not him.”
“Should we advise her?” Olivia asked. “It’s not really our job to give her relationship advice or to recommend anything in regard to mental health treatment.”
“I think we should at least encourage her to seek treatment and medication for depression elsewhere, if she feels she would benefit from it,” Sunday said. “Given what we know about Drake so far, I don’t think he has purely honorable intentions. In fact, it sounds like he’s just trying to gaslight her.”
Olivia nodded. “My thoughts exactly. What does the rest of the email say?”
As Sunday scrolled down so they could read the rest of the email, Adeline arrived with an iced latte in hand and large and round sunglasses on her face. She breezed into the office, chirping a muted greeting and disappearing into the kitchenette.
“Sounds like they’re having a dinner party tonight,” Sunday said, glancing through the rest of the email. “And Lila was hoping for backup.”
Adeline wandered back into the main area of the office. “What’s up?”
“Lila is asking Olivia to come to a dinner party tonight,” explained Sunday. “Apparently, she would feel more comfortable if one of us was there. She said that Rhys would be there, and Olivia could easily pose as his guest.” Adeline snorted. “What the hell is attending a snobby dinner party going to do for the case?”
Sunday shrugged. “Unclear, but it might provide us with some more thorough insight on how Dr. Bannon functions in social situations. It’s kind of funny, though. It’s almost like Lila is trying to set up Olivia and Rhys on a date.”
Olivia balked and nudged Sunday aside so that she could read the email properly.
I do hope it’s not a huge overstep, but I was thinking that it would be a good idea if Olivia accompanied Rhys to the dinner party. He’s so eager to help, and it would really comfort me to have both of you there. Drake gets even more egotistic at events like this, and the aftermath is always so exhausting…
“She isn’t playing matchmaker,” Olivia told Sunday with an eyeroll. “She’s just scared.”
Adeline snickered. “Maybe.”
Olivia placed her hands on her hips. “What’s with the sarcasm?”
“I think we all noticed the tension between you and Rhys yesterday in the conference room, Liv,” Adeline said. “Including Lila.”
In response, Olivia squirmed and moved away from the computer, taking another swig of her coffee and busying herself with tidying up the paperwork on the coffee table nearby.
“There’s no tension between me and Rhys,” Olivia argued. “We barely know each other.”
“Perhaps, but the way he looked at you, it was pretty obvious he wanted some tension between you,” Adeline countered with a pronounced smirk. “Plus, don’t act like you’re not attracted to him.”
“Literally nothing about this case has anything to do with my attraction to Rhys. If there is any kind of chemistry between me and our client’s brother-in-law, it is because we both want what is best for Lila.”
Sunday exchanged a loaded glance with Adeline, their eyes twinkling with amusement.
“Whenever you get defensive like that, it usually means we’re right.” Sunday chuckled. “But, regardless, I do think it might be a good idea for you to accept this invitation. We can wire you up, and you can observe Dr. Bannon in his natural habitat. Get a good look at how he behaves around his wife and family and friends in public.”
“Don’t you think it might be a little weird for him to see one of his patients show up at his house for a party?” Olivia asked.
“That’s where Rhys comes in,” Adeline responded, sitting on the couch and yanking out her phone. “Last session, you mentioned to Dr. Bannon that you met a guy. That guy could be Rhys. I think it would be interesting to see what Drake thinks of you being attracted to his identical twin. Their relationship is strained already, and it might be enough to push him further in his attempts to control you in your next session. Did you say that Rhys told you that Drake always wanted to be the favorite? Well, there you go.”
Olivia groaned. She hated it when Adeline made sense like that. Sunday, too. Accepting Lila’s invitation to attend the dinner party with Rhys would not only comfort their client, who was paying thousands of dollars for their services, but it would also give Olivia a chance to get an inside look on the life of their target, which wasn’t always a guaranteed aspect of the cases they worked. Furthermore, Adeline was