You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 249

The car stopped at Cloud Peak.

Jackson was about to head inside and update Patricia when Aiden grabbed his arm. “Hey, have some boundaries. This isn’t your old villa. The boss really doesn’t like any of us from the staff quarters showing up in the main house.”

“Leftovers from another era,” Jackson muttered, his irritation obvious.

He couldn’t stand how Oliver did things. Sure, you could call it refined, maybe even organized. But really, it was just cold. Everything was divided by invisible lines—class, status, who mattered and who didn’t.

Oliver used rules to keep everyone at a distance. Guys like Aiden ended up both respecting and fearing him, just because of that power gap. Jackson hated it. He was a soldier, someone who’d actually danced with death.

On the battlefield, it didn’t matter if you were rich or broke. Bullets didn’t care about your last name. Out there, everyone’s life was equally worthless.

But most people would never get that.

That morning, Jackson sat in the garden, twirling a piece of wild grass and teasing a stray kitten. When Patricia came jogging down after her run, he tossed the grass away, dusted off his jeans, and stood up, shooting her a look full of silent complaints.

“Why aren’t you going inside?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Jackson said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Ruby’s been discharged. She’s home now.”

He summarized his report in a couple of sentences, but Patricia just frowned and looked at him closely. “What’s wrong? Who’s bothering you?”

“No one,” he said, not wanting to get into it.

“That guy I asked you to watch—is he still keeping tabs? Ruby’s next move will be going overseas. Pass that on to the American.”

“Got it,” Jackson nodded.

Since Patricia didn’t say anything else, he turned and left.

Patricia stood in the garden, watching him walk away, lips pressed together. She could tell Jackson and Marian both felt awkward here at Cloud Peak, never really at ease.

Upstairs, she changed her clothes. Oliver came up from the gym just as she was finishing. The weather outside was awful—gray and heavy with smog—definitely not the day for a run.

“About what?”

“I want you to let Ruby use the rehab team you put together for me.”

Oliver never understood the way women fought their battles. If it were up to him, Ruby wouldn’t even make it onto the plane out of the country. There’d be no chance for her.

“So, do you want to keep punishing her, or do you just not want her dead?”

Patricia didn’t hesitate. “I want her to keep living—barely. Death would be too easy.”

Patricia looked straight at him. “I know her. I know exactly what kind of ending would make her wish she was dead.”

When Oliver didn’t answer right away, she pressed again. “Can you do it?”

“I can. But shouldn’t you start dealing with the Newton family now? Who’s first—Theo?”