The three of them left the top floor together. Olivia walked them to the parking lot where Brandon’s car was parked. All those times, she kept on repeating her desire to extend help in whatever ways she can to Alice’s mother. Alice was still sobbing until they got into the car and Olivia waved them good bye.“Brandon…” Alice starts, but he hush her up.“Look at me…really look at me. Do I look happy about you showing up unannounced?”“That’s bullsh*t. You’re going to tell her.” She finally unveils the mask of pretense now. In place of the poor, sobbing girl is a menacing woman who knows what she wants. “Tell me, were you falling for her when we both know it was fake from the start?” Alice mocked her. “For all you know, she’s also faking it! You said so yourself. She’s smart! Be thankful I saved your a** on this one. Like all the other times before this…I saved you!”Brandon sighed. He thought it was better this way. “I didn’t fall for the fake, Alice. Maybe. Maybe I fell for her honest
Olivia’s POV:My emotions are still off the charts. A while ago, Brandon was pouring his heart’s content to me just when I was set on setting him free. I’m only human and allowed myself that little fantasy of being together in the future.However, our moment was cut short because Alice showed up. A part of me wanted to laugh at myself for being so naïve, gullible or anything of that sort because I’m back to square one again. Smitten, hopeful and about to face criticism.I swear this better be a nightmare, and I wake up to find none of it is real… well, maybe the first part could still be. Where it was less complicated for me. Where I was still working as a hotel staff myself where none of this could have happened.I don’t like it one bit, with all this money, I feel like my whole being was compromised.When I got back to my office, it was past nine and I gasped a little. Maybe I spoke too soon.“I heard Brandon is due to be transferred to the Hawaii branch. If I may say, it’s a good m
Olivia’s POV:When Harvey knows something is wrong or someone has wronged, this version of him comes out to shield him from remorse, and I don’t like his appearance now. This is how he deals with everything that would make other humans crumble. He cuts off, so emotions don’t make him regret what typically accompanies heinous acts. I saw this side many times.For Harvey to believe that Brandon was up to something awful, that definitely raises a concern. Worse than a snap of a neck, no doubt. It’s all over him. All the signs are present. However, a part of me wanted to test the waters. It’s a dumb move, actually. I’m throwing all precaution in the air despite my statement about caution. My heart is taking the lead on this one.This calls for a game plan. If Brandon was indeed planning one against me, at least, I am prepared.“You have to understand this is not a game, Olivia.” He read my mind.“Look, I get it, you want to protect me and for that, I am thankful, Harvey. But like you said
Olivia’s POV:The day went as usual. I didn’t get any updates from Brandon or Alice but it was already expected. Her mother is in danger and the last thing they’d do was to update me. Harvey’s words lingered on me. He didn’t say anything else, so I didn’t push through.Ethan is sound asleep, Maurice found another hobby to pass the time. Apparently, she’s a nocturnal and a light sleeper so she texts me and two days ago and told me she used my card to but crafting materials for her crocheting. I appreciate the little things.With nothing else to do, I sat at the living room, facing the window that shows nothing but pitch black. Finding a spot to ponder my life and how far I’ve become. I put my wine glass down and stand up slowly, eyes on a tall, strong figure who made his way in. I walk forward. Growing in determination and confidence, knowing this is what I should do. Watching him as I close the gap between us and sensing his quiet despair that me knowing about what he did will send m
Olivia’s POV:Today and tonight has drained me of everything and flipped me upside down. There’s too much confusion inside me, and my senses tell me to walk away and give myself headspace. He’s too potent, too good at pulling me back to him. I would be too susceptible to fall back while feeling this way, and that would be disastrous. I’m too vulnerable, and I must protect myself, even if he does care about me. “I should go to bed; I have a lot to process.” The air of awkwardness between us returns once more, and we separate again by a few feet.“I think sleep will do you good. You look wiped out. We can talk whenever you want. I’m not going anywhere.” Brandon strays a little closer, but it’s too much. I have so much going on in my head and under my skin that I move away to breathe. I no doubt have a million more questions to get out of my head before I feel able to stand and be okay with him again, but for now, I’m prickling with the need to be alone. I feel like, right now, I don’t
Olivia’s POV:I can’t take it anymore, and finally, I relent and get up to fix myself a warm drink and find some sleeping pills where Maurice or any staff could have them. Anything to get a break from this self-inflicted torture and give my head a rest. Sleep deprivation will not help me figure anything out, and it’s giving me nothing but a headache. I feel like my brain is wringing itself out and pushing its mass through a meat grinder.I pad out to the kitchen through the dark living room and almost jump out of my skin when I turn into the kitchen and walk smack bang into him at the fridge. Heart missing a beat and squealing like an idiot as I collide with a warm, hard body in the semi-darkness. He has all the lights set to low, so I didn’t see his all-black dressed skulking self in the shadows.“Jesus! Brandon!” I jump half a mile and almost drop dead of a heart attack.“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He smiles at me, looking daunting and impressed with his sinister prowess wh
Olivia’s POV:My insides flip flop all over, warning me how dangerously close I am to falling right back under his spell. He has so much power over me and exerts so little effort to use it. I need to be smarter.“Why are you being so smug and annoyingly confident right now? You weren’t so self-assured this morning, so what is it that’s got you smiling and acting like I’m a done deal today?” I snap at him, not so much in anger but irritated that he is making me crazily nervous and awkward, making assumptions, and I’m making an idiot of myself. I hate that I’m not in control of myself. He only grins at me.“You let me stay tonight. My odds went up massively when you stopped trying to escape. And you haven’t stopped blushing since you came out here. I can see it even in this light, so I’m reading that as progress.”“I hate you. You’re an a**ehole, you know that?” I sigh at him, turning a mock raised brow and pouted facial expression, but he silences me with a swift move and pauses just
Olivia’s POV:Whether I like it or not, the truth remains. Neither of us knows how to do this. It’s not like we have a guidebook on how to love and trust. It’s like the blind leading the blind and blindness has no cure. I mean there is, but still…“You broke me, many, many times and I never fully recovered. It’s not that easy to let someone who does that back in when you found it hard enough to do the first time around. But here we are.” I admit honestly, sheepishly and can’t look him in the eye anymore. Flinching when he moves towards me, caging me in with his body and traces the tears down my cheek. His breath warming my face as he moves in all around me and overtakes my space once more. My head is full of his scent and nearness. “And now you want to meet my family. Like they’re the easiest people on the planet.”“If I could go back and change it all, I would. Believe me, Liv. I know what I did.” The tender caress of a lover and not the man who terrorized me and reduced me to ashes.
Olivia’s POV:I lift a little higher, pausing and looking away to his chest, letting his eyes scan all of me as he stands motionless, listening, watching, taking it in and analyzing me with that quick brain. I get nothing from him, even when he slides his gaze down over my naked breasts and curves and comes slowly back up to lock on mine with a serious look that penetrates my soul. The smile faded away, but he still has a joyous aura surrounding him. “I will never give up on you. If you want this, you will never get rid of me again. I swear. I’m in this for the long haul, Liv.” “Good. Now take your clothes off, get over here and make love to me. It’s about time we stopped fucking around and got down to the real business.” I smirk as I say it. Hardly a sweet romantic seduction, but one thing I have learned is that I need to find my backbone with him.I was made to deal with this arrogant man. I need to remember that when dealing with him. He then breaks into the most gorgeous ungua
Olivia’s POV:I like this apartment; it somehow seems like I have been here before even though I have never laid eyes on it. I love the open space and simple furnishings. Nothing overly showy or flashy, nothing fussy. Just enough to feel comfy and relaxed in a way that invites you to come in and lounge your cares away. It’s peaceful and feels like home, even though I’m a stranger within its walls.It’s no surprise I like it, though; one thing I found when making the club gorgeous was that Lexi and I have a similar taste in décor, and we gel well in terms of style. We can argue about most things, but we never argued over styling choices.I waste no time in sinking into the hot bath and letting my weary bones blend with the water, turning my limbs to fluid weightlessness. I exhale with relief at the comforting feel of hot liquid overtaking my skin as it submerges and slides over all the tiny marks and grazes, littering the surface, cleansing them of grime and blood. Stings and nips beco
Olivia’s POV: She smiles again, nothing but warmth in that wrinkled little face, and I wonder if she was an attempt at giving himself a stand-in mother. She has that maternal vibe, and I could see why he wouldn’t want the hassle of a live-in maid whom he has banged. He hates women trailing around after him when he’s done with them.He made himself what he lacked, and I can see why he never let me come here before. A cozy home he never lets on is his, a dog and a motherly maid. Like his small apartment, this place is somewhere he can be someone else, and it feeds a side of him that his mother never nurtured. “Of course.” I falter, covering my sheer lack of knowing what’s happening or even something as basic about him as not liking reheated food. It’s not something that ever came up, seeing as I don’t cook for him or have ever had to get food for him. A girlfriend should know these things, though. I want to know these things about him.After today I guess that’s a moot subject, and I
Olivia's POV:Walking in the door, ushered by Orlie, we are all in complete silence. I don’t even take the time to acknowledge him. I have no words anyway. I'm disheveled, filthy, and broken inside as I’m led into a massive open plan penthouse apartment that I would never think of putting him in. A building in Upper Manhattan’s most luxurious area.“He owns this.” Orlie stated as if reading my mind.It’s warmer and homelier than the other one he took me to. There are substantial soft corner couches, side tables, and furniture for lounging and laying cups by your side, in front of vast windows spanning entire walls and showing New York at its finest in sweeping views. I feel like we are on top of the world as we are so high up in a vast modern yet comfy home. My eyes scan the roaring glass fire in the natural brick pillar standing imposingly in the middle of the room, giving no natural heat, so it’s a digital screen. It serves as a divider to the metal railed stairway behind it at the
Olivia’s POV:Oh, God no.He twists my wrist painfully, causing me to release the shoe finally and its clatters to the ground with an anticlimactic little noise as it slides from his gaping wound. My only hope of fighting a man this size. He overpowers me cruelly, and all I can do is grasp at his legs to stop myself crying out with the pain he’s inflicting. He is going for a broken bone.And then, she’s there. Alice.“Well, look at you. Not so pretty in a disheveled state are you?”“Boss, we can play with her, right?” The other man insisted.“Not yet. I’m waiting for Harvey. He’s on his way here, say, fifteen minutes with the documents because Olivia here will transfer all her money to me. Did you know, it was our original plan, me and Brandon? Unfortunately, he fell in love with you----so the money comes first and then, I’ll take him back. And we live happily ever after because you are dead.”“You’re lying.”“Oh, wait until Harvey shows up. I sent him the photos and the record and hop
Brandon’s POV:I stopped just when Harvey was about to ride with us. An idea dawned on me. I know Alice. I know how she thinks. “Harvey, go back to your office. Alice will call you. She will want Olivia’s money in exchange for her life. I’m sure. Don’t let her know that you already know. I’ll open my GPS, you know what to do.”Harvey nodded. I thought he was going to be difficult. “Okay, be safe. Take care of her. I’ll take of things on my end.”I hope I know how Alice mind works. Or else.Olivia’s POV:The noise in the alley comes back down towards me, echoing eerily, and I completely freeze, pushing my attention fully on Brandon to zone out the fear. He is quiet, but I can hear noises on his end as I clutch it to my ear. I think he is checking his screen for my location and leaving the call open, but he isn’t listening. I can hear voices in the background, Orlie and the other men as he tells them which turn to take. I can hear so much of where he is and the fact they are on the mov
Olivia’s POV:These are not from the hotel’s security. They might be the men Brandon warned me about, I just gave them all of me, with my stupidity. God knows how long they have been hanging at a distance watching the comings and goings in case they got a chance at picking me off. It’s horrifying to imagine they may have been out here this whole time, waiting for a time like this.I glance at him moving in, and the man from the car is now behind me, blocking my path. Eyes doing a quick scan of every avenue around me. I am aware of both, and my senses tell me how far away from actually touching them. I am more aware of the one behind me as it instils a higher fear factor, but my brain calms, and the part that works well in a crisis moves in to formulate an exit strategy. Adrenaline kicks in, and I do what I do best. I lift my feet and run like a bat out of hell crazy woman with no desire to die, to my right, down the alley.I used to be an athlete so I’m pretty swift in my departure. T
Brandon’s POV:“Where are you, Olivia? I told you to stay. Damn, how stubborn can she be?” I asked myself out loud, pacing her office for the nth time.“Relax, for all we know, she’s here and there’s nothing to worry about, sir.” Orlie tried to calm me but I can’t help myself.I’ve given her strict orders not to go anywhere alone. My guts tell me that Alice was just biding her time and she’s not really walking away even if I bribed her with money. She’s better than that, cunning and dangerous all rolled into one. My phone is in my hand and I’ve dialed her number so many times and sent her text messages that went from pleading to threatening if she didn’t show up any moment from now.The door knob to her office moved and I braced myself. But it wasn’t her. It was Harvey and the moment the lawyer laid his eyes on me----he was instantly enraged. He scanned the office before returning his gaze on me.“You…” he seethed. “Where is Olivia?”I shrugged. “That makes the two of us. I can’t find
Olivia’s POV:I wander a little further onto the cracked concrete pavement and walk in small circles for a while, hidden from view by the tall half-standing wall that used to be some sort of barrier. It’s high enough to act as a shade for me. I pace absentmindedly to try to calm my erratic swishing insides and breathless angst until the air penetrates my clothes and cools me down to a mild shiver. One eye on the group of men for no real reason and satisfied they haven’t acknowledged me over here at all.It’s not overly freezing today, and my dress is made of wool, so it’s warm enough not to go in for a jacket. I keep moving until I’m around fifteen feet from them, gazing out into the street and the traffic coming and going at the far end of the long lane ahead. The hotel nestles in a side alley not far from the main road, so the immediate area in front of me is car-free even though it's noisy out here. It can be peaceful if you walk far enough from milling security groups.I stare up