Chapter 6| The puppeteer

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 world.

I may be a businessman but I played fair. All my life, Aunt Meredith made sure that I follow a straight line. It’s funny how she ended up in prison with a mindset like that. However, that’s another story. It’s Alice and her invisible leash she thinks she have on me.

“What are you implying, baby?”

“What I am trying to say is, things like marriage takes time. I barely know Olivia. She’s not dumb. Do you really think she’s that dense not to know what’s going on when I come at her with a marriage proposal? Come on, you saw how she managed to make the hotel a star higher.”

Alice’s features softened. “I am so sorry, baby. I did not mean to pressure you.”

“Well, you are.” I scoffed with haughty derision.

“With every passing minute, our chance of getting what’s rightfully yours becomes slimmer,” Alice said that as if I don’t know that.

She keeps on using the word ‘we’ even if it was just me making things possible. To be honest, I am starting to feel used. But I love her. Alice is the best thing that happened in my life. “I said, I’m working on it.”

Assured that I am exhausting all my resources for our plan---she finally caved in. Her smirk became a sexy smile and she sat on my lap. Twirling the hair on my nape. I love how she makes me feel special with her body. With Alice, the love I was missing, the gaping hole from the lack of parental love was somehow filled.

“I trust you, baby…” she whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

And then it hit me.

There’s this question hanging above my head since the day she came up with the idea of luring Olivia into marriage. The moment felt right to ask. “Alice, what if…what if Olivia marries me? What then? What will happen to us?”

Her throaty laughter filled the entire apartment unit. She’s enjoying it I can tell. Two years and a half in a relationship and you begin to read the other person like the back of your hand. “Oh, baby. That’s not really something you should worry about.”

My brows met, “why?”

She shrugged, “nothing will change. You will only be married to Olivia for a short time. Once she trusts you enough to make you her beneficiary---we can get rid of her and we’ll live happily ever after. Of course, with all that money, who’s going to be sad, right?”

“Alice, if we keep on seeing each other while I am married to her, that makes me a cheater and you are my mistress.” I swallowed hard. I was born a Catholic and everything I said was against what I believed in. Saying it out loud felt awful already. “You know how I feel about that.”

She shook her head, her messy hair flying everywhere. “I do, but if it was that important…you should have asked me to marry you first before we did anything. I mean, at this modern age…everybody cheats.” She paused and examined my face. “Hang on, are you having second thoughts? Getting cold feet, Brandon? We’re almost there. Harvey is no longer watching and hovering like a hawk because you’ve proven you’re not the enemy. What’s the matter? I thought you wanted to give me the good life?”

I cleared my throat. “I still do.”

Alice giggled, “phew, you had me worried there!”

Something tells me that it was not what I wanted. But a part of me tells me that it was Aunt Meredith’s fault. If she didn’t give it to Olivia, we wouldn’t be in this scenario. The dead can take all the blame now.

Before I went to Alice’s, I was spending time with Olivia. With her, endless hours of working seemed so light. She’s easy to work with but she’s very detailed and her dedication to be the best was insane. When she pitched her plan to revamp the hotel---I was skeptic. The hotel was already doing well but she believed that it could surpass its reputation and it did.

“You don’t have friends, Liv.” I replied before I could retract the words, it was already out. “Sorry, that’s not what I meant…”

“The truth always hurts. You’re right, I don’t have friends. My life revolved around my family, Brandon.” She sighed. “Did you see how it went? How they treated me before they knew I am not a homeless person they could look down for the rest of my life and how they shifted?”

“Yeah, sorry about that too.”

“Don’t be. I Cutting them off was the best decision I did.” She sipped her coffee. “It’s late, shouldn’t you be home? Or out with a date?”

Olivia doesn’t know about Alice.

“You’re not the only one who’s married to the job.”