You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 526

Tina’s question hit Ruby like a slap. She just stood there, stunned, staring at her mom. Her eyes wandered from Tina’s tense face to the anger burning in her eyes. Ruby’s mind spun back through the years, trying to figure out when their family started to unravel. Maybe it was the day her dad cheated—the man who’d stood side by side with her mom for decades suddenly had an affair. He found someone else, and that woman even ended up pregnant. He broke his vows. Who could possibly be okay with that?

“Mom…” Ruby whispered. She took a tentative step forward and reached out, wanting to comfort her. Tina just pulled away.

“Just wait,” Tina snapped. “Once your dad steps down, let’s see if that other woman is still so loyal.”

She looked right at Ruby, her voice more tired than angry. “When you’re my age, you see things for what they are. If your dad had been faithful, if he’d respected our family, I would’ve stayed with him forever. But he made his choice. Marriage isn’t something you can keep going by yourself, no matter how hard you try.”

Tina put her hands on Ruby’s shoulders, holding her tight, her eyes serious. “You know what you need to do, right?”

Before Ruby could answer, the door banged open and Emerson came stomping in, looking furious.

“Ruby, get out,” he barked.

Ruby glanced at her mom, hesitated, then quietly slipped out.

As soon as she was gone, Emerson rounded on Tina. “Didn’t you say you hid her? How did the police find her?”

Tina looked up at him, unimpressed. “You’re blaming me? When have I had a second to breathe at the company lately? If we didn’t move her, it was only a matter of time before the police tracked her down.”

A mess of emotions twisted inside her, but she knew this wasn’t the time to lash out or gloat. She had to play it smart, keep Emerson calm, and make sure she could steer things the way she needed to.

After a pause, Tina pulled herself together. She walked over to the bar, poured him a glass of water, and handed it to him. “We need to think about the long game now. How are we going to protect ourselves when the board is watching our every move?”

“We’ve got the board pressuring us from inside, and Patricia circling from the outside. We can’t afford to just sit here and wait for things to get worse.”

Emerson looked at her warily, suspicion in his eyes. “What are you saying?”

Tina met his gaze, calm and steady. “We’re still married, Emerson. As long as that’s true, our interests are tied together. We’re in this as a team.”