned when she didn’t see Patricia. “Where’s Patricia?” she asked Marian, puzzled.

“It’s not Miss Patricia who wanted to see you. Mr. Padilla asked for you,” Marian replied.

“He’s in the tea room.”

Chelsea stopped in her tracks. Was it too late to turn around and leave? Nothing good ever came from Oliver wanting to talk to her. As far as she was concerned, if it weren’t for Patricia, a guy like Oliver wouldn’t even notice her. He was mature, calm, and decent, but that was just who he was. His kindness was part of his character, not anything special for her. If Patricia weren’t his wife, he’d treat her family the same way, no matter who they were. Patricia was the exception, not the rest of them.

“Ms. Lawrence, Mr. Padilla is waiting for you.”

Just as she thought about making a run for it, Johns showed up to stop her.

Chelsea hunched her shoulders, awkward. “Johns, why does he want to see me?”

Johns looked uneasy. “Honestly, I don’t know. We don’t really ask about his business.”

Oliver poured her a cup of tea, then took a moment before he spoke. “About you and Hector…”

“We’ll break up. Right away. Don’t worry. I’d never do anything to embarrass your friend.”

Oliver just stared at her for a second. He took a quiet breath and tried again. “You don’t have to break up.”

Chelsea’s brain spun. Wait. Don’t break up? Then why did he want to see her? To chat? They had nothing to talk about. Was he going to defend Hector? Was he just trying to make things hard for her? He wouldn’t go that far, would he? She was basically his sister-in-law. Well, not really. Without Patricia, Hector was still Oliver’s business partner. But her? She was nothing. She couldn’t even get a promotion at work unless Oliver put in a word for her. She had no real use to him.

“Keep seeing Hector, and I’ll pay you five million a month.”

Chelsea’s teacup slipped from her hand and clattered against the table.