You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 201

Ever since Ruby’s bakery shut its doors for a few days, the Martin Group’s online buzz faded almost overnight. Sure, they tried to keep the hype alive—hiring influencers, bringing in celebrities to show off their smart home gadgets. But let’s be real, Ruby was the main draw. Without her, none of it really mattered. Emerson couldn’t seriously think about letting her slip away, right?

Patricia lounged in a chair across from Ruby, one leg elegantly crossed, her gaze drifting from Ruby’s face to her legs and back again. She just kept staring, sizing her up over and over, making Ruby feel exposed and uncomfortable.

Minutes ticked by. Ruby made no move to end her livestream.

Patricia reached into her bag, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it, all smooth and practiced, like she’d done it a thousand times before. She took a long drag, blowing out smoke with a calm coldness as if she owned the place.

For someone who’d just woken up from a fainting spell, Ruby barely had the strength to talk, let alone deal with the sharp, suffocating smell of smoke filling the room. Her chest tightened—she started coughing, hard.

Patricia barely glanced over, taking another lazy drag before her cigarette burned out, looking for all the world like a seasoned smoker.

Ruby stared at her in disbelief. Patricia smoked? That just didn’t compute. This was Patricia—the girl who’d grown up with elite tutors, perfect table manners, always top of her class, practically raised in a glass case. She had nothing in common with the girls who snuck behind the gym to smoke and gossip. What had changed?

Another coughing fit wracked Ruby’s body. Finally, she fumbled for her phone and shut off the livestream.

“Patricia, get out,” Ruby rasped.

Patricia just laughed, flicked her cigarette into a plastic cup, and grinned. “Wow, I finally make the effort to visit and you’re already kicking me out? That’s cold.”

“We don’t have anything to talk about.”

Patricia shrugged, totally unfazed. “Oh, I think we do. Tons, actually.”

“Like what, exactly?”

“Was it you?” Ruby demanded, breath coming in sharp gasps. “Did you do it?”

Patricia leaned back, looking bored. “Did what, exactly?”

Ruby was shaking now, furious and exhausted. She hadn’t even recovered from her illness yet. If Emerson hadn’t insisted on her making an appearance for the company’s image, she’d still be resting.

She pressed a hand to her chest and glared at Patricia. “You’re such a fake. You act like you hate us, but when you see us face to face, you put on that sweet, friendly act.”

“Joseph called you a cripple, so you broke his arm. I called you a cripple, and you broke my leg. You’re insane.”

“You’re a lunatic, Patricia. Completely out of your mind.”