You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 763

Patricia sat in the visitor’s chair at the detention center, looking at Tina through the mesh. There was a slow, deep smile on her lips, the kind that never quite touched her eyes. She leaned back, perfectly at ease, like she was lounging in her own living room. Compared to Tina, stiff and desperate on the other side, Patricia seemed to be living in a completely different world.

For middle-aged women like Tina, losing money meant losing everything. Age caught up with her all at once. There were so many people like her, clinging to pride and hope just to keep going. Take that away, and it was all over.

Patricia picked up the phone and spoke, her voice low and soft. “There’s something I never told you. Ruby was the one who arranged for Theo to be kidnapped, all those years ago.”

Tina’s eyes went sharp in an instant.

Patricia kept going, almost casually. “She was dating Theo, but she was cheating with the son of her foreign language tutor. She got pregnant, but she was too scared to get an abortion. She was worried people would notice her belly, so she came up with this whole kidnapping story. She planned to use it as leverage to marry into the Newton family. What she didn’t expect was that I’d stumble into the mess and save Theo. She never thought I’d turn things around and use it to make Theo marry me instead.”

Patricia’s lips curled with a hint of amusement. “Did you really think Ruby went overseas because of heartbreak, Ms. Klotz? That’s adorable. Your daughter left the country to have her baby, and you had no idea.”

She scrolled through her phone, pulled up a photo, and held it against the glass for Tina to see. “Her kid’s already in elementary school. You, the grandmother, didn’t even know.”

“All those years of enjoying the flattery that comes with money and fame, Ms. Klotz. In the end, you’re just a murderer, drowning in everyone’s contempt.” Patricia laughed, the sound light and cold. “And as for Grandma… she spent her whole life so proud of her two sons. Look at her now. She’s old and alone, needs help from the community just to eat. Does she still walk around with her head held high?”

Tina’s face was chalk white. Her fingers shook. She stared at Patricia, and there was no anger left, just a kind of hollow defeat. This loss was total. It was humiliating.

Patricia’s voice softened, almost gentle but with every word sharp as glass. “Don’t worry. Ruby’s still my sister. I did care about her once when we were young. I won’t send her to prison so easily. I’ll let her stay out here, let her feel what it’s like to have nothing, let her struggle just to get by. I want her to come back down to earth and live the life she deserves. Let her enjoy every bit of it.”