You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 140

First came disbelief. Then came the shock of what she was seeing.

If she’d known Patricia would walk again from the very start, would things have turned out like this between them?

Theo’s fingers curled at his side. The cruel words he’d thrown at her before echoed in his mind.

“If you want me to live with you like nothing’s wrong, then you’d better not be crippled.”

“Patricia, come talk to me when you can stand on your own two feet.”

“Are you planning to spend your whole life looking up at me from the floor?”

“You’re just a cripple. Where does all that ego come from?”

“If you can’t even stand, what makes you think you can fight me?”

The thud of high heels on the carpet cut through the silence. Patricia held the banister as she descended the staircase, back straight, chin up—like she owned the place. In that moment, she looked like the true star of the party, while Emerson and his perfect family were nothing but her backdrop.

The whole room went quiet. The only sound left was Patricia’s footsteps.

Ruby watched, her fingers curling tight at her side. She pressed her lips into a forced smile and walked over to Patricia.

“Why aren’t you wearing the dress I gave you, sis?”

Patricia played along, her voice cool. “Is this your way of reminding me you used to sleep with my ex-husband?”

Ruby pouted. “Oh, come on. I wasn’t the only one in his bed, you know.”

Patricia shrugged like it didn’t matter. “There’s a difference between wanting something and having the guts to actually go for it.”

Her eyes flicked past Ruby’s shoulder, locking onto Theo’s stormy glare. “You’d better hold on tight, Ruby. Otherwise…”

Patricia smirked, stepped around Ruby, and headed straight for the balcony, ignoring the crowd’s stares.

Theo started to go after her, but someone grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

“Patricia.”

Patricia’s lips curled into a slow, dangerous smile. The night wind made her dress flutter as she spoke, every word sharp. “You brought this on yourself.”

In a flash, Joseph lunged, eyes blazing. He wrapped his hand around her throat, yanked her off the swing, and hissed, “You should never have come back, Patricia. This time, I won’t hold back.”

“Is that so?” Patricia was short of breath, but her eyes were steady—no fear, not even a flicker. She even sounded like she was trying to help him. “Maybe you should look down, Mr. Miller.”

He felt the cold bite of steel against his stomach, slicing through his shirt.

Just a little further, and the blade would break skin.

Joseph looked down.

Patricia was holding a small, almost invisible fruit knife, pressing its tip into his abdomen. One push. That’s all it would take.

Stunned, Joseph slowly let go.

Patricia stood, closing the distance between them, keeping the knife pointed at his stomach, forcing him to back away step by step.