to ghost a computer and use text messages that disappeared almost as fast as they scrolled onto the page. Still, within six months, Amelia was dead. In fact, all three of Olivia’s roommates at Richter were dead.
All to flush Olivia out.
Any chance of allowing herself to be open to friendships . . . or love . . . died with Amelia.
Until Leo.
Until Neil and the team.
Now Olivia sat in a café, her head down, her body language closed off.
She really had started to believe that the world thought she was dead.
If only she’d turned to her nightmares and looked closer . . . maybe she would have woken up, come out of the amnesia sooner, so she didn’t have to break her heart in order to die again.
“Does Neil own this plane?”
Leo was once again in a private jet, which just boggled his brain, for the third time since he met Neil.
Jax sat on the sofa, feet curled under her with a tablet in her hands. “Technically it belongs to his brother-in-law. He’s big in shipping.”
Leo ran his hands over the leather seat. “Does it ever get old?”
Jax shrugged.
“I take that as a yes.”
“My parents have money. They don’t own a plane, but they were too good for domestic flights.”
He looked down at the clouds that passed by. “It’s going to make riding in coach really hard.”
“Neil doesn’t always pony up for this.”
“I can’t imagine what it costs.”
“You don’t want to know,” Jax said.
Leo changed the subject. “Why did your parents send you to Richter?”
Jax kept plucking away on the game she was playing. “They didn’t want to be parents.”
“Ouch.”
She put aside the game and looked up. With a perfectly polished British accent, she said, “Of course I have a daughter. Lovely girl. She’s at Richter, you know. Fluent in four languages. She’ll make a rich man a lovely wife.”
“Double ouch.” That didn’t fit the description of any of the women working with Neil.
She stood, moved to the bar. “Yeah. Pissed them all to hell when I moved to the States and got a job. So dirty of me.” She removed a flute and found a bottle of champagne and a small container of orange juice. “Want one?”
He shook his head. “But when we’re done with Richter, you’re going home to visit?”
“I’m not due there until next week. You don’t dare show up early . . . that throws the whole schedule off.”
“Why bother if your parents are such snobs?”
She pulled the cork out of the bottle with a nice pop and filled the glass within an inch of the top. “I don’t hate them. They’re not bad people, just selfish. And sadly, I really don’t know them very well. I was barely in a training bra when they sent me to Richter, and I only went home in the summer and on holidays. And in the summer, my parents would take a month-long something somewhere and leave me and my brother with a nanny.”
Poor little rich girl. “Damn.”
With her mimosa in hand, Jax sat a little taller and smiled. “I never lose sight of the fact that as crappy as all that sounded, I’ve been very blessed.”
“So what will you do before crashing your parents’ house?”
Jax laughed at his description.
Leo envisioned her parents living in some stuffy manor-type home with servants and regal greyhound dogs at the door. The only time something crashed was when the rich drunk uncle dropped his bourbon and everyone blamed the glass.
She pointed up at the plane. “Blake. Gwen’s brother. I’m going to his offices in Amsterdam to do a sweep.”
“A sweep?”
“A couple of days to check out the office, the docs . . . talk to the employees, see if there are any security concerns.”
“So . . . spy on the Dutch?”
“Pretty much. But hey, you have to run a virus check on your computer once in a while to clean out all the clutter.”
“Neil has a broad range of what he does.”
“The man doesn’t sleep. He is always figuring out another way to hire more employees to help out the people he knows. And Neil knows everyone. He’s a good man. He really stepped up for Claire. As her best friend, I will always be thankful for that.”
Leo turned toward the window again. “Like he did for Olivia.”
“Yup. Earning your respect and loyalty without even trying.”
“Maybe he’ll hire me when I lose my job.” He’d told his boss that he got word from Janie and he was going to find her and