Olivia’s POV:
I was stunned. No, shocked to the core when an expensive looking man waited for me in the private visitor’s lounge in Bedford Women’s Correctional.
“Hello, Olivia.” His teeth were pearly white I swear they could’ve blinded me.
“Hi…I think you have the wrong Olivia…”
He chuckled. “No, I have the right Olivia. You’re Olivia Charleston, right?”
Damn, even his laughter sounded costly. Who is this man? I felt like a lump was blocking my throat so I nodded like a sea lion. With my orange outfit, I might pass as one. He motioned me to take the seat adjacent to his and sat down.
“My name is Harvey Brown. I’m Meredith’s lawyer and executioner.” He extended his hand and I took it but very gingerly. “I heard you’re a free woman tomorrow.”
“Meredith? She’s alive?” I realize that it was an inappropriate question and ignored everything he just said. “I am so sorry…it’s just that…the last time I saw her…she was being wheeled to an ambulance. They said it’s heart attack. I…I haven’t heard from her since…is she okay?”
Meredith is a lovely woman in her 70’s. In my five years inside the correctional, she became my closest friend. We became so close and I treated her like my mother---Meredith was already there way ahead of me. She wouldn’t disclose her case and wouldn’t talk about her family. And I did not press on.
“Unfortunately, no. She lived two months in the hospital and she made sure that this day would come, Olivia.”
“Excuse me?”
“Meredith is dead. It was a peaceful death, she knew it was coming.”
I gasped for breath, “no…”
“You’re a very lucky woman, Liv. She didn’t have anyone. Every time I visit her here, she would always joke that she had to be incarcerated to find a daughter. Did you know that Meredith named you her beneficiary? Though she had one nephew.”
“What?!”
That was how I became 200 million dollars richer plus assets before I left Bedford Women’s correctional. Harvey said I'm a billionaire now. Whoa. Before I went in----I was a nobody. I was my brother’s fallback guy. I took a fall for a crime he and his girlfriend committed. Paul and Miles came from a concert afterparty and hit a pedestrian who was on his way home from work. The family pressed charges because the victim died.
I shouldn’t concern myself with their troubles, but the problem is, Paul was using my car and when the police came, he told me it was me driving the car. Bam! Fifteen years in prison for Olivia Charleston. My sentence was lightened because I was a good inmate. Now that I come to think of it, I think Meredith had something to do with it.
My jaw almost dropped because Meredith would never pass as someone who owns a lot of properties and 200 million in cold cash. She didn’t even own anything luxurious inside and never complained of the hard bed or the unseasoned food.
After my release, the first thing I did was to call my father, eager to surprise him. But as soon as he heard my voice, he hung up. I thought something terrible had happened at home and rushed back.
Just as I reached the door, I overheard my now brother's wife, Miles, complaining, “Of all days, Olivia had to get out today, making me skip my prenatal check-up! Just to rush the transfer of property to Paul. She’s really annoying.”
My mother replied, “It's for everybody’s good. With her prison record, finding a job will be tough for Olivia. And getting married will be even tougher. She might just end up staying here and fighting you for the house.”
Miles snorted, “No. That can’t be. Let her rent a place. I'm not living with an ex-con!”
Listening to their conversation felt like a punch to the gut. My heart ached. My mother used to call me her little sweetheart and Miles----she always said she sees me as her own sister. How did things change just like that?
The door before me was the one I'd dreamed about for five long years. But now, standing in front of it felt like standing on the edge of a cliff. After taking a moment to compose myself, I finally knocked. It’s too late to back down now.
My mother, Naomi Charleston, opened the door, looking surprised. “L-liv, you're back? I was just about to send your dad to pick you up! My…you've lost weight. It must have been tough inside.”
If only I hadn't overheard their conversation, if only her concern had been genuine, how wonderful that would be. I managed a bittersweet smile, “No worries. There’s uber now.”
With that, I stepped inside.
Miles immediately rushed over and sprayed me with alcohol until the bottle was empty. Only then did she look at me. “Please, Liv…don’t take it the wrong way. I’m pregnant and who knows what virus you are carrying from prison?”
She told me not to overthink, but her disdain was written all over her face. It was obvious now that Miles despised me for being an ex-convict, but she must have forgotten why I was there for five years. I went to prison for her and my brother.
Without saying a word, I walked straight to my room. When I opened the door, I found it filled with clutter, and none of my belongings were in sight. “Mom, what happened here?”
She hesitated, looking uncomfortable. “Liv, you've been gone for so long, and the house is small with lots of stuff, and we don’t have storage…so we stored everything in your room.”
“What about my things?” I pressed.
My mother looked down. Her guilt was evident. “They're all gone.”
My heart sank again. “Mom, I was in prison, not dead. You know I'll come back. Was it necessary to clear out all my things?”
When my father, Peter Charleston, heard this from the sofa, he casually said, “Come on, Liv, Miles is pregnant and needs space for baby stuff. The house is cramped. Your things weren't needed anymore, so we got rid of them.”
His words hit me like a ton of bricks. All of a sudden, I felt alienated in my own home.
Olivia’s POV:“Okay…where am I supposed to stay?” I asked.My mother pulled out two hundred dollars and tossed it on the table carelessly as if she were giving money to a beggar. “Here, take this. Find a motel or rent a place. It's up to you.”I forced a bitter smile. “And what about Paul? What does he say about this?”Just then, Paul emerged from the bathroom. Without hesitation, he said, “Of course not. You're my sister. Of course, I'm on your side. If you want to stay here, I'll clear the room for you.”It seemed he still cared about me. I nodded with relief. “I’d like to stay for a while. I missed you guys.”But as soon as I said that, Paul’s expression froze. He stood there, looking at me, but made no move to clean the room. I stared back, puzzled. Did I say something offensive?At this time, Miles walked up to me, her voice sharp. “Olivia, have you lost your mind in prison? How can you be so inconsiderate? Can't you see how cramped the house is? Even if we clear out the room, it
Brandon’s POV:I am Aunt Meredith’s only family and I have high hopes for myself. My Aunt is a complicated person. She married three times and her wealth came from all the marriages that did not give her any children. To this day, she’s Meredith Walton. Her last marriage was lucrative.She was a Pembroke and wealthy in her own right before she married all the ridiculously wealthy men. Until this day, I had no idea how a woman who doesn't have an active social life managed to ensnare three of America's wealthiest. Aunt Meredith's conviction wasn't even disclosed to the public eye. Because she's freakishly wealthy and had connections everywhere---people assumed she was just chilling in one of her many properties in the tropics when, in fact, she was serving time in Bedford Women's Correctional.Her life was pretty scandalous too. But that’s beside the point. My main concern here is who takes over all her assets. Harvey Brown’s secretary smiled at me when I walked into his elegant office
Olivia’s POV:That night, I still couldn’t get that scene yesterday from my head. I have a feeling that it was going to live rent-free in my head from now on.Miles rubbing her belly and speaking to me mercilessly.My father talking as he put out his cigarette and said coldly, “Liv, you're grown up now. It's time you understood the importance of contributing to the family instead of causing trouble.”Each of their words felt like a sharp knife piercing my heart. Despite my overwhelming disappointment, my eyes welled up. I looked at them and said hoarsely, “No wonder you never visited me once during my five years in prison. I thought you were just too busy to see me. But now I see you only saw me as a moneymaker. You kicked me to the curb without hesitation the moment I couldn't make money anymore.”I tilted my head back, fighting to hold back my tears. Then, I asked, “So you're all determined to kick me out today?”“Yes!” They all replied without hesitation.Clearly, there was no room
Olivia’s POV:How I’ve waited for this moment!If not for their cold-heartedness, I might have been drained dry by them and eventually discarded. Their cruelty pushed me to become self-reliant.“Liv,” Miles’ energy shifted. She was now approaching me with her fake smile. “I-if this hotel is yours, why didn't you tell us earlier? Look at the misunderstanding we had just now. If you had told us you were the CEO, we could have happily celebrated your nephew’s celebration together.”Paul nodded repeatedly, as usual. “That’s true, Liv. You kept this a secret too well. Come on, let’s just have a nice family gathering today. You don't know how much we've missed you these past six months. Right, mom and dad?”I raised a brow. “Really? I remember you calling me names, you called me poor, and insisted on kicking me out. Before I forget, who slapped me and called security to throw me out? Oh. It was you. Dearest brother, your way of expressing your longing is certainly unique, isn't it? Damn, yo
Brandon’s POV:Working with Olivia all these months qualifies as a roller coaster ride. I can’t say I like her because she took what I think is rightfully mine but at the same time, I see myself in her. Always in a constant state where we have to prove our worth.Alice thinks otherwise.“Tell me, where are you with that b*tch?” She paced her bedroom with the smallest lingerie she owns, giving me a glimpse of what I was about to get tonight.“I’m working on it.”“You’re not working hard enough, Brandon.” She spat. “How many months more do we have to wait before we could get our hands on Meredith’s money?”A nervous chuckle escaped my throat. “We? I do all the work, Alice. While you waste your time socializing.”I heard her sharp intake of breath. I hit a nerve and I really did not care. What I said was true and I have no plans of retracting it. Alice had been a pain in the neck recently, as if she had to do all the dirty work. She commanded me like it was the most natural thing in the
Olivia's POV:Hmm, what do they say about time? Oh, yeah. Time flies so fast when you’re having fun. But I wasn’t having fun. I was picking up the pieces of my life and starting all over again. I can’t say I’m not happy with I’m seeing. The year hasn’t ended but I’ve managed to turn the tides on my favor.Before I know it, the end of the year arrived. It was a time for families to reunite. The hotel was swamped with families wanting to make their holidays more memorable. Pricey but memorable. People these days prefer to spend money on experience than on material things that would later end up stacked on the garage or tucked away in the drawer never to be remembered again unless they do spring cleaning which was never in most cases.Either way, it’s good for business. I was busy. I like busy. Busy is good.It was Christmas Eve, I received a call from an unknown number.As soon as I answered, my mother’s familiar voice came through. “Honey, we've realized our mistakes. We've wronged you
Olivia's POV:“So, it’s true.” Brandon said behind me.“Shh, he’s sleeping. Do you know how hard it is to put a child to sleep?” I lectured him. Shooing him outside of the bedroom. “Of course you don’t. You don’t have one yet. I still can’t understand why a man like you is left alone running free in New York.”After securing the bedroom door is closed, I led Brandon farther away. “What’s up?”He seemed to be more concerned why I left the hotel and decided to drag myself to one of Meredith’s properties in the city. This is a town house I first considered living in when I became her beneficiary but I ended up in the hotel because I hate driving.“Why?”“Why?” I chuckled. “Come on, Brandon. You have to give me more than that.”“You didn’t like it here before, why now?” His eyes searched mine. Brandon is an epitome of a fine man. I meant every word I said about him running free alone in the city. He is masculine and devilishly handsome in suits and in regular clothes. “I heard about your
Olivia’s POV:At Bedford woman’s penitentiary.It felt odd. So odd to be here. I was at the visiting lounge waiting for someone I would never thought visiting but here I am. Harvey insisted on coming with me but I declined his offer. This was more personal and needed a personal touch.He did not trust me and my judgement after what happened on Christmas eve. Harvey was more logical while I was more of the ‘poetic justice’ girl who thought it was nice way to end the year. Harvey was not happy but could not do anything but to take care of the paperwork. In fact, he bombarded me this morning alone with text messages stating why he should be present with me there.Of course, I had to politely decline and tell him I got this covered.The heavy metal door opened and a prison officer walked in, Miles behind her. When she saw me, her expressionless face quickly turned into a full-blown maniac with too much hate and anger to spare.“YOU! What are you doing here!” She lunged at me but was immed
Olivia’s POV:“Why would I do that?”“I want you. That’s all there is to it. I want to show you that you don’t have to fear me and maybe prove you can trust me.” He gets straight to the point, lifting my hand into his and slides his fingers between mine to hold me tenderly. I stare at our entwined digits, feeling his heat flow into my cold, smaller one and gaze at it, disconnected. The space around me is surreal, as though I’m dreaming. I should lie down. I’m verging on passing out at this rate.“I didn’t know what love was, maybe I did but I was in denial. What was staring me in the face.It's softening me to him a little. Aware that I’m weakening, I slide my hand away quickly to pull myself together. I’m not that feeble or stupid. I move away to get some breathing space, my body giving in from holding itself up. I exhale heavily. So many emotions are flooding me, and I’m exhausted. It’s too early for this, and I’ve had an emotional few hours prior. This all feels surreal and crazy
Olivia’s POV:He sounds how I feel. Like he knows that this is pointless, and the past is more than can be overcome. I just wish he could make me understand more. My instincts tell me that he’s not completely honest with me and that’s what I want to know.“So, what changed?” My voice cracks. I promised I wouldn’t but here I am.“I can’t lose you…that’s what I know, Liv.”His voice is wracked with strained emotion. I never knew a sentence could rip my heart to shreds, but that one does. Choking me with a lump in my throat, so I have to swallow hard and breathe through another sob. He impulsively reaches one hand towards me, retracts and shoves them both in his pockets as though he assumes it will make him less likely to invade my space. He shuffles on his feet uncomfortably, looking ashen, and I start to go numb as my body takes over to shield me from hurt. Tears are rolling down my face, but all that goes with them dulls. I’m so exhausted.“If that’s true, then why did you leave me th
Olivia’s POV:The hotel’s top floor was a presidential suite. The most expensive suite in the hotel and it’s reserved for a Moroccan prince two days from today. While my faith to my hotel staff was strong---I make it a point to personally inspect premium rooms. Before he showed up in my office, it was already in my to-do lists. Maybe that’s why I chose to flee here.If he isn’t lying, if he means what he says, it explains a lot from the past few weeks about his change. I don’t understand why, though. Nothing happened that made him suddenly grow feelings for me. I left, he found me; we carried on. Nothing at all to sway how he saw me. I had to support my body from falling, I was so confused I didn’t hear the elevator open again.“You just can’t take a hint, do you?” I snarled.“I’m not good at this.” He blurts it out in an almost painful rush of words as I glance at him again. That broad set of shoulders on that powerfully large body sagging slightly, the drop of his chin as he looks
Olivia’s POV:“Liv, I love you.”I let out a painful laughter. At this point, I no longer care what people are going to say. “I’m supposed to believe you now because you decided to stop playing with my emotions? Am I supposed to swoon at your feet and forget it all because … Oh, my Lord … Brandon Pembroke actually loves me?” I spit it at him, tears clouding my vision from the sheer force of everything coming out. Voice breaking, but I don’t care. He has me stripped naked and raw in all my painful glory, and now he can suffer the consequences of that.It’s nothing but a game to him, I don’t need a book to tell me that. I repeat this to myself like a mantra and try to block out how his eyes are devouring me.“It wasn’t like that. It was … complicated.” He looks around him uncomfortably, uneasy at his lack of control of the outcomes, but I don’t care. I want him to feel awkward and uneasy. He has no clue what it’s like not to be the man moving the chess pieces. The one in control. It’s n
Olivia’s POV:“You lying son of a b*tch.” I hate him for even trying.“I’m not lying. Why do you think I have spent weeks trying to show you that things are different? I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I knew this would be the reaction if I came out and said it. I needed you to have a reason to believe me first, so I had to prove it to you. I knew you would run otherwise because you had no reason to trust me.”He moves towards me suddenly, but I recoil and sink slightly into my weak position, shifting to the corner of the lift in a half-crouched fetal position. Still so afraid of this man’s ability. He pauses, seeing my apparent fear as it envelops me, and holds still. Raising his palms a little to indicate he won’t come any closer, he has to grab the door as it starts to close again quickly. Keeping his hands locked firmly on the sides of this box-like prison.I’m no fool. I’m vulnerable and unable to hold my own against him. He proved that so many times in the past. He d
Olivia’s POV:I thought I’d feel better after getting my revenge. I do not. He refused to leave my office. He was standing there for what seemed an eternity. So, I have to leave. I rose from my chair and left my office in haste. My destination? The top floor. It’s empty now.“Where are you going?”“What is it to you?”“I’m not done talking to you.”“Well, I am!” I shouted as I made my way to the elevator, ignoring guests and hotel staff throwing suspicious glances our way.The elevator is just a few feet away. The universe is in my favor because it’s empty. Only a few steps left. Three steps, two, one. Close. Wait. It’s supposed to close! “What?” Everything in me halts to some weird frozen moment, I know it was him.Brandon is standing in the there facing me while he holds the doors wide, only feet apart and so close to escaping. My body stills. I openly stare at him in complete shock. Brain stuttering on his words and unable to react whilst in a state of disbelief.“Liv, I love you.
Brandon’s POV:Two days have passed by since I left Olivia in that devastating scenario. I took the time off work because I couldn’t bear to see her. When I arrived at my office, all my stuff were gone. As if no one existed in that room. Not a speck, not a pin. It seemed brand new, repainted judging from the fresh white walls. My office walls used to be gray.“Joe?” I called for my assistant who was so punctual, he’s ten minutes early before employees clock in. His desk was empty. “Where’s Joe? What happened to my office?”A hotel employee who was passing by approached me. Her eyes gleamed with amusement. Obviously, there’s something she knows that I do not. “Hi, what are you doing here sir?”“W-what am I doing here?” I sputtered out of disbelief. “I work here! Now, I want to know where my assistant is and what happened to my office?”I looked around, assuming this was a prank but my guts tell me something is going down. I secretly hate myself for preferring to work at home than the o
Olivia’s POV:It’s almost dawn, and I’m lying on my bed. I’ve barely slept, waiting for him to return, with a million thoughts running through my brain, tormenting me into oblivion. Thankfully, his phone is here, not smashed, despite hitting a marble floor. At some point, I regained enough sense to wander over and pick his things up, like a mute zombie trying to find something to do besides stare at a closed elevator. I left them on the kitchen counter. I paced like crazy, cried myself sick with heartbreak, disappointed in myself, then ended up in here hoping to try and sleep.I’m wretched and anxious, and I keep seeing that ragged, torn look on her face as though I had just slayed her entire family with a dirty spoon right before her eyes. I keep thinking about how he ran away and after her and the excruciating pain that causes me. To ponder what is even happening anymore. He chose to leave when the choice was thrown in his lap, and his instincts took over. His actions told me loud
Olivia’s POV:My robe slides as his hand graze my collarbone and pushes it from my shoulder, exposing more than just my upper neck. I gasp, not even fazed that he’s stripping me to be nakedly on show. Urging him to keep going as his fingers slowly trail down over the curve of my breast. Igniting a sensual fire of longing between my thighs that makes me vibrate in need.“Damn it, Olivia. You’re so beautiful in every way. So fucking perfect.” He breathes against me, only parting enough to speak into my mouth, and then he captures my lips again, sucking and kissing me like he has no control.The robe slides further down my back, down my arms to my elbows as one of his hands moves behind my neck, under my hair at the back, to pull me in harder to his probing mouth. His fingers gently graze downwards across my naked skin as though tracing my spine lightly, igniting a million butterflies and goosebumps with his caress. My body missed this. I’ve been longing for this!My breath quickens, war