His Dangerous Love On Ice Chapter 210: Olive's Pov

I stared at the photograph on the first page of the album, my brain struggling to process what my eyes were clearly seeing, trying to make sense of an image that didn't fit with anything I thought I knew about my brother.

It was Klaus and Judy together, but not in any casual, friendly way.

They were at what looked like a beach, the ocean visible in the background, and they were close, closer than friends should be, closer than acquaintances, their bodies angled toward each other in a way that spoke of intimacy and familiarity.

Klaus had his arm wrapped around Judy's shoulders, pulling him in tight, and both of them were laughing at something, their faces lit up with genuine joy that made them look younger than I remembered either of them being.

But it wasn't just the closeness that made me freeze.

It was the way Klaus was looking at Judy in the photo—the way his eyes were fixed on Judy's face instead of the camera, the expression of pure adoration written across his features, the body language that screamed this was someone he cared about deeply.

"What is this?" I managed to whisper, my hands starting to shake as I held the album.

Michelle stepped closer to me, her voice gentle. "Don't panic, Olive. Please. Just... keep looking. Let me explain."

I turned to the next page with trembling fingers, and this time the photograph was even more explicit in its meaning.

Klaus and Judy were sitting on what looked like a porch swing, Judy's head resting on Klaus's shoulder, Klaus's fingers threaded through Judy's hair in a gesture so tender it made my chest ache.

And then the next page.

And the next.

Each photograph showing my brother and Judy together in ways that made it impossible to deny what I was seeing, what they had been to each other.

But the photograph that made my knees actually buckle was on the fifth page.

Klaus and Judy kissing.

Not a friendly peck on the cheek or some casual gesture that could be explained away.

A real kiss, intimate and passionate, Klaus's hand cupping Judy's face while Judy's arms wrapped around Klaus's waist, both of them completely absorbed in each other, completely oblivious to whoever was taking the photograph.

The album slipped from my fingers and would have hit the floor if Michelle hadn't caught it.

"Klaus was gay," I breathed, the words feeling strange and foreign in my mouth. "My brother was gay."

"Yes," Michelle confirmed quietly.

"But that doesn't make sense," I said, my voice getting louder, more desperate. "Klaus dated girls. I saw him with girlfriends. He talked about girls all the time. If he was gay, I would have known. We were so close. He told me everything."

"Did he?" Michelle asked gently. "Or did he tell you everything he thought you could handle? Everything he thought was safe to share?"

I shook my head frantically because this couldn't be true, couldn't be real.

I'd known Klaus better than anyone. We'd been best friends before we were siblings, had shared secrets and dreams and fears that we'd never told our parents.

If Klaus was gay, if he'd been in love with Judy Byron, I would have known.

I would have seen the signs.

Wouldn't I?

"How long have you known?" I asked Michelle, my voice breaking. "How long have you known that your son and my brother were... were together?"

Michelle's expression softened with something that looked like sympathy.

"I found out about Judy being gay twelve years ago," she said. "The year after Klaus died. Judy was destroyed, completely broken by grief, and I couldn't understand why he was taking some friend's death so hard. So I pushed him to talk to me, to explain what was wrong. And eventually, he broke down and told me everything. That Klaus wasn't just his friend. That Klaus was the love of his life. That he'd been mourning his boyfriend, not just some casual acquaintance."

Twelve years.

She'd known for twelve years and never said anything, never told me, never reached out to Klaus's family to let us know that there was someone out there grieving him as more than just a friend.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Why keep this secret?"

"Because it wasn't my secret to tell," Michelle said simply. "Klaus clearly hadn't come out to his family. Judy said Klaus was terrified of how his parents would react, especially his father. So I kept quiet, let Judy grieve in private, tried to help him heal in whatever way I could."

My mind was racing, trying to piece together a timeline, trying to understand.

"The blind date," I said suddenly, my eyes widening. "You set up that blind date between me and Judy. And before that, the summer camp five years ago. Was that you too?"

Michelle nodded slowly. "I was the one who suggested Judy attend that camp program, yes. I thought maybe if he could spend time with someone connected to Klaus, someone who reminded him of the person he'd lost, it might help him start to move on. And it did help, in its way. Judy said talking to you, hearing stories about Klaus from when he was younger, made him feel like Klaus was still alive in some small way."

"And the blind date?" I pressed.

"That was me trying to encourage Judy to actually move forward with his life instead of staying stuck in grief," Michelle admitted. "I thought if he could form a connection with you, if he could build something new instead of just clinging to the past, maybe he could finally let himself be happy again."

The realization hit me like a physical blow.

"I was a replacement," I whispered. "A substitute. You used me to help your son get over his dead boyfriend. I was just a... a pawn in your scheme to fix Judy's grief."

"No," Michelle said quickly, but I could see the guilt written all over her face. "Not a replacement. Never that. I genuinely thought you two might connect, might build something real together. I wasn't trying to manipulate either of you, I was just... I was a mother trying to help her son stop hurting."

I felt something inside me crack open, felt anger and hurt and betrayal flooding through me in equal measure.

"My first crush," I said bitterly. "Do you know that Judy was my first real crush? The first person I actually thought about in that way? And the whole time, he was only spending time with me because I reminded him of his dead boyfriend. Because you told him to."

"Olive—"

"Was I a joke to him?" I demanded. "Was he laughing at me behind my back? Poor Olive, so pathetically in love with a gay man who was only pretending to be interested in her?"

"He cared about you," Michelle insisted. "Everything Judy told me suggested he genuinely valued your friendship, genuinely enjoyed spending time with you. It wasn't fake, Olive. It just... wasn't what you thought it was."

I turned away from her, my hands clenching into fists, trying to process everything I'd just learned.

Klaus was gay.

Klaus and Judy had been in love.

Klaus had kept this massive secret from me, from our entire family.

And I'd been used as a tool to help Judy move on from my brother's death without even knowing it.

"Did my parents know?" I asked suddenly, turning back to face Michelle. "Did they know Klaus was gay?"

Something flickered in Michelle's expression. "I don't know. Judy never said either way. But given that Klaus was so careful to keep it secret, to maintain his relationships with girls as a cover... I assume he never told them."

My phone was in my hand before I'd consciously decided to pull it out, my fingers trembling so badly I almost dropped it.

Because I needed to know.

Needed to hear my father confirm or deny whether he'd known about this, whether he'd been keeping this secret from me for thirteen years just like everyone else seemed to have been.

"I need to make a call," I said, my voice hollow.

"Olive, maybe you should take some time to process—"

"I need to make a call," I repeated, more firmly this time.

And before Michelle could stop me, before I could second-guess myself, I walked toward the door and out into Judy's suite, looking for somewhere private where I could fall apart without an audience.