Chapter 136

Olivia

The first thing I noticed was the cold. Stone isn’t exactly known for its warmth, especially when you’ve slept on it all night.

Slowly, the events of the night came back to me. Nathan and I must have been so wrapped up in a world of scattered old books filled with ancient lore and forgotten family trees that we must have fallen asleep right where we sat, forgetting about the existence of beds entirely.

Pushing myself into a sitting position, I rubbed my eyes, trying to chase away the heaviness of unexpected sleep. Every muscle in my body ached. Nathan’s face came into view beside me as I blinked against the morning light.

His disheveled tawny hair gave him an adorably rugged appearance, but his blue-green eyes rang clear and true. He was looking at me. I instantly felt my cheeks flush a little.

“Morning,” I murmured, stretching out my sore limbs.

He looked up, eyes still blurry from sleep, and a warm smile spread across his face. “Morning.” He slowly sat up beside me and groaned, cracking his back. “Oh, man. I can’t believe we actually slept down here all night. Are you feeling okay?”

I nodded and raised my arms above my head, stretching to the left and the right, before I slowly stood. My lower back and my hips were hurting a little, but I was fine.

The baby would be sure to forgive me eventually for falling asleep on a cold stone floor rather than a soft, plush bed. My spine would eventually forgive me, too, although I couldn’t decide which would come first.

“I’m alright,” I said, looking around at the mess we had made with a chuckle. “My aunt would be fuming right now if she could see this.”

“Nah.” Nathan stood beside me and scratched his head. “I think she would have wanted us to find this. To get to the bottom of what’s going on.”

“I just don’t get why she never told anyone,” I said. The room was cast in a warm golden glow from the scrap of early morning sun that flooded in through the little window. “She didn’t even leave a note. Not even from her death bed.”

Nathan shrugged. “Maybe she was protecting the information. Or she was protecting you.”

I stifled a laugh. My aunt? Protecting me? I never even found out if she really liked me until Clint handed me the envelope with the deed to the villa.

“She really loved you,” Clint had said. I wished that she had said those words to me when she was still alive. I would have given anything to hear them uttered from her lips.

“Hey, Liv?” Nathan said then, turning to face me. His eyes looked tired and a bit haggard, and he had a shadow of stubble growing on his face. It gave him a rugged, handsome look, although I had to admit that he needed a shower.

“What’s up?” I asked.

Nathan cleared his throat. “Thank you, you know. For yesterday… and for every other time you’ve been there for me. I…”

His voice trailed off there. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but I could have sworn that a bit of redness crept into his cheeks. He quickly looked away, clearing his throat again. “Anyway. Thanks. I’ll make it up to you.”

I smiled, raking my fingers through my own tangled hair, which had come loose from its bun in the middle of the night. “That’s what friends are for. And well, we are in this mystery together.”

Before he could respond, a flashing notification light from his phone grabbed both of our attentions. I watched as he quickly reached for it and his face paled at the notification. “It’s a voicemail from my mom,” he said, eyebrows furrowing with concern.

I remembered the desperation in his voice when he had left her a message last night. Without saying anything, he pressed play and put it on speaker.

“Nathan, it’s me…” his mother’s voice began, and I could hear the unmistakable note of fear in her tone. My eyes widened slightly upon hearing it; Maria was always so stoic. What could be frightening her? “Don’t ever mention Edward again, to anyone. Do you hear me? Especially around your father. Promise me!”

A shiver ran down my spine. What had happened to make her sound so scared? As the message continued, I leaned in closer, trying to catch every word.

“You have to be careful. Colin isn’t… he isn’t who you think he is. He's changed. He’s been so… hungry for power lately. I don’t know what he’s capable of anymore.”

I glanced at Nathan, noting the alarm and confusion in his eyes. But then, something in the background of the voicemail caught our attention — muffled voices, arguing, distant but audible.

“I have to—” Maria’s voice started, but then it was drowned out by another.

Was that… Colin’s voice? Nathan’s face was a mirror of my own thoughts.

“I love you, Nathan, my son. I love you.” Maria’s voice was frantic, hushed.

The voicemail abruptly ended, and the room fell into a heavy silence, save for the faint chirping of morning birds outside.

Nathan gulped. “What the hell was that? Was that… was that my dad’s voice in the background?”

I tried to think rationally, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. “Look, Nathan, we don’t know anything for sure. But… it sounded like him.”

“Why would she be warning me about my own father?” His voice trembled, his strong facade crumbling just a little.

My heart ached for him. “Maybe we should leave. Go somewhere safe while we figure things out.”

Nathan looked torn. “But the answers are here, Liv. If we leave now, we might never find out the truth.”

My gaze wandered over the room, lingering on the stacks of books and the pages we had yet to explore. “You’re right. But we should be quick, especially if your dad is somehow involved in all of this.”

“Involved? He’s at the center of it, Liv,” Nathan snapped, a flicker of anger flashing in his eyes. “He has to be. If I find out that he’s done anything to my mom, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll kill him.”

My eyes widened. “Nathan, you don’t mean that,” I murmured.

Nathan took a deep breath, composing himself. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

A heavy silence hung over us, punctuated only by the sound of the birds chirping outside as the world came to life. We stood amongst the stacks of books and papers, a newfound determination taking over us.

“Let’s go through the books one by one, but quickly,” I said. “We need to find any mention of Edward, anything that might hint at what happened between him and your father.”

Hours seemed to pass in a blur as we scoured the pages, cross-referencing dates and events, piecing together fragmented accounts.

Our fingers were smudged with ink, our minds overloaded with information. But there was nothing. No information on Edward. Aside from the initial entry we found about him, his existence seemed to have been wiped off the face of the earth.

Nathan and I looked at each other, our dust-stained faces filled with confusion and dread.