You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 638

He was only ever drawn to Patricia.

Whenever she settled down to do something, it felt like the whole world went quiet around her. She was like a drop of calm in the middle of a noisy, restless life, smoothing out the rough edges of his heart just by being there.

Right now she was in the kitchen, totally focused as she sliced lemons and layered them neatly into a glass jar. Then, with practiced hands, she poured honey in slow, golden streams over each layer. She wasn’t in a hurry. Every move was steady and sure, as if she had all the time in the world. The honey slid down the inside of the jar, catching the light and turning everything warm and golden.

Then, out of nowhere, a shout broke through his thoughts.

“Shit!”

“Damn bird!”

Brandon sat in the passenger seat, staring at the fresh white streak sliding down the windshield. His coworker’s voice was loud and annoyed.

“Why here? Out of everywhere, it had to hit my windshield?”

Anyone who drives knows you can’t use the wipers now—unless you want to smear the mess across the whole glass. But leave it there, and you can’t help but stare at that ugly splatter every time you look forward.

Brandon pulled out his phone and checked for the nearest gas station. “Let’s fill up. Might as well get a car wash while we’re at it.”

His coworker gave him a sideways look. “Look at you, always finding a way to save a buck.”

The car bumped along, rolling slowly over the uneven road. These backroads weren’t anything like the city—potholes everywhere, and the shocks on the old work car were shot. Brandon wasn’t used to driving out here, so every dip and bump made the whole ride feel jerky and rough.

It fit his mood perfectly—unsettled, up and down.

He leaned his head against the window, watching dust swirl behind a big truck up ahead. Everything outside looked hazy and unclear.

“You ever wonder,” his coworker said suddenly, “why Emerson turned on Tina out of nowhere?”

“We always suspected Emerson had help. There was another set of fingerprints on the old report, but they were too faint for the lab to match. Emerson never cracked, though. He always said he acted alone, took the fall himself.”

“So why change his tune now? Why throw Tina under the bus after all these years?”

Patricia never did the dirty work herself. She always made sure everything was clean, legal, and left no trace behind. She needed someone else to do it for her.

That someone was him.

He was just like the wipers now—trying to clear things up, trying to see the truth, but never quite getting there.

In the end, he saw the truth for what it was: Patricia only let him know what she wanted him to know.

Emerson had kept quiet for years, taking all the blame. Then, suddenly, he’d turned on Tina. And right in the middle of that, Patricia had visited him twice.

The guards said those visits were short.

The first time, Emerson got so worked up they had to take him away. The second, he left looking hollow and defeated, like something inside him had been stripped away.

It all made sense now: Patricia had something on Emerson. Something strong enough to break a man who’d survived everything else. Strong enough to make him betray the woman he’d loved for thirty years.