You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 608

The sky was already dark, the kind of deep, velvety night that only comes at the end of summer in Riverdale. September was just around the corner and up here at Cloud Peak, the air felt a few degrees cooler than in the city—a little sharper, a little more alive. It was the kind of night that made you want to breathe deeper and stay outside just a little longer.

Hector was standing out front, cigarette propped between his fingers, scrolling through his phone. A long-haired calico cat was weaving in circles around his legs, flopping over with her belly in the air every so often, clearly angling for a few pats.

He let out a short laugh, pocketed his phone, and looked up at the guy standing across from him.

“Got a bite,” Hector said, grinning.

Mr. Padilla raised his eyebrows. “What bite?”

“Your wife, obviously…” Hector started to fill Oliver in on everything that had happened, ending with a sly smile. “Seriously, she’s just like you—must’ve picked up a few tricks along the way.”

Picked up a few tricks? Oliver mulled that over. He wasn’t so sure.

If Patricia took after anyone, it was her father. Jason always looked like the perfect gentleman—bookish, soft-spoken, the kind of guy you’d trust with your secrets. But underneath all that, he was sharp and ruthless, the kind of person who could survive in Riverdale’s business world and actually come out on top. Back when everyone was jumping into tech startups, Jason had nothing behind him—no family money, no connections—and still managed to build something out of nothing. That took more than just brains. That took guts.

Patricia? She was the same. She looked calm and gentle on the surface, but underneath it all she was fierce. Whether she was grinding down the Newton family or pushing Emerson closer to the edge, she did it all with a kind of quiet intensity. There was nothing soft about her.

So when Hector said she was like him, Oliver didn’t know how to respond.

He knocked the ash off his cigarette, letting the breeze scatter it across his pants. He leaned down, brushed himself off, and finally said, “Doesn’t really matter who she gets it from. As long as she knows how to stand her ground.”

Hector snorted. “You sound like a dad who can’t stop worrying.”

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