Page 50 of Protecting Olivia

“With every fiber of my soul, tesorino.”

Sweet baby Jesus, I loved this man.

***

My heart was pounding again, only this time it was because my mom and Peter Newton had buzzed from the lobby announcing their arrival.

I was trying my hardest to play cool, but I was mad, and happy, and scared, and thought I might throw up.

Maybe Leo had knocked me up. Was it too early for morning sickness twelve hours after the seed was planted, so to speak?

The knock at the door made me jump. “Easy, Olivia. Everything will be fine.”

Leo opened the door. There was my mom. Peter Newton stood beside her looking as nervous as I felt. Behind them, two agents stood guard. I wonder if there was still a threat on the Attorney General’s life. I looked to Leo to ask.

“Protocol, tesorino. Everything is fine,” he assured me.

Well, he tried to anyway. I didn’t think anything would be okay again between me and my mom.

“Sweetheart,” my mom cried and came to me. “I was so worried about you. Are you okay? Where did you go? You can come home now. We’ll move you back into the penthouse for a while until you’re all settled. We can leave now.”

“That’s enough, Pamela,” Peter said from across the room.

Well, they hadn’t worked anything out if the tone in Peter’s voice was any indication.

“Back off,” Leo demanded. “Slow down and give her a chance to talk.”

This was not starting off well. My mother could get herself all worked up and would boss everyone in the room if not kept in check. That wasn’t going to work with Leo. He would trample over her without thinking twice. Knowing he had my back gave me the courage I needed to face my mom.

“Why don’t we sit down and talk,” I suggested.

“We can do that in the car. Let’s get your things and get out of Mr…. Sorry I forgot your name,” my mom sneered.

Damn, she could be a bitch when she wanted to be.

“Not gonna happen. And you know damn well what my name is,” Leo said.

“This is none of your business. It’s a private family matter. You did your part. Now I’m taking my daughter home so we can speak in private.” My mom squared her shoulders and prepared for battle.

“Not gonna happen, Pamela,” Leo semi repeated.

“And just who do you think you are? I’m going to call…”

Leo cut her off. “I’m the man who is going to marry your daughter. And being that man, I’m going to make sure that while the three of you have your talk, Olivia is not overly upset. At any time during this conversation if I feel like Olivia has had enough, I will shut this shit down so fast your head will spin. I understand this is an unfortunate situation and emotions are high, so I’ll give you a little leeway. But I’ll warn you, you’re almost at the end of your rope. I get you don’t like me, for reasons only known to you. And I’m okay with that. One day you’ll come to appreciate that I’m telling you this to help you fix what you broke with your daughter: Back off and listen to her.”

My mom huffed and started to say something else. Something that was undoubtedly rude and would make Leo toss her ass out.

“Sit down, Pamela, and let Olivia speak,” Peter said from across the room.

Surprisingly, my mom did just that. She sat on the couch, Peter next to her. I sat in the recliner, and Leo perched on the armrest. He never left my side. Not when I screamed at my mom for lying to me, not when she yelled back and told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to her like that. Not for the entire hour when she deflected and refused to answer my questions. There was something wrong, my mom had never behaved in such a rude, belligerent manner before. The woman sitting in front of me was not the mom that raised me. I was done. She didn’t want to talk to me; she only wanted me to side with her that everything that had happened was Peter’s fault. Forget that she’d lied to both of us my whole life. One excuse after another. She was completely irrational.

“We’re done here,” Leo announced.

“What? No, we're not. Olivia still needs to pack,” my mom said.

“I see you haven’t been listening to a fucking word your daughter has said,” Leo spat.

“Such vulgarity. And you think I’m okay with my daughter being with a man like you?”