You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 523

If she’d just been someone from the bottom, it wouldn’t have mattered. She could’ve made a scene and moved on. The real trouble was the business ties between their families. One wrong move and she’d be labeled for good. Getting back up would be almost impossible.

Dinner started off lively, but the mood fizzled out fast.

That night, Ruby came home to an empty house. No Tina, no Emerson. Just her grandma, sitting on the couch with a bowl of soup, trying to cool off from the summer heat.

As soon as Ruby walked in, her grandma called her over, clearly wanting to chat.

Ruby wasn’t really in the mood. She answered here and there, eyes glued to her phone.

Her grandma suddenly snapped, “Your parents are never home anymore, and now you just bury your face in your phone the second you walk in. How is this any different from when I was back in Blue Ridge?”

Ruby looked up, a little caught off guard. “Grandma, everyone’s just busy. Mom and Dad’s company is in trouble—they’re basically living at the office. My company’s just getting off the ground, so I have to socialize and network all the time. Seriously, can’t you smell the smoke and alcohol? I feel like I’ve been soaking in it.”

She handed her phone over. “Look, I’m working while keeping you company. I haven’t even complained.”

Her grandma’s face tightened. She’d been home almost a month, but after that first week, the four of them hadn’t had a single dinner together. She couldn’t help feeling left out. It stung. Still, there was nothing wrong with what Ruby said. Not a word she could argue with.

“So what’s going on with your parents’ company?” her grandma asked.

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t get it,” Ruby said, already distracted. She couldn’t stop thinking about Oliver and needed to find out who he really was. Plus, she had to check if their companies had any kind of business connection.

“I’m heading upstairs.”

...

“Still awake?”

Just yesterday, when Oliver left home early, he tossed a line over his shoulder: “Feelings get in the way, kindness ruins authority.”

She realized she’d been way too soft.

“So you need him but he won’t play along? Grab him where it hurts. If that doesn’t work, maybe you’re not squeezing hard enough,” Atticus said, handing her a glass of water. “There’s a saying in war: sometimes you throw a fake. But there’s another—if you want to turn things around, you’ve got to grab your enemy by the throat. Are you letting him breathe?”

Patricia stared at him.

He’d called her out exactly.

She really had let him breathe. She should’ve dealt with his son first and then negotiated, not the other way around.

Thank God Oliver kept him stuck up at Cloud Peak all night, out of reach. Otherwise, dealing with his son would have turned into a long, messy standoff.