Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Mini videos play in my head. Olivia asleep with a hint of a smile on her face. Olivia throwing her head back to laugh when we had lunch in the farm restaurant. All lies. I grip the steering wheel tighter. I know that journalists go undercover to uncover injustices they believe have been done but why did she lie to me that she shared my feelings? Why did she make a fool of me?
It takes driving around the building that houses the magazine to find Olivia’s car. It’s parked in the rear and if I wasn’t looking for it, I wouldn’t have seen it. I park a few spaces away and turn off the engine, leaving the radio on even if I’m not listening to music. Every part of my body hurts. Betrayal hurts. Humiliation hurts. But worse is opening your fucking heart to someone and having it trampled on.
I don’t know how long I sit there before I see her walking toward her car. I wait until she’s opening her car before I step out of mine.
“Olivia.”
She whirls around and her expression of horror is all I need to know that everything that Alec told me is spot on. She opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out.
“Why, Olivia?”
Tears flood her eyes and that resurrects my anger. “Stop it. You’ve acted enough. You don’t need to do it anymore. It’s over. I bared my heart to you, dammit! You’ve made me a fool, and for what? A fucking story? What kind of cruel person are you? Who are you?”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” she says. “I didn’t lie about loving you, Jace. I do love you.”
A bitter laugh leaves my mouth. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
She folds her arms across her chest and looks so small, so vulnerable. A feeling of protectiveness comes over me and I want to gather her in my arms. I shove those feelings away and remind myself who I’m dealing with. A woman who would do anything for her career.
Anything, including selling her soul.
“You must have really laughed at me,” I said. “Don’t ever contact me or any of my family members again. You can write what you want about us.”
She keeps her gaze down. Crocodile tears run down her cheeks.
I turn and go to my car. I refuse to look at her as I drive off. I must be the unluckiest fucker who ever walked the earth. She was the first woman that I’ve ever fallen completely in love with. Left myself vulnerable to. Let her see all of me. The one woman I do that for turns out to be an imposter. A fake.
My anger ebbs away and is replaced by deep sadness. The kind of sadness I never thought a person could feel. As I drive home, things that were a mystery start to make sense. Marcus and Charlotte. Chris. Their reluctance to have a conversation with me and get to know me. All along they knew what Olivia was doing and they were probably under firm instructions not to mess up. Did they all sit down afterward and laugh at me? Olivia’s reluctance to discuss the future. I remember how I insisted that she send her work to Ivy to get some feedback. I feel like such a fool.
No wonder she didn’t want to discuss her future. She’s already an established writer. I hate myself even more when I think about how I contacted Adam and he actually offered Olivia a job. Compared to Lifestyle, his publication is tiny. That must have given her a huge laugh.
I can’t let myself be sidetracked by my emotions. Yes, it fucking hurts but what matters now is the clinic. I have to speak to Ivy and find out for myself what exactly will be published about our clinic.
Chapter 36: Olivia
As Amelia predicted, the story of The Anderson Clinic was big but not in the way she had thought. What it did was bring about a conversation about fertility clinics and the services they do. Because of Ivy’s story and the profiles of women and couples who have been treated at the clinic, they stopped being cast as the villain.
Susan and Mike’s story as well as Ivy’s and Alec’s were big, but Melissa’s was huge. We’re her story in multiple parts and people are reading it like a series. She’s shown all of it. Her vulnerability, her fears, and her hopes. We’re all rooting for her now. I can’t wait for the edition that I’m holding now to go out into the world. She’s finally pregnant. Our popularity has shot up and we’ve inched into the top spot of the most widely-read lifestyle magazine in Chicago.
I have my own column now where I showcase profiles of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I should be happy. I’m writing the pieces I’ve always wanted to write. I’m excited to pitch new ideas at our editorial meetings, but I’m not happy. My career was everything but now it doesn’t feel important at all.